AC Pali handout Part 1 may.pdf

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Aggacāra Pāḷi Handout

for beginner and intermediate level students

(Part 1)

Version 2, April 2019

This Pāḷi handout is intended to help beginners who are interested to learn some

Pāḷi grammar but do not have the time nor ability to study from the normal Pāḷi grammar

books. Most importantly, they want to know some Pāḷi grammar to help them understand

Pāḷi chanting as they like Pāḷi chanting very much.

In this handout, I include different Pāḷi chants. Some chants contain many

repetitions which enable students to have better retention and more familiarity with Pāḷi

grammar. I focus more on the Pāḷi usage rather than the need to memorise the many rules

of Pāḷi grammar. I believe with repeated chanting, the grammar will be more obvious and

easy to follow.

From the feedback obtained from students who attended the previous class last

year, I get to know that some students were confused firstly by English grammar. Because

we use English grammar to explain Pāḷi grammar, here, I also include some simple

English grammar for the students to follow this handout. I also include some Chinese

words for the benefit of Chinese educated students.

My main reference comes from Pāḷi Made Easy by Bhadanta Ananda Maitreya as

this is the best and clearest reference book I found so far. I will refer to this book as PME

in this handout. Another grammar book I recommend is A Practical Grammar of the Pāli

Language by Charles Duroiselle.

As a conclusion, I would like to thank all my Pāḷi teachers for sharing the knowledge

with me, especially my Pāḷi professor Sayadaw Dr. Nodhiñāṇa, as well as Sayadaw U

Paṇḍita and Sayadaw Theravaṃsa.

Sayagyi (Chief Nun) Cālā Therī

M.A. (Buddha Dhamma) (2017), International Theravāda Buddhist Missionary University

(ITBMU), Yangon.

B.Sc (Computer Science) 2000, INTI, Malaysia.

Ph.D. student at ITBMU (ongoing)

Tel: [phone]

10th April 2019

Buddhasāsanaṃ ciraṃ tiṭṭhātu.

May the teaching of the Buddha last long.

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Abbreviation

The abbreviations used are:

Nom= Nominative,

Acc=Accusative,

Ins=Instrumental,

Abl=Ablative,

Gen=Genitive,

Loc = locative,

Voc=Vocative

Sub=Subject 主题,

Obj=Object 目标,

Adj=Adjective 形容词 that describes the noun,

Adv=Adverb 副词 that describes the verb.

indecl=indeclinable 没有格

Sg=Singular 单数

Pl=Plural l 复数

Verb: Pre=Present Tense 现在时, PP=Past participle 过去分词

Fut=Future tense 将来时态, Imp=Imperative 命令式动词

Past=Past tense 过去式 Opt=Optative mode 可选动词

Genders 性 are [m]=Masculine 男性, [f]=Feminine 女性, [nt]=Neutral 中性.

1. Sound system

Vowel (sara) 母音,元音 a ā i ī u ū e o

Three short sounds (rassa) are a,i,u. Five are long sounds (dīgha).

Consonant (byañjana) 辅音,子音

Guttural (Throat)喉音 K kh g gh ṅ=ng

Palatal (placing the tongue against the

腭音 hard palate of the mouth)

palatal=roof of the mouth

C ch J jh ñ

Lingual (produced by tongue) 舌音 ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ

Dental (Teeth)呀音 T th d dh n

Labial (Lip)嘴唇音 P ph b bh m

Semivowel 半元音 Y v r l

Sibilant 丝丝音 S

Aspirate 气音 H

Lingual 舌音 ḷ

Nasal (connected with nose)鼻因 ṃ

i----ī-----e-----ay u---ū---o---av

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2. Present tense/ Present continuous tense

Person Singular Plural

1 (ā)mi (ā) ma

2 Si Tha

3 Ti Nti

Ti,nti,si,tha,mi and ma are called verbal terminations 动词的后缀. They indicate

the point of view i.e whether 1st, 2nd or 3rd person, and whether it is singular or

plural.

Normally for the first person, there is a long vowel ‘ā’ before ‘mi’ and ‘ma’.

Singular 单数 Plural 复数

1 Gacchāmi (I go) Gacchāma (We go)

2 Gacchasi (You go) Gacchatha (You all go)

3 Gacchati (He/she/it goes) Gacchanti (They go)

We recite: Gacchati, gacchanti, gacchasi, gacchatha, gacchāmi, gacchāma.

a. Buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi. I go to the Buddha as (my) refuge

Dhammaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi. I go to the Dhamma as (my) refuge

Saṅghaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi. I go to the Saṅgha as (my) refuge.

Note: ṃ indicates this is an object.

b. Buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāma.. We go to the Buddha as (our) refuge...

c. Dutiyampi (Dutiyaṃ + pi) For the second time....

d. Tatiyampi (Tatiyaṃ + pi) For the third time....

The above verbal terminations can be translated as either simple present or

present continuous tense.

Gacchati has two tenses:

i) Present tense 现在时=He goes, He does go.

ii)Present Continuous tense 现在进行时= He is going.

3. Word formation

Word formation: √Gam > Gacch + a + ti Cs=Conjugation sign (PME, 139)

Root Cs vt Vt=verbal termination (PME.125)

Root 字根 + Conjugation sign 链接标志> Verbal Base 动词的基础

√Gam》√Gacch + a > Gaccha