UPMSP High School Pali cheat sheet

Nouns decline in eight cases (nominative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, genitive, locative, vocative) and two numbers; the vocative is not counted as a true case in native grammars.

Stem endings mark gender: -a stems are usually masculine or neuter, -ā and -ī stems usually feminine, -u stems may be either; the nominative singular of an -a masculine is -o, of an -a neuter is -aṃ.

The six main verb classes are distinguished by the present-stem suffix: class 1 -a-, class 2 root, class 3 -ya- with reduplication, class 4 -ṇa-/-nā-, class 5 -ṇā- with -aya-, class 6 -o/-e- (udātta) patterns shown in the Saddanīti.

Present endings: parassapada singular -mi, -si, -ti; plural -ma, -tha, -nti. Attanopada singular -e, -se, -te; plural -mhe, -vhe, -nte.

The aorist (ajjatanī) is formed with prefixes a- (root aorist), -si-/-s- (s-aorist), and -i- forms; the augment a- is optional in prose but common in verse.

The optative (sattamī/viññā) uses -eyya-, -e-, -o- suffixes: hoti → siyā, bhaveyya; it expresses wish, condition, or polite command.

Sandhi rules: -a/-ā + vowel → -ā- (assimilation); -i/-ī + dissimilar vowel → -iy-; -u/-ū + dissimilar vowel → -uv-; final -ṃ before consonant often becomes the nasal of that class.

Kammadhāraya (adjective-in-compound), tappurisa (case-relation compound), dvandva (coordinative), dvigu (numeral), and bahubbīhi (possessive/exocentric) are the six classical compound types; avyayībhāva is sometimes added as a seventh.

Pali has no relative pronoun system identical to Sanskrit: relative clauses use ya-/tad correlatives (yo … so, yaṃ … taṃ), with the relative clause preceding the main clause.

Translate from the verb outward: identify the finite verb first (person, number, tense), then the nominative subject, then oblique cases in the order accusative (object) → instrumental (means) → dative (purpose) → ablative (source) → genitive (possession) → locative (place/time).

Participles carry tense and voice: present -nt-/-māna- active, past -ta-/-na- passive or intransitive-resultative; a past participle often translates as an English finite verb in narrative.

The absolutive (gerund) in -tvā (same subject) or -tvāna/-ya (after a prefix or in verse) means 'having done X' and usually precedes the main verb in sense, not in position.

The infinitive in -tuṃ expresses purpose: 'gantuṃ' = 'to go, in order to go'; it is indeclinable and takes an object in the accusative.

Causatives in -aya-/-e- take a double accusative (agent in accusative in Pali, unlike Sanskrit instrumental): 'so dārakaṃ odanaṃ bhojāpeti' = 'he has the boy eat the rice'.

Passive forms use -ya- (dissimilated to -īya-/-iya- after certain roots) plus attanopada endings: 'karīyati' = 'is done'; the agent appears in the instrumental.

Negation: na/nā before vowels and consonants, no/no- in compounds and before certain words; 'na … atthi' often contracts to 'natthi'.

Idiomatic particles: api (also, even), eva (indeed, just), ca (and), pana (but, then), hi (for, indeed), kho (indeed, then) - translate them lightly rather than literally.

Numbers and measures: eka, dvi, ti, catu, pañca … dasa, vīsati, sata, sahassa; ordinals pathama, dutiya, tatiya; dual is absent in Pali, so 'both' is expressed by ubho with plural agreement.

The Tipiṭaka comprises Vinaya Piṭaka (Suttavibhaṅga, Khandhaka, Parivāra), Sutta Piṭaka (five Nikāyas), and Abhidhamma Piṭaka (seven books: Dhammasaṅgaṇī, Vibhaṅga, Dhātukathā, Puggalapaññatti, Kathāvatthu, Yamaka, Paṭṭhāna).

The five Nikāyas: Dīgha (34 suttas), Majjhima (152 suttas), Saṃyutta (connected by theme), Aṅguttara (numbered by item count), Khuddaka (miscellaneous collection).

Khuddaka Nikāya includes Khuddakapāṭha, Dhammapada, Udāna, Itivuttaka, Suttanipāta, Vimānavatthu, Petavatthu, Theragāthā, Therīgāthā, Jātaka, Niddesa, Paṭisambhidāmagga, Apadāna, Buddhavaṃsa, Cariyāpiṭaka.

