Chapter:  [ Contents | 1. Alphabet | 2. Sandhi | 3. Assimilation | 4. Strengthening | 5. Declension | 6. Feminine | 7. Adjectives | 8. Numerals | 9. Pronouns | 10.1 Verbs | 10.2 Verbs | 10.3 Verbs | 11. Indeclinables | 12. Compounds | 13. Derivation | 14. Syntax | 15. Prosody ]

A Practical Grammar of the Paali Language
Chapter 11

INDECLINABLES


529. Under the term "indeclinables" are included all those words which are incapable of any grammatical declension, that is:
Adverbs,
 Prefixes,
Propositions,
Conjunctions and
Interjections.

Adverbs

530. Adverbs may be divided into three groups:

(i)Derivative Adverbs, formed by means of suffixes.
(ii)Case-form Adverbs.
(iii)Pure Adverbs.

531. (i)Derivative Adverbs

(a)These are formed by the addition to pronominal stems, and to the stems of nouns and adjectives, of certain suffixes.
(b)Under this head come the "Adverbial Derivatives from numerals" given in (279), and the "Pronominal Derivatives" given in (336). The student ought now to read again these two classes of Adverbs.
(c)The suffix to (346), is also added to prepositions, nouns and adjectives, to form a very large class of adverbs; to is an ablative suffix (120) and therefore the adverbs formed with it have an ablative sense.

(i) From prepositions:
abhitonear
paratofurther
(ii) From nouns:
dakkhi.natosoutherly, on the south
oratofrom the near shore
paaciinatoeasterly, on the east
paaratofrom the further shore
pi.t.thitofrom the surface, from the back, etc
(iii) From adjectives
sabbatoeverywhere

(d)Suffixes tra and tha (346), showing place, are also used with adjectives:

a~n~natha or a~n~natraelsewhere
sabbathaeverywhere
ubhayatthain both places

(e)Suffix daa (345), is likewise used with adjectives and numerals:

ekadaaonce
sadaa = sabbadaaat all times, always

(f)dhi is used like dhaa (28, 283):

sabbadhieverywhere

(g)Suffixes so and saa (122, c, d) likewise form adverbs:

atthasoaccording to the sense
bahusoin a great degree
balasaaforcibly

(h)iti,(347) is extensively used as the particle of quotation; it is often abbreviated to ti (See Syntax).

532. (ii) Case-form Adverbs

(a) Some cases of pronouns, and adjectives, are used adverbially.

(b) Accusative Case. This case is very much used adverbially:

From pronouns:
idamhere
ki.mwhy?
tamthere
yambecause, since

(c)

From nouns:
attha.mfor the purpose of
divasa.mduring the day
rahoin secret
ratti.mat night
sacca.mtruly

(d)

From adjectives:
cira.ma long time
khippa.mquickly
manda.mstupidly

(e) Some adverbs of obscure origin may be classed as the accusative case of nouns or adjectives long obsolete. Such are:

ala.menough
ara.mpresently
bahioutside
isa.ma little, somewhat
jaatusurely, certainly
mitho, mithuone another, mutually
saaya.min the evening
sajjuimmediately
tu.nhiisilently

(i) From pronouns:
tenatherefore
yenabecause
(ii) From nouns:
divaaby day
divasenain a day
maasenain a month
sahaasasuddenly
(iii) From adjectives
antarenawithin
cirenalong
dakkhi.nenato the south
uttarenato the north

The Dative Case: the adverbial use of the dative is restricted to:

atthaayafor the sake of, for the purpose of
ciraayafor a long time
hitaayafor the benefit

The Ablative Case, is used frequently in an adverbial sense; especially so is the case with pronouns:

aaraaafar off
he.t.thaabelow
kasmaawhy?
pacchaabehind, after
tasmaatherefore
yasmaabecause

The Genitive Case is seldom used adverbially;

from pronouns we have:
kissawhy?
From adjectives:
cirassalong
from nouns:
hetussacausally

