10.7: `uṇādi` affixes: the agent, the action and the purpose

Info

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

Many of the commonest nouns in the texts are built on the root (dhātu) of a verb: satthā (“the teacher”) is the root sāsa (instruct) with an affix (paccaya) meaning “the one who does it”, sāsanaṁ (“the teaching”) the same root with an affix meaning “the act”. Kaccāyana calls such affixes kita, and the long tail of them that each form a word or two uṇādi (“u and the rest”). When you meet a word of this kind, ask which verb is inside it and which of four senses its affix gives: the doer, the act, what is to be done, the purpose.

How to recognise the sense

what you see	what it means	affix	example	rule
-aka, first vowel lengthened	the doer	ṇvu	kārako “a doer”, dāyako “a giver”	{624}, {527}, {622}
-tā in ① (the affix is -tu)	the doer	tu	kattā “a doer”, satthā “the teacher”	{624}, {527}, {566}
-ī, first vowel lengthened	one whose habit, duty or future it is to do it	ṇī	brahmacārī “living the holy life”, kārī “bound to do”, gāmī “about to go”	{532}, {636}, {651}
-ana, -aṇa, neuter	the act, its means or its place	yu	ñāṇaṁ “knowing”, ṭhānaṁ “a place”	{547}, {548}, {549}, {622}, {641}
-anā, -ti, feminine	the act	yu, ti	vedanā “feeling”, jāti “birth”	{553}, {585}
-tabba, -anīya	to be done; must, should, may be done	tabba, anīya	kattabbaṁ, karaṇīyaṁ “to be done”	{540}, {625}, {635}
-iya, -eyya, -ya, first vowel lengthened	the same	ṇya	kāriyaṁ “to be done”, neyyaṁ “to be led”	{541}, {636}
-tuṁ, no ending after it	to do: the purpose, beside “wish”, “fit”, “able”	tuṁ	sotuṁ “to hear”, vattuṁ “to speak”	{561}, {562}, {637}
-ta	done, or the thing done; the doer, when the thing done keeps ②	tta	pacito “cooked”; bhāsitaṁ “what was spoken” (9: 10.2); dānaṁ dinno devadatto “Devadatta has given a gift”	{625}, {626}

A word in -tabba, -anīya or -ya agrees with the thing to be done, and the one who must do it stands in ③: bhottabbo odano bhavatā, “the rice is to be eaten by you”; in the neuter it names the act itself, sayitabbaṁ bhavatā, “lying down is to be done by you”, as does sussayo (“easy to lie on”) with the affix kha {625}. Every such word takes a noun’s endings {601}; a word in -tuṁ takes none {221}. Appendix K tables every uṇādi rule, Appendix J every kita rule.

The other senses Kaccāyana lists

what you see	what it means	example	rule
a bare root after a word, its last consonant gone	the doer: the affix kvi leaves no trace	sayambhū “self-become”, bhujago “a snake”	{639}, {615}
k, g for the root’s c, j, vowel lengthened	the act, masculine in -o	pāko “cooking”, rāgo “passion”	{640}
-ana, -aka after nuda, su, ñā, samu and the like	the doer, the act or the means	samaṇo “an ascetic”, sāvako “a hearer”	{641}
a lengthened pronoun before -disa, -risa, -dikkha, -dī	“such as …”	īdiso “such as this”, kīdiso “of what kind?”	{642}
-u, -ana, -ta	the doer or the act, now or before	kāru “a craftsman”, bhūtaṁ “what has come to be”	{650}
-ī, -i after gamu, bhaja, su, ṭhā	the one who will do it	gāmī “about to go”, passāvi “about to flow forth”	{651}
-aka, -tā, or -ssaṁ, -nto, -māno, -āno on the verb’s present shape (karonto, kurumāno, bhuñjanto), beside a verb of going	going in order to do it	kārako vajati “the doer goes [to do it]”, kammaṁ karonto vajati “he goes to do the work”	{652}, {655}, {451}, {511}, {512}, {446}
the act in ④, or the thing done as first member, beside a verb of going	the purpose of the going	pākāya vajati “he goes to cook”, nagarakāro vajati “he goes to build the city”	{653}, {654}

