Navigating Pali Studies

Participles [passive] & Gerundives- Part 1

In the last post we looked at passive sentence construction . Now we can move on to take a look at participles in Pali. If you're not familiar with participle use already, they can seem a little perpelexing. So we'll work through them slowly. Whereas English has only past & present participle forms, participles in Pali have distinct past, present & also future/potential forms. In Pali its common to identify six kinds of participles: Past Active Participles, Past Passive Participles, Present Active participles, Present Passive Participles, Absolutive / Indeclinable Participles, Future Passive / Gerundive / Potential Participles

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...

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: Vowels, comprising all the stems that end: -a, -ā, -i, -ī, -u, -ū, (o) Consonants, which include stems ending: -ar, -ī/in, -an, -at/ant, -as & -us

An Introductory Grammar of the Pāḷi Language: Bomhard

A formated & hyperlinked version of Bomhard's An Introductory Grammar of the Pāḷi Language (2018) with some minor corrections. Note: comments in { } are my own. Paragraph and list numbering has been retained throughout. An Introductory Grammar of the Pāḷi Language PREPARED BY Allan R. Bomhard Charleston Buddhist Fellowship Charleston, SC USA 2018 (2562) Table of Contents 1 Phonology 1.1 Alphabets 1.2 Phonological System 1.3 Pronunciation 1.4 Vowels 1.5 Consonants 1.6 Sandhi 1.7 Accent 2 Declension 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Vowels Stems 2.2.1 Case Endings — First Declension 2.2.2 Masculines and Neuters in -a 2.2.3 Feminines in -ā 2.2.4 Adjectives in -a 2.2.5 Case Endings — Second Declension 2.2.6 Masculines and Neuters in -i 2.2.7 Masculines in -ī 2.2.8 Feminines in -i 2.2.9 Feminines in -ī 2.2.10 Adjectives in -i and -ī 2.2.11 Case...

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!

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