> Buddhadatta Ex.7(B)#13:

13. Your monkey fell down from a tree.
tava / kapi / paatesi / rukkhamhaa
Tava kapi rukkhamhaa paatesi.



I wondered a little about this. 'paatesi' is the past of the causative 'paateti,' which means "causes to fall." The past of 'patati' is 'apati' (pati, apatii, patii). Thus, more correct in this sentence seems to be one of the latter forms. Part of the confusion may be due to Buddhadatta, who on p. 12 introduces 'paateti' with the English "fells down," which mixes the two forms.

The two forms are readily distinguished by the lengthened 'a' and the 'e' (from -aya) of the causative. Anyway, this is how I understand the conjugations in the present and past. Please correct me if I am wrong:



patati = he falls

(present tense like bhavati)



sg. pl.

pataami pataama

patasi patatha

patati patanti



past tense



(a)pati.m patimha(a)

pato patittha

pati(i) pati.msu



paateti = he causes to fall, he fells



present (Warder/21; Buddh/12)



paatemi paatema

paatesi paatetha

paateti paatenti



past tense (Warder/25; Buddh/16)



paatesi.m paatesimha

paatesi* paatesittha

paatesi paatesu.m



*Buddhadatta uses 'paatayo' and supplies additional forms.

> 20. Thou buyest a peacock from the poet.

tva.m / kino / mayura.m / kavinaa
Tva.m kavinaa mayura.m kino.

('ki.naasi' = present tense)

> Yesterday, I was looking at the opening words of Dhammapada verse 1, known to so many: "manopubba.ngamaa dhammaa." = mano + pubba [n] + gamaa / dhammaa, in the nominative plural. According to one writer (Perniola/170), the first part is a kammadhaaraya cpd: a noun (mano) + an adj. (pubba.ngama) = "mind-preceded." According to him, the whole cpd. is then turned into an adj. agreeing with dhammaa. Thus: "Mind-preceded [are] dhammaa." I would have thought of a tappurisa of the instrumental kind, as is sometimes translated into English: "Preceded BY mind are dhammaa." But then I suppose the Paali would be: "manasaa pubba.ngamaa dhammaa." I'm pretty new to compounds, so does this all make sense?-- Rene

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]