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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 17

1. The Past Tense

Conjugation of verbs with the base ending in -a.

Base: paca = to cook

Singular

3rd (So) apaci, paci = He cooked
2nd (Tvaṃ) apaci, paci = You cooked
1st (Ahaṃ) apaciṃ, paciṃ = I cooked

Plural

3rd (Te) apaciṃsu, paciṃsu = They cooked
2nd (Tumhe) apacittha, pacittha = You cooked
1st (Mayaṃ) apacimha, pacimha = We cooked

It should be noted that a- in apaci, apaciṃsu etc. is not a negative prefix.
It is the augment (optional) denoting the past tense.

Verbs whose bases end in -nā are also conjugated in the past tense as above.

Conjugation of verbs with the base ending in -e

Base: core = to steal

Singular

3rd (So) coresi, corayi = He stole
2nd (Tvaṃ) coresi = You stole
1st (Ahaṃ) coresiṃ, corayiṃ = I stole

Plural

3rd (Te) coresuṃ, corayiṃsu = They stole
2nd (Tumhe) corayitha = You stole
1st (Mayaṃ) corayimha = We stole

2. Examples in sentence formation

Singular:

1. Bhūpālo dīpe cari / acari
The king wandered in the island.

Samaṇo dhammaṃ desesi
The monk preached the dhamma.

2. Tvaṃ bhaṇḍāni vikkiṇi
You sold goods.

Tvaṃ pupphāni pūjesi
You offered the flowers.

3. Ahaṃ pabbataṃ āruhiṃ
I climbed the mountain.

4. Ahaṃ dīpaṃ jālesiṃ / jālayiṃ
I lit the lamp.

Plural:

1. Bhūpālā dīpesu cariṃsu / acariṃsu -
Kings wandered in the islands.

Samaṇā dhammaṃ desesuṃ / desayiṃsu
Monks preached the dhamma.

2. Tumhe bhaṇḍāni vikkiṇittha
You sold goods.

Tumhe pupphāni pūjayittha
You offered flowers.

3. Mayaṃ pabbate āruhimha -
We climbed mountains.

4. Mayaṃ dīpe jālayimha -
We lit lamps.

Exercise 17

3. Translate into English:

1. Kassako khettaṃ kasitvā nahāyituṃ udakaṃ otari.
2. Uggaṇhantānaṃ dārakānaṃ dātuṃ ācariyā kusumāni āhariṃsu.
3. Upāsakā āsanehi uṭṭhahitvā dhammaṃ desetuṃ upasaṅkamantaṃ samaṇaṃ vandiṃsu.
4. Nagaresu kammāni katvā vetane labhituṃ ākaṅkhamānā narā gāmehi nikkhamiṃsu.
5. Ācariyo āsanaṃ dussena chādetvā samaṇaṃ nisīdituṃ nimantesi.
6. Kumāro dvāraṃ vivaritvā rukkhamhā oruhante vānare passamāno aṭṭhāsi (stood).
7. Paṇḍito goṇe coretvā akusalaṃ karonte nare pakkositvā ovadi.
8. Yācakassa puttā rukkhehi patantāni phalāni saṃharitvā āpaṇasmiṃ vikkiṇiṃsu.
9. Kassako dhaññaṃ minitvā vāṇijassa vikkiṇituṃ pahiṇi.
10. Dhammaṃ uggaṇhitvā samaṇo bhavituṃ ākaṅkhamāno amacco ācariyaṃ pariyesamāno Buddhaṃ upasaṅkami.
11. Sace tumhe gāmaṃ pāpuṇeyyātha mitte olokeyyātha.
12. Paṇḍitamhā pañhe pucchitvā saccaṃ jānituṃ mātulo ussahi.
13. Pāsāṇamhi ṭhatvā ajaṃ khādantaṃ sīhaṃ disvā vānarā bhāyiṃsu.
14. Rukkhamūle nisīditvā gitāni gāyantānaṃ kumārānaṃ kāyesu paṇṇāni ca pupphāni ca patiṃsu.
15. Tumhe dhanaṃ saṃharamānā mā samuddaṃ taritvā dīpaṃ gacchatha.
16. Āpaṇasmiṃ bhaṇḍāni vikkiṇantassa vāṇijassa ratho atthi.
17. Ahaṃ puttassa dātuṃ dussaṃ sibbanto gītaṃ gāyiṃ.
18. Sūkarā ca sunakhā ca khette āvāṭe khaṇiṃsu.
19. Purisā rukkhamūle nisīditvā tāpasena bhāsamānaṃ suṇiṃsu.
20. Luddakena saddhiṃ vane āhiṇḍante putte āmantetvā kassakā akkosiṃsu.
21. Mā tvaṃ suvaṇṇapattaṃ vikkiṇitvā khagge kiṇāhi.
22. So bhaṇḍāni ca khettaṃ ca goṇe ca puttānaṃ daṭvā gehaṃ pahāya samaṇo bhavituṃ cintesi.
23. Dhammena jīvantā sappurisā mige na māresuṃ.
24. Ahaṃ sopānaṃ āruhiṃ, te sopānamhā oruhiṃsu.
25. Sahāyakā udakaṃ otaritvā nahāyantā padumāni ociniṃsu.

4. Translate into Pāli:

1. The child sprinkled the lotuses with water and honoured the Buddha with them.
2. Having received the pay the men went to the market and bought goods.
3. The fisherman brought fish from the sea and sold them to the farmers.
4. If you go to bathe wash the clothes of the children.
5. The parrots and the crows flew into the sky from the trees.
6. Do not scold the children playing under the tree with the dog.
7. I spoke to the people sitting in the park having assembled to see the king.
8. We got frightened seeing a serpent enter the house.
9. I gave water to my son eating rice together with his friend.
10. Do not do evil, do good to enter heaven after departing from the human world.

-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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last updated: 06-08-2004