Buddho dhammaṃ deseti.
The Buddha teaches the Dhamma.
The concept of vibhatti
- NOMINATIVE - paṭhamā-vibhatti “first inflection”
- ACCUSATIVE - dutiyā-vibhatti “second inflection”
- INSTRUMENTAL - tatiyā-vibhatti “third inflection”
- DATIVE - catutthī-vibhatti “fourth inflection”
- ABLATIVE - pañcamī-vibhatti “fifth inflection”
- GENITIVE - chaṭṭhī-vibhatti “sixth inflection”
- LOCATIVE - sattamī-vibhatti “seventh inflection”
Gender
- Masculine: e.g. puriso “man”, bhāvo “nature”
- Neuter: e.g. nagaraṃ “city”, cittaṃ “mind”
- Feminine: e.g. kaññā “girl”, paññā “wisdom”
Gender Agreement
A noun agrees in gender with all its adjectives.
- Masculine: e.g. nipuṇo puriso “intelligent man”
- Neuter: e.g. nipuṇaṃ cittaṃ “intelligent mind”
- Feminine: e.g. nipuṇā kaññā “intelligent girl”
Number
Nouns/Pronouns and Adjectives agree in gender and number:
- Masculine singular: nipuṇo puriso “intelligent man”
- Masculine plural: nipuṇā purisā “intelligent men”
- Neuter singular: nipuṇaṃ cittaṃ “intelligent mind”
- Neuter plural: nipuṇāni cittāni “intelligent minds”
- Feminine singular: nipuṇā kaññā “intelligent girl”
- Feminine plural: nipuṇāyo kaññāyo “intelligent girls”
puriso kammaṃ karoti.
The man performs an action.
puriso buddhe passati
The man sees the buddhas.
cittaṃ rūpaṃ jānāti
The mind knows materiality.
puriso cittaṃ passati
The man sees the mind
puriso cittāni passati
The man sees the minds
Basic functions of the Nominative
- Subject of the active verb (agent subject): buddho dhammaṃ deseti
“The Buddha teaches the Dhamma” - Subject of the passive verb (patient subject): dhammo buddhena desito
“The Dhamma [is] taught by the Buddha” - Attribute, with verbs meaning “to be”, etc.: puriso bahussuto hoti “The
man is well-learned” - Apposition: sudatto upāsako āgacchati “Sudatta, the lay devotee,
comes” - Label Nominative: esp. with the quotative (i)ti: buddho ti “[the word]
buddha”, also used in titles: Dīghanikāyo “The Long Collection (of the
Buddha’s Discourses
Basic functions of the Accusative
- Object of the active verb: buddho dhammaṃ deseti “The Buddha teaches
the Dhamma”, here dhammaṃ is an accusative. - Destination, with verbs expressing movement: buddho gāmaṃ pavisati
“The Buddha enters the village”, here gāmaṃ is an accusative. - Accusative of Relation: atthaṃ pucchāmi “I ask about the meaning”, i.e. I
ask in relation to the meaning. Here atthaṃ is an accusative. - Adverbial Accusative: rassaṃ passassāmi “I breathe in briefly”.
- Accusative of Time: ekaṃ samayaṃ buddho rājagahe viharati “On one
occasion the Buddha dwelled in Rājagaha”.
General Features of the Pali Verb
- Two numbers: Singular and Plural
- Three persons: first person “I/we”, second person “You/you all”, and
third person “he/she/it/they” - Tense: present, future, past
- Mode: indicative (real), optative (irreal), imperative (command),
desiderative (wish) - Voice: active, middle, passive
Functions of the Present Indicative Tense
- Ongoing action: gacchāmi “I go” “I am going”
- Imminent action: gacchāmi “I am going to go”
- General present: manussā miyyanti “Humans die”
- Historical present: ekaṃ samayaṃ bhagavā sāvatthiyaṃ viharati “At one
time the Blessed one dwelled in Sāvatthi”
The enclitic ca “and”
The indeclinable (nipāta) ca “and” is an enclitic word, this
means that it is postponed to the word it affects:
bhāsati karoti ca
Speaks and acts
samaṇo brāhmaṇo ca gāmaṃ gacchanti
The ascetic and the brahmin go to the village
Emphasis on both elements
The indeclinable ca may be stated twice in order to emphasise
all the elements (“both X and Y” or “X as well as Y”):
bhāsati ca karoti ca
[He/she] both speaks and acts
samaṇo ca brāhmaṇo ca gāmaṃ gacchanti
Both the ascetic and the brahmin go to the village
Adverb na “no”
The word na is the adverb of negation in Pali. It is generally
translated along with the verb:
na bhāsati “does not speak”
na gacchati “does not go”