The Locative is very often used adverbially:

aviduurenot far
baahireoutside
bhuvion earth, on the earth
duurefar
rahasiprivately, in secret
samiipenear
santikenear

(iii) Pure Adverbs

By these are understood the adverbs which are not obtained by derivation and which are not case-forms; such are:

atha, athoand, also, then, etc
khaluindeed
kila, kirathey say, we are told that
maaexpressing prohibition, maa is often used with the Aorist
naexpressing simple negation
naanaavariously
nanuused in asking questions to which an affirmative answer is expected
nonot
nuused in asking simple questions
nuunasurely, perhaps
tunow, indeed

The particle

kvawhere?

The above particles are called nipaataa by the grammarians, they number about two hundred.

Verbal Prefixes; have already been treated of (514).

Inseparable Prefixes

(a) a, anan before a vowelnot, without, free from
Examples (Inseparable prefix)
abaalanot foolish
abhayafree from fear
anaaloketvawithout looking
apassantonot seeing

(b) du, durdur before a vowelbad, ill, hard difficult
Examples (Inseparable prefix)
dubba.n.no(33. Remark)ugly, ill-favoured
dubbiniitoill conducted
duddamodifficult to tame
duggodifficult to pass
dujjanoa bad man
dujjiiva.ma hard life
dukkarodifficult to perform

(c) suhas the contrary meaning of du :good, well, easy. It implies excess, facility, excellence.
Examples (Inseparable prefix)
subahuvery much
subhaasitowell-spoken
sudantowell-tamed
sukaroeasy to perform
sulabhoeasy to be obtained
Remarks. After du, the initial consonant is generally reduplicated; reduplication seldom takes place after su.

(d) saused instead of sam, (516), expresses the ideas of "possession, similarity; with, and; like; including."
Examples (Inseparable prefix)
sabhaariyawith (his) wife
sabhogawealthy
sadevakaincluding the worlds of gods
salajjahaving shame, ashamed
savihaariiliving with
Remarks. The particle sa is the opposite of particle a, an.

Prepositions

533. It has been seen that Verbal prefixes are properly prepositions and are used with nouns as well as verbs.

534. Many adverbs are used with a prepositional force along with nouns. Those of class (ii) Case form adverbs, are seldom used as prepositions, except perhaps those in to.

535. Prepositions, or words used prepositionally may govern any case, except the Nominative and Vocative.

536. Most of the Verbal Prefixes require the noun to be in one case or other.

537. The cases mostly used with prepositions or prepositional Adverbs are:

the genitive,
the instrumentive and
the accusative.

But only a few are used separately from the noun they govern.
For examples see "Syntax of Substantives."


Conjunctions

538. Indeclinables distinctly conjunctive are very few. The principal are:

(a) Copulative: caand, also, but, even
It is never used as the first word in a sentence
athaand, then
athoand also then

(b) Disjunctive: vaa
(never at the start of a sentence)
atha vaaor else, rather
na vaaor not
tathaa pinevertheless
uda, uda vaa,either or
vaa ... vaaeither or
yadi vaawhether
yadi vaa ... yadi vaawhether or
(c) Conditional: yadi saceif
ce (never at the beginning of a sentence)
ceif
yadi eva.m, yajj'eva.mif so
(d) Causal:
hifor, because; certainly

Interjections

Ahahaalas! oh!
aho vataoh! ah!
aho!ah!
are, sirrah!I say! here!
bha.neI say! to be sure!
bhofriend! sir! I say!
dhi, dhiishame! fie! woe!
ma~n~newhy! methinks!; he, oh!
saadhuwell! very well! very good!

General Remarks. The use of some particles will be given in the chapter on Syntax.



(Original file downloaded from www.tipitaka.net/pali/grammar/. Tabulation follows the pdf file located at www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/paligram.pdf .)