Learn Pali Language

The Pali verb tenses/moods discussed so far are termed primary derivations. What is known as a secondary   stem can be developed from a primary stem by the addition of a new 'secondary infix or by the replacement of an existing suffix. √kar Primary base       prefix Pres. stem modal infix Personal Ending     - karo eyya si   present, opt 2nd per, sgl => kareyyāsi       Secondary base       prefix Pres. stem sec infix modal infix Personal Ending     - karo iya eyya si   present, pass opt 2nd per, sgl => kariyeyyāsi ...

The term aorist  derives from the grammar of ancient Greek. In Pali, it can be regarded as a simple past tense. Note however, the use of the aorist tense in Pali covers both the simple past, the present perfect and occasionally also the imperfect aspect . For example, agami can mean:  he/she went" (simple past), "he/she has gone" (present perfect), and occasionally (imperfect) "he/she was going. It should also be noted that the past participle is often used for the past tense. The aorist verb is often used with the prohibitive negation mā: mā agamāsi =  do not go. mā atthāsi, = do not stand. mā bhuñji, = do not eat. Checkout this video tutorial on Tense and aspect in Pali. Tense vs Aspect & Participles in Pali Following on from the previous tutorial on tenses of the English Language, this tutorial looks at Tense & Aspect in the Pali language. You will see the difference between inflection and auxiliary verb... Formation o...

Tense and Moody? Must be a Verb... Pāḷi has three moods  in the present tense, which are used to express the speaker’s attitude toward the action. Indicative : used to express statements, proclamations, opinions. Optative : used to express the hypothetical, and also wishes or hopes Imperative : used to express commands and invitations The conditional too is often classified as a mood rather than a tense, though it is most often placed with the future tense. With this exception, all of the above moods exist only in the present tense. Each of the other tenses has only one mood. We saw the indicative mood in the last post.

The inflection of verbs is known as “ conjugation ”. It consists of changes in form to show differences in person, number, tense, mood, and voice. In this post we will start our look at the present tense in Pali. By now you may have realised that the available tools (DPR & Pali Lookup) are good but not infallible when it comes to detecting the inflections of Pali verbs. Nouns tend to be straightforward, there are many groups but the ending are fairly regular. However, verbs and their derivatives can be very irregular and multitudinous and not all the variations are caught by the automated parser - nor the dictionary. This then can cause the amateur translator hours of frustration in their attempts to search for that one illusive word not in the dictionary.

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

The inflection (altering of form) of nouns is called  declension . The classes of declensions are called  cases , and together they form the  Noun case system . In Pali, nouns, pronouns, adjectives and participles are declined in eight cases: nominative, vocative, accusative, instrumental, ablative, genitive, dative and locative. This post summaries the various Pali noun cases that we have discussed so far (and some we haven't). English has largely lost its case system although personal pronouns still have three cases, which are simplified forms of the nominative, accusative and genitive cases. In Pali, a noun is placed in one or other case as is required by its grammatical function in the sentence. With the exception of the nominative, vocative and some instances of the accusative case, the oblique cases as they are termed can be rendered in English by  prepositional phrases .

Two or more words combined together to form a single composite term is called a compound – e.g. blackboard, notebook, homemade etc. In older parts of the Pali canon, compounds are simple and seldom contain more than two or three elements: nāma-rūpa = name & form, ceto-vimutti = liberation of mind, But they become more complicated in later language: sīlasamādhipaññāvimuttivimuttiñāṇadassanaparibhāvitaṃ → sīla + samādhi + paññāvimutti + vimutti + ñāṇadassana + paribhāvitaṃ As a general rule, all members of a composite term are in their stem forms (no inflection of case, person or gender) except the final term which is inflected according to its gender, casting the whole composite to that inflection. pañca+upādāna+khandh ā pañca+upādāna+khandh ānaṃ pañca+upādāna+khandh esu The separate stems are joined using the rules of sandhi (joining) making compounds tricky sometime to tease apart. pañc u pādāna k khandhā → pañca+upādāna+khandhā The Digital Pali Re...

We’ve covered a lot of Pali syntax already and this post is a recap and summary. I’ve put together a quick reference guide to Subject-Verb Agreement to aid students (and myself ) when attempting to translate. This helps to determine which word belongs where... I’ll paraphrase Duroiselle & Bomhard here: Clauses in Pali have at least two elements: The “subject” — the person, place, or thing which the sentence is about – always in nominative case or implied. The “predicate” — that which happens to the subject. The predicate may contain: A main finite verb, in which case it must agree with the subject in number and person. A past passive participle used as a finite verb., in which case it must agree with the subject in gender and number. (Present participles never appear as finite verbs) A noun with an implied hoti ‘to be’ understood after it, in the same case and usually number, but no concord of gender or number need take place! An adjective with an implied hoti ‘to be’ u...

In this post we will look at conjunctions and examine some types of clause in Pali. This post follows on from earlier posts about relative clauses and also adverbs in Pali . In its simplest form a sentence is just a single clause. If you remember, a clause consists of a subject (noun phrase) and a verb (verb phrase) or to use different lingo, a subject and a predicate . Conjunctions can be used to join clauses to form more complex sentences. clause noun verb John shouted   clause pronoun verb everybody waved conj and In English, Conjunctions are often grouped into three types: Coordinating conjunctions , used to join either words, phrases , or clauses . (e...

