Modern Standard Tibetan grammar
Encyclopedia
Tibetan grammar describes the morphology
, syntax
and other grammatical features
of the Tibetan language
, the language and dialects of the Tibetan people
spoken across a wide area of eastern Central Asia
. Generally considered a member of the Tibeto-Burman language family
, typologically
Tibetan is classified as an ergative-absolutive language
. Noun
s are generally unmarked for grammatical number
but are marked for case. Adjective
s are never marked and appear after the noun. Demonstratives also come after the noun but these are marked for number. Verb
s 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.
or number
.
Natural gender may be conveyed through the lexicon, e.g. གཡག་ "yak (male)," འབྲི་ <'bri> "yak-cow." In human or animate nouns, gender may be indicated through suffixes. These suffixes are generally པ་ or པོ་ "male," and མ་ or མོ་ "female."
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
, syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
and other grammatical features
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
of the Tibetan language
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
, the language and dialects of the Tibetan people
Tibetan people
The Tibetan people are an ethnic group that is native to Tibet, which is mostly in the People's Republic of China. They number 5.4 million and are the 10th largest ethnic group in the country. Significant Tibetan minorities also live in India, Nepal, and Bhutan...
spoken across a wide area of eastern Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
. Generally considered a member of the Tibeto-Burman language family
Tibeto-Burman languages
The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Chinese members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken thoughout the highlands of southeast Asia, as well as lowland areas in Burma ....
, typologically
Linguistic typology
Linguistic typology is a subfield of linguistics that studies and classifies languages according to their structural features. Its aim is to describe and explain the common properties and the structural diversity of the world's languages...
Tibetan is classified as an ergative-absolutive language
Ergative-absolutive language
An ergative–absolutive language is a language that treats the argument of an intransitive verb like the object of a transitive verb, but differently from the agent of a transitive verb.-Ergative vs...
. Noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
s are generally unmarked for grammatical number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
but are marked for case. Adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s are never marked and appear after the noun. Demonstratives also come after the noun but these are marked for number. Verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
s are possibly the most complicated part of Tibetan grammar in terms of morphology. The dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
described here is the colloquial language of Central Tibet, especially Lhasa
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
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 genderGrammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
or number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
.
Natural gender may be conveyed through the lexicon, e.g. གཡག་
Number is never marked in inanimate nouns or animals. Even human nouns can only take the plural marker ཚོ་if they are specified or definite, e.g. ཨ་མ་ "mother" → ཨ་མ་ཚོ་ "(the) mothers." Tibetan does not mark definiteness DefinitenessIn grammatical theory, definiteness is a feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between entities which are specific and identifiable in a given context and entities which are not ....
, and such a meaning would be left to be deduced from the context.
Tibetan nouns are marked for six cases: absolutiveAbsolutive caseThe absolutive case is the unmarked grammatical case of a core argument of a verb which is used as the citation form of a noun.-In ergative languages:...
, agentiveErgative caseThe ergative case is the grammatical case that identifies the subject of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages.-Characteristics:...
, genitiveGenitive caseIn grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
, ablativeAblative caseIn linguistics, ablative case is a name given to cases in various languages whose common characteristic is that they mark motion away from something, though the details in each language may differ...
, associativeComitative caseThe comitative case , also known as the associative case , is a grammatical case that denotes companionship, and is used where English would use "in company with" or "together with"...
and obliqueOblique caseAn oblique case in linguistics is a noun case of synthetic languages that is used generally when a noun is the object of a verb or a preposition...
. 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 noun to which the suffix is attached.
Absolutive case
The absolutive caseAbsolutive caseThe absolutive case is the unmarked grammatical case of a core argument of a verb which is used as the citation form of a noun.-In ergative languages:...
is the unmarked form of the noun, which may be used as the subject of an intransitive verbIntransitive verbIn grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb that has no object. This differs from a transitive verb, which takes one or more objects. Both classes of verb are related to the concept of the transitivity of a verb....
, the object of a transitive verbTransitive verbIn syntax, a transitive verb is a verb that requires both a direct subject and one or more objects. The term is used to contrast intransitive verbs, which do not have objects.-Examples:Some examples of sentences with transitive verbs:...
or the experiencer of an emotion.
Genitive case
The genitive caseGenitive caseIn grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
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་
- if the last sound is ད་ <-d>, བ་ <-b>, ས་ <-s> or one of the secondary sound suffixes then the genitive suffix is ཀྱི་
- if the last sound is ན་ <-n>, མ་ <-m>, ར་ <-r> or ལ་ <-l> then the suffix is གྱི་
.
