Adjectives (guṇanāma, guṇavacana, visesana)

Adjectives (guṇanāma, guṇavacana, visesana)¶

Adjectives in Pāli¶

Adjectives are a class of words that give more information about a noun.

vatthaṃ (a cloth)
odātaṃ vatthaṃ (a white cloth)
parisuddhaṃ odātaṃ vatthaṃ (a clean white cloth)

Adjectives are declined just like nouns. They agree with the noun that they qualify in gender, case & number.

If you know your noun declensions, you’ll have no problem with adjectives. (The reverse is also true).

How to form an adjective¶

Adjectives are formed by adding various suffixes to the root. You’ll look at those in a lot more detail when you study derivatives. Some of the suffixes are:

Root	Meaning	Form	Adj	Meaning
√bal	to be strong	√bal + a	bala	strong
√mā	to measure	sa + √mā + ana	samāna	same ; similar
√kam	to desire	√kam + *a + ka	kāmaka	willing
√kudh	to be angry	√kudh + *ana	kodhana	angry
√tap	to burn	ā + √tap + *ī	ātāpī	ardent
√bhad	to be lucky	√bhad + ra	bhadra	fortunate
√jan	to be born	√jan + ti + iya	jātiya	of nature; of type
√bah	to increase	√bah + u	bahu	many
√dhuv	to be stable	√dhuv + a	dhuva	eternal
√div	to shine	√div + ya	dibba	divine

Adjectives ending in -a (singular)


	masc (-a)	fem (-ā)	neuter (aṃ)
1.nom	dīgho	dīghā	dīghaṃ
2.acc	dīghaṃ	dīghaṃ	dīghaṃ
3.inst	dīghena	dīghāya	dīghena
4.dat	dīghāya dīghassa	dīghāya	dīghāya dīghassa
5.abl	dīghā dīghamhā dīghasmā	dīghāya	dīghā dīghamhā dīghasmā
6.gen	dīghassa	dīghāya	dīghassa
7.loc	dīghe dīghamhi dīghasmiṃ	dīghāyaṃ dīghāya	dīghe dīghamhi dīghasmiṃ
8.voc	dīgha dīghā	dīghe	dīgha dīghā

Adjectives ending in -a (plural)


	masc	fem	neuter
1.nom	dīghā	dīghā dīghāyo	dīghā dīghāni
2.acc	dīghe	dīghā dīghāyo	dīghe dīghāni
3.inst	dīghehi	dīghāhi	dīghehi
4.dat	dīghānaṃ	dīghānaṃ	dīghānaṃ
5.abl	dīghehi	dīghāhi	dīghehi
6.gen	dīghānaṃ	dīghānaṃ	dīghānaṃ
7.loc	dīghesu	dīghāsu	dīghesu
8. voc	dīghā	dīghā dīghāyo	dīghāni

Adjectives ending in -i (singular)


	masc (-i)	fem (-i)	neuter (-i)
1.nom	uttari	uttari	uttari uttariṃ
2.acc	uttariṃ	uttariṃ	uttari uttariṃ
3.inst	uttarinā	uttariyā	uttarinā
4.dat	uttarino	uttariyā	uttarino
5.abl	uttarinā uttarismā uttarimhā	uttariyā	uttarinā uttarismā uttarimhā
6.gen	uttarino uttarissa	uttariyā	uttarino uttarissa
7.loc	uttarini uttarismiṃ uttarimhi	uttariyā uttariyāṃ	uttarismiṃ uttarimhi
8.voc	uttari	uttari	uttari uttariṃ

Adjectives ending in -i (plural)


	masc	fem	neuter
1.nom	uttarī uttarayo	uttariyo	uttarīni uttarī
2.acc	uttarī uttarayo	uttariyo	uttarīni uttarī
3.inst	uttarīhi	uttarīhi	uttarīhi
4.dat	uttarīnaṃ	uttarīnaṃ	uttarinaṃ uttarīnaṃ
5.abl	uttarīhi	uttarīhi	uttarīhi
6.gen	uttarīnaṃ	uttarīnaṃ	uttarīnaṃ
7.loc	uttarīsu	uttarīsu	uttarīsu
8. voc	uttarayo	uttariyo	uttarīni uttarī

Adjectives ending in -ī (singular)


	masc (-ī)	fem (-inī)²⁵	neuter (-i)
1.nom	ātāpī	ātāpī ātāpinī	ātāpi ātāpiṃ
2.acc	ātāpinaṃ ātāpiṃ	ātāpiniṃ	ātāpi ātāpiṃ
3.inst	ātāpinā	ātāpiniyā	ātāpinā
4.dat	ātāpino ātāpissa	ātāpiniyā	ātāpino ātāpissa
5.abl	ātāpinā ātāpimhā ātāpismā	ātāpiniyā	ātāpinā ātāpimhā ātāpismā
6.gen	ātāpino ātāpissa	ātāpiniyā	ātāpino ātāpissa
7.loc	ātāpini ātāpimhi ātāpismiṃ	ātāpiniyā ātāpiniyāṃ	ātāpini ātāpimhi ātāpismiṃ
8.voc	ātāpi	ātāpī ātāpinī	ātāpi

When the masculine form of an adjective ends in -i, -ī, -u, or -ū, its feminine form usually ends in -ī or -inī. For example, ātāpī (ardent) has the feminine form ātāpī or ātāpinī.

