Klryz
Pronunciation guide: the Pali alphabet and its sounds

Pali has 41 letters, in this order (the dictionary’s order): a ā i ī u ū e o · k kh g gh ṅ · c ch j jh ñ · ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ · t th d dh n · p ph b bh m · y r l ḷ v s h · ṃ. Devanagari is shown beside each word; Pali is also written in Sinhala, Burmese, Thai and other scripts.

Vowels

aअa in “about” (short)
āआa in “father” (long)
iइi in “sit”
īईee in “see” (long)
uउu in “put”
ūऊoo in “food” (long)
eएay in “day”; short before two consonants (mettā)
oओo in “go”; short before two consonants (sotthi)

Consonants

Throat

kकk in “skin”
khखk with a puff
gगg in “go”
ghघg with a puff
ṅङng in “sing”

Palate

cचch in “church” (never k)
chछch with a puff
jजj in “jam”
jhझj with a puff
ñञny in “canyon”

Tongue curled back

ṭटt, tongue tip curled back
ṭhठthe same with a puff
ḍडd, tongue curled back
ḍhढthe same with a puff
ṇणn, tongue curled back

Teeth

tतt on the teeth (French t)
thथt with a puff, “at home” (never “thin”)
dदd on the teeth
dhधd with a puff, “adhere” (never “this”)
nनn in “nut”

Lips

pपp in “spin”
phफp with a puff, “uphill” (never “f”)
bबb in “bat”
bhभb with a puff, “abhor”
mमm in “mat”

Others

yयy in “yes”
rरa light tapped r
lलl in “love”
ḷळl with the tongue curled back
vवbetween v and w
sसs in “sun” (never z)
hहh in “hand”
ṃंniggahīta: a nasal hum (saṃgha ≈ “sang-gha”); also written ṁ

How to say a word

  • An h after a consonant (kh, th, dh, ph, bh…) is a puff of breath, never English “th” or “ph”.
  • Double consonants are held: dham·ma, bud·dha, sat·ta (like “bookcase”, not “booking”).
  • Long syllables have ā ī ū e o, end in ṃ, or come before two consonants; the others are short. Stress the second-last syllable if it is long (nib·bā·na, met·tā), otherwise the one before it.
  • Each entry shows the word split into syllables, e.g. nib·bā·na, saṅ·gha, met·tā.
Pali grammar, metre and literary devices

Grammar: genders and numbers

masculinedhamma, buddhamost -a stems; nominative -o (dhammo)
femininemettā, paññāmostly -ā, -i, -ī stems
neutercitta, rūpa-a stems; nominative -aṃ (cittaṃ)
singular / pluraldhammo / dhammāPali has two numbers; the old dual is lost

Grammar: the 8 cases (dhamma, masc.)

nominativedhammo · dhammāsubject
accusativedhammaṃ · dhammeobject; goal of motion
instrumentaldhammena · dhammehiby, with
dativedhammāya, dhammassa · dhammānaṃto, for
ablativedhammā, dhammasmā, dhammamhā · dhammehifrom; because of
genitivedhammassa · dhammānaṃof
locativedhamme, dhammasmiṃ, dhammamhi · dhammesuin, on, at; when
vocativedhamma · dhammāO …!

Singular · plural. buddha declines the same way: buddho, buddhaṃ, buddhena, buddhāya/buddhassa, buddhā, buddhassa, buddhe, buddha.

Grammar: verbs (bhavati / hoti “is, becomes”)

presentbhavati, hoti · bhavanti, hontihe/she is · they are; also bhavāmi/homi “I am”
aorist (past)ahosi · ahesuṃhe/she was · they were (also abhavi)
futurebhavissati, hessati, hohitiwill be
optativebhaveyyamay be, should be (wishes, rules, conditions)
imperativebhavatu, hotu · hontulet it be · let them be
conditionalabhavissawould have been (rare)

Grammar: non-finite forms

absolutive -tvābhavitvā, hutvā; gantvā, disvāhaving been; having gone, having seen
infinitive -tuṃbhavituṃ, kātuṃ, gantuṃto be, to do, to go
present participle -nt / -mānabhavanto, bhavamānabeing
past participle -ta / -nabhūta, kata, dinnabecome, done, given
future passive -tabba / -anīyakātabba, karaṇīyato be done, what should be done

