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Tibetan grammar describes the morphology, syntax and other grammatical features of Lhasa Tibetan, a Sino-Tibetan language. Lhasa Tibetan is typologically an ergative–absolutive language. Nouns are generally unmarked for grammatical number, but are marked for case. Adjectives are never marked and appear after the noun. Demonstratives also come after the noun but these are marked for number. Verbs are possibly the most complicated part of Tibetan grammar in terms of morphology. The dialect described here is the colloquial language of Central Tibet, especially Lhasa and the surrounding area, but the spelling used reflects classical Tibetan, not the colloquial pronunciation.

Nouns and case

Nouns are not usually marked for grammatical gender or number.

Natural gender may be conveyed through the lexicon, e.g. གཡག་ <gyag> "yak (male)", འབྲི་ <'bri> "yak-cow". In human or animate nouns, gender may be indicated through suffixes. These suffixes are generally:

པ་ <pa> or པོ་ <po> "male"

མ་ <ma> or མོ་ <mo> "female"

ཁམས་པ་

khams-pa

"man from Kham"

→

ཁམས་མོ་

khams-mo

"woman from Kham"

ཁམས་པ་ → ཁམས་མོ་

khams-pa {} khams-mo

{"man from Kham"} {} {"woman from Kham"}

མཛོ་

mdzo

"yak-cow hybrid"

→

མཛོ་མོ་

mdzo-mo

"female dzo"

མཛོ་ → མཛོ་མོ་

mdzo {} mdzo-mo

{"yak-cow hybrid"} {} {"female dzo"}

Number is never marked in inanimate nouns or animals. Even human nouns can only take the plural marker ཚོ་ <tsho> if they are specified or definite, e.g. ཨ་མ་ <a-ma> "mother" → ཨ་མ་ཚོ་ <a-ma-tsho> "(the) mothers". Tibetan does not mark definiteness, and such a meaning would be left to be deduced from the context.

Tibetan nouns are marked for six cases: absolutive, agentive, genitive, ablative, associative and oblique. Particles are attached to entire noun phrases, not to individual nouns. Case suffixes are attached to the noun phrase as a whole, while the actual noun remains unchanged. The form taken by the suffix depends on the final sound of the word to which the suffix is attached.

Absolutive case

The absolutive case is the unmarked form of the noun, which may be used as the subject of an intransitive verb, the object of a transitive verb or the experiencer of an emotion.

Genitive case

The genitive case marks possession and is often translated as "of". The form of the genitive suffix depends on the last sound of the noun:

• if the last sound is a vowel or འ་ <'a> then the suffix is འི་ <'i>
• if the last sound is ག་ <-g> or ང་ <-ng> then the suffix is གི་ <gi>
• if the last sound is ད་ <-d>, བ་ <-b>, ས་ <-s> or one of the secondary sound suffixes then the genitive suffix is ཀྱི་ <kyi>
• if the last sound is ན་ <-n>, མ་ <-m>, ར་ <-r> or ལ་ <-l> then the suffix is གྱི་ <gyi>.

ཆོས་ཀྱི་

chos-kyi

འཁོར་ལོ

'khor-lo

ཆོས་ཀྱི་ འཁོར་ལོ

chos-kyi 'khor-lo

Wheel of dharma

ལུག་གི་

lug-gi

པགས་པ

pags-pa

ལུག་གི་ པགས་པ

lug-gi pags-pa

Skin of sheep

The genitive is also used to form relative clauses. Here, the genitive suffix is attached to the verb and is translated as "that" or "who".

དེབ་

deb

book

ནང་ལ་

nang-la

inside-OBL

ཡོད་པའི་

yod-pa'i

is-GEN

པར་

par

photo

དེབ་ ནང་ལ་ ཡོད་པའི་ པར་

deb nang-la yod-pa'i par

book inside-OBL is-GEN photo

"the photo that is in the book"

Agentive case

Formally the agentive (or ergative) case is built upon the genitive by adding ས་ <-s> to the latter; consequently:

• if the last sound is a vowel or འ་ <'a> then the suffix is ས་ <-s>
• if the last sound is ག་ <-g> or ང་ <-ng> then the suffix is གིས་ <gis>
• if the last sound is ད་ <-d>, བ་ <-b>, ས་ <-s> or one of the secondary sound suffixes then the genitive suffix is ཀྱིས་ <kyis>
• if the last sound is ན་ <-n>, མ་ <-m>, ར་ <-r> or ལ་ <-l> then the suffix is གྱིས་ <gyis>.

