Dear friends working through the Pali Primer,

I have a few comments on the exercises for lesson 17
as kindly presented by Yong Peng:

Translate to English.

> 16. Aapa.nasi.m bha.n.daani vikki.nantassa
> vaa.nijassa ratho atthi.
> Ans: The merchant who sells goods at the shop has a
> vehicle.

Since atthi means "is" and vaa.nijassa is genitive,
wouldn't a more accurate translation be:
That is the vehicle of the merchant who sells goods at
the shop.

> 17. Aha.m puttassa daatu.m dussa.m sibhanto giita.m
> gaayi.m.
> Ans: I sang the song while sewing clothe to give to
> my son.

Since "clothe" is not a noun in English, I suggest
replacing with "clothing".

> 19. Purisaa rukkhamuule nisiiditvaa taapasena
> bhaasamaana.m su.ni.msu.
> Ans: People sat at the foot of a tree and listened
> to the speech by
> the ascetic.

I found this an interesting use of the present
participle "bhaasamaana.m", being used as a noun.
Haven't seen anything like this in any of the other
exercises in the book, but found no other valid way to
translate the sentence.

Translate into Paali.

> 3. The fisherman brought fish from the sea and sold
> them to the
> farmers.
> Ans: Dhiivaro samuddamhaa macche aaharitvaa
> kassakaana.m vikki.ni.

Note that the answer Key has an error in it's
solution: it uses "dhiivaraa" and "vikki.ni.msu", as
if it had read "fishermen" instead of "fisherman".

> 6. Do not scold the children playing under the tree
> with the dog.
> Ans: Rukkhamuule sunakena saha kii.lante daarake maa
> akkosatha.

Yong Peng's answer matches the Key's, however, I have
heard from a reliable Pali scholar that "Maa" is most
often placed at the beginning of a sentence, e.g.,
Maa rukkhamuule sunakena saha kii.lante daarake
akkosatha.

> 10. Do not do evil, do good to enter heaven after
> departing from the human world.
> Maa papa.m karohi, manussalokasmaa cavitvaa
> sagga.m pavisitu.m
> kusalaani karohi.

I agree with YP's translation, but note that the Key
translates "evil" as "papaani" instead of "papa.m".
I'm guessing that both of these are interchangeable in
this context.

I look forward to any discussion of the above.

Metta to all,
John





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