The genitive is also used to form relative clauseRelative clauseA relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun phrase, most commonly a noun. For example, the phrase "the man who wasn't there" contains the noun man, which is modified by the relative clause who wasn't there...
s. Here, the genitive suffix is attached to the verb and is translated as "that" or "who."དེབ་ ནང་ལ་ ཡོད་ི་ པར་ nang-la yod-pai bar> book inside-OBL. is-GEN. photo "the photo that is in the book"
Agentive case
Formally the agentive (or ergative) caseErgative caseThe ergative case is the grammatical case that identifies the subject of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages.-Characteristics:...
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་
- if the last sound is ད་ <-d>, བ་ <-b>, ས་ <-s> or one of the secondary sound suffixes then the genitive suffix is ཀྱིས་
- if the last sound is ན་ <-n>, མ་ <-m>, ར་ <-r> or ལ་ <-l> then the suffix is གྱིས་
.
The agentive is used for ergative and instrumentalInstrumental caseThe instrumental case is a grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the instrument or means by or with which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action...
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 caseAblative caseIn linguistics, ablative case is a name given to cases in various languages whose common characteristic is that they mark motion away from something, though the details in each language may differ...
is always suffixed with ནས་. 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 caseComitative caseThe comitative case , also known as the associative case , is a grammatical case that denotes companionship, and is used where English would use "in company with" or "together with"...
is marked by the suffix དང་, which may be translated as "and" but also as "with," "against" or have no translation at all. When the associative case suffix is followed by a pause, for example:
པཱ་ལགས་་། ཨ་ཁུ་་། ཨ་ནེ། a-khu-dang, a-ne> father-ASS. uncle-ASS. aunt "father and uncle and aunt..."
The associative suffix cannot cannot combine with other case or plural markers on the same noun or noun phrase:
ཨ་མ་་ སྤུ་གུ་ཚོ། བུ་་ བུ་མོ་ཚོར་ ལག་རྟགས་ སྦྲུས་པ་ཡོད། sbu-gu-tsho> bu-mo-tshor lag-rtags sbrus-pa-yod> mother-ASS. children boy-ASS. girl-DAT. present gave "mother and children" "(they) gave presents to the boys and girls"
Oblique case
The obliqueOblique caseAn oblique case in linguistics is a noun case of synthetic languages that is used generally when a noun is the object of a verb or a preposition...
suffix fulfills the functions of both the dativeDative caseThe dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink"....
and locativeLocative caseLocative is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by"...
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.
Personal pronouns
PronounPronounIn linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun , such as, in English, the words it and he...
s have between one and three registers and three numbers: singular, dual and plural.
Singular Dual Plural First Person ང་ ང་གཉིས་ ང་ཚོ་ Second Person Ordinary རང་ རང་གཉིས་ རང་ཚོ་ Honorific ཁྱེད་རང་ ཁྱེད་རང་གཉིས་ ཁྱེད་རང་ཚོ་ Pejorative ཁྱོད་ ཁྱོད་གཉིས་ ཁྱོད་ཚོ་ Third person Ordinary ཁོང་ ཁོང་གཉིས་ ཁོང་ཚོ་ Familiar (male) ཁོ་(རང་) ཁོ་(རང་)གཉིས་ ཁོ་(རང་)ཚོ་ Familiar (female) མོ་(རང་) མོ་(རང་)གཉིས་ མོ་(རང་)ཚོ་
Demonstrative pronouns
Tibetan has proximal, medial and distal demonstrative pronouns: proximal འདི་ <'di> "this," medial དེ་"that," and distal ཕ་གི་ "that over there." འདི་ <'di> and དེ་ also have temporal meanings where འདི་ <'di> is connected with present and དེ་ is connected with the past or the future:
ཕ་གི་, on the other hand, can only express spatial distance. From these demonstrative pronouns the following adverbs are derived: འདིར་ <'dir> "here," དེར་ "there," and ཕ་གིར་ "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.
Volitional and non-volitional classes
There is an important division of verbs into two main classes: volitional and non-volitionalVolition (linguistics)In linguistics, volition refers to a distinction that is made in some languages' verb conjugations or case assignment to express whether the subject intended the action or not, or whether it was done voluntarily or accidentally....
. 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 you 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 certain 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་would be incorrect as is a non-volitional verb and is a volitional suffix. The correct form would be མཐོང་པ་རེད་ or "I saw."