The agentive is used for ergative and instrumental functions. The ergative function occurs with the subject, agent or causer of transitive verbs, the agent of "mental" and "verbal" actions and the perceiver of a sensation.

Ablative case

The ablative case is always suffixed with ནས་ <nas>. It marks direction away from the noun. Like the agentive case, the ablative can also take the ergative role marking the agent of an action.

Associative case

The associative case is marked by the suffix དང་ <dang>, which may be translated as "and" but also as "with", "against" or have no translation at all. When speaking, after the associative suffix is used, a pause is inserted, for example:

པཱ་ལགས་དང་།

paa-lags-dang,

father-ASS

ཨ་ཁུ་དང་།

a-khu-dang,

uncle-ASS

ཨ་ནེ།

a-ne

aunt

པཱ་ལགས་དང་། ཨ་ཁུ་དང་། ཨ་ནེ།

paa-lags-dang, a-khu-dang, a-ne

father-ASS uncle-ASS aunt

"father and uncle and aunt..."

The associative suffix cannot combine with other case or plural markers on the same noun or noun phrase:

ཨ་མ་དང་

a-ma-dang

mother-ASS

སྤུ་གུ་ཚོ།

spu-gu-tsho

children

ཨ་མ་དང་ སྤུ་གུ་ཚོ།

a-ma-dang spu-gu-tsho

mother-ASS children

"mother and children"

བུ་དང་

bu-dang

boy-ASS

བུ་མོ་ཚོར་

bu-mo-tsho-r

boy-FEM-PL-DAT

ལག་རྟགས་

lag-rtags

present

སྦྲུས་པ་ཡོད།

sbrus-pa-yod

give-PAST-be:EX-EGO

བུ་དང་ བུ་མོ་ཚོར་ ལག་རྟགས་ སྦྲུས་པ་ཡོད།

bu-dang bu-mo-tsho-r lag-rtags sbrus-pa-yod

boy-ASS boy-FEM-PL-DAT present give-PAST-be:EX-EGO

"(they) gave presents to the boys and girls"

Oblique case

The oblique suffix fulfills the functions of both the dative and locative cases. The dative case marks the indirect object of an action and can be translated as "to". The locative case marks place, with or without movement, or time, and can be translated as "on", "in", "at" or "to".

There are two varieties of the suffix, one of which is dependent on the final sound of the noun and one that is not. The form –ར་ <-r> is found only after vowels and འ་ <'a> whereas –ལ་ <-la> can be found after all sounds including vowels and <'a>. The <-r> form is rarely used to mark the dative with monosyllabic words except the personal pronouns and demonstrative and interrogative adjectives.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Pronouns have between one and three registers and three numbers: singular, dual and plural.

Demonstrative pronouns

Tibetan has proximal, medial and distal demonstrative pronouns:

1. proximal འདི་ <'di> "this"
2. medial དེ་ <de> "that"
3. distal ཕ་གི་ <pha-gi> "that over there (yonder)"

འདི་ <'di> and དེ་ <de> also have temporal meanings where འདི་ <'di> is connected with present and དེ་ <de> is connected with the past or the future:

• ལོ་འདི་ <lo 'di> "this year (present time reference)"
• ལོ་དེ་ <lo de> "that year (past or future reference)"

ཕ་གི་ <pha-gi>, on the other hand, can only express spatial distance. From these demonstrative pronouns the following adverbs are derived: འདིར་ <'dir> "here", དེར་ <der> "there", and ཕ་གིར་ <pha-gir> "over there".

