Part 14

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
akusalabad, unwholesome
atītapast
anantainfinite, borderless, boundless
iddhapowerful, prosperous
kanta (p.p. kam) agreeable, lovely
kalyāṇabeautiful, good
kusalagood, wholesome
dakkhiṇaright (hand), southern
dhuvafixed
niccapermanent, regular
pacchimalast, western
pahūtamuch, many
piyadear
phītaprosperous
vāmaleft
sassataeternal
sukaraeasy
sukhahappy

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 personmaññasimaññatha
1st personmaññāmimaññāma

 Verbs

stem
verb
meaning
chidchijjatihe cuts (down)
janjāyatihe is born (intransitive verb; stem irregularly formed)
ā-dāādiyatihe takes (irregular elision of root vowel, cf. passive conjugation; here i)
ā-pad āpajjatihe acquires, he produces, he gets, he has (intransitive in the latter meaning)
pad (to go)(with the prefix u(d))uppajjatiit happens, it arises, it becomes
upa-padupapajjatihe transmigrates, he is reborn
upa-saṃ-padupasampajjatihe enters into
ni-padnipajjatihe lies down
(p)paṭi-padpaṭipajjatihe engages in, he follows, he practises, he behaves (habitually)
vi-mucvimuccatihe is freed
ni-rudhnirujjhatiit stops, it ceases
vidvijjatiit 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
chidchinnacut off
dinnagiven
ā-padāpannapossessing, having
u(d)-paduppannahappened, arisen
upa-padupapannatransmigrated, reborn, arisen, come into existence
(p)paṭi-pad paṭipannaengaged in, following, practising
sam-padsampannaendowed with, having
bhid bhinnadivided, split
ni-sīdnisinnaseated
hīnadiminished, 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 addasāaddasaṃsu
2nd personaddasāaddasatha
1st personaddasaṃaddasāma


singular
plural
3rd person agamāsi
"he went"
agamaṃsu
(with the double inflection)
2nd personagamā
(without the double inflection)
agamittha
(following the first aorist form)
1st personagamāsiṃagamamhā

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
cucutafallen, passed away
vi-pari-ṇamvipariṇatachanged

Nouns

noun
meaning
ābādhoillness
kārakodoer
bhiṅkārovase, ceremonial water vessel
rukkhotree
saṃvarorestraint
cakkaṃwheel
disādirection
samaññādesignation, agreed usage
pāmujjaṃgladness, joy

 Indeclinables

indeclinable
meaning
āvusosir! (polite address between equals, also to juniors)
idhahere, in this connection
kuto pana(whence then? - rhetorical question): much less, let alone
tatothence, then, from there, from that
micchāwrongly, badly
sammārightly, perfectly

EXERCISE 11

The answers are given in Part 15

Translate into English

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