by Hla Min

Update : July 2025

English

Parts of Speech

There are eight parts of speech in the English language.

(1) Noun

• A noun is a name of a person, place, thing, or concept.
• It may be classified as (a) Proper noun (b) Common noun (c) Collective noun (d) Abstract noun.

(2) Verb

• A verb usually describes an action or a process.
• It may be classified as (a) Transitive verb (b) Intransitive verb.

(3) Pronoun

• A pronoun stands for a noun. Associated with a pronoun is person and number.
• When we speak, the first person is the one who speaks. The second person is the one being spoken two. The third person is some other being referenced.
• Number may be Singular or Plural. If there is only one person, we say it is singular. If there is more than one, we say it is plural. In English, the term “You” may be singular or plural.

(4) Adjective

• It is a Modifier
• An Adjective usually modifies a Noun or Pronoun.

(5) Adverb

• It is a Modifier
• An Adverb usually modifies a Verb.

(6) Conjunction

• It is a Connector
• A Conjunction (such as And or But) connects two parts of a Sentence

(7) Preposition

• It is a Connector
• A Preposition adds information such as position (e.g. in, on, upon, under) and time (e.g. before, after).

(8) Expression of Mood

• There are words to express Mood (e.g. surprise).
• They are called Exclamation or an Interjection.

Techniques

In a Grammar class, we had to learn two techniques :

• Synthesis
  combining the parts of speech
• Analysis
  breaking down into the parts of speech.

Need for Grammar

Many native speakers read and write fluently without caring much for grammar.

Knowledge of grammar is needed in

• Formal Languages
• Automata Theory
• Compilers
• Translation
• Natural Language Understanding and Processing

Burmese

In middle school, we had to study မြန်မာသဒ္ဒါ based on the text by Saya U Pe Maung Tin.

Parts of Speech

• နာမ် — noun
• ကြိယာ — verb
• နာမ်စား — pronoun
• နာမဝိသေသန — adjective
• ကြိယာဝိသေသန — adverb
• သမ္ဗန္ဒ။ — conjunction
• ဝိဘတ် — preposition
• အာမေဋိတ် — interjection

Pali

Parts of Speech

Pali has only four parts of speech.

• Noun
• Pronoun
• Verb
• Clitics (which are equivalent to conjunctions and interjections).

Resources for studying Pali

TMC

• Tathagata Meditation Center
• Offers meditation retreats & online courses (including Pali)
• Publishes Dhamma literature
• Has a website

Beelin Sayadaw

• He was Chief Resident Monk at Tathagata Meditation Center (TMC), San Jose.
• I interpreted some of Sayadaw’s dhamma talks.

• Sayadaw gave me a book by U Myat Kyaw & U San Lwin.
• U Myat Kyaw described Pali terms in Burmese.
• U San Lwin translated U Myat Kyaw’s work into English.

U Hla Myint

• He is a former Sayadaw, who passed several monastic exams.
• He helped with some of TMC Publications.
• I received his book as a present.

Tharmanay Kyaw သာမဏေကျော်

• Pen name of Sayadaw U Dhammika.
• Received the title when he finished Top as a Novice in a prestigious monastic exam
• During his visits to TMC, he taught Pali based on selected texts.