Skip to main content

Full Guide to Noun Declension

Pali noun declension table Declension is the addition to the stems of Nouns suffixes which indicate grammatical category, such as: Formally, declension is the variation in the endings of nouns, pronouns, & adjectives, by which grammatical case, number, and gender are identified. This subject is dealt with in many grammar guides and summary tables, so I'll be brief.

Noun Stems

The stem of a noun is the base form before any suffix has been added and are usually the forms listed in dictionaries.
Noun stems in Pāli are regularly grouped into two divisions, those that end in:
  1. Vowels, comprising all the stems that end:
    • -a, -ā, -i, -ī, -u, -ū, (o)
  2. Consonants, which include stems ending:
    • -ar, -ī/in, -an, -at/ant, -as & -us
The substantive nouns in Pali mainly end in the vowels: a, ā, i, ī u, ū  (there's 'go' a cow, in -o but that's the only one). So we take these as the main declension classes.
Those ending in consonants are mainly secondary derivations i.e. agent nouns, participles, possessives etc. (There are some vestigial stems that end in -as/us but this class is small).

Noun Gender

Now onto these stem classes we can map noun genders, as follows:
Stems end: Masculine Neuter Feminine
a
ā
i
ī
u
ū
ar
in
an, at/ant
as/us
So -a stem nouns are either masculine or neuter; -ā stems, feminine etc.

Noun Cases

For an overview of Pali noun cases see my previous post. But briefly, noun cases in Pāli are as follows:
  1. Nominative, showing the Subject of a finite verb.
  2. Vocative, used in addressing persons.
  3. Accusative, this is the Direct object of a transitive verb.
  4. Instrumentive, shows the object or person with or by whom something is performed.
  5. Ablative, generally showing separation, expressed by from.
  6. Genitive, showing possession (of 's).
  7. Dative, showing the Indirect object or person to or for whom something is given or done.
  8. Locative, showing place (in, on, at, upon, etc.).
See also Wijesekera's Syntax of the Cases in the Pali Nikayas

rūpa, 'form' (Neut.)
  Singular Plural
Nom rūpaṃ rūpāni
rūpā
Acc rūpaṃ rūpāni
rūpe
Ins rūpena rūpehi
rūpebhi
Abl rupā
rūpasmā
rūpamhā
rūpato
rūpehi
rūpebhi
Gen rūpassa rūpānaṃ
Dat rūpassa
rūpāya
rūpānaṃ
Loc rūpe
rūpasmiṃ
rūpamhi
rūpesu
Voc rūpa rūpāni
rūpā
kaññā, 'girl' (Fem.)
  Singular Plural
Nom kaññā kaññā
kaññāyo
Acc kaññaṃ kaññā
kaññāyo
Ins kaññāya kaññāhi
kaññābhi
Abl kaññāya
kaññato
kaññāhi
kaññābhi
Gen kaññāya kaññānaṃ
Dat kaññāya kaññānaṃ
Loc kaññāyaṃ
kaññāya
kaññāsu
Voc kaññā
kaññe
kaññā
kaññāyo

From paradigms such as the above, and other examples in the canon, we can produce the declension tables as shown below. If you compare guides you will notice that the tables often differ slightly. There are two main reasons for this:
  • authors differ on where the division of stem and ending takes place; I haven't been strict, aiming for simplicity - the ending of the stem is dropped and replaced by the declined ending, deva → devo, devaṃ etc.
  • authors differ on the range of texts taken to be definitive.

Note: these are a compilation from several guides. The tables should be seen as a guide only. For detailed description please refer to the Pāli grammar guides.
I've tried to organise the various alternatives in order to emphasize the commonalities. Sandhi may still take place especially with -ya suffixes.

Of course, for translation, what we want is the opposite - given the suffix what is the gender, case , and number. There is now a wonderful dictionary app that will recognise inflected nouns and verbs called the Digital Pāli Dictionary (DPD). Check out the video a guide to installing the Digital Pāli Dictionary (DPD).
Note: If you want to download these tables see the end of this section...

