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The New Pali Course Part III (1950)
Prof. A. P. Buddhadatta Maha Nayaka Thera

Chapter VII Definition of the Indeclinables

The indeclinables are those words which are incapable of any grammatical declension. In Pali these are called avyayas; they are mainly of two kinds: (1) upasaggas and (2) nipaatas.

(1) Upasaggas are the prefixes, an explanation of which is given in §79, 80, 81, NPC2.

YP: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Pali/message/11904

(2) Nipaatas consist of adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, the infinitives ending in -tu.m and -tave, and all absolutives such as katvaa, kaatuuna, aagamma.

94. The nipaatas also are of two kinds: (1) derivative, (2) pure or simple.

(1) The Derivative Indeclinables are formed by adding some suffixes to the stems of some nouns, pronouns or adjectives:

(a) Derived from nouns: atthaso, hetuso, gehato, mukhato.
(b) Derived from pronouns: yadaa, tadaa, yena, kattha, kadaa, kuto.
(c) Derived from adjectives: lahuso, diighato, puthulato, sabbadaa.
(d) From numericals: dvidhaa, tidhaa, catukkhattu.m, pa~nca-pa~ncaso.

Note. Suffix -to in the ablative sense is sometimes affixed to some prefixes in order to form some indeclinables: abhito, parito (all around).

(2) The Pure Indeclinables are: kira, khalu, kho, tu, hi, maa, nanu, etc. etc., including the conjunctions: ca, vaa, atha, atha vaa, uda, udaahu, tathaa pi; the interjections: aho, haa, ahaha, dhii, etc. and the conditionals: ce, sace, yadi.

For further description of the Derivative Indeclinables, see III Avyaya-Taddhita, NPC2.

95. Although the indeclinables do not undergo any declension, some of them express the sense of particular cases.

For instance:

(a) sakkaa, labbhaa, saya.m, saama.m and namo are used in the Nominative sense.
(b) abhi.nha.m, punappuna.m, muhu.m, saki.m, cira.m, ora.m, etc. are in the sense of the Accusative.
(c) saya.m, saama.m, micchaa, vaahasaa, etc. have the sense of the Instrumental.
(d) uddha.m, adho, tiriya.m, he.t.thaa, upari, etc. have the sense of the Locative.
(e) aaraa, aarakaa, yaava, taava, etc. have the sense of the Ablative.
(f) bho, are, he, bha.ne, je, aavuso, etc. have the sense of the Vocative.

Meanings of these indeclinables will be clear in the following list of examples given in the alphabetical order.

ref: http://www.tipitaka.net/pali/synthesis/pali3.00.cdv

(to be continued...)