Part 5

Part 5 - Exercise 4 Answers and Lesson #5

Play the audio and follow along.

Use the 'play time' buttons within the text to navigate the audio.

Start here: 


00:00 / 00:00

Exercise 4 - Answers

Translate into English

Click the Pali to reveal/hide the answers in English or use the buttons:  

upāsakā nisīdiṃsu

The lay disciples sat down

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. rājā Disampati paridevesi.

Formerly there was a king, Disampati by name. The prince named Reṇu was (his) son. (His) prime minister was a priest named Govinda. (Whose) son was the young priest named Jotipāla. Prince Reṇu and the young priest Jotipāla were friends. Then the priest Govinda died. King Disampati lamented.

(Once upon a time there was a king called Disampati. The prince who was a son was named Reṇu. There was a Brahmin called Govinda who was prime minister. The boy called Jotipāla was the son. Reṇu the prince and Jotipāla the boy were friends. Govinda the Brahmin died. King Disampati grieved.)

evaṃ tadā āsi

So it was then
(Thus it was then)

Translate into Pali

Click the English to reveal/hide the answers in Pali or use the buttons:  

The priest went away

brāhmaṇo pakkāmi

The fortunate one entered the village

bhagavā gāmaṃ pāvisi

See this table (from pg.24):
singular
plural
3rd person upasaṃkami
“he approached”
upasaṃkamiṃsu
2nd person upasaṃkamiupasaṃkamittha
1st person upasaṃkamiṃupasaṃkamimhā
(or –imha)

The son was called Uttara

Uttaro nāma putto ahosi

The fortunate one addressed Ānanda

bhagavā Ānandaṃ āmantesi

See this table (from pg.25):
singular
plural
3rd person desesi
“he taught”
desesuṃ
2nd person desesidesittha
1st person desesiṃdesimha

I have taught the doctrine

dhammaṃ desesiṃ

The nobles approached the prince

khattiyā yena rājaputto tena upasaṃkamiṃsu
or use kumāro for prince
(khattiyā rājaputtaṃ upasaṃkamiṃsu)

I spoke thus

evaṃ abhāsiṃ

The prince went forth

kumāro pabbaji

Lesson 5

Pronouns: Personal and Demonstrative

The personal pronouns are inflected as follows:

First Person

singularplural
nominative ahaṃ
"I"
mayaṃ
"we"
accusative maṃ
"me"
amhe
"us"

Second Person

singularplural
nominative tvaṃ
"thou", "you"
tumhe
"you"
accusative taṃ (or tvaṃ)
"thee", "you"

Third Person

singularplural
masculinefemininemasculinefeminine
nominative so (sometimes sa)
"he"

"she"
te
accusative taṃ
"him"
taṃ
"her"

Although the person is expressed by the inflection of the verb, the pronouns of the first and second persons are frequently used, giving a slight emphasis to the subject. The third person pronoun is less often used in this way.

The third personal pronoun is used also as a demonstrative, meaning "that", "it", in three genders.

 It is generally used as what is known as an "anaphoric " pronoun, that is to say it refers back to someone or something previously mentioned in a narrative.

 As opposed to the use in conversation and other direct speech of "pronouns of presence" referring to someone or something present ("this man", "that jar"), these pronouns are called "pronouns of absence" because it is most often used to speak of someone or something in a story and therefore not present to the listeners.

 It may serve to connect the sentences of a narrative into a continuous paragraph or longer section. It is used also as an emphatic pronoun (in combination with another pronoun or occasionally with 1st person, for example in the expression so 'haṃ "I" (literally "that I").

 In combination with a noun it is again emphatic and may sometimes be translated "the". The masculine and feminine demonstrative pronouns are as above, the neuter inflections are:

 

singularplural
nominative and accusative taṃ or tad
tāni

 Another form of the demonstrative pronoun is used to denote a present object or person, corresponding roughly to the English "he", "she", "it", and "this". It may be called a "deictic" pronoun, pointing to someone or something present to the hearers in direct speech.

The inflections are the same, with the prefix e:

 

singularplural
masculinefeminineneutermasculinefeminineneuter
nominative eso (sometimes esa)esāetaṃ or etadeteetāetāni
accusative etaṃetaṃ

Another demonstrative pronoun, also "deictic" or "present" and translatable "he", "she", "it", or "this" and so hardly distinguishable in meaning from eta, is inflected as follows:

 

singularplural
masculinefeminineneutermasculinefeminineneuter
nominative ayaṃidaṃimeimāimāni
accusative imaṃ

There being no "definite article" in Pali the demonstrative pronouns are sometimes used where English would use the definite article, and may sometimes be translated "the" rather than "he", "that", "this", etc.

