Part 8

Part 8 - Exercise 7 Answers and Lesson #8

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Exercise 7 - Answers

Translate into English

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iminā mayaṃ nimmitā

We have been created by him.

nimmitā. Note the nominative plural ending ā to agree with mayaṃ. The verb 'to be' has been added to give the passive sense of the past participle, thus 'been created'. The Pali past participle normally indicates the present perfect (see Warder p.40), thus 'have been created' rather than just 'are created'. The exact meaning of the past participle will depend on the context.

mayaṃ brahmunā nimmitā

We have been created by Brahmā.

Note the change in word order from the previous example. Word order does not usually have any grammatical significance in Pali, see Warder p.15.

desito Ānanda mayā dhammo1

Ānanda, the Dhamma has been taught by me.

See this table (from pg.39):
stem
past participle
meaning
(p)pa-(k)kampakkantagone away, left
karkatadone
kilamkilantatired
kup (to be angry)kupitaangered
gamgatagone
adhi-gam the prefix adhi means “over”adhigataunderstood
ā-gamāgatacome
saṃ-anu-ā-gamsamannāgataendowed, acquired
ni-(g)gah (to seize, to grasp)niggahītarefuted
chaḍḍchaḍḍitathrown away, abandoned
(p)pa-(ñ)ñappaññattadeclared, prepared
()ṭhāṭhitastood, stayed
saṃ-tussantuṭṭhacontented, satisfied
disdesitataught
(d)disdiṭṭhaseen
pucchpuṭṭhaasked
bandhbaddhabound
bhāsbhāsitaspoken
bhūbhūtabeen
ni(r)-mā (to measure)nimmitacreated
vi-muc (to become free)vimuttafreed
ni-rudh (to obstruct)niruddhastopped, ceased, ended
vacvuttasaid
(p)pa-(v)vajpabbajitagone forth
samsantacalmed
(s)su (to hear)sutaheard

iminā tvaṃ purisa dhanena jivāhi

You, man, make a living with this money!

purisa, vocative.

jīvāhi, 'make a living', imperative second person singular, see Warder pp.34-35.

Note that although iminā and dhanena are separated, they still relate to each other on account of being in the same case.

Verb Conjugation & Pronoun Declension Table (opens in new tab)

vimutto tathāgato

The Tathāgata has been freed.

Pali Noun Declension Table (opens in new tab)

te ca me evaṃ puṭṭhā āmā ti vadanti

And asked thus by me, they said ‘yes‘.

puṭṭhā here agrees with te, both being nominative plural, lit. 'they have been asked'. Because the past participle agrees with the noun it relates to, like an adjective, and because it often acts like an adjective (see Warder p.41), one could also translate 'they who have been asked ... '.

vadanti is here the historical present tense, see Warder p.12.

idam2 āsanaṃ paññattaṃ

This seat has been prepared.

ete manussā gehaṃ pavisanti

These people are entering a house.

The Pali present tense, here pavisanti, can be translated as an ordinary present tense, i.e. ‘they enter‘, or as a continuous action present tense, i.e. ‘they are entering‘. The context will decide which is more appropriate.

niggahīto 'si3

You are refuted!

In this case 'are refuted' and 'have been refuted' have the same meaning, both having the present perfect sense. Compare this with the first sentence of this exercise where only 'have been created' (not 'are created') has the sense of present perfect.

The agent here is 'you', implied by the verb asi. niggahīto agrees with this 'you', thus the nominative singular ending. (The fact that the ending is masculine may be because the person spoken to is a man. The normal 'default' gender, i.e. if no gender is provided by the context, is neuter.)

kilanto 'smi

I'm tired.

Here the sense of the Pali does not seem to be present perfect and therefore I translate 'I'm tired', which refers to an 'existing state'. Alternatively, if one thinks the present perfect sense is preferable, one could translate 'I have become tired'.

dānaṃ detha

Give alms!

detha, imperative second person plural. Whether it is imperative or present tense must be decided by the context.

desito placed at the beginning for emphasis. As a rule departures from the usual word order in prose indicates emphasis, strong emotion.
2 may change to m when a vowel follows.
3 asi with elision of the first vowel.

Translate into Pali

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They experience happiness

sukhaṃ paṭisaṃvedenti.

The doctrine has been declared by me

mayā dhammo paññatto.

The wanderer is (hoti) contented

paribbājako santuṭṭho hoti.

Death (is) misery

maraṇaṃ dukkhaṃ.

I have heard this

sutaṃ (kho pana) me taṃ.

me is here the enclitic form of mayā, ‘by me‘. An alternative rendering would be the well know phrase evam me sutaṃ. In the original Pali text kho pana, ‘but‘, is inserted to indicate continuation from the previous text.

I did the work

ahaṃ (kho) kammaṃ akāsiṃ.

ahaṃ is optional, see Warder p.13.

He gives a donation

dānaṃ deti.

The body (is) tired

kāyo kilanto.

Lesson 8

Present Participle

Present participles (missakiriyā), active in meaning, ... They indicate an action which takes place simultaneously with (missa) the main action of the sentence.

