10.6: The numerals, and the affixes of division and manner

Info

Part of “A Beginner (Non-Linguist) Guide to Learning Pali”

The texts count things on every page: the first jhāna, the second, third and fourth directions. From a number (saṅkhyā) two kinds of word are made with an affix. An ordinal (saṅkhyāpūraṇa, “the completer of a number”) is the number with an affix: dvinnaṁ pūraṇo (“the completer of two”) and the one word dutiyo (“second”) say the same thing {385}. A word of division or manner is a number or a pronoun with an affix meaning “in so many ways” or “in that way”, ekadhā (“in one way”), tathā (“so”); it never changes its ending, being a particle (nipāta), marked ⏏️ in this book and 🔼 in the texts of the bonus chapter.

The question to ask is what ends the word: -ma, -tiya or -ttha makes an ordinal; -dhā, -so, -thā or -thaṁ a word of division or manner; and a number from eleven upwards is two numbers run together, dvā-dasa (“two-ten”, twelve), with a few letters changed.

How to recognise an ordinal

number	ordinal	what you see	rule
1 eka	paṭhamo: paṭhamaṁ yāmaṁ (3: 2.3), paṭhamaṁ jhānaṁ (Bonus: 38, 10.1)	no number inside it: a word of its own	{666}
2, 3 dvi, ti	dutiyo, tatiyo: dutiyaṁ jhānaṁ (Bonus: 39, 11.1)	-tiya; dvi and ti have become du and ta	{385}, {386}
4 catu	catuttho: catutthaṁ jhānaṁ (Bonus: 41, 13.1)	-ttha	{384}
5 pañca	pañcamo	-ma	{373}
6 cha	chaṭṭho, saṭṭho	-ṭṭha; cha may become sa	{384}, {374}
7 to 10 satta, aṭṭha, nava, dasa	sattamo, aṭṭhamo, navamo, dasamo	-ma	{373}
a day of the fortnight	ekādasī, cātuddasī, pañcadasī	feminine -ī on dasa; pañcadasiṁ (“on the fifteenth”) ends in ṁ	{375}, {377}
one, two, three and a half	diyaḍḍho (divaḍḍho), aḍḍhatiyo, aḍḍhuḍḍho	aḍḍha (“half”) with the ordinal: “the second with a half” is one and a half	{387}

The numbers from eleven to a hundred thousand

number	forms	what to notice	rule
11, 13	ekādasa (ekārasa), terasa	eka, ti + dasa, the first changed to ekā, te; the d may become r	{375}, {383}, {381}
12	dvādasa, bārasa	dvi as dvā or bā	{383}, {380}
14	catuddasa, cuddasa (coddasa)	catu + dasa; the tu may drop, ca becoming cu or co	{375}, {390}
15, 16	pañcadasa, soḷasa	pañca + dasa unchanged; cha as so, the d as ḷ	{375}, {376}, {379}
17, 18	sattarasa, aṭṭhārasa (aṭṭhadasa)	the d may become r; the a of aṭṭha lengthened	{382}, {383}
19	ekūnavīsati	“twenty less (ūna) one”, a compound	{327}
20, 30	vīsaṁ, vīsati; tiṁsaṁ, tiṁsati	dasa dasa counted as one word and reshaped, vī, ti + -saṁ, or -ti on the end	{388}, {389}, {378}
40 to 90	cattālīsaṁ (tālīsaṁ), paññāsaṁ, saṭṭhi, sattati (sattari), asīti, navuti	cattā, paññā, sa, satta, asa, nava with -līsaṁ, -saṁ, -ṭṭhi, -ti, -īti, -uti; forty, with l for r, may lose its ca	{389}, {379}, {390}, {374}
100	sataṁ	ten tens, one neuter word	{393}
200 to 1,000	dvisataṁ … navasataṁ, dasasataṁ, sahassaṁ	the number before sata; a thousand is ten hundreds; forms no rule reaches are simply stated	{392}, {393}, {391}
10,000 and up	dasasahassaṁ, satasahassaṁ; koṭi (ten million) … asaṅkhyeyyaṁ (“the incalculable”)	each step ten times the last; beyond, names of their own	{394}, {395}
a group	dvikaṁ (“a pair”), tikaṁ, catukkaṁ	-ka on a number	{392}
dvi in a compound	durattaṁ (“two nights”), diguṇaṁ (“double”)	du or di for dvi	{380}, {386}

The affixes of division and manner

affix	added to	the word means	examples	rule
dhā	a number	“in so many ways”, “into so many parts”	ekadhā, dvidhā (“into two”), tidhā, catudhā	{397}
so	a noun	“one by one”	suttaso (“by the rule”), padaso (“word by word”), sabbaso (“altogether”)	{397}
thā	a pronoun	“in that way”	tathā (“so”), yathā (“as”), sabbathā (“in every way”), aññathā (“otherwise”)	{398}
thattā	a pronoun	the same	tathattā	{398}
thaṁ	kiṁ (“what?”), ima (“this”)	“how?”, “in this way”	kathaṁ (“how?”), itthaṁ (“thus”)	{399}

Every rule number links to the full rule in the Kaccāyana translation; Appendix H tables them all.

Examples

pañcannaṁ pūraṇo → pañcamo

⚧⨂⑥(pañcannaṁ) 🚹⨀①(pūraṇo) → 🚹⨀①🔽(ma)(pañcamo)
of five / the completer → the fifth
ma {373}: the number with -ma; the ordinal takes the gender, number and ending of its noun.

ekena vibhāgena → ekadhā

🚹⨀③(ekena) 🚹⨀③(vibhāgena) → ⏏️🔽(dhā)(ekadhā)
by one / division → in one way
dhā {397}: the number with -dhā, “in so many ways”; a particle, it never changes.

Exercises

Each item comes from the texts, at the sentence linked. Name the affix each ordinal or manner word carries and give its meaning; in the last, find the two words made with thā.

Hint

You may find the Digital Pali Dictionary useful for looking up words, as well as doing the sandhi and compound word deconstruction.

1. Tathā dutiyaṁ. (Bonus: 37, 1.11.52)
2. Tathā catutthaṁ. (the same sentence)
3. sabbaso (Bonus: 42, 14.1)
4. yathā yathā vā panassa kāyo paṇihito hoti tathā tathā naṁ pajānāti (Bonus: 36, 3.2)

Answers

Note: please do the exercises first before checking the answers.

1. Tathā dutiyaṁ.

🔼(tathā) 🚻⨀①(dutiya)
similarly for the second direction
tiya {385}: dvi has become du before it {386}.

2. Tathā catutthaṁ.

🔼(tathā) 🚻⨀①(catuttha)
similarly for the fourth direction
tha {384}: catu with -ttha.

3. sabbaso

🔼(sabbaso)
altogether
so {397} on sabba (“all”), “in every way”; a particle, it never changes.

4. yathā yathā vā panassa kāyo paṇihito hoti tathā tathā naṁ pajānāti

🔼(yathā yathā) 🔼(vā) 🔼(panassa) 🚹⨀①(kāya) 🚹⨀①(paṇihita) ▶️🤟⨀(hoti) 🔼(tathā tathā) 🚹⨀②(ta) ▶️🤟⨀(pajānāti)
in whatever way / or / and for him / body / orientated / is / in that way / that / knows clearly
thā {398}: -thā on the pronouns ya and ta, “in whatever way … in that way”; particles, they never change.