In the last couple of posts I’ve been looking at verb participles . They are a verb form that although called past & present actually have little to do with tense/time and are mainly associated with verb aspect  – the extent to which an action is completed. When they are not playing in the role of main ( finite ) verb of a sentence they are called non-finite (or infinite) verbs as they aren't 'limited' by tense. In other words, a non-finite verb is any verb that is not the main tense marked verb of the sentence. As such they tend to act or function as verbal adjectives  and are thus often called 'Verbals'. Verbal adjectives act like verbs - in that they form a verb phrase, possibly taking objects and other dependents and modifiers of verbs - however that verb phrase then plays the role of an attributive adjective  in the larger sentence. In Pali they can be divided into two groups: declinable  & non- or indeclinable .  Participles form ...

The last post looked at participle acting in passive sentences . In this post we'll continues with participles in active  Pali sentences, and specifically Present Participles. Just as a reminder, in an active sentence, the grammatic subject in nominative and the actor doing the action of the main verb will be the same ; and the verb will agree in gender & number with this agent/subject. A transitive  verb may also take an object  in accusative. Present Participles (Active) Present participles in English are easy to spot as they all end with ‘–ing’. Present participles are used in several ways: Adjective like: as verbal adjectives , (a modifier to a noun) The smiling girl..., the bouncing ball... as subject complements , (with copula) The girl is smiling ..., the ball is bouncing ... in subordinate clauses , the girl walked along, bouncing the ball Verb like: in periphrasis  - combination with other auxiliary verbs to create aspect , T...

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

The topic of passive sentences naturally leads onto participles . As such the next two post form a unit and should be read together. Now so far on this blog, we have dealt only with active sentences – where subject performs an action on some target object. With a passive  sentence (sometimes called the passive voice) the grammatical subject   gets something done to them! Compare:       Active voice   Passive voice Semantic : agent   patient   patient   agent Grammatic : subject transitive object   subject intransitive instrument   The dog chases the cat   The cat is chased by the dog

First let’s look at what a clause is and explain some terminology. Learning this terminology helps when reading grammar guides like Warder . Clauses - an overview Previously I said that sentence consisted in a noun phrase + a verb phrase. Strictly this is the description of a clause . A sentence can involve one or more clauses joined by conjunctions . clause noun verb John shouted   clause pronoun verb everybody waved conj and

Whereas adjectives qualify nouns, Pronouns represent them. Pronouns are words which substitute for other nouns and often refer back to someone or something mentioned earlier (the antecedent). In Western grammar they are divide into several types. Here's a quick link table for navigation: Personal pronouns I, you, him, her, them Table: 1 Demonstrative pronouns this, that, these those Table: 2 , Table: 3 , Table: 4 , Table: 5  Possessive pronouns  mine, yours, his, hers Interrogative pronouns who? what? which? Table: 6 Indefinite pronouns anyone, anything, someone Table: 7 Reflexive pronouns myself, yourself, himself Relative pronouns he who, which, that Table: 8 The declension of pronouns in Pali is very irregular. Many grammar guides include tables of their various forms ( Bomhard , Duroiselle ). I'll only present an edited selection in the sections below, but they are tabled out at the end of this post - links above. ...

Following on from the last post discussing Noun Attributes in Pali , we can now look at adjectives specifically, as well as Comparatives & Superlatives. Adjectives as Attributes An adjective is a word that describes, or qualifies a noun and describes a quality or characteristic. They are often termed 'describing' words:  red, quiet, obedient, cold, new etc. For instance: adj adj adj adj adj setā rasmiyo setā patodalaṭṭhi setaṃ chattaṃ setaṃ uṇhīsaṃ setāni vatthāni nom pl fem nom pl fem nom sgl fem nom sgl fem nom sgl neut nom sgl neut   nom sgl neut nom sgl neut nom pl neut nom pl neut   white reins a white driver’s stick a white parasol a white turban white clothes Actually technically, in the phrase 'the white reins' both 'white' & 'reins' are each nouns, but 'white' is being used as an attributive adjective because it is qualifying another noun, while 'reins' is terme...

Usually in Pali, words referring to the same thing are in the same case & number . This is especially true of nominative & accusative cases. In this post we're going to look at common examples when two or more nouns occur together in Nominative or Accusative cases. Pali Noun Attributes Most commonly, several nouns occurring in the nominative (& sometimes in accusative) case are probably attributes to a similar substantive noun. (Note: substantive is a loose term meaning something of substance, an entity, which can stand by itself, in distinction to an adjective). Noun attributes describe or qualify a noun. They add a characteristic or specify quality. For instance: a big book a blue book a sad book We've seen this already in our previous example ( SN8.6 ): sāriputt o mahāpaññ o dhammaṃ deseti bhikkhunaṃ Nom Nom Acc Pres, Act Dat/Gen ...

When translating Pali, it is useful to begin by identifying the subject of the sentence , the verb corresponding to that subject, and then any objects of the verb. In order to do this, the first task is to determine the stems, case, gender and number of each word in the sentence. In the next post we'll look at methods for identifying stem endings . But for now here's a quick table for the nom. & acc. a/ā stems: SINGULAR   PLURAL stem ends: Masc. a Neut. a Fem. ā   Masc. a Neut. a Fem. ā Nom. -o -aṁ ∅   -ā -ā -āni ∅ -āyo Acc. -aṁ ...

What is noun declension? How are noun cases used?  Well, the inflection of nouns is called declension . Inflection is where a word changes form (spelling) to indicate its grammatical role. The individual declensions are grouped into cases, and together they form a case system. If you are at a loss, then this series of posts is for you. Lets start with some terminology. Sentence Structure -  subject  and predicate First to understand Pali we must understand how sentences are constructed. A sentence can be broken down into structural parts called phrases and each phrase plays a different role in the meaning of the sentence. A phrase is just one or more linked words that play a specific role.

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...