 From bhū are formed the stems bhavant and bhavamāna, both meaning "being". The nt stem, which is much more commonly used for almost all verbs, is inflected as follows, for example from gam:

singularplural
nominative gacchaṃ or gacchanto
“going”
gacchantā
accusative gacchantaṃgacchante
instrumental gacchatāgacchantehi

 From other conjugations, masculine nominative singular: karonto, "doing" ; paññāpento, "declaring."

 The forms in māna are inflected in exactly the same way as other nouns in a. From as we have as stem samāna, "being".

 Present participles are used like "adjectives" (as past participles may be) "qualifying" nouns, with which they agree in gender, case, and number.

 

The Pronoun bhavant

 bhavant is inflected like gacchant when it means "being". From the same stem is formed the honorific pronoun bhavant, "you", "sir", "your honour", "his honour", which has largely divergent inflections:

masculine
singularplural
nominative bhavaṃbhavanto or bhonto
(by contraction of ava > o)
accusative bhavantaṃbhavante
instrumental bhotābhavantehi

 

Gerund (Absolutive)

  The gerund (pubbakiriyā), an indeclinable participle, is used to express an action preceding (pubba) the action of the main verb of a sentence.

  It may thus conclude a subordinate clause.

  The agent of the gerund is the same as that of the main action.

 Complex sentences are constructed with clauses concluded by participles or gerunds preceding the main clause with the main verb. In this way the agent is described as performing a group or series of actions. Each clause may have its own patient (i.e. gerunds may take patients in the accusative, like other verb forms).

 The gerund is usually (but far from always) formed from the same stem as the past participle by adding the suffixes tvā, itvā, or ya:

stem
gerund (absolutive)
meaning
upa-saṃ-(k)kamupasaṃkamitvā having approached
karkatvāhaving done; karitvā is also used
gamgantvāhaving gone
(g)gahgahetvāhaving taken
chidchinditvāhaving cut
u(d)-(ṭ)ṭhā
(the prefix u(d) means "up")
uṭṭhāyahaving stood up
ā-dāādāyahaving taken (often equivalent to simply "taking" in English)
(d)disdisvāhaving seen
vacvatvāhaving said
abhi-vadabhivādetvā having greeted
ni-vāsnivāsetvā having dressed
vi-vic (to separate)
viviccahaving become separated from, having become isolated
(vic + ya > vicca)
(p)pa-vispavisitvāhaving entered
(s)susutvāhaving heard
(p)pati-(s)supaṭissutvāhaving agreed, having assented
(p)pa-hāpahāyahaving renounced
hutvāhaving been

Vocabulary

 Verbs

stem
verb
meaning
jijayatihe conquers, he wins, he defeats
labhlabhatihe obtains, he gets
(p)pa-su (to crush, to extract (liquids), to produce)
pasavatihe generates

 Nouns

noun
meaning
āyāmolength
gāravorespect
daṇḍostick, force, punishment
nāgoelephant
paṇhoquestion
bhūtoliving being (p.p. of bhū used as a noun)
vitthārobreadth
agāraṃhouse, home
annaṃfood
cittaṃthought, mind, heart (figuratively)
jīvitaṃlife
jhānaṃmeditation
ṭhānaṃplace
nagaraṃcity
nibbānaṃ, parinibbānaṃ
extinction (of existence), liberation (from existence), Nirvāṇa1
pānaṃdrink
bhāsitaṃspeaking, saying (p.p. of bhās used as a noun)
bhojanaṃmeal, food
vatthaṃgarment (plural: clothes, dress)
viññāṇaṃconsciousness
veraṃhatred
saraṇaṃprotection, refuge
senāsanaṃabode, resting place

The prefix pari is generally used when referring not to Nirvāṇa itself as a state, or non-state, but to the event of an individual's (final) attainment of it at the end of his worldly life, and especially to the Parinibbana of the Buddha himself.

 

 Indeclinables

indeclinable
meaning
diṭṭhāexcellent, splendid!, it's lucky, it's wonderful
vata
(enclitic)
surely, indeed! (strong emphasis or mild expletive, expressing a wish, regret, reproach or surprise: cf. "alas!", "I say!")
handawell!

EXERCISE 8

The answers are given in Part 9

Translate into English

ahaṃ tena samayena rājā Mahāsudassano ahosiṃ

dānena n' atthi puññaṃ

te 'haṃ1 upasaṃkamitvā evaṃ vadāmi

maṃ abhivādetvā pakkāmi

disvā evaṃ avocumha

diṭṭhā bho satta jīvasi

jayaṃ veraṃ pasavati

brāhmaṇo brahmunā manteti

evaṃ bho ti

handa vata bho gacchāma

kālaṃ karonto avoca

rājā samāno idaṃ labhati

jhānaṃ jhāyati

mayaṃ bhagavantaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāma, dhammañ ca2

jīvitaṃ demi

ahaṃ with elision of initial a after another vowel.
2 Assimilation ṃ + c > ñc in junction.

Translate into Pali

They enter by this gate

The king, having greeted the fortunate one, sat down

Having approached (and) greeted the fortunate one, they sat down

Having approached them I ask these questions

Having dressed, taking a bowl I entered the village

Gentlemen! do not say thus

The honourable Jotipāla went forth

(As he is) going he sees

I do not take counsel with God

He entered the house

He gives a drink

I do not get food

He sees the garment

He is (hoti) satisfied with the resting place

Living beings experience unhappiness

The lay disciples come to the place