Kc 25

[Kaccāyanabyākaraṇaṃ, Sandhikappa, Tatiyakaṇḍa, Sutta 25]

25. 37. Dīghaṃ (64, 71, 165).

Sarā kho byañjane pare kvaci dīghaṃ papponti.

When a consonant follows, vowels sometimes become long.

Sammā dhammaṃ vipassato (Khu. i, 67), evaṃ gāme munī care (Khu. i,
20), khantī paramaṃ tapo titikkhā (D. ī, 42).

Examples:
sammā dhammaṃ: samma dhammaṃ; sammā dhammaṃ (25).
munī care: muni care; munī care (25).
khantī paramaṃ: khanti paramaṃ; khantī paramaṃ (25).

Kvacī ti kasmā? Idha modati pecca modati (Khu. i, 15), patilīyati (A.
i, 434), paṭihaññati (Vi. iv, 292).

Why say ‘sometimes’? To prevent the operation of this rule in the
following: Idha modati pecca modati, patilīyati, paṭihaññati.

Counter Examples:
idha modati pecca modati. Here the vowels ‘a’ of idha and pecca remain
unchanged before the consonants.
patilīyati: pati + lī + ya + ti.
paṭihaññati: paṭi + hana + ya + ti.

[note: for the last two cournter examples, the "i" of "pati" and
"paṭi" are the vowels that remain unchanged, --ja]

-- translation and notes by Ven. U Nandisena, 2004

-- posted (with some minor editing) by Jim Anderson, 26 June 2010
(on the day of the full moon)