Masculine Nouns

Masculine Singular - Noun stems ending
  a u ū i ī /in ar an at/ant
Nom o
e
u
o
ū
u
i ī
i
ā
a
o
ā

ano
ā
aṃ
anto
ato
o
Acc aṃ uṃ
unaṃ
uṃ iṃ iṃ
inaṃ
āraṃ
uṃ
aṃ
ānaṃ
aṃ
antaṃ
ataṃ
aṃ
Instr ena
ā
asā
unā unā inā inā arā
ārā
unā
anā
ena
atā
antena
Abl ā
asmā
amhā
ato
unā
usmā
umhā
uto
u
 
usmā
umhā
uto
inā
ismā
imhā
ito
inā
ismā
imhā
ito
arā
ārā
ito

u
anā
asmā
amhā
ato
anta
antasmā
antamhā
atā
antato
Gen &
Dat
assa
āya (Dat)
ā
ussa
uno
u
ussa
uno
issa
ino
issa
ino
ussa
uno
u
assa
ano
nassa
antassa
ato
Loc e
asmiṃ
amhi
asi
 
usmiṃ
umhi
u
 
usmiṃ
umhi
ini
ismiṃ
imhi
e o
ini
ismiṃ
imhi
ine
ari ani
ismiṃ
imhi
ane
ati
antasmiṃ
antamhi
ante

Masculine Plural - Noun stems ending
  a u ū i ī /in ar an at/ant
Nom ā
āse
āso
o
ū
avo
uyo
uno
ū
uvo
uno
ūno
ūni
ī
ayo
iyo
ino
ī
ino
iyo
ayo
 
āro
aro
 
ā
āno
antā
anto
Acc e
āni
ū
avo
uyo
uno
ū
uvo
uno
ūno
ī
ayo
iyo
e
ī
ino
aye
iye
ine
 
āro ū
aro uno
āre e
are
 
āno
ano
 
 
anto
ante
Instr ehi


ebhi
e
ūhi
uhi

ūbhi
ubhi
ūhi


ūbhi
īhi
ihi

ībhi
ibhi
īhi
ihi

ībhi
ibhi
ārehi
arehi
ūhi
ārebhi
arebhi
ūbhi
ūhi
uhi
ehi
ūbhi
ebhi
 
 
antehi
antebhi
Abl ehi


ebhi
ato
ūhi
uhi
 
ūbhi
ubhi
ūhi


ūbhi
īhi
ihi

ībhi
ibhi
īhi
ihi

ībhi
ibhi
ārehi
arehi
ūhi
ārebhi
arebhi
ūbhi
ūhi
uhi
ehi
ūbhi
ebhi
 
 
antehi
antebhi
Gen & Dat ānaṃ

uno
ūnaṃ
unaṃ
unnaṃ
ūnaṃ īnaṃ
inaṃ
īnaṃ
inaṃ
ūnaṃ
ānaṃ
ārānaṃ
arānaṃ
unnaṃ
ūnaṃ
unaṃ
ānaṃ
ataṃ

