Full Guide to Noun Declension

Declension is the addition to the stems of Nouns suffixes which indicate grammatical category, such as:

• case, number & gender.

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 yā	iyā yā	uyā yā arā
Abl	āya āto ato	uyā   uto	uyā	iyā yā ito	iyā yā īto ito	uyā yā ito arā
Gen & Dat	āya	uyā	uyā	iyā yā	iyā yā	āya yā uyā u
Loc	āya āyaṃ	uyā uyaṃ	uyā uyaṃ	iyaṃ yaṃ āyaṃ o u	iyā iyaṃ yaṃ yā	uyā uyaṃ    yā ari

Feminine Plural - Noun stems ending

	ā	u	ū	i	ī	ar
Nom	ā āyo	ū uvo uyo	ū   uyo ūyo	ī yo iyo yā	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

Noun declension tables

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.

Pali Pronouns

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