Demonstrative pronouns must agree in number and gender (and case) with the nouns to which they refer.

 

The Verb 'as'

The verb as, "to be", asserts with emphasis the existence of something or somebody. (hoti is not emphatic).

The verb atthi is very irregular; the present tense is as follows:

 

singular
plural
3rd person atthisanti
2nd person asiattha
1st person asmi or amhiamha (sometimes amhā)

Negation

There are two main negative indeclinables, na and ma. The first is the usual negative "not", placed in front of the word or phrase negated, or at the beginning of a negative sentence:

tvaṃ na passasi - "you do not see"

The vowel of na is often elided when the word following it begins with a vowel

n' atthi - "it is not", "it doesn't exist"

The second negative is used for prohibitions or negative injunctions or wishes, usually with the second person of the aorist tense, which loses its time reference and applies to the present or future.

mā paridevesi - "don't grieve"

More rarely appears, sometimes with the particle eva, or h’ eva1, with the third person of the verb:

mā h'eva rājā kālam akāsi - "may the king not die"

(mā h'eva means "don't" or simply "not").

1 h' is the emphatic particle ha, " indeed," with elision of its vowel before another vowel

 with the third person appears regularly in polite address.

 A double negation is equivalent to a strong affirmation:

mā h'eva kho kumāro na rajjaṃ kāresi - "don't let the prince not rule (kāresi: aor. 3 sg.) the kingdom (rajjaṃ)"

i.e. let him rule, he must rule.

Aorist of vac

The aorist of the verb vac, to say, is very irregular:

singular
plural
3rd person avoca - "he said"avocuṃ
2nd person avoca (also avaca)avocuttha (also avacuttha)
1st person avocaṃavocumha (or-umhā)

Vocative Case

The vocative case, or "nominative of address", of masculine nouns in a has in the singular merely the uninflected stem: deva, “O king."  The plural is the same as the nominative plural. The vocative is used "enclitically", i.e. it does not stand at the beginning of a sentence.

 

Vocabulary

Verb of the first conjugation:

stem
verb
meaning
apa-iapetihe goes from, he goes away (poetic)

Indeclinables:

indeclinable
meaning
tuṇhīsilent, silently
tenathis way, that way
pialso, too (like ca this follows the word, or the first word of the phrase, connected by it)
haindeed

Masculine nouns in a:

noun
meaning
issarolord, god
nirodhocessation (of unhappiness and of perception, sensation and mental states), peace of mind, calm
paribbājakowanderer
mahārājāgreat king, king (nom. sg. as rājan-, but rest follows a declension on stem -rāja-, e.g.: acc. mahārājaṃ. The nom. pl. may be written either or ~āno)

EXERCISE 5

The answers are given in Part 6

Translate into English

Reṇu rājaputto rājanaṃ Disampatiṃ etad avoca. mā kho tvaṃ deva paridevesi. atthi deva Jotipālo nāma māṇavo putto ti. atha kho rājā Disampati purisaṃ āmantesi.

ahaṃ ime dhamme desesiṃ

rājā khattiyo taṃ purisaṃ etad avoca

mā samaṇaṃ upasaṃkami

ahaṃ purohito brāhmaṇo ahosiṃ

ahaṃ asmi brahmā issaro

idaṃ avoca bhagavā1

te rajāputtaṃ avocuṃ

mā saddam akattha

so nirodhaṃ phusati

samaṇā amha

na taṃ deva vañcemi

eso mahārāja bhagavā

mayaṃ bhagavantaṃ upasaṃkamimhā

atthi kāyo

upeti pi apeti pi

evam2 etaṃ brāhmaṇa

1 Rhetorical and emotive inversion of agent and verb, for emphasis. In their context these words follow the utterance of an important statement.

2 may change to m when a vowel follows in close junction.

 

Translate into Pali

The wanderer said this to the fortunate one

Those wanderers were silent

I teach the doctrine

I am a priest

This king is a human being, I too am a human being

I love her

Don't go in (sing., use two words only)

We said to that fortunate one

Don't grieve (plur.)

He goes forth (use pronoun)

 

Then (add kho) Mahāgovinda the priest towards those nobles approached that way

He said this to those nobles

They ask me the meaning

He said this to us

She said this to me

I teach this doctrine

This (is) cessation (use idaṃ-)

You are (emphatically) priests, O Vāseṭṭhas
(word order: pronoun, kho, verb, vocative …)