The demonstratives can be used as both pronouns and adjectives. As pronouns they act much in the same way as the third person pronouns do, but may also refer to previous clauses or events. As adjectives they appear after the noun and act as any other adjective would. Both adjectival and pronominal demonstratives are capable of receiving both case and number suffixes.

Verb classes

Volitional and non-volitional classes

There is an important division of verbs into two main classes: volitional and non-volitional. The former concerns controllable actions, and the latter non-controllable actions. This difference is comparable to that in English between look and see, and between listen and hear: listen and look are volitional because one can choose to do them or not, while see and hear are non-volitional because they do not denote deliberate actions.

These two classes are important when conjugating any Tibetan verb because each class can only use a particular set of suffixes. This means that volitional verbs cannot use the same suffixes as non-volitional verbs and vice versa. For example, the verb form མཐོང་པ་ཡིན་ <mthong-pa-yin> would be incorrect as མཐོང <mthong> is a non-volitional verb and པ་ཡིན <pa-yin> is a volitional suffix. The correct form would be མཐོང་པ་རེད་ <mthong-pa-red> or "I saw."

Transitive and intransitive verbs

Both the volitional and non-volitional classes contain transitive as well as intransitive verbs. The forms of transitive and intransitive verbs remain the same if the two verbs share the same root. The difference between transitive and intransitive is only evident in the way each verb is used: if the verb takes an object then it is transitive, if it does not then it is intransitive. This distinction determines which case the nouns will take: monovalent verbs are intransitive, and their single argument takes the absolutive case; divalent verbs are transitive, with the agent in the ergative case and the patient in the absolutive case. This is the basis for the classification of the Tibetan language as having ergative–absolutive alignment, although the ergative case can also have rhetorical uses.

Verb inflection

Verbs in modern spoken Tibetan have between one and three stems. These are the present-future stem, the past stem and the imperative stem. Many verbs, however, only have one stem when spoken, remaining distinct only in writing, meaning that inflection is based mainly on the use of verbal auxiliaries. The verb is inflected by means of attaching suffixes to the verb stem in a similar way to nouns and pronouns.

Copulae

Tibetan has several verbs that can be translated as "to be" or "to have" which appear in two classes. Copulas in the first class are essential, meaning that they denote an essential quality of the noun. Copulas in the second class are existential, meaning that they express the existence of a phenomenon or a characteristic and suggests an evaluation by the speaker. The difference between essential and existential copulas is similar to that of the verbs ser and estar in the Spanish language.

Outlined below is a classification from the Tibetan and Himalayan Library website, principally based on the work of Nicolas Tournadre.

Essential copulae

There are three essential copulas:

1. assertive རེད་ <red>
2. revelatory རེད་བཞག་ <red-bzhag>
3. egophoric ཡིན་ <yin>

Essential-assertive copula

རེད་ <red> is the "assertive" essential copula. It translates as "to be" and represents an objective assertion or affirmation regarding the subject of the sentence. The negative of རེད་ <red> is མ་རེད་ <ma-red>. The attribute may be an adjective, giving an attributive meaning, or a substantive, giving an equative meaning. The attributive immediately precedes the verb.

འདི་

'di

this

ཐུབ་བསྟན་

thub-bstan

Thubtän

རེད།

red

be:ESS-ASSERT

འདི་ ཐུབ་བསྟན་ རེད།

'di thub-bstan red

this Thubtän be:ESS-ASSERT

"This is Thubtän."

ཁོང་

khong

he

འབྲོག་པ་

'brog-pa

nomad

མ་རེད།

ma-red

not-be:ESS-ASSERT

ཁོང་ འབྲོག་པ་ མ་རེད།

khong 'brog-pa ma-red

he nomad not-be:ESS-ASSERT

"He isn't a nomad."

མོ་རང་

mo-rang

she

སྙིང་རྗེ་པོ་

snying-rje-po

pretty

རེད།

red

be:ESS-ASSERT

མོ་རང་ སྙིང་རྗེ་པོ་ རེད།

mo-rang snying-rje-po red

she pretty be:ESS-ASSERT

"She's pretty."

