Part 4

Part 4 - Exercise 3 Answers and Lesson #4

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Exercise 3 - Answers

Translate into English

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bhagavā dhammaṃ deseti

The fortunate one teaches the doctrine

rājānaṃ vañcesi

You are deceiving the king

upāsakaṃ brāhmānaṃ dhāreti

He accepts the priest as a lay disciple

rājā purise āmanteti

The king addresses the men

brāhmaṇo brahmānaṃ passati

The priest sees God

rājā khattiyo mahāmattaṃ pucchati

The king who is a noble asks the minister

brāhmaṇā rājānaṃ vadanti

The priests say to the king

puriso bhāraṃ chaḍḍeti

The man throws away the load

evaṃ kathenti

So they relate (tell)

kālaṃ paccayaṃ paññāpenti

They declare time the condition

Translate into Pali

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The lay disciples salute the fortunate one

upāsakā bhagavantaṃ abhivādenti

He binds the hands

hatthe bandhati

I experience the result

vipākaṃ paṭisaṃvedemi

The king addresses the priest

rājā brāhmaṇaṃ āmanteti

The priest who is minister speaks thus to the fortunate one

brāhmaṇo mahāmatto bhagavantaṃ evaṃ bhāsati

Existence (is) the condition

bhavo paccayo

He remembers the meaning

atthaṃ dhāreti

The fortunate one dresses

bhagavā nivāseti

The gods discuss the matter

devā atthaṃ mantenti

The fortunate one asks the king

bhagavā rājānaṃ pucchati

He enters the dwelling

vihāraṃ pavisati

You rebut the argument

vādaṃ nibbeṭhesi

The king takes counsel

rājā manteti

He renounces gain

lābhaṃ pajahati

Lesson 4

Past (Aorist) Tense

The usual past tense, which is called the "aorist" (ajjatanī) tense, is generally formed directly from the root (more rarely from the present stem) by adding special inflections. Sometimes the vowel a is prefixed to the root as an indication of past time, though the difference of inflections avoids ambiguity in most cases.

singular
plural
3rd person upasaṃkami
“he approached”
upasaṃkamiṃsu
2nd person upasaṃkamiupasaṃkamittha
1st person upasaṃkamiṃupasaṃkamimhā
(or –imha)

compare to present tense table from page 10 ...

singular
plural
3rd person (paṭhamapurisa)
"he", "it", "she", "they"
bhavati
"he is"
bhavanti
2nd person (majjhimapurisa)
"you"
bhavasibhavatha
1st person (uttamapurisa)
"I" ,"we"
bhavāmibhavāma

singular
plural
3rd person desesi
“he taught”
desesuṃ
2nd person desesidesittha
1st person desesiṃdesimha

singular
plural
3rd person akāsi
“he made”
akaṃsu
2nd person akāsiakattha
1st person akāsiṃakamha

Verbs

stem
verb
meaning
as (to be)āsihe was, it was
(p)pa-(k)kampakkāmihe went away
(j)jhejhāyihe meditated
pucchpucchihe asked
bandhbandhihe bound
bhāsabhāsihe said
(p)pa-(v)vajpabbajihe went forth
(p)pa-vispāvisihe entered, he went
ni-sīdnisīdihe sat down

Verbs

stem
verb
meaning
kathkathesihe related, he told
dev (to lament) (with the prefix pari, meaning "round", "around")paridevesihe lamented, he grieved
āmantāmantesihe addressed

see also desesi table from page 25 ...

singular
plural
3rd person desesi
“he taught”
desesuṃ
2nd person desesidesittha
1st person desesiṃdesimha

singular
plural
3rd person akāsi
“he made”
akaṃsu
2nd person akāsiakattha
1st person akāsiṃakamha

Verbs

stem
verb
meaning
()ṭhāaṭṭhāsihe stood, he remained
adāsihe gave
(p)pa-hāpahāsihe renounced

singular
plural
3rd person ahosi
“he was” “there was”
ahesuṃ
2nd person ahosiahuvattha
1st person ahosiṃahumha

The aorist is used for all kinds of past actions, including besides the "historical" or "narrative" past particularly the (present-) perfect: desesiṃ = "I have taught".

The second and first persons plural are not often found in the Pali texts. The third person is extremely common, both singular and plural.

Agreement of Verb and Agent

When a verb has two or more agents it usually agrees with the sum of the agents and is plural;

more rarely it may agree with the nearest agent only or with the agents taken as a collective, being singular.

If the persons conflict, the second takes precedence over the third and the first over both.

Vocabulary

Some indeclinables (nipāta):

indeclinable
meaning
athathen (atha kho combined mean "then", moreover", "rather")
etthahere
khoindeed (slight emphasis)
caand (always follows the word it connects, or the first word of a phrase it connects called therefore an "enclitic" or "postpositive". Very often repeated after each connected word)
tadāthen
nāmaby name (used after the name) (sometimes merely emphatic, "indeed")
bhūtapubbaṃformerly, once upon a time
saceif

 Masculine nouns in a:

noun
meaning
kumāroboy, prince
purohitohigh priest, (approx.) prime minister (the priest who is chief adviser to the king, "instructing": anu-sās, him in both secular matters and religious duties)
māṇavoboy, young priest
rājaputtoprince
sahāyofriend

EXERCISE 4

The answers are given in Part 5

Translate into English

upāsakā nisīdiṃsu

bhūtapubbaṃ rājā Disampati nāma ahosi. Reṇu nāma kumāro putto ahosi. Govindo nāma brāhmaṇo purohito ahosi. Jotipālo nāma māṇavo putto ahosi. Reṇu ca rājaputto Jotipālo ca māṇavo sahāyā ahesuṃ. atha kho Govindo brāhmaṇo kālam akāsi.1 rājā Disampati paridevesi.

evaṃ tadā āsi

1 This idiom "made his time" means "he died".

Translate into Pali

The priest went away

The fortunate one entered the village

The son was called Uttara

The fortunate one addressed Ānanda2

I have taught the doctrine

The nobles approached the prince

I spoke thus

The prince went forth

2A famous disciple of the Buddha, his personal attendant and "dragon" (for keeping time-wasters at bay).