Hello Rett,

Thanks a lot for your explanation. It makes more sense now. The stem
comes out of the root, and so the root is the most basic form of a
verb I guess (I guess it's a bit similar to the root/stem of a
plant). And as you say, in English or French verbs have no roots.
This was also confusing me since I was trying to make a parallel.
I will study the pdf file you suggested me to download. I find both
Buddhadatta and Warder a bit confusing on this notion.

Merci,

Florent

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, rett <rett@...> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I hope the following can be of assistance.
>
> >
> >
> >If I take the verb form "pacati" for example, would "paca" be the
stem
> >and "pac-" be the root and "-ti" the ending?
>
> Yes. The stem is what you put the endings on. The root is what you
make the stem out of. Some more examples:
>
> Root Stem Pres. 3rd Sing
> i e eti
> gam gaccha gacchati
> ci cinaa cinaati
> nat nacca naccati
> dis dese deseti
>
> The roots are divided into classes, or ga.na-s, (called
conjugations by Warder), and each class has its own way of creating
stems from the roots. This is covered in Warder, though it's split
up throughout the book instead of all being covered in one place.
Some roots also take irregular stems.
>
> In the above examples, the root 'i' (class I, Warder chapter 1)
has had its vowel strengthened to 'e' to make the stem. (see the
vowel gradation chart Warder page 12).
>
> The root 'gam' (class I, Warder chapter 2) takes the irregular
stem 'gaccha'.
>
> The root ci (class V, Warder chapter 15) adds 'naa' to make the
stem.
>
> The root 'nat' (class III, Warder chapter 11) adds 'ya' to make
the stem. The resulting 'ty' in 'natya' assimilates to 'cc'
according to a regular rule in Pali.
>
> The root 'dis' (class VII, Warder chapter 3) takes strengthening
of the root vowel and adds 'aya' to make the stem: desaya-. Then,
because of a common sound change in Pali 'aya' reduces to 'e'
leaving dese- as the stem.
>
> etcetera
>
> Note that the numberings of these classes can differ in different
works. I'm using Warder's numbering since you mentioned his book.
Class VII here, for example, would be called class X in a Sanskrit
grammar. There are also slightly different numberings in traditional
Pali grammars. Still, the principles are the same.
>
>
> > Buddhadata mentions
> >"bhava" as base. Does that mean stem?
>
> Yes, if by that you mean the stem derived from the root bhuu.
Stem/base are interchangeable.
>
>
> >Is there a difference in English between root and stem? For
example in
> >"sings" is "sing" the stem and "s" the ending, the root being the
same
> >as the stem?
>
> As far as I know, the concept 'root' doesn't apply to English.
It's specific to ancient Indian languages.
>
>
> >Same question with nouns. If nara is a masculine stem, what would
be
> >the root of this noun? Why are nouns classified under stems since
the
> >stem form is actually never used?
>
> Personally I don't think it makes much sense to speak of nouns has
having roots except in cases where the noun is clearly derived from
a verb (such as gamana 'the act of going' from gam).
>
> best regards,
>
> /Rett