This copula, in rare cases, may also express possession of a quality:

མོ་རང་

mo-rang

she

མིག་

mig

eye

ཆུང་ཆུང་

chung-chung

small

རེད།

red

be:ESS-ASSERT

མོ་རང་ མིག་ ཆུང་ཆུང་ རེད།

mo-rang mig chung-chung red

she eye small be:ESS-ASSERT

"She has small eyes."

Essential-revelatory copula

རེད་བཞག་ <red-bzhag> is the "revelatory" copula, meaning that the speaker has only recently become aware of what they are stating. It may be translated as "to be" with the statement preceded by an exclamation such as "Hey!" or "Why!" Its negative form is རེད་མི་འདུག་ <red-mi-'dug>.

ཐུབ་བསྟན་

thub-bstan

Thubtän

རེད་བཞག་

red-bzhag

be:ESS-REV

ཐུབ་བསྟན་ རེད་བཞག་

thub-bstan red-bzhag

Thubtän be:ESS-REV

"Hey! It's Thubtän."

འབྲོག་པ་

'brog-pa

nomad

རེད་མི་འདུག་

red-mi-'dug

not-be:ESS-REV

འབྲོག་པ་ རེད་མི་འདུག་

'brog-pa red-mi-'dug

nomad not-be:ESS-REV

"No, he isn't a nomad."

སྨྱོན་པ་

smyon-pa

crazy

རེད་བཞག་

red-bzhag

be:ESS-REV

སྨྱོན་པ་ རེད་བཞག་

smyon-pa red-bzhag

crazy be:ESS-REV

"Why, he's mad! (I've just realized)"

Essential-egophoric copula

ཡིན་ <yin> is the "egophoric" essential copula. It is usually translated as "(I) am" because of its main use with the first person. Like རེད་ <red>, it can be used with adjectives or substantives. Its negative form is མིན་ <min>.

ང་

nga

I

འབྲོག་པ་

'brog-pa

nomad

ཡིན།

yin

be:ESS-EGO

ང་ འབྲོག་པ་ ཡིན།

nga 'brog-pa yin

I nomad be:ESS-EGO

"I am a nomad."

ང་

nga

I

བདེ་པོ་

bde-po

fine

ཡིན།

yin

be:ESS-EGO

ང་ བདེ་པོ་ ཡིན།

nga bde-po yin

I fine be:ESS-EGO

"I am fine."

ཡིན་ <yin> may, on rare occasions, express an intention or an insistence on the part of the speaker:

ཁྱེད་རང་གི་

khyed-rang-gi

you:GEN

ཇ་

ja

HON-tea

ཡིན།

yin

be:ESS-EGO

ཁྱེད་རང་གི་ ཇ་ ཡིན།

khyed-rang-gi ja yin

you:GEN HON-tea be:ESS-EGO

"It's your tea (that I'm intending to give you)."

Existential copulas

There are three existential copulas: assertive ཡོད་རེད་ <yod-red>, testimonial འདུག་ <'dug> and egophoric ཡོད་ <yod>.

Existential-assertive copula

ཡོད་རེད་ <yod-red> is the "assertive" copula. This copula is used with the second and third person pronouns and implies a definite assertion by the speaker. It can usually be translated three ways according to context; "there is/are", giving an existential sense, "to be at", giving a certain location (situational sense), or by the verb "to have", giving a possessive sense. Its negative form is ཡོད་མ་རེད་ <yod-ma-red>.

བོད་ལ་

bod-la

Tibet-OBL

གནམ་གྲུ་

gnam-gru

airplane

ཡོད་རེད།

yod-red

be:EX-ASSERT

བོད་ལ་ གནམ་གྲུ་ ཡོད་རེད།

bod-la gnam-gru yod-red

Tibet-OBL airplane be:EX-ASSERT

"There are airplanes in Tibet."

ཐུབ་བསྟན་

thub-bstan

Thubtän

ལགས་

lags

mister

འདིར་

'dir

here

ཡོད་རེད།

yod-red

be:EX-ASSERT

ཐུབ་བསྟན་ ལགས་ འདིར་ ཡོད་རེད།

thub-bstan lags 'dir yod-red

Thubtän mister here be:EX-ASSERT

"Thubtän is here."

