Re: Grammar question

>
>
>In chapter 4 there's a translation that goes like this:
>
> English: The uncle, with his friends, sees recluses from the
>mountains.
>
> Pali: Maatulo mittehi saha pabbatehi sama.ne passati.
>
>
>When I did the exercise I had the last two nouns (ablative and
>accusative) reversed in order: (Maatulo mittehi saha sama.ne
>pabbatehi passati.)
>
>Can anyone tell me how in this instance that the ablative 'pabbatehi'
>means that the recluses are from the mountains, rather than the uncle
>and his friends? I guessed that word order would indicate this, but
>from the answer key it looks like I guessed wrong.

I'm pretty sure that the meaning is the same either way. The ablative
should function adverbially, not as an adjectival attribute of the
monks. If you wanted it to mean the monks were from the mountains
you'd need something like "pabbatehi aagate sama.ne", or you could
try something like "pabbatavasanto sama.ne".

However, if the book insists on the difference then I guess the
syntactic difference would be due to proximity to the verb. If the
ablative pabbatehi is adjacent to the verb it'll tend to modify it
[saw from (the vantage point of) the mountain].

Hope this helps, or least provokes a correction from someone better
at syntax than I.

/Rett