Grammar: compounds (samāsa)

dvandasamaṇabrāhmaṇā“ascetics and brahmins”: X and Y
tappurisarājaputta“king’s son”: Y of/by/for X
kammadhārayamahāpurisa“great man”: Y that is X
digutiratana“the three jewels”: a numeral first
bahubbīhimahāpañña“(one) having great wisdom”: describes someone else
avyayībhāvayathābalaṃ“according to strength”: indeclinable, adverb-like

Grammar: sandhi (joining sounds)

vowel droppedna + atthi → natthi“there is not”
vowels mergetatra + ayaṃ → tatrāyaṃa + a → ā
i + voweliti + evaṃ → iccevaṃi becomes y, ty → cc
ṃ + vowelevaṃ + āha → evam āhaṃ becomes m
ṃ + consonantsaṃ + gaha → saṅgahaṃ takes the nasal of the next consonant
doublingpa + kamati → pakkamatia consonant is doubled after a prefix

Prosody: heavy and light syllables

garu (heavy) –ā ī ū e o; a short vowel + ṃ or two consonantsdham- in dhamma, saṃ- in saṃgha
lahu (light) ⏑a short vowel (a i u) + at most one consonantma- in manasā

Metres are counted either by syllables (akkharachandas) or by morae, mattā (light = 1, heavy = 2).

Prosody: main metres

siloka (anuṭṭhubha)4 × 8 syllablesthe commonest; even lines usually end ⏑ – ⏑ x
tuṭṭhubha4 × 11 syllablesyānīdha bhūtāni samāgatāni (Ratana-sutta, Sn 222)
jagatī4 × 12 syllablesa tuṭṭhubha line with one more syllable; the two are often mixed in one verse
vetālīyalines of 14 + 16 mattācounted in morae, with the cadence – ⏑ – ⏑ –
opacchandasakalines of 16 + 18 mattālike vetālīya, cadence – ⏑ – ⏑ – –
mattāchandasmetres counted in mattāvetālīya, opacchandasaka and the old gīti/āryā forms

Dhammapada 1 (siloka): manopubbaṅgamā dhammā / manoseṭṭhā manomayā / manasā ce paduṭṭhena / bhāsati vā karoti vā: “Mind precedes things; mind is their chief, they are mind-made; if one speaks or acts with a corrupted mind …”

Literary devices in the canon

repetition, peyyāla… pe …repeated passages are written once and abbreviated with pe(yyāla), “and so on”
stock formulasevaṃ me sutaṃ. ekaṃ samayaṃ bhagavā …“Thus have I heard. At one time the Blessed One …”
numerical listscattāri ariyasaccānithe Aṅguttara Nikāya is arranged by number (ones to elevens); mātikā are the Abhidhamma’s lists of headings
similes (upamā)seyyathāpi … evam eva“just as … even so”, e.g. the raft (kullūpama, MN 22)
verse and prose (geyya)prose then summarising versesgeyya is one of the nine kinds (aṅga) of the Teacher’s word
dialogue, questionstaṃ kiṃ maññatha bhikkhave, rūpaṃ niccaṃ vā aniccaṃ vā ti? aniccaṃ bhanteteaching by question and answer (SN 22.59)
refrainseko care khaggavisāṇakappo“let one wander alone like the rhinoceros horn” ends each verse of Sn 35–75
chiasmus, ring structurena hi verena verāni sammantīdha kudācanaṃ / averena ca sammantimirrored order (Dhp 5); many suttas end by returning to their opening
word-playlujjatī ti kho bhikkhu, tasmā loko ti vuccati“it crumbles (lujjati), so it is called the world (loka)” (SN 35.82)
epithetsbhagavā, tathāgata, sugataand the ‘iti pi so’ list: arahaṃ sammāsambuddho vijjācaraṇasampanno …
framing storiespaccuppannavatthu · atītavatthu · samodhānaa Jātaka’s present story frames the past story, then identifies the characters; Vinaya rules each have an origin story
uddānaa mnemonic verse after each vaggalists a key word from each sutta so the chapter can be recited from memory

Sources: A. K. Warder, Introduction to Pali (Pali Text Society, 3rd ed. 2001) and Pali Metre (PTS, 1967); W. Geiger, Pāli Literatur und Sprache (1916), rev. K. R. Norman as A Pāli Grammar (PTS, 1994); K. R. Norman, Pāli Literature (1983) and his papers on Pāli metre.