ཚེ་རིང་ལ་

tse-ring-la

Tsering-OBL

མོ་ཊ་

mo-ṭa

car

ཡོད་རེད།

yod-red

be:EX-ASSERT

ཚེ་རིང་ལ་ མོ་ཊ་ ཡོད་རེད།

tse-ring-la mo-ṭa yod-red

Tsering-OBL car be:EX-ASSERT

"Tsering has a car."

It can also be preceded by a qualifying adjective to form the attributive sense in which it can be translated as "to be".

འདི་

'di

this

སྙིང་རྗེ་པོ་

snying-rje-po

pretty

ཡོད་རེད།

yod-red

be:EX-ASSERT

འདི་ སྙིང་རྗེ་པོ་ ཡོད་རེད།

'di snying-rje-po yod-red

this pretty be:EX-ASSERT

"This is pretty."

Existential-testimonial copula

འདུག་ <'dug> is the "testimonial" copula. It is translated in the same way as ཡོད་རེད་ <yod-red> in all cases but it differs in a subtle way. It implies that the speaker was a witness to what is being stated. Its negative form is མི་འདུག་ <mi-'dug>.

བོད་ལ་

bod-la

Tibet-OBL.

གནམ་གྲུ་

gnam-gru

airplane

འདུག་

'dug

be:EX-TEST

བོད་ལ་ གནམ་གྲུ་ འདུག་

bod-la gnam-gru 'dug

Tibet-OBL. airplane be:EX-TEST

"There are airplanes in Tibet. (I know because I have seen them)"

It can also, like ཡོད་རེད <yod-red> be preceded by a qualifying adjective to form the attributive sense in which it can be translated as "to be."

འདི་

'di

this

སྙིང་རྗེ་པོ་

snying-rje-po

pretty

འདུག་

'dug

be:EX-TEST

འདི་ སྙིང་རྗེ་པོ་ འདུག་

'di snying-rje-po 'dug

this pretty be:EX-TEST

"This is pretty. (I know because I have seen this for myself)"

Existential-egophoric copula

ཡོད <yod> is the "egophoric" copula. Like ཡིན་ <yin> it is associated with the first person but it instead marks possession (I have) and location (I am (at)). It may also be used to express the speaker's opinion of something or an acquaintance with something. Its negative form is མེད་ <med>.

དེབ་

deb

book

མང་པོ་

mang-po

many

ཡོད།

yod

be:EX-EGO

དེབ་ མང་པོ་ ཡོད།

deb mang-po yod

book many be:EX-EGO

"I have many books."

རྒྱ་ནག་ལ་

rgya-nag-la

China-OBL.

ཡོད།

yod

be:EX-EGO

རྒྱ་ནག་ལ་ ཡོད།

rgya-nag-la yod

China-OBL. be:EX-EGO

"I am in China."

ཇ་

ja

tea

འདི་

'di

this

ཞིམ་པོ་

zhim-po

tasty

ཡོད།

yod

be:EX-EGO

ཇ་ འདི་ ཞིམ་པོ་ ཡོད།

ja 'di zhim-po yod

tea this tasty be:EX-EGO

"This tea is good (in my opinion)."

Evidentiality

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2023)

Tibetan copulas function as markers of both evidentiality and aspect. The study of these copulas has contributed substantially to the understanding of evidentiality cross-linguistically.

The table below shows the paradigm of Lhasa Tibetan verb endings that express tense/aspect and evidentiality/egophoricity:

The egophoric typically appears in first-person declaratives and second-person questions; the assertive may be used in the other contexts.

