Part 14 - Lesson #11
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Lesson 11
Adjectives
Adjectives (guṇanāma) are inflected in the same way as other nouns, in the three genders according to the nouns they qualify as attribute-words.
Most adjectives in a form feminines in ā. Adjectives also agree in case and number with the nouns they qualify.
When an adjective is common to two or more nouns it may agree with the sum of these (and be plural) or with the nearest. Thirdly the qualified words may be taken as collective and singular and the adjective be singular. Where the genders conflict, the masculine takes precedence over the feminine, the neuter over both.
An adjective usually precedes the noun it qualifies, but when there are several adjectives with one noun very often only one adjective precedes and the rest follow the noun.
A demonstrative pronoun relating to the same noun will precede the whole group.
When an adjective, or (all the) adjectives, follows its noun this usually indicates that it is being "predicated" of the noun, or in other words that the attribute in question is being emphasized.
Adjectives in a
adjective | meaning |
|---|---|
| akusala | bad, unwholesome |
| atīta | past |
| ananta | |
| iddha | powerful, prosperous |
| kanta (p.p. kam) | agreeable, lovely |
| kalyāṇa | beautiful, good |
| kusala | good, wholesome |
| dakkhiṇa | right (hand), southern |
| dhuva | fixed |
| nicca | permanent, regular |
| pacchima | last, western |
| pahūta | much, many |
| piya | dear |
| phīta | prosperous |
| vāma | left |
| sassata | eternal |
| sukara | easy |
| sukha | happy |
Past participles may acquire special meanings when used as adjectives: diṭṭha, "visible".
The distinction between "substantives" and "adjectives" is not absolute, a good many words being used in both functions. Thus:
kusalaṃ = "the good"
kusala = "good", "good at"
sukhaṃ = "happiness"
sukha = "happy"
- likewise kalyāṇa and other words which are usually adjectives may appear in the neuter gender as abstract nouns.
Third Conjugation
singular | plural |
|
|---|---|---|
| 3rd person | maññati "he thinks" | maññanti |
| 2nd person | maññasi | maññatha |
| 1st person | maññāmi | maññāma |
Verbs
stem | verb | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| chid | chijjati | he cuts (down) |
| jan | jāyati | he is born (intransitive verb; stem irregularly formed) |
| ā-dā | ādiyati | he takes (irregular elision of root vowel, cf. passive conjugation; here i) |
| ā-pad | āpajjati | he acquires, he produces, he gets, he has (intransitive in the latter meaning) |
| pad (to go)(with the prefix u(d)) | uppajjati | it happens, it arises, it becomes |
| upa-pad | upapajjati | he transmigrates, he is reborn |
| upa-saṃ-pad | upasampajjati | he enters into |
| ni-pad | nipajjati | he lies down |
| (p)paṭi-pad | paṭipajjati | he engages in, he follows, he practises, he behaves (habitually) |
| vi-muc | vimuccati | he is freed |
| ni-rudh | nirujjhati | it stops, it ceases |
| vid | vijjati | it is, it occurs, it is found (to be the case) |
In an idiom with ṭhānaṃ, vijjati expresses the possibility of an event or inference:
thānaṃ etaṃ vijjati
"this/it is possible" (literally "this place is found"), "it is the case"
n' etaṃ thānaṃ vijjati
"this is impossible", "it is not the case"
Passive forms occasionally coincide with the active: the meaning must in such cases be inferred from the context:
rukkhā chijjanti
"trees are cut down"
Past Participles in -na
Certain verbs form their past participles with the suffix na, often there is assimilation of a final root consonant to the n:
stem | past participle | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| chid | chinna | cut off |
