Pāḷi Grammars
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Kaccāyana-Byākaraṇaṃ · chapter 2 of 8

§97

Ve-vosu lo ca

And when ‘ve’ and ‘vo’ follow, ‘la’ [not shortened].

Text and translation

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97. 156. Ve-vosu lo ca (260)

[Ve-vosu + lo + ca = 3 words]

Ve-vo icc etesu akatarasso lo attam āpajjate.

Bhikkhave, bhikkhavo; hetave, hetavo.

Akatarasso ti kimatthaṃ? Sayambhuvo, vessabhuvo, parābhibhuvo.

Ve-vosv iti kimatthaṃ? Hetunā, ketunā, setunā.

Caggahaṇam anukaḍḍhanatthaṃ.

And when ‘ve’ and ‘vo’ follow, ‘la’ [not shortened].
When ‘ve’ and ‘vo’ follow, ‘la’, which has not been shortened, becomes ‘a’.
Examples
  1. Bhikkhave = bhikkhu + yo (‘u’ of “bhikkhu” is named ‘la’ (§58); ‘yo’ is substituted by ‘ve’ (§116); ‘u’, which has not been shortened, becomes ‘a’ (§97)).
  2. Bhikkhavo = bhikkhu + yo (‘u’ of “bhikkhu” is named ‘la’ (§58); ‘yo’ is substituted by ‘vo’ (§119); ‘u’, which has not been shortened, becomes ‘a’ (§97)).
  3. The formation of the rest of the examples is similar to the previous one.

What is the purpose of saying “not shortened”? [This sutta does not apply when it has been shortened, such as in] sayambhuvo, vessabhuvo, parābhibhuvo.

What is the purpose of saying “when ‘ve’ and ‘vo’ follow”? [This sutta does not apply when ‘ve’ and ‘vo’ do not follow, such as in] hetunā, ketunā, setunā.

“Ca” is for dragging (anukaḍḍhana).

Without the footnotes: they are on the chapter card.

Drafts

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Pāḷi text and English translation by Bhikkhu Nandisena; edition, apparatus and glossary by the Instituto de Estudios Buddhistas Hispano (IEBH). This material may be reproduced for personal use and distributed free of charge. Copyright © 2026 IEBH. Published under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21948010.