Adjectives ending in -ī (plural)


	masc	fem	neuter
1.nom	ātāpī ātāpino	ātāpiniyo ātāpinī	ātāpīni ātāpī
2.acc	ātāpī ātāpino	ātāpiniyo ātāpinī	ātāpīni ātāpī
3.inst	ātāpīhi	ātāpinīhi	ātāpīhi
4.dat	ātāpīnaṃ	ātāpinīnaṃ	ātāpīnaṃ ātāpinaṃ
5.abl	ātāpīhi	ātāpinīhi	ātāpīhi
6.gen	ātāpīnaṃ	ātāpinīnaṃ	ātāpīnaṃ
7.loc	ātāpīsu	ātāpinīsu	ātāpīsu
8.voc	ātāpino	ātāpiniyo	ātāpinī

Adjectives ending in -u (singular)


	masc (-u)	fem (-u)	neuter (-u)
1.nom	bahu	bahu	bahu bahuṃ
2.acc	bahuṃ	bahuṃ	bahu bahuṃ
3.inst	bahunā	bahuyā	bahunā
4.dat	bahuno bahussa	bahuyā	bahuno bahussa
5.abl	bahunā bahumhā bahusmā	bahuyā	bahunā bahumhā bahusmā
6.gen	bahuno bahussa	bahuyā	bahuno bahussa
7.loc	bahuni bahumhi bahusmiṃ	bahuyā bahuyāṃ	bahuni bahumhi bahusmiṃ
8.voc	bahu	bahu	bahu

Adjectives ending in -u (plural)


	masc	fem	neuter
1.nom	bahū bahavo	bahū bahuyo	bahū bahūni
2.acc	bahū bahavo	bahū bahuyo	bahū bahūni
3.inst	bahūhi	bahūhi	bahūhi
4.dat	bahūnaṃ bahunnaṃ	bahūnaṃ	bahūnaṃ bahunnaṃ
5.abl	bahūhi	bahūhi	bahūhi
6.gen	bahūnaṃ bahunnaṃ	bahūnaṃ	bahūnaṃ bahunnaṃ
7.loc	bahūsu bahusu	bahūsu	bahūsu
8.voc	bahū bahavo	bahū bahuyo	bahū bahūni

Adjectives ending in -ū (singular)


	masc (-ū)	fem (unī)	neuter (-u)
1.nom	vidū	vidunī	viduṃ
2.acc	viduṃ	viduniṃ	viduṃ
3.inst	vidunā	viduniyā	vidunā
4.dat	viduno	viduniyā	viduno
5.abl	vidunā	viduniyā	vidunā
6.gen	viduno vidussa	viduniyā	viduno vidussa
7.loc	vidumhi vidusmiṃ	viduniyā viduniyaṃ	vidumhi vidusmiṃ
8.voc	vidū	vid**unī	vidū

Adjectives ending in -ū (plural)


	masc	fem	neuter
1.nom	vidū viduno vidūno	vidunī viduniyo	viduni vidū
2.acc	vidū viduno vidūno	vidunī viduniyo	viduni vidū
3.inst	vidūhi	vidunīhi	vidūhi
4.dat	vidūnaṃ	vidunīnaṃ	vidūnaṃ
5.abl	vidūhi	vidunīhi	vidūhi
6.gen	vidūnaṃ vidunnaṃ	vidunīnaṃ	vidūnaṃ vidunnaṃ
7.loc	vidūsu	vidunīsu	vidūsu
8.voc	vidū viduno	vidunī viduniyo	viduni vidū

Usage of adjectives¶

Nouns and adjectives interchangeable unless proven otherwise from the context

n'eva tasmiṃ samaye sukhaṃ vedanaṃ vedeti, na adukkham'asukhaṃ vedanaṃ vedeti MN74

At that time, he feels neither a pleasant sensation, nor neutral.

sato ca sampajāno, sukhaṃ ca kāyena paṭisaṃvedeti SN45.8

Mindful and clearly knowing, he experiences pleasure by the body.
vidumhi
vidusmiṃ