Gāthā Sentence Translation Sentence Structure
Vocabulary&Grammar Commentary Pronunciation
                          List of Abbreviations

appakā te manussesu ye janā pāragāmino

athāyaṃ itarā pajā tīram ev'ānudhāvati

(DhP 85)




Sentence Translation:

Few are those amongst people, who have gone to the other shore.
And these other people just follow this shore.




Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

appakā      te     manussesu       ye         janā   pāra+gāmino
|                 |             |                |              |         |         |
Adj.m.   Pron.m.   N.m.    Rel.Pron.m.   N.m.   N.n. Adj.m.
Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl. Loc.Pl.    Nom.Pl.     Nom.Pl.  |    Nom.Pl.
|_________|________|               |              |          |_____|
         |____|                              |              |________|
             |                                  |____________|
             |_________________________|

List of Abbreviations

atha  ayaṃ        itarā        pajā     tīram  eva  anudhāvati
|            |              |              |           |        |           |
Adv.  Pron.f.    Adj.f.       N.f.      N.n.   part.  V.act.in.
|       Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Acc.Sg.  |     3.Pl.pres.
|            |              |________|          |_____|           |
|            |____________|                      |_________|
|                       |_______________________|
|________________________|




Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

appakā: appaka-, Adj.: little, few. Nom.Pl.m. = appakā.

te: tat-, Pron.: that. Masculine form sa-. Nom.Pl. = te.

manussesu: manussa-, N.m.: human, person, man. Loc.Pl. = manussesu.

ye: yat-, Rel.Pron.: those, who. Nom.Pl.m. = ye.

janā: jana-, N.m.: person, man. Nom.Pl. = janā.

pāragāmino: pāragāmin-, Adj.: going to the other shore. It is a compound of:
    pāra-, N.n.: the opposite shore, the other side.
    gāmin-, Adj.: going, leading to. It is derived from the verb gam- (to go).
Nom.Pl.m. = pāragāmino.

List of Abbreviations

atha, Adv.: and also, and then.

ayaṃ: idaṃ, Pron.: this. Nom.Sg.f. = ayaṃ.
Euphonic combination: atha + ayaṃ = athāyaṃ.

itarā: itara-, Adj.: other, different. Nom.Sg.f. = itarā.

pajā: pajā-, N.f.: beings, people, mankind. Nom.Sg. = pajā.

tīram: tīra-, N.n.: a shore, bank. Acc.Sg. = tīraṃ.

eva, part.: just.

anudhāvati, V.: follow. The verb root is dhāv- (to run) with the prefix anu- (following). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = anudhāvati.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two sentences. They are formed by the first and second lines of this verse respectively.
    The first sentence can be subdivided into two segments:
    1) appakā te manussesu (few are those amongst people). The subject is the personal pronoun te (they, nominative plural). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". This verb has an attribute, the adjective appakā (few, nominative plural). This word has itself an attribute, the noun manussesu (amongst people, locative plural).
    2) ye janā pāragāmino (who have gone to the other shore). The subject is the relative pronoun ye (who, nominative plural). It has an attribute, the noun janā (people, nominative plural). This word has itself an attribute, the compound pāragāmino (gone to the other shore, nominative plural).
    In the second sentence, the subject is the noun pajā (people, mankind, nominative singular). It has two attributes, the pronoun ayaṃ (this, nominative singular) and the adjective itarā (other, nominative singular). The verb is anudhāvati (follow, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). This verb has an attribute, the noun tīram (shore, accusative singular) that is stressed by the particle eva (just). The adverb atha (and then) introduces the sentence and connects it to the previous one.




Commentary:

    One day, a group of people came to the monastery to give offerings to the monks and listen to the discourses. It was arranged that they could stay the whole night and listen to the monks explaining the Dharma.
    But some of them did not have enough energy and they returned home early. Some stayed for the night, but were sleepy and did not pay much attention to what was being said. Only a few were able to listen attentively to the discourses.
    In the morning the Buddha was told about what happened. He replied by this verse, saying that most people are too attached to this world, only a few are able to reach the other shore and attain Nirvana.
    He reminded the monks to strive diligently for the goal; only those who will do se will be able to reach the perfection of mind.




Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

appakā
te
manussesu
ye
janā
pāragāmino
pāra
gāmino
atha
ayaṃ
itarā
pajā
tīram
eva
anudhāvati