Discussion Forum - Intro to Pāli

Pali Beginner Level - Auxiliary Grammar Reference

Pali Beginner Level - Auxiliary Grammar Reference

by Robert Arber -
Number of replies: 2

Hello,

The Pali Primer by L. de Silver is great as a beginner text but I'm very much finding as I go along that it doesn't explain enough about some of the grammar as it comes up.

I'm presently at Lesson 4 and as an example it would be nice if the chapter was to go into a bit more depth where necessary, i.e. so that the information in each chapter was a little bit more clearer. Like why is there 3 ways to spell "From the man" or "From the uncle" or "From the farmer", and a little bit more detail about the cases in each chapter would be good.

So my question is; is there a Pali Grammar with more depth that a beginner could use as a reference tool to help him/her as they progress through these exercises?

Thank You,

bob

In reply to Robert Arber

Re: Pali Beginner Level - Auxiliary Grammar Reference

by Klaus Nothnagel -

Dear Bob,

You may not really like my reply but I would just askyou not to get discouraged easily as you efforts seem to be great.

But as with all languages, especially with a ‘deadlanguage’ it just takes time. Many explanations will along with practice and actuallyreading the texts reveal themselves. Like those two/three endings for theplural ablative: -ehi/ebhi as well as the singular: aa/mhaa/ smaa/ often are understood once we understand thecombination that developed through the Sandhi (see Introduction to Pali – page 5/6 and esp. page 9. Often we find apredominance of one or the other endings in the later Palitexts as well, whichthen seem to be used more often.

You may find Warder, explanation of ablative page88ff, as well as Peniola, Pali Grammer, page322 helpful, but for a beginneroften too much and discouraging. Also there is no explanation as to why thoseendings occur given.

We have developed the ETP, as it seems more easy toread and learn along with the texts and the translation offered.

Good luck, much Metta,

Klaus

In reply to Klaus Nothnagel

Re: Pali Beginner Level - Auxiliary Grammar Reference

by Robert Arber -

Morning all!

Thank you, Klaus I do very much appreciate your reply, with it and others help finally I'm starting to make a little progress.

So, thank you!

And yes i like the idea of using say Warder (lightly for now) just as a reference look-up!

Again "very much appreciated" .

metta

bob