The direct evidential is used for describing what the speaker directly perceived while the inferential marks information that she inferred from something else. For example:

གངས་

gang

བཏང་

btang

སོང།

song

གངས་ བཏང་ སོང།

gang btang song

"It snowed." (The speaker has actually seen it snowing)

གངས་

gang

བཏང་

btang

བཞག།

bzhag

གངས་ བཏང་ བཞག།

gang btang bzhag

"It snowed." (The speaker has only seen traces)

References

1. Tournadre, Nicolas. "Features: Show: Verbs and Verb Phrases". subjects.kmaps.virginia.edu. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
2. ^ Tournardre, Nicolas (Spring 1991). "The rhetorical use of the Tibetan ergative" (PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 14 (1): 93–107. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
3. "Copulas - Mandala Collections - Kmaps". mandala.library.virginia.edu. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
4. DeLancey, Scott (1985). "Lhasa Tibetan Evidentials and the Semantics of Causation". Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
5. Hill, Nathan W.; Gawne, Lauren (24 April 2017). "1 The contribution of Tibetan languages to the study of evidentiality" (PDF). Evidential Systems of Tibetan Languages: 1–38. doi:10.1515/9783110473742-001. ISBN 978-3-11-047374-2. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
6. DeLancey 2018, p. 587.
7. DeLancey 2018, p. 582.
8. Tournadre & Dorje 2003, p. 167.
9. Tournadre & Dorje 2003, p. 168.

• H. A. Jäschke (1881). Tibetan–English Dictionary (reprint ed.). LONDON: Taylor and Francis. p. 671. ISBN 978-0-7100-1601-0. Retrieved 2011-06-30.(Original from Oxford University)
• Heinrich August Jäschke (1881). A Tibetan–English dictionary, with special reference to the prevailing dialects: To which is added an English-Tibetan vocabulary. LONDON: Printed by Unger Brothers (T. Grimm). p. 671. Retrieved 2011-06-30.(Original from Harvard University)
• Heinrich August Jäschke (1883). Heinrich Wenzel (ed.). Tibetan grammar. Vol. 7 of Trübner's collection of simplified grammars (2nd ed.). LONDON: Trübner & co. p. 104. Retrieved 2011-06-30.(Original from Harvard University)
• Graham Sandberg (1894). Hand-book of colloquial Tibetan: A practical guide to the language of Central Tibet ... Calcutta: Thacker, Spink and co. p. 372. Retrieved 2011-06-30.(Original from Harvard University)
• Heinrich August Jäschke (1866). Romanized Tibetan and English dictionary. p. 158. Retrieved 2011-06-30.(Original from Oxford University)
• Heinrich August Jäschke (March 2004), A short practical grammar of the Tibetan language, with special reference to the spoken dialects, London: Hardinge Simpole, ISBN 1-84382-077-3. " ... contains a facsimile of the original publication in manuscript, the first printed version of 1883, and the later Addenda published with the Third Edition."—P. of cover./ First edition published in Kye-Lang in Brit. Lahoul by the author, in manuscript, in 1865.
• Naga, Sangye Tandar. (2010). "Some Reflections on the Mysterious Nature of Tibetan Language" In: The Tibet Journal, Special issue. Autumn 2009 vol XXXIV n. 3-Summer 2010 vol XXXV n. 2. "The Earth Ox Papers", edited by Roberto Vitali, pp. 561–566.
• Tournadre, Nicolas & Dorje, Sangda (2003), Manual of Standard Tibetan, New York: Snow Lion Publications, ISBN 1-55939-189-8.
• Sarat Chandra Das (2000), Tibetan–English Dictionary (With Sanskrit Synonyms), Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-1713-3. (Reprint of the Calcutta : Bengal Secretariat Book Depot, 1902 edition.)
• Hodge, Stephen (2003), An Introduction to Classical Tibetan, Orchid Press, ISBN 974-524-039-7.
• Bernard, Theos C. (1946), A Simplified Grammar of the Literary Tibetan Language, Santa Barbara, California: Tibetan Text Society

Further reading

• DeLancey, Scott (2018). "Evidentiality in Tibetic". In Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Evidentiality. Oxford University Press. pp. 580–594. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198759515.013.27. ISBN 978-0-19-875951-5.

ESS:essential ASSERT:assertive REV:revelatory EGO:egophoric TEST:testimonial

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• Tibetan language