Learn Pali Language

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...

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 ...