The changes you will see in the root

what you see	what happened	rule
first vowel lengthened before -aka, -ī, -iya, -a (kārako, kārī, pāko); a bare vowel for kha, ghiṇ (sussayo, passāvi)	the marker letters ṇ, kh, gh are not sounds: ṇ lengthens the vowel, then all three drop	{621}, {483}, {523}, {517}
e, o for i, u (bhottabbo, sotuṁ); ay, av, āy, āv before a vowel (bhavituṁ, sāvako)	the vowel strengthened before the affix, split before a vowel	{485}, {513}, {514}, {515}
kat- for kara (kattā); gan-, han- for gamu, hana (gantuṁ); bhutt-, bhott- for bhuja (bhutto); dinn- for dā (dinno)	the root reshaped before -ta, -tu, -tabba, -tuṁ	{619}, {620}, {596}, {578}, {582}
an i between root and affix (pacito, sayitabbaṁ, karissaṁ)	the insertion of i	{605}, {516}
-āy- ending a root in ā (dāyako “a giver”, bhogadāyo)	āya for ā before a ṇ affix	{593}
kārīsi, passāvi, paṭṭhāyi, saṅgo, ajjhayitabbaṁ	the usual joins of sandhi (kārī asi, pa sāvi, pa ṭhāyi, saṁ ga, adhi aya); a root’s last vowel drops before the affix	{13}, {28}, {29}, {31}, {45}, {83}
kattā, kāru, kārī, ñāṇaṁ, pākāya, karonto	the new word’s endings: -tu as -tā in ①; -u, -ī with none; neuter -aṁ; ④ -āya; -nto from ntu	{199}, {220}, {219}, {109}, {94}

Examples

karoti → kārako

🟢⨀🤟▶️(karoti) → 🚹⨀①🔽(ṇvu)(kārako)
he does → a doer
ṇvu {624}: -aka on √kara (do), first vowel lengthened: the one who does.

karoti → kattā

🟢⨀🤟▶️(karoti) → 🚹⨀①🔽(tu)(kattā)
he does → a doer
tu {624}: -tu on √kara, shown as kat- before it {619}; ① ends in -tā {199}.

ñāṇaṁ

🚻⨀①🔽(yu)(ñāṇaṁ)
knowing, knowledge
yu {641}: -ana on √ñā (know), neuter: the act of knowing, ñāṇaṁ hoti (7: 11.3).

vedayati → vedanā

🟢⨀🤟▶️(vedayati) → 🚺⨀①🔽(yu)(vedanā)
one feels → feeling
yu {553}: -anā, the feminine of -ana, on √vida (feel): the act of feeling; vedanā anattā (7: 3.1).

bhottabbo odano bhavatā

🚹⨀①🔽(tabba)(bhottabbo) 🚹⨀①(odano) 🚹⨀③(bhavatā)
is to be eaten / the rice / by you
tabba {625}: “to be eaten”; it agrees with odano, and the one who must eat stands in ③.

saddhammaṁ sotuṁ icchati

🚹⨀②(saddhamma) 🔽(tuṁ)(suṇāti) 🟢⨀🤟▶️(icchati)
the true dhamma / to hear / he wishes
tuṁ {561}: -tuṁ on √su (hear), the u as o {485}: to hear, after icchati “he wishes”.

Exercises

Each of the following you met in the texts, in the form it has there, in the phrase given; the link leads to its sentence. Say which affix it carries, which root it is built on and which of the four senses it has; look the word up in a dictionary and check the root against the changes above.

Hint

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

1. satthā (Bonus: 1, 24.5: satthā no garu)
2. sāvako (the last member of ariyasāvako, Bonus: 33, 21.17, 7: 11.1, 9: 8.1)
3. sāsanaṁ (Bonus: 25, 4: etaṁ buddhāna sāsanaṁ)
4. karaṇīyaṁ (9: 9.2: kataṁ karaṇīyaṁ; also 7: 11.4)
5. jāti (3: 3.10: bhavapaccayā jāti)

Answers

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

1. satthā

🚹⨀①🔽(tu)(satthā)
teacher
tu {566}: -tu on √sāsa (instruct), the root shaped satth- before it: the one who instructs.

2. sāvako

🚹⨀①🔽(ṇvu)(sāvako)
a hearer, a disciple
ṇvu {641}: -aka on √su (hear), the u as āva {515}: the one who hears.

3. sāsanaṁ

🚻⨀①🔽(yu)(sāsanaṁ)
teaching
yu {547}: -ana on √sāsa (instruct), neuter: the act of instructing, what satthā does.

4. kataṁ karaṇīyaṁ

🚻⨀①🔽(ta)(kata) 🚻⨀①🔽(anīya)(karaṇīya)
done / what had to be done
anīya {540}: -aṇīya on √kara (do), its n as ṇ after r {549}: what is to be done.

5. jāti

🚺⨀①🔽(ti)(jāti)
birth
ti {553}: -ti on √jana (be born), its end ā before it {585}: the act of being born.