The Genitive: Getting possessive!

In the previous posts we've looked at ways attributes are used to modify nouns. In similar fashion in Pali, the genitive (possessive) case is also used to qualify nouns to indicate that someone has something.
Strangely, Pāli does not have a verb meaning ‘to have’. Instead, it uses the genitive case to denote 'belonging to' or 'being part of'.

First let's remind ourselves of the genitive declensions.

	SINGULAR			PLURAL
stem:	Masc. & Neut.	Feminine		Masc. & Neut. & Fem.
a, ā	-assa	-āya		-ānaṃ
i, ī	-issa -ino	-iyā		-īnaṃ
u, ū	-ussa -uno	-uyā		-ūnaṃ

The genitive case operates much like an apostrophe (’s) or 'of' in English. For instance:

bhikkhuno	patto
gen	nom
m	m
sgl	sgl
a monk's	bowl
the bowl of a monk

sabbe	brāhmaṇassa	puttā
nom	gen	nom
m	m	m
pl	sgl	pl
all	the brahmin's	sons
all the sons of the brahmin

suvaṇṇassa	rāsi
gen	nom
m	m
sgl	sgl
a heap of gold

vassānaṃ	tatiye	māse
gen	loc	loc
m	m	m
pl	sgl	sgl
in the third month of the rains

Like an adjective, the genitive noun is generally placed before the qualified noun (however in verse, it may follow). It's important to note that it's the possessor that takes the genitive case ending. But unlike an adjective, the genitive noun takes the gender & number of its referent.

I think it's more intuitive to use the 'of' construction - the bowl of a monk - as this helps when understanding which noun is being qualified. For instance, notice sabbe 'all' in the example above agrees with puttā 'sons', as it is 'all the sons of...' not 'all brahmin's...'.

How Pali expresses 'having'

Pāli does not have a verb meaning ‘to have’. The closest may be dhāreti which means ‘to bear’ or ‘to hold’ or ‘to wear.’ This can be used as ‘to have’ in some contexts. Another is gaṇhāti meaning ‘to take’ or ‘to seize’ or ‘to hold.’

But it's more common, to express 'having' by saying:

something of someone exists or
something is someone’s

The verb atthi is normally used in this context, being closer to verb ‘to have’ than hoti and bhavati which are closer to ‘to be / is’ though these verbs are also occasionally used.

brāhmaṇassa	ajā	santi
gen	nom	pres, act
m	m
sgl	pl	pl
		3rd pers.
of the brahmin	goats	there are
there are goats of the brahmin
The brahmin has goats

Note, the subject of the verb santi (pl. of atthi) is ajā 'the goats' - and not the brahmin. Therefore, the verb is plural to agree with goats rather than singular. (note: atthi can also be used in a plural sense)

As this construction can be a bit counter-intuitive, here are some more examples:

kāmo	me	n’atthi
nom	gen	pres, act
m	m
sgl	sgl	sgl
	pn-1st	3rd pers.
dersire	mine	there is (not)
desire is not mine
I have no desire

imassa	jayo	bhavissati
gen	nom	fut, act
m	m
sgl	sgl	sgl
pm-3rd		3rd pers.
of him	victory	will be
victory will be his
he will have Victory

Note, we'll look at Pronouns in the next post.

tassa	etad	ahosi
gen	acc	aor, act
m	n
sgl	sgl	sgl
pn-3rd	pn-dem	3rd pers.
of him	this	was
he had this

tassa	evaṃ	ahosi
gen	ind.	aor, act
m
sgl		sgl
pn-3rd		3rd pers.
of him	thus	was
he had thus

These two are idioms meaning 'He had this (thought)' 'He had thought thus'...

Partitive Genitive

Finally, another use of the genitive is in the expression 'Of these'… or “Among these'…

brāhmaṇānaṃ	so	paṇḍito
gen	nom	nom
m	m	m
pl	sgl	sgl
	pn-3rd
of brahmins	he	wise
(among) brahmins, he (is) wise

manussānaṃ	khattiyo	sūratamo
gen	nom	nom
m	m	m
pl	sgl	sgl
of humans	warrior	bravest
(among) humans, the warrior (is) the bravest

These are both nominal sentences with omitted copula verbs. Also notice the superlative ending that we covered in the last post.


Ok well, that was a brief look at possession and the genitive case in Pali. in the next post we begin to look at Pronouns in Pali.

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