antnaṃ
antānaṃ
Loc esu

ehi
ūsu
usu
ūsu īsu
isu
īsu
isu
inesu
ūsu
usu
āresu
aresu
ūsu
usu
esu
antesu

Feminine Nouns

Feminine Singular - Noun stems ending
  ā u ū i ī ar
Nom ā u
 
ū
u
i
ī
ī
i
ā
Acc aṃ uṃ uṃ iṃ iṃ
iyaṃ
āraṃ
Instr āya
ā
uyā uyā iyā
iyā
uyā

arā
Abl āya
āto
ato
uyā
 
uto
uyā iyā

ito
iyā

īto
ito
uyā

ito
arā
Gen & Dat āya uyā uyā iyā
iyā
āya

uyā
u
Loc āya
āyaṃ
uyā
uyaṃ
uyā
uyaṃ
 
iyaṃ
yaṃ
āyaṃ
o u
iyā
iyaṃ
yaṃ
uyā
uyaṃ 
 

ari

Feminine Plural - Noun stems ending
  ā u ū i ī ar
Nom ā
āyo
ū
uvo
uyo
ū
 
uyo
ūyo
ī
yo
iyo
ī
yo
iyo
āyo
ā
aro
 
Acc ā
āyo
ū
uvo
uyo
ū
 
uyo
ūyo
ī
yo
iyo
īyo
yo
iyo
āyo
aro
are
Instr āhi

ābhi
ūhi

ūbhi
ūhi

ūbhi
īhi

ībhi
īhi

ībhi
arehi
ūhi
ūbhi
arebhi
Abl āhi


ābhi
ūhi
 
 
ūbhi
ūhi


ūbhi
īhi
 

ībhi
īhi
 

ībhi
ārehi
arehi
ūhi
ārebhi
arebhi
ūbhi
Gen & Dat ānaṃ ūnaṃ ūnaṃ īnaṃ
 
īnaṃ
inaṃ
īyanaṃ
iyanaṃ
 
ūnaṃ
ānaṃ
ārānaṃ
arānaṃ
unnaṃ
Loc āsu ūsu ūsu īsu
isu
īsu
isu
 
ūsu
usu
āsu
aresu

Neuter Nouns

Neuter Singular - Noun stems ending
  a u i as us an at/ant
Nom aṃ
e
uṃ
u
o
iṃ
i
aṃ
o
uṃ
u
aṃ
a
aṃ
antaṃ
Acc aṃ uṃ
u
iṃ
i
aṃ
o a ā
uṃ
u
aṃ
a
aṃ
antaṃ
Instr ena
ā
asā
unā inā asā
ena
usā
 
unā
anā
ena
unā
ā
atā
antena
Abl ā
asmā
amhā
ato
unā
usmā
umhā
uto
u
inā
ismā
imhā
ito
asā
asmā
amhā
ato
ā
usā
unā
 
 
anā
 
 
ā
anta
antasmā
antamhā
atā
antato
Gen & Dat assa
āya (Dat)
ā
ussa
uno
u
issa
ino
assa
aso
ussa
uno
assa
uno
antassa
ato
Loc asi
asmiṃ
amhi
e
 
usmiṃ
umhi
u
ini
ismiṃ
imhi
e o
asi
asmiṃ
amhi
e
usi
uni
ani
āni

e
ati
antasmiṃ
antamhi
ante

Neuter Plural - Noun stems ending
  a u i as us an at/ant
Nom āni
ā
 
ūni
ū
īni
ī
āni
ā
ūni
ū
āni antāni
anti
Acc āni
e
 
ūni
ū
īni
ī
āni
e
ūni
ū
āni antāni
anti
Instr ehi

ebhi
e
ūhi
uhi
ūbhi
ubhi
īhi
ihi
ībhi
ibhi
ehi

ebhi
uhi

ubhi
ehi antehi

antebhi
Abl ehi

ebhi
ato
ūhi
uhi
ūbhi
ubhi
īhi
ihi
ībhi
ibhi
ehi

ebhi
uhi

ubhi
ehi antehi

antebhi
Gen & Dat ānaṃ

uno
ūnaṃ
unaṃ
unnaṃ
īnaṃ
inaṃ
ānaṃ ūnaṃ
usaṃ
ānaṃ ataṃ
antnaṃ
antānaṃ
Loc esu
ehi
ūsu
usu
īsu
isu
esu usu esu antesu

Download

Adjectives

Adjectives agree with their subject in case, gender & number. Thus they decline in all three genders: masculine, feminine,&  neuter. Adjectives, like nouns, may be divided into those whose stem ends in a vowel and those the stem of which ends in a consonant.

Stems ending in -a

By far the majority, adjectives in -a take the masculine, feminine & neuter endings of stems in –a, -ā, -a respectively. I often shorten this to a/ā.
For instance:
bāla → bālo, bālā, bālaṃ,  (m,f,n   in nominative, singular)
There are exceptions:
  • Some adjectives in -a form a feminine by swapping the -a for –ī which then decline like feminine nouns in  -ī
For instance:
pāpa →  pāpī (fem nom sgl).    pāpī pāpiyo (fem,nom pl)   

Stems ending in -i

These decline like nouns in -i in either masculine, feminine,&  neuter.
For instance
bhūri →  bhūri, bhūrinī, bhūri.  (m,f,n   in nominative, singular)

