Learn Pali Language

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 ...