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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)

 SingularPlural
Nom.satthāsatthāro
Voc. satthā, satthasatthāro
Acc. satthāraṃsatthāro
Ins.satthārāsatthārehi, satthūhi
Abl.satthārāsatthārehi, satthūhi
Dat. satthu, satthuno, satthussasatthārānaṃ, satthūnaṃ
Gen.satthu, satthuno, satthussasatthārānaṃ, satthūnaṃ
Loc. sattharisatthāresu, 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

 SingularPlural
Nom.pitāpitaro
Voc. pitā, pitapitaro
Acc. pitaraṃpitaro
Ins.pitarāpitarehi, pitūhi
Abl.pitarāpitarehi, pitūhi
Dat. pitu, pitunopitarānaṃ
Gen.pitussapitūnaṃ
Loc. pitari pitaresu, pitūsu

Bhātu / bhātar = brother

 SingularPlural
Nom.bhātābhātaro
Voc. bhātā, bhātabhātaro
Acc. bhātaraṃbhātaro
Ins.bhātarābhātarehi,bhātūhi
Abl.bhātarābhātarehi,bhātūhi
Dat. bhātu, bhātunobhātarānaṃ
Gen.bhātussabhātūnaṃ
Loc. bhātaribhātaresu,bhātūsu

4. Feminine nouns expressing relationships are declined as follows:

Mātu / Mātar = mother

 SingularPlural
Nom.mātāmātaro
Voc. mātā, māta, mātemātaro
Acc. mātaraṃmātaro
Ins.mātarā, mātuyāmātarehi, mātūhi
Abl.mātarā, mātuyāmātarehi, mātūhi
Dat. mātu, mātuyā, mātāyamātarānaṃ, mātūnaṃ,mātānaṃ
Gen.mātu, mātuyā, mātāyamātarānaṃ, mātūnaṃ,mātānaṃ
Loc. mātari, mātuyā, mātuyaṃmātaresu, 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.


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