| dā | dinna | given |
| ā-pad | āpanna | possessing, having |
| u(d)-pad | uppanna | happened, arisen |
| upa-pad | upapanna | transmigrated, reborn, arisen, come into existence |
| (p)paṭi-pad | paṭipanna | engaged in, following, practising |
| sam-pad | sampanna | endowed with, having |
| bhid | bhinna | divided, split |
| ni-sīd | nisinna | seated |
| hā | hīna | diminished, eliminated |
Aorists of (d)dis and gam
The root (d)dis, "to see", forms an aorist with inflections in ā, changing its root vowel to a:
singular | plural |
|
|---|---|---|
| 3rd person | addasā | addasaṃsu |
| 2nd person | addasā | addasatha |
| 1st person | addasaṃ | addasāma |
singular | plural |
|
|---|---|---|
| 3rd person | agamāsi "he went" | agamaṃsu (with the double inflection) |
| 2nd person | agamā (without the double inflection) | agamittha (following the first aorist form) |
| 1st person | agamāsiṃ | agamamhā |
Vocabulary
Verb of the first conjugation
stem | verb | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| abhi-u(d)-kir (to scatter) | abbhukkirati | he sprinkles (when a dissimilar vowel follows it, i sometimes changes to y; in the present case the y is further assimilated to the preceding consonant, hence abhi-u > abhyu > abbhuy) |
Past participles
stem | past participle | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| cu | cuta | fallen, passed away |
| vi-pari-ṇam | vipariṇata | changed |
Nouns
noun | meaning |
|---|---|
| ābādho | illness |
| kārako | doer |
| bhiṅkāro | vase, ceremonial water vessel |
| rukkho | tree |
| saṃvaro | restraint |
| cakkaṃ | wheel |
| disā | direction |
| samaññā | designation, agreed usage |
| pāmujjaṃ | gladness, joy |
Indeclinables
indeclinable | meaning |
|---|---|
| āvuso | sir! (polite address between equals, also to juniors) |
| idha | here, in this connection |
| kuto pana | (whence then? - rhetorical question): much less, let alone |
| tato | thence, then, from there, from that |
| micchā | wrongly, badly |
| sammā | rightly, perfectly |
na kho ahaṃ āvuso addasaṃ
ayaṃ tathāgatassa pacchimā vācā
pāmujjaṃ bhavissati, sukho ca vihāro
addasā1 kho bhagavā tā devatāyo
iminā kho evaṃ bho pariyāyena Jotipālassa māṇavassa Mahāgovindo ti samaññā udapādi
sassato loko
so gacchati dakkhiṇaṃ disaṃ
kusalan ti pi na bhavissati, kuto pana kusalassa kārako
ahaṃ kho maggaṃ agamāsiṃ
kalyānaṃ vuccati brāhmaṇa
atha kho rājā Mahāsudassano vāmena hatthena bhiṅkāraṃ gahetvā dakkhiṇena hatthena cakkaratanaṃ2 abbhukkiri
idaṃ kusalaṃ
ayaṃ Jambudīpo3 iddho c'eva bhavissati phīto ca
micchā paṭipanno tvam asi, aham asmi sammā paṭipanno
so tato cuto idhūpapanno4
addasā paribbājako bhagavantaṃ āgacchantaṃ
saññā uppajjanti pi nirujjhanti pi
bhagavato ābādho uppajji
saṃvaraṃ āpajjati
ahaṃ kho kammaṃ akāsiṃ. kammaṃ kho pana me karontassa kāyo kilanto, handāhaṃ5 nipajjāmi
imaṃ mayaṃ addasāma idha upapannaṃ
1 addasā often stands at the beginning of its sentence.
2 A compound word: "wheel-gem", a symbol of imperial power.
3 India (as continent).
4 When two vowels meet, sometimes the first is elided and the second is lengthened (idha + upapanno).
5 This combination may be regarded as an instance of that described in footnote 4 above, or of a + a > ā by coalescence of similar vowels.
Translate into Pali
The universe is infinite
This is not easy (use the neuter: impersonal statement)
I followed the road
The king saw the boy
The city was prosperous
He (is) fixed, permanent, eternal (four words, order as here)
We saw the fortunate one
The speech (is) agreeable
My life (was) given by him (he spared my life), his life (was) given by me (I spared his life)
See! Ananda - They (are) past, ended, changed
He has much gold