Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
Vocabulary&Grammar | Commentary | Pronunciation

List of Abbreviations

# ovadeyy'anusaseyya asabbha ca nivaraye

# sataj hi so piyo hoti asataj hoti appiyo

# (DhP 77)

Sentence Translation:

He should admonish, he should advice, and he should restrain one from evil.
He is indeed dear to the good ones and he is not agreeable to the bad ones.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

ovadeyya anusaseyya asabbha ca nivaraye
| | | | |
V.act. V.act. Adj.m. conj. V.act.caus.
3.Sg.opt. 3.Sg.opt. Abl.Sg. | 3.Sg.opt.
| | |______|_______|
| | |___|
|____________|________________|

List of Abbreviations

sataj hi so piyo hoti asataj hoti appiyo
| | | | | | | |
Adj.m. part. Pron.m. Adj.m. V.act.in. Adj.m. V.act.in. Adj.m.
Gen.Pl. | Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. Gen.Pl. 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg.
|_______| |________|_______| |_______|________|
|_________________| | |___|
|____________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

ovadeyya, V.: to instruct, exhort, admonish. The verb root is vad- (to speak) with the prefix o- (shortened for ava-, down). 3.Sg.act.opt. = ovadeyya.

anusaseyya, V.: to teach, to advice, to instruct. The verb root is sas- (to teach) with the prefix anu- (according to). 3.Sg.act.opt. = anusaseyya.
Euphonic combination: ovadeyya + anusaseyya = ovady'anusaseyya.

asabbha: asabbha-, Adj.: bad, low, impolite. Abl.Sg.m.n. = asabbha.

ca, conj.: and.

nivaraye, V.: to keep back, to restrain. The verb root is var- (to obstruct) with the prefix ni- (out, from). 3.Sg.act.caus.opt. = nivaraye.

List of Abbreviations

sataj: sant-, Adj.: real, good, true. It is an a.pr.p. of the verb root as- (to be). Thus sant- means literally means "existing", "being". Gen.Pl.m. = sataj.

hi, part.: indeed.

so: tad-, Pron.n.: it. Nom.Sg.m. = so.

piyo: piya-, Adj.: dear, agreeable. Nom.Sg.m. = piyo.

hoti, V.: is. The verb bhu- (to be). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = hoti.

List of Abbreviations

asataj: asant-, Adj.: untrue, bad. It is the word sant- (see above under sataj), negated by the negative prefix a-. Gen.Pl.m. = asataj.

hoti: see above.

appiyo: appiya-, Adj.: unpleasant, not agreeable. It is the word piya- (see above under piyo) negated by the negative prefix a-. Euphonic combination: a- + piya- = appiya-. Nom.Sg.m. = appiyo.

List of Abbreviations

The first line of this verse is composed of three parts. In all of them, the subject is omitted, because the verb form indicates the third person singular personal pronoun. 1) ovadeyya (he should admonish, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). 2) anusaseyya (he should give advice, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). 3) asabbha ca nivaraye (and he should restrain one from evil). Here the noun asabbha (from evil, ablative singular) is the object and the conjunction ca (and) connects this sentence to the previous two.
In the second line there are two sentences. 1) sataj hi so piyo hoti (he is indeed dear to the good ones). The subject is the pronoun so (he, nominative singular). The verb is hoti (is, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the adjective piyo (dear, nominative singular) with its attribute, the active present participle sataj (for the good ones, genitive plural). This word is stressed by the particle hi (indeed). The second sentence is asataj hoti appiyo ([he] is not agreeable to the bad ones). The subject is omitted; the pronoun so from the previous sentence is implied. The verb is again hoti (as above). The object is the adjective appiyo (not agreeable, nominative singular) with its attribute, the active present participle asataj (for the bad ones, genitive plural).

Commentary:

There were two monks, Assaji and Punabhasuka, staying in the village of Kitagiri together with their disciples. They planted trees for personal gain and violated some other minor monks' precepts. Thus, the monastery became noisy and not suitable for spiritual development.
When the Buddha heard about it, he sent Sariputta and Moggallana to advise these monks. After the admonition from the two Buddha's chief disciples, most of the monks changed their way of life. But some of them were not happy and returned to the household life.
The Buddha reacted with this verse, saying that admonishing and instructing is always fine with the good ones, whereas the bad ones never agree to being advised.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

ovadeyy'anusaseyya
ovadeyya
anusaseyya
asabbha
ca
nivaraye
sataj
hi
so
piyo
hoti
asataj
appiyo