Stems ending in -ī

Masculines decline like male nouns in  -ī  (long)
Feminines take the suffix -inī and then decline like feminine nouns in -ī (long)
In neuter the  -ī is shortened and then decline like neuter nouns in -i (short)
esī →  esī. esinī. esi.   (m,f,n   in nominative, singular)

Stems ending in -u

Masculines decline like male nouns in  -u  (short)
Feminines take the suffix -unī and then decline like feminine nouns in -ī (long)
In neuter they decline like neuter nouns in  -u  (short)
garu →  garu, garunī, garu. (m,f,n   in nominative, singular)

Stems ending in -ū

Masculines decline like male nouns in  -ū (long)
Feminines take the suffix -unī and then decline like feminine nouns in -ī (long)
In neuter they decline like neuter nouns in  -u  (short)
viññū →  viññū, viññunī, viññuṃ   (m,f,n   in nominative, singular)
 

Adjectives ending in consonants

These fall into two groups
  1. stems which end in -at or -ant.
  2. stems which ends in -mat or -mant  or  in -vat or -vant. 
However they decline pretty much the same:
  • In masculine & neuter these decline like nouns in at/ant
  • Feminines are formed by adding the suffix -ī and then decline like feminine nouns in -ī (long)
Eg.
mahat/mahant →  mahaṃ, mahanto;   mahatī, mahantī;   mahaṃ, mahantaṃ    (m,f,n   in nominative, singular)
guṇavat/guṇavant.→  guṇavā;   guṇavatī, guṇavantī;   guṇavaṃ.   (m,f,n   in nominative, singular)
See the post on Adjectival Suffixes for more detail.

There is another not very numerous class of adjectives formed from nouns and roots in āvin and vin.
The 'n' is really just a place holder and some list these as āvī and vī. because roots take the suffix -āvī and nouns -vī.
  • Masculines decline like male nouns in  -ī/in
  • Feminines take the suffix -inī and then decline like feminine nouns in -ī (long)
  • In neuter the  -ī is shortened and then decline like neuter nouns in -i (short)
medhāvin →  medhāvī. medhāvinī. medhāvi    (m,f,n   in nominative, singular)

Comparitive Adjectives

The Comparison of adjectives is formed in two ways:
  1. by adding -tara for the comparative and -tama for the superlative, to the masculine bases of the Positive.
  2. by adding -iya or -iyya for the comparative, and -iṭṭha, -issika for the superlative, to the masculine bases of the Positive where the final vowel of the base is dropped.
eg. pāpa → pāpatara or pāpiya.

They all then decline to form masculine, feminine & neuter like nouns in a/ā.

Pronouns

Pronoun are very irregular in Pali and often do not appear in dictionaries as separate entries. So I have complied a spreadsheet which can then be searched.



We move onto verb conjugation and the present tense in Pali in the next post....

More posts

Comments

Mahesh Londhe said…
What kind of noun or pronoun may be this following word - "Itthiya".please comment
Mahesh Londhe said…
Is it possible that adjective may have suffix like -iya
Pali Studies said…
Hi there, sorry for the later reply.
itthiyā is the gen/dat/instr/abl/loc of itthi (woman/wife)
Pali Studies said…
-iya can be added to a noun/adjective to form a comparative adjective, meaning 'more/better than'... (See https://palistudies.blogspot.com/2018/05/adjectives-in-pali.html )
This suffix would then be declined to match the noun it qualified in case, number and gender...
Mahesh Londhe said…
Thanks a lot for the reply.
Mahesh Londhe said…
Hi
Well I am novice to pali language and therefore struggling to make meaning of the word "Vitthala" that exists as epithet of god. The word is currently in usage in Marathi language in India. It is believed to have its origin in pali language.Some belive that it is corrupt form of a pali word and it has meaning expressing the one of the following
1) it's posture of standing with hands akimbo
2) it's posture showing the state of being focused (vittaka) with closed eyes.
3) state of idol standing on a brick (ishtikka)
I am trying to figure out which meaning in pali of the word "vitthala" can be grammatically synthesised.
Please comment and help.
I apologies to have missed your reply earlier as I could not trace back your blog until I found it recently.

