BuddhaSasana Home Page

Unicode VU-Times font


Pāli Primer

Lily de Silva, M.A., Ph.D.
University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

 Note: VU-Times font (Viet-Pali Unicode) is used in this document

Lesson 28

1. Declension of masculine nouns ending in -u / -ar

Some masculine nouns have two bases ending in -u and -ar.
They express the agent or a relationship.

Satthu / satthar - teacher (lit., he who admonishes)

  Singular Plural
Nom. satthā satthāro
Voc. satthā, sattha satthāro
Acc. satthāraṃ satthāro
Ins. satthārā satthārehi, satthūhi
Abl. satthārā satthārehi, satthūhi
Dat. satthu, satthuno, satthussa satthārānaṃ, satthūnaṃ
Gen. satthu, satthuno, satthussa satthārānaṃ, satthūnaṃ
Loc. satthari satthāresu, satthūsu

2. Some words similarly declined are as follows:

kattu - doer
gantu - goer
sotu - hearer
dātu - giver
netu - leader
vattu - sayer
jetu - victor
vinetu - disciplinarian
viññātu - knower
bhattu - husband
nattu - grandson

N.B. Though bhattu and nattu are nouns expressing relationships they are declined like agent nouns such as satthā, as in Sanskrit.

3. Masculine nouns expressing relationships such as pitu (father), and bhātu (brother) are declined somewhat differently as follows:

Pitu / pitar = father

  Singular Plural
Nom. pitā pitaro
Voc. pitā, pita pitaro
Acc. pitaraṃ pitaro
Ins. pitarā pitarehi, pitūhi
Abl. pitarā pitarehi, pitūhi
Dat. pitu, pituno pitarānaṃ
Gen. pitussa pitūnaṃ
Loc. pitari pitaresu, pitūsu

Bhātu / bhātar = brother

  Singular Plural
Nom. bhātā bhātaro
Voc. bhātā, bhāta bhātaro
Acc. bhātaraṃ bhātaro
Ins. bhātarā bhātarehi,bhātūhi
Abl. bhātarā bhātarehi,bhātūhi
Dat. bhātu, bhātuno bhātarānaṃ
Gen. bhātussa bhātūnaṃ
Loc. bhātari bhātaresu,bhātūsu

4. Feminine nouns expressing relationships are declined as follows:

Mātu / Mātar = mother

  Singular Plural
Nom. mātā mātaro
Voc. mātā, māta, māte mātaro
Acc. mātaraṃ mātaro
Ins. mātarā, mātuyā mātarehi, mātūhi
Abl. mātarā, mātuyā mātarehi, mātūhi
Dat. mātu, mātuyā, mātāya mātarānaṃ, mātūnaṃ,mātānaṃ
Gen. mātu, mātuyā, mātāya mātarānaṃ, mātūnaṃ,mātānaṃ
Loc. mātari, mātuyā, mātuyaṃ mātaresu, mātūsu

Dhītu (daughter) and duhitu (daughter) are similarly declined.

Exercise 28

5. Translate into English:

1. Satthā bhikkhūnaṃ dhammaṃ desento rukkhassa chāyāya nisinno hoti.
2. Puññāni kattāro bhikkhūnaṃ ca tāpasānaṃ ca dānaṃ denti.
3. Sace satthā dhammaṃ deseyya viññātāro bhavissanti.
4. Bhūpati dīpasmiṃ jetā bhavatu.
5. Pitā dhītaraṃ ādāya vihāraṃ gantvā satthāraṃ vandāpesi.
6. Viññātāro loke manussānaṃ netāro hontu / bhavantu.
7. Bhātā pitarā saddhiṃ mātuyā pacitaṃ yāguṃ bhuñji.
8. Bhattā nattārehi saha kīḷantaṃ kapiṃ disvā hasanto aṭṭhāsi (stood).
9. Setuṃ kattāro veḷavo bandhitvā nadiyā tīre ṭhapesuṃ.
10. Sindhuṃ taritvā dīpaṃ gantāro sattūhi hatā honti.
11. Bhariyā bhattu sāṭake rajakena dhovāpesi.
12. Netuno kathaṃ sotāro uyyāne nisinnā suriyena pīḷitā honti.
13. Dātārehi dinnāni vatthāni yācakehi na vikkiṇitabbāni honti.
14. Rodantassa nattussa kujjhitvā vanitā taṃ (him) hatthena pahari.
15. Vinetuno ovādaṃ (advice) sutvā bandhavo sappurisā abhaviṃsu / ahesuṃ.
16. Gehesu ca aṭavīsu ca vasante ākhavo ahayo khādanti.
17. Nattā mātaraṃ yāguṃ yācanto bhūmiyaṃ patitvā rodati.
18. Tumhe bhātarānaṃ ca bhaginīnaṃ ca mā kujjhatha.
19. Dīpaṃ gantārehi nāvāya sindhu taritabbo hoti.
20. Pubbakā (ancient) isayo mantānaṃ (magic spells) kattāro ca mantānaṃ pavattāro (reciters) ca abhaviṃsu / ahesuṃ.
21. Mattaññū dātā nattārānaṃ thokaṃ thokaṃ modake (sweets) dadiṃsu / adaṃsu.
22. Atthaññū netāro manusse sappurise karontā vinetāro bhavanti.
23. Mātā dhītaraṃ ovadantī sīsaṃ (head) cumbitvā (kissed) bāhuṃ āmasitvā samassāsesi.
24. Vadaññū brāhmaṇo khudāya pīḷente yācake disvā pahūtaṃ (much) bhojanaṃ (food) dāpesi.
25. Sārathinā āhaṭe veḷavo gahetvā vaḍḍhakī sālaṃ māpesi.

6. Translate into Pāli:

1. Father and mother went with the brother to see the sister.
2. Evil doers will not live long happily.
3. May the king, together with his retinue, become victorious.
4. Mother's brother is the uncle.
5. The enemies of my brothers tied banners on trees and bamboos.
6. The house builder gave bamboos to the grandsons.
7. Brother gave food to (my) daughter with a spoon.
8. The Buddha is the teacher of gods and men.
9. May you (pl.) be speakers of the truth.
10. Good husbands are kind (kāruṇikā) to their wives like gods.
11. Let good men become powerful ministers to govern the island.
12. The powerful kings were victorious.

-ooOoo-


English: 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | Appendix

Workbook: 01-05 | 06-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-32

Vietnamese: 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | Phụ đính

"The Pāli Primer" is a publication of the Vipassana Research Institute (https://www.vri.dhamma.org).
It aims to provide an elementary understanding of the Pali language.


[Back to Main Index - Trở về trang Thư Mục]
last updated: 06-08-2004