Aorist (*ajjatanī*)

Aorist (ajjatanī)

Kaccāyana 419. samīpe’jjatanī.

“when recent, aorist.”

Ajja “means” today in Pāli. As the name implies, this past tense was originally only used for the recent past, things that happened earlier today.

Today I went to the village.

ajja gāmaṃ agacchiṃ

But in the Canon we find that, apart from a few cases in poetry, the aorist now covers all past actions.

Please conjugate the word chindati (cuts) in the aorist active voice.

Let’s look at the aorist reflexive voice and passive voice.

(Theory) How is the reflexive formed? How is the passive formed?

Aorist Attanopada “gave by oneself”
√dā + dā + a > dadā

	s	pl
3 paṭhama	adadā	adadū
2 majjhima	adadise	adadivhaṃ
1 uttama	adadaṃ	adadimhe

Aorist Passive Attanopada “was cut (by oneself)”
√chid + ya > chijja

	s	pl
3 paṭhama	chijjā	chijjū
2 majjhima	chijjise	chijjivhaṃ
1 uttama	chijjaṃ	chijjimhe

The Passive Aorist with Attanopada endings exists in theory. If you find an example of it, please let us know :)

A practical example of the aorist attanopada:

… bhagavantaṃ gāthāya ajjhabhāsatha (SN1.1 etc.)

… addressed the Blessed One in verse