An Elementary Pali Course

Lesson XIV

Participles

In PŒÂi there are six kinds of Participles - viz:
(i) Present Active participles,
(ii) Present Passive Participles,
(iii) Past Indeclinable Participles*,
(iv) Past Active Participles,
(v) Past Passive Participles, and
(vi) Potential Participles

*These have been already dealt with in lesson VIII-B. See Table in lesson VI-B.

i. The Present Active Participles are formed by adding "anta" and "mŒna" to the root; e.g:,
paca + anta = pacanta;
paca + mŒna = pacamŒna, cooking.

ii. The Present Passive Participles are formed by adding the Passive suffix "ya" between the root and the suffix "mŒna". If the ending of the root is "a" or "Œ", it is changed into "i" , e.g.,
paca + ya + mŒna = pac´yamŒna, being cooked;
sè + ya + mŒna = sèyamŒna, being heard.

Generally these suffixes are added to the forms the roots assume before the third person plural terminations of the present tense.

These participles are inflectional and agree with the noun or pronoun they qualify, in gender, number and case. They are also used when contemporaneity of action is to be indicated. The sense of the English words 'as, since, while, whilst' may be expressed by them.

Feminine
The feminine is formed by adding the suffix "´", as
pacanta + ´ = pacant´, and is declined like feminine nouns ending in "´" (See lesson X).

The Present Participles ending in "mŒna" are declined like "nara", "ka––Œ" and "phala"; as pacamŒno (m.) pacamŒnŒ (f.) and pacamŒnaµ (n.).

Illustrations:
gacchanto puriso, going man, or the man who is going.
gacchantassa purisassa, to the man who is going.
paccant´ (or) pacamŒnŒ itth´, the woman who is cooking.
so vadamŒno gacchati, he goes speaking.
patamŒnaµ phalaµ, the falling fruit.
rakkh´yamŒnaµ nagaraµ, the city that is being protected.
Ahaµ magge gacchanto taµ purisaµ passiµ, I saw that man while I was going on the way.

(iv), (v) The Past Active and Passive participles are formed by adding the suffix "ta", or "na" after "d" etc. to the root or stem. If the ending of the root is "a", it is often changed into "i".

Examples:-
–Œ + ta = –Œta, known
su + ta = suta, heard
paca + ta = pacita, cooked
rakkha + ta = rakkhita, protected
chidi + na = chinna, cut
bhidi + na = bhinna, broken

These are also inflectional and agree with the noun or pronoun they qualify in gender, number and case. They are frequently used to supply the place of verbs, sometimes in conjunction with the auxiliaries "asa" and "hu" to be.

Illustrations:
So gato, he went or he is gone. (Here hoti is understood.)
éhito naro, the man who stood.
éhitassa narassa, to the man who stood or to the man standing.
éhitŒya nŒriyŒ, to the woman who stood.
Buddhena desito dhammo, the Doctrine preached by the Buddha.
Sissehi pucchitassa pa–hassa, to the question asked by the pupils.

(vi) The Potential Participles are formed by adding the suffix "tabba" to the root or stem with or without. If the ending of the root is "a", it is often changed into "i".

Examples:-
DŒ + tabba = dŒtabba, should or must be given.
–Œ + tabba = –Œtabba, should be known.
paca + tabba = pacitabba, should be cooked.

These participles too agree with the noun or pronoun they qualify in gender, number and case. The agent is put in the Instrumental.

Illustrations:
Janako vanditabbo, the father should be saluted.
Janan´ rakkhitabbŒ, the mother should be protected.
Cittaµ rakkhitabbaµ, the mind should be guarded.
TayŒ gantabbaµ, you should go.
SŒvakehi dhammo sotabbo, the Doctrine should be heard by the disciples.

*disa, (i) to preach; (ii) to see. Desenta, preaching; Passanta, seeing.

Exercise 14-A

*This is the Locative absolute.

**"To" is another suffix for forming the ablative.

Exercise 14-B