Pali Dictionary

छन्द

chanda

Say it: chan·da

Sanskrit equivalent

छन्द chanda

Meaning

Chanda
  1. impulse, excitement; intention, resolution, will desire for, wish for, delight in (c. loc.). Explained at Vism.466 as “kattu-kāmatāy” adhivacanaṁ; by Dhtp.587 & Dhtm.821 as; chand = icchāyaṁ
    1. As virtue: dhammapadesu ch. striving after righteousness SN.i.202 tibba˚ ardent desire, zeal AN.i.229; AN.iv.15; kusaladhamma˚ AN.iii.441. Often combined with other good qualities, e.g. ch. vāyāma ussāha ussoḷhi AN.iv.320 ch. viriya citta vīmaṁsā in set of samādhis (cp. iddhipāda) DN.iii.77 (see below), & in cpd. ˚âdhipateyya-kusalānaṁ dhammānaṁ uppādāya chandaṁ janeti vāyamati viriyaṁ ārabhati, etc., see citta v. 1 dβ.
      ■ MN.ii.174; AN.i.174 (ch. vā vāyāmo vā); AN.iii.50 (chandasā instr.); Snp verse 1026 (+ viriya); Vv.24:12 (= kusala˚ Vv-a.116); Ja.vi.72; Dhp-a.i.14
    2. As vice:
    3. kinds character of ch
      ■ With similar expressions: (kāya-ch. sneha anvayatā MN.i.500
      ■ ch. dosa moha bhaya DN.iii.182; Cnd.337#2 (See also below chandâgati). Its nearest analogue in this sense is rāga (lust), e.g. ch rāga dosa paṭigha DN.i.25 (cp. DN-a.i.116); rūpesu uppajjati ch. vā rāgo SN.iv.195. See below ˚rāga. In this bad sense it is nearly the same as kāma (see kāma kāmachanda: sensual desire, cp. Dhs-a.370, Vism.466 & Mrs. Rh. D. in; Dhs trsl. 292) & the combn kāmachanda is only an enlarged term of kāma. Kāye chanda “delight in the body” MN.i.500; Snp verse 203. bhave ch. (pleasure in existence) Thig.14 (cp. bhavachanda) lokasmiṁ ch. (hankering after the world) Snp verse 866; methunasmiṁ (sexual desire) Snp verse 835 (expl. by ch. vā rāgo vā peman Mnd.181)
      ■ Ch. in this quality is one of the roots of misery: cittass’ upakkileso SN.iii.232 sq. SN.v.92; mūlaṁ dukkhassa Ja.iv.328 sq
      ■ Other passages illustrating ch. are e.g. vyāpāda˚ & vihiṁsā˚ SN.ii.151 rūpa-dhātuyā˚ SN.iii.10; SN.iv.72; yaṁ aniccaṁ, etc.… tattha˚ SN.iii.122, SN.iii.177; SN.iv.145 sq.; asmī ti ch. SN.iii.130 atilīno ch. SN.v.277 sq., cp. also DN.ii.277
    4. the emancipation from ch. as necessary for the attainment of Arahantship
      ■ vigata˚ (free from excitement) and a˚ SN.i.111; SN.iii.7, SN.iii.107, SN.iii.190; SN.iv.387; AN.ii.173 sq.; DN.iii.238; ettha chandaṁ virājetvā Snp verse 171 = SN.i.16. Kāye chandaṁ virājaye Snp verse 203.
    5. vīta˚ AN.iv.461 sq. ˚ṁ vineti SN.i.22, SN.i.197; ˚ṁ vinodeti SN.i.186; ch. suppaṭivinīta SN.ii.283. na tamhi ˚ṁ kayirātha Dhp.117.
  2. (in the monastic law) consent, declaration of consent (to an official act: kamma) by an absentee Vin.i.121 Vin.i.122. dhammikānaṁ kammānaṁ chandaṁ datvā having given (his) consent to valid proceedings Vin.iv.151, Vin.iv.152 cp. ˚dāyaka Vin.ii.94
    ■ Note. The commentaries follow the canonical usage of the word without adding any precision to its connotation. See Cnd. s.v.; Dhs-a.370; Dhp-a.i.14, Ja.vi.72, Vv-a.77.

cp. Vedic and Sk. chanda, and skandh to jump

Pali Text Society Pali–English Dictionary (Rhys Davids & Stede, 1921–25). Source