Thanks and regards
Mahesh
Pali Studies said…
Hi Mahesh, my main focus is Pāli syntax, as such, word derivation is not my area. For this sort of query you might try one of the forums such as: https://dhammawheel.com/viewforum.php?f=23&sid=95f9191cb3f38f890719a7494b66d5a7
Regards.

Popular posts from this blog

What is Pali Language? A little history

In all these grammar tutorials we have never stopped to ask: What is Pali?” “What does the word mean?” “What are the origins of Pali? And this is what we will investigate in this post.... What is Pali & Who Speaks it? Well, let's get the obvious answer out of the way: Pali is an ancient Middle Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language, in which, the scriptures of Theravada school of Buddhism - or Tipiṭaka - have been preserved and passed down. True. Today Pali is studied mainly to gain access to Theravada Buddhist scriptures, and is frequently chanted in a ritual context. But when we say a ' language ', most languages are named either after a population or a region, and we have no evidence of a region called Pali or even a population of Pali speakers... Along side this, nowhere in the Pali canon itself is there a mention of a language called Pali!

Sutta Number to PTS reference converter

Easily look up PTS references in the Sutta Piṭaka. [New expanded coverage tables. Includes alternate numbering. Search accepts space, comma or period separated numbers, case insensitive, diacritic insensitive.] Quick Jump Table   PTS Vol Dīgha Nikāya (DN) D i , D ii , D iii Majjhima Nikāya (MN)   M i , M ii , M iii Saṁyutta Nikāya (SN) S i , S ii , S iii , S iv , S v Aṅguttara Nikāya (AN)   A i , A ii , A iii , A iv , A v Go to Khuddaka Nikaya (KN) ( New! KN ref converter ) Use the quick jump table above; Note: For Vol. i of SN, there are two sets of PTS page numbers for each sutta. This is because the L. Feer editions differs from Somaratne 1999. Or type a Sutta number or name into the search boxes below to search that column of the table!

Learn Pali: Best way to start? 5 Tips to make it easy

Once people have answered the question: "Why learn Pali?" The next query is: "How do I learn Pali?" Here’s the way I suggest you begin with your study of Pali. Build foundations for language learning Start at the right level Stick with it Build vocabulary Make use of the Pali language tools 1 Build foundations for language learning One thing that you really should have before beginning to learn Pali is a basic understanding of general grammatical terms and concepts. Many of the Pali language grammar guides seem to assume you have studied Sanskrit or Latin before. If you haven’t, and you really don’t know the difference between a subject and an object, or the meanings of such terms as nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, prepositions, or declension and conjugation - then perhaps you should spend some time studying English grammar. I found that even though I'm a native English sp

Pali Alphabet & using the PED Dictionary

What is the Pali Alphabet? How is it arranged? How do you use a Pali dictionary? Well, the first thing to note is that Pāli is written in many different scripts. As the buddhist canon travelled, local people used either Indian scripts or switched to their own local scripts. For more on local scripts see here . But for now we are just interested in the Romanized Pali alphabet. This runs Vowels first, then consonants. as follows: a, ā, i, ī, u, ū, e, o (ṃ*) k, kh, g, gh, (ṅ) c, ch, j, jh, ñ ṭ, ṭh, ḍ, (ḍh), (ṇ) t, th, d, dh, n p, ph, b, bh, m y, r, l, (ḷ), (ḷh), v, s, h [Note: the letters in brackets have no entries in the dictionary.] Pali is a phonetic  language so each entry above represents a single sound. Every letter always has the same pronunciation regardless of its context, so no letter has more than one pronunciation, and no sounds are represented by more than one letter. As there are more sounds in Pāli than letters in the roman alphabet, to make distinctions, special

Velthuis to Diacritics converter & Pali Dictionary Lookup Tool

Convert to Unicode Type these Velthuis codes to convert into Pali unicode. aa → ā .m → ṃ ii → ī .t → ṭ uu → ū .d → ḍ "n → ṅ .n → ṇ