tipitaka network ... his life, his acts, his words                 sabbe satta bhavantu sukhi-tatta

An Elementary Paa.li Course

Lesson XIV

Participles

In Paa.li there are six kinds of Participles - viz.:
(i) Present Active participles,
(ii) Present Passive Participles,
(iii) Past Indeclinable Participles¹,
(iv) Past Active Participles,
(v) Past Passive Participles, and
(vi) Potential Participles

1. These have been already dealt with in Lesson VIII-B. See Table in Lesson VI-B.

(i) The Present Active Participles are formed by adding anta and maana to the root; e.g.,

paca + anta = pacanta;
paca + maana = pacamaana, cooking.

(ii) The Present Passive Participles are formed by adding the Passive suffix ya between the root and the suffix maana. If the ending of the root is a or aa, it is changed into i, e.g.,

paca + ya + maana = paciiyamaana, being cooked;
suu + ya + maana = suuyamaana, being heard.

Generally these suffixes are added to the forms the roots assume before the third person plural terminations of the present tense.

These participles are inflectional and agree with the noun or pronoun they qualify, in gender, number and case. They are also used when contemporaneity of action is to be indicated. The sense of the English words 'as, since, while, whilst' may be expressed by them.

Declension of pacanta in the feminine

The feminine is formed by adding the suffix ii, as pacanta + ii = pacantii, and is declined like feminine nouns ending in ii (See lesson X).

The Present Participles ending in maana are declined like nara, ka~n~naa and phala; as pacamaano (m.) pacamaanaa (f.) and pacamaana.m (n.).

Illustrations:
gacchanto puriso, going man, or the man who is going.
gacchantassa purisassa, to the man who is going.
paccantii (or) pacamaanaa itthii, the woman who is cooking.
so vadamaano gacchati, he goes speaking.
patamaana.m phala.m, the falling fruit.
rakkhiiyamaana.m nagara.m, the city that is being protected.
aha.m magge gacchanto ta.m purisa.m passi.m, I saw that man while I was going on the way.

(iv), (v) The Past Active and Passive participles are formed by adding the suffix ta, or na after d etc. to the root or stem. If the ending of the root is a, it is often changed into i.

Examples:
~naa + ta = ~naata, known
su + ta = suta, heard
paca + ta = pacita, cooked
rakkha + ta = rakkhita, protected
chidi + na = chinna, cut
bhidi + na = bhinna, broken

These are also inflectional and agree with the noun or pronoun they qualify in gender, number and case. They are frequently used to supply the place of verbs, sometimes in conjunction with the auxiliaries asa and hu to be.

Illustrations:
so gato, he went or he is gone. (Here hoti is understood.)
.thito naro, the man who stood.
.thitassa narassa, to the man who stood or to the man standing.
.thitaaya naariyaa, to the woman who stood.
Buddhena desito dhammo, the Doctrine preached by the Buddha.
sissehi pucchitassa pa~nhassa, to the question asked by the pupils.

(vi) The Potential Participles are formed by adding the suffix tabba to the root or stem with or without. If the ending of the root is a, it is often changed into i.

Examples:
daa + tabba = daatabba, should or must be given.
~naa + tabba = ~naatabba, should be known.
paca + tabba = pacitabba, should be cooked.

These participles too agree with the noun or pronoun they qualify in gender, number and case. The agent is put in the Instrumental.

Illustrations:
janako vanditabbo, the father should be saluted.
jananii rakkhitabbaa, the mother should be protected.
citta.m rakkhitabba.m, the mind should be guarded.
tayaa gantabba.m, you should go.
saavakehi dhammo sotabbo, the Doctrine should be heard by the disciples.

2. disa, (i) to preach; (ii) to see. Desenta, preaching; Passanta, seeing.

Exercise 14-A

Translate into English.

* This is the Locative absolute.

** 'To' is another suffix for forming the Ablative.

Exercise 14-B

Translate into Paa.li.