The Dhammapada has 423 verses in 26 vaggas; the first two verses open 'Manopubbaṅgamā dhammā…' and are among the most cited Pali stanzas.

The Jātaka collection contains 547 stories in the Pali canon; each has a paccuppannavatthu (present story), atītavatthu (past story), and samodhāna (identification of characters).

The Visuddhimagga by Buddhaghosa (5th c. CE) is the classic Theravāda meditation manual, structured as sīla, samādhi, paññā; it is commentarial, not canonical.

Major commentaries (aṭṭhakathā) are attributed to Buddhaghosa (Sumaṅgalavilāsinī on Dīgha, Papañcasūdanī on Majjhima, Atthasālinī on Dhammasaṅgaṇī) and to Dhammapāla (Paramatthadīpanī on Khuddaka texts).

The Milindapañha records dialogues between King Milinda (Menander) and the monk Nāgasena; it is included in the Khuddaka Nikāya in the Burmese tradition but not in the Sinhalese canon.

A syllable is light (lahu) if it has a short vowel followed by at most one consonant; it is heavy (garu) if it has a long vowel, a niggahīta (ṃ), or a short vowel followed by a consonant cluster.

The basic unit is the gaṇa of three syllables; eight gaṇas are named ya (⏑––), ra (–⏑–), ta (––⏑), bha (–⏑⏑), ja (⏑–⏑), sa (⏑⏑–), ma (–––), na (⏑⏑⏑).

Siloka (anuṭṭhubha) has 8 syllables per quarter (pāda); odd pādas end in a pathyā cadence, even pādas have a fixed cadence such as ⏑–⏑– or ––⏑–.

Tuṭṭhubha has 11 syllables per pāda; jagatī has 12; the triṣṭubh/jagatī family in Pali verse often uses fixed cadences in pādas 2 and 4.

Vaṃsaṭṭhā (vaṃsa) has 13 syllables per pāda, with the cadence –⏑–⏑–⏑– in the final position.

Ariyā (āryā) is a moraic metre: it counts mātrās (light = 1, heavy = 2), with 12 mātrās in the first half and 18 in the second, or 30 total in some analyses.

Vetālīya has 14 mātrās in the first and third pādas and 16 in the second and fourth; the odd pādas end in a jagaṇa (⏑–⏑).

The Dhammapada and Theragāthā are largely siloka; the Suttanipāta mixes siloka, tuṭṭhubha, and vaṃsaṭṭhā, and its metre shifts mark narrative sections.

Metre is checked by scanning: mark each syllable light or heavy, then match the resulting pattern against the gaṇa template of the intended metre.

Core verb: √as 'to be' → atthi (is), santi (are), āsi (was), bhavissati (will be); √bhav 'to become' supplies many future and optative forms.

√kar 'to do/make': karoti, karonti, akāsi, kariyati (passive), kāreti (causative), kata (past participle).

√gam 'to go': gacchati, gacchanti, agamāsi, gato/gatā, gantuṃ (infinitive), gantvā (absolutive).

√dā 'to give': dadāti, adāsi, dinna/datta (given), dāna (gift); √su 'to hear': suṇāti, assosi, suta.

Frequent nouns: dhamma (teaching, thing), saṅgha (community), buddha (awakened one), bhikkhu/bhikkhunī, loka (world), magga (path), dukkha (suffering), sukha (happiness), citta (mind), kāya (body).

Case usage: instrumental expresses means and accompaniment (often with saha/saddhiṃ), dative expresses purpose and indirect object, ablative expresses source and cause, genitive expresses possession and subjective relation.

Prefixes change meaning predictably: pa- (forward, forth), ni- (down, in), vi- (apart, dis-), anu- (along, after), upa- (near, toward), abhi- (toward, over), pari- (around), sam- (together), ava- (down), ud- (up).

Abstract nouns from -a stems: -tta/-tā suffixes (e.g., buddhatta 'awakened state', puthujjanatā 'ordinary-person state'); -ka and -ika suffixes form adjectives.

Distinguish near-homophones: 'citta' (mind) vs 'citta' (variegated, painted); 'kāya' (body) vs 'kāya' (collection); context and compound position disambiguate.