Adjectives

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bachew
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2013 12:37 pm

Adjectives

Post by bachew »

Hi, I just started to look into Pali grammar and have doubt.

In http://pali.nibbanam.com/immerse.htm, it says
... adjectives in Pāli have to be singular when the noun is singular, plural when the noun is plural, and display by their form the same grammatical function as the noun they are modifying:

Potthakam mahantam hoti. (This is a large book.)
Potthake mahante honti. (These are has [some] large books.)

The great news about adjectives is that they all have the same endings as one of the noun declensions you will already have learned. You do have to learn that adjectives belong to different declensions, but their forms are ones you'll already know from having memorized the noun declensions earlier.
I don't get it why noun and adjective will have same ending unless an adjective without declension always has same ending with its nouns without declension?
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cooran
Posts: 8503
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:32 pm
Location: Queensland, Australia

Re: Adjectives

Post by cooran »

Hello bachew,

I would recommend that you study Lily de Silva's online lessons for a clearer presentation.


http://www.vridhamma.org/Pali-Primar-Online

With metta,
Chris
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
bachew
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2013 12:37 pm

Re: Adjectives

Post by bachew »

Thanks for the link cooran but I didn't find my answer there:

http://www.vridhamma.org/Lesson-30

At this point I want to roughly know Pali grammar in general before diving into any course, or should I say I have not decided whether to start learning Pali seriously or not.

Please help me on my doubt on adjectives.
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