Transitive and intransitive verbs
Both the volitional and non-volitional classes contain transitiveTransitive verbIn syntax, a transitive verb is a verb that requires both a direct subject and one or more objects. The term is used to contrast intransitive verbs, which do not have objects.-Examples:Some examples of sentences with transitive verbs:...
as well as intransitive verbIntransitive verbIn grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb that has no object. This differs from a transitive verb, which takes one or more objects. Both classes of verb are related to the concept of the transitivity of a verb....
s. 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.
Verb inflection
Verbs in modern spoken Tibetan have between one and three stemsWord stemIn linguistics, a stem is a part of a word. The term is used with slightly different meanings.In one usage, a stem is a form to which affixes can be attached. Thus, in this usage, the English word friendships contains the stem friend, to which the derivational suffix -ship is attached to form a new...
. 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.
Copulas
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 estar and ser in the Spanish languageSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
.
Essential copulas
There are three essential copulas: assertive རེད་, revelatory རེད་བཞག་ , and egophoric ཡིན་
Essential-assertive copula
རེད་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་ is མ་རེད་ . The attribute may be an adjective, giving an attributive meaning, or a substantive, giving an equative meaning. The attributive immediately precedes the verb.
འདི་ ཐུབ་བསྟན་ ད། ཁོང་ འབྲོག་པ་ རེད། མོ་རང་ སྙིང་རྗེ་པོ་ ད། <'di thub-bstan red> 'brog-pa ma-red> snying-rje-po red> this Thubtän be:ESS.-ASSERT. he nomad not-be:ESS.-ASSERT. she pretty be:ESS.-ASSERT. "This is Thubtän." "He isn't a nomad." "She’s pretty."
This copula, in rare cases, may also express possession of a quality:
མོ་རང་ མིག་ ཆུང་ཆུང་ ད། mig chung-chung red> she eye small be:ESS.-ASSERT. "She has small eyes."
Essential-revelatory copula
རེད་བཞག་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་
ཐུབ་བསྟན་ ད་བཞག་ འབྲོག་པ་ ད་མི་འདུག་ སྨྱོན་པ་ ད་བཞག་ red-bzhag> <'brog-pa red-mi-'dug> red-bzhag> Thubtän be:ESS.-REV. nomad not-be:ESS.-REV. crazy be:ESS.-REV. "Hey! It’s Thubtän." "No, he isn’t a nomad." "Why, he’s mad! (I’ve just realized)"
Essential-egophoric copula
ཡིན་is the "egophoric" essential copula. It is usually translated as "I am" because of its main use with the first person. Like རེད་ , it can be used with adjectives or substantives. Its negative form is མིན་ .
ང་ འབྲོག་པ་ ན། ང་ བདེ་པོ་ ན། 'brog-pa yin> bde-po yin> I nomad be:ESS.-EGO. I fine be:ESS.-EGO. "I am a nomad." "I am fine."
ཡིན་may, on rare occasions, express an intention or an insistence on the part of the speaker:
ཁྱེད་རང་གི ་ཇ་ ན། 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་, testimonial འདུག་ <'dug> and egophoric ཡོད་ .
Existential-assertive copula
ཡོད་རེད་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་ .
བོད་ལ་ གནམ་གྲུ་ ད་རེད། ཐུབ་བསྟན་ ལགས་ འདིར་ ད་རེད། ཚེ་རིང་ལ་ མོ་ཊ་ ད་རེད། gnam-gru yod-red> lags 'dir yod-red> mo-tra yod-red> Tibet-OBL. airplane be:EX.-ASSERT. Thubtän mister here be:EX.-ASSERT. Tsering-OBL. car be:EX.-ASSERT. "There are airplanes in Tibet." "Thubtän is here." "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་ སྙིང་རྗེ་པོ་ ད་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་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 ཡོད་མ་རེད་ .
བོད་ལ་ གནམ་གྲུ་ ུག་ 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་རེདbe preceded by a qualifying adjective to form the attributive sense in which it can be translated as "to be."
འདི་ སྙིང་རྗེ་པོ་ ུག་ <'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
ཡོདis the "egophoric" copula. Like ཡིན་ 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 speakers opinion of something or an acquaintance with something.
དེབ་ མང་པོ་ ཡོད། རྒྱ་ནག་ལ་ ད། ཇ་ འདི་ ཞིམ་པོ་ ད། ming-po yod> yod> 'di zhim-po yod> book many be:EX.-EGO. China-OBL. be:EX.-EGO. tea this tasty be:EX.-EGO. "I have many books." "I am in China." "This tea is good (in my opinion)."