Hello All,

As per Nina's request, I have reworked this pali reference sheet that I
compiled from conversations and readings. In addition to the English
examples, I have now given relevant Pali examples as well.
Also, rather than posting the sheet all at once as I did last time, I am
taking Nina's advice and am posting it in seven sections over the course
of a week. Today I am posting only the introduction. Then it will go in
order of the different compounds I cover, starting with tappurisa, then
kammadhaaraya, etc. Please let me know if you see any mistakes that I
need to correct.

Metta,

Alan

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_Pali Compound Reference Sheet:_

* *

* *

*_Acknowledgments:_*_ _

This simple reference could not have been compiled without the very
helpful comments and constructive criticisms of the following people:

Everett (Rett) Thiele, Stephen Hodge, Ole Pind, and Ong Yong Peng.

And the following references:

Some borrowed examples from these books: “Introduction to Paa.li” by
A.K. Warder, “Teach Yourself Sanskrit” by Michael Coulson, and “*A
Practical Grammar of the Paa.li Language” by Charles Duroiselle.*

*_Introduction:_*

*_ _*

Knowing the differences between the different types of compounds and how
they are used is important when translating Paa.li. Though in some cases
one might mistake one compound for another and still translate the
passage in an acceptable way, there are definite cases where
misunderstanding of the type of compound in question can lead to
unfortunate mis-translations.

There are six types of compounds found in Paa.li literature; namely:

*1) Tappurisa compounds: *Dependent Determinate Compounds**

*2) Kammadhaaraya compounds: *Descriptive Determinate Compounds**

*3) Bahubbiihi compounds: *Relative Or Attributive Compounds

*4) Dvanda Compounds: *Copulative or Aggregative Compounds**

*5) Digu compounds: *Dependent Determinate Compounds**

*6) Avyayiibhaava compounds: *Adverbial Compounds**

* *

Compounds are created by combining adverbs, adjectives, participles,
pronouns and nouns in order to form more complex words with richer
meanings. When compounds are formed, if declension is necessary (as is
usually the case) then only the final word is declined with the prefixed
words being in their stem form (with the exception of words in –ant and
–an which are resolved to –at and –a respectively).

Each of these types of compounds will be discussed at length below: