SuttaCentral
Zoom link for JK’s Pāli Beginners Class 2026/27 (G&K) - Session 6.
Meeting ID: 829 5896 1475
Passcode: anicca
Note, you will need to remain in the “waiting room” until host lets you in.
Homework preparation for this class:
Hello, John! Thank you again for these classes.
I have a few questions for this week. I feel like some of them may seem obvious after being answered, but I figure if I have the question someone else might too.
Q1: On page 33 there are “to be/become” verbs: atthi, hoti, and bhavati. I understand that they are supposed to assert something, as the next page says. Where I’m confused is that on page 34 it says they’re more akin to “there is/there are”. Are there any cases where these three verbs be translated as “to be/become” sort of like the infinitive, rather than “there is/there are”?
Q2: I don’t quite understand transitive and intransitive verbs. I’ve looked them up in the past for other language studies and always come away feeling befuddled. How do you usually explain this concept to people? It comes up on page 37 for -e- and -o- stem verbs.
Q3: On maññatha. I accidentally began to do the further reading exercises rather than the first set. I’ve been flipping through the grammar charts in each chapter for -atha and at first thought this may be optative, but it is missing the -eyyā of -eyyātha. What form of maññati would this be?
Thank you again for all the help!
Good questions, Ven. Nipako.
>>Q1: On page 33 there are “to be/become” verbs: atthi, hoti, and bhavati. I understand that they are supposed to assert something, as the next page says. Where I’m confused is that on page 34 it says they’re more akin to “there is/there are”. Are there any cases where these three verbs be translated as “to be/become” sort of like the infinitive, rather than “there is/there are”?
The thing to be clear on is that in English when we talk about verbs in general or list them in dictionaries/glossaries we use the infinitive form, e.g., in this case “to be” or just “be”. Whereas, in Pāli, the convention is that all verbs are listed in their 3rd person singular present form, e.g. atthi, hoti, or bhavati. The infinitive for this verb is either hotuṃ or bhavituṃ (there is no equivalent infinitive for atthi). This might be where your confusion lies, unless I’m misunderstanding your question.
>>Q2: I don’t quite understand transitive and intransitive verbs. I’ve looked them up in the past for other language studies and always come away feeling befuddled. How do you usually explain this concept to people? It comes up on page 37 for -e- and -o- stem verbs.
Quite straightforwardly the difference is that a transitive verb takes a direct object, whereas an intransitive verb doesn’t (either no object, or indirect objects only).
Some verbs can only ever be transitive, some only intransitive, and some can be either. Take for instance the simple sentence he walks - no direct object, so intransitive. But he walks the dog now has a direct object “the dog”, so transitive.
>>Q3: On maññatha. I accidentally began to do the further reading exercises rather than the first set. I’ve been flipping through the grammar charts in each chapter for -atha and at first thought this may be optative, but it is missing the -eyyā of -eyyātha. What form of maññati would this be?
Quite simply the -atha ending here is 2nd person plural present tense. See G&K I.2.2 on p.7. Thus maññatha is you (pl.) think.
We can talk more about these at our upcoming lesson in a couple of days.
Hi John,
Just double checking, is our session 6 class still planned for Monday, 18 May at 5 pm Brisbane time?
As your first post above has the class on Wednesday, 20 May.
Thanks,
Ryan
Yikes! That was a slip up! Thanks for pointing it out. I’ve fixed it now.