22/09/2023, 07:00 Unit 5: Nouns – tibetanlanguage.

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Unit 5: Nouns

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In this unit we will learn how to make basic statements and questions about
persons, places, and things. By the end of the unit, you will be able to say
things like “I’m a student” and “Where are you from?”

Unit 5 Sections:

1. 1. Nouns
1. 1.1. Standard Tibetan nouns
2. 1.2. Honorific forms
2. 2. Pronouns
1. 2.1. Personal pronouns
2. 2.2. Demonstrative pronouns
3. 3. ཡིན་ and རེད་
1. 3.1. Subjects, objects, and verbs
2. 3.2. Personal vs. impersonal
3. 3.3. Affirmative vs. negative
4. 3.4. Alternate forms and curly brackets
4. 4. Asking questions
1. 4.1. The question marker {པས་}
2. 4.2. The rule of anticipation
3. 4.3. Question words
4. 4.4. The confirming verbal particle {པ་}
5. 4.5. The wondering verbal particle ན་
5. 5. Nominal particles
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1. 5.1. The ablative nominal particle ནས་

2. 5.2. Marked and unmarked nouns
3. 5.3. The question word ག་ནས་
6. 6. Clipping
1. 6.1. Subject clipping
2. 6.2. Object clipping
3. 6.3. Subject and object clipping
4. 6.4. Tag questions
7. 7. Terminology
1. 7.1. Vocabulary
2. 7.2. Jargon

1. Nouns
A fundamental distinction that will guide our study of Standard Tibetan is
the distinction between nouns and verbs.

Nouns are words that refer to people, places, and things. For example:

Alex
the photographer
Thailand
flowers

Verbs are actions that nouns do, or have done to them. Verbs may also simply
express the state of a noun or the relationship between two nouns. For
example:

Alex cries constantly

Alex loves the photographer
The photographer is in Thailand
Thailand has pretty flowers

Nouns and verbs can both be described in more detail, or modified, by other
words. For example, the adverb constantly modifies the verb cries; it
describes how Alex cries. The adjective pretty modifies the noun flowers; it
describes what the flowers are like.

Standard Tibetan grammar boils down to nouns, verbs, and their modifiers,
so I have structured the course to cover these topics in a progressive and
systematic way. In units 5-7 we will learn about nouns and their modifiers,
and in units 8-10 we will learn about verbs and their modifiers. By the end of
unit 10 we will have covered all of the basic grammar necessary for

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understanding Standard Tibetan, at which point we will discuss different

options for further study.

To get started, let’s take a look at Tibetan nouns.

1.1. Standard Tibetan nouns

Standard Tibetan nouns (མིང་ཚིག་) come in a wide range of forms, although
they are most often 2 syllables long. For example:

སློབ་ཕྲུག་ student
ཁ་པར་ phone
དགེ་རྒན་ teacher
དེབ་ book
བོད་པ་ Tibetan person

0:00 / 0:04

Nouns generally do not have separate singular and plural forms, so སློབ་ཕྲུག་ can
mean both “a student” and “students”, for instance.

Tibetan does not use capitalization, so the names of people or places look
just like normal nouns:

བསྟན་འཛིན་ Tendzin
མཚོ་མོ་ Tsomo
བོད་ Tibet
རྒྱ་གར་ India
ཡུ་རོབ་ Europe

0:00 / 0:04

Simple nouns like དེབ་ (“book”) have no internal structure. Complex nouns like
དགེ་རྒན་ (“teacher”) are made up of multiple smaller words. The word དགེ་རྒན་ is
made up the roots དགེ་ (“virtuous”) and རྒན་ (“old”), so when analyzed in detail
it means something like “virtuous elder”. However, beginners don’t need to
worry about understanding the internal structure of complex nouns; it is
enough just to learn their ordinary meaning.

1.2. Honorific forms

Many nouns and verbs have honorific forms called ཞེ་ས་, which are used to
show respect when talking to or about someone. For example, compare the
following common and honorific forms:

English: Common: Honorific:

phone ཁ་པར་ ཞལ་པར་

teacher དགེ་རྒན་ རྒན་ལགས་

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book དེབ་ ཕྱག་དེབ་

0:00 / 0:06

Some nouns have no honorific form, and other nouns have multiple levels of
honorific forms. Honorific forms do not follow a set format, and must be
memorized. However, they are often built by adding specific honorific
prefixes (e.g. ཞལ་, ཕྱག་) to some part of the original common noun. Honorifics
are important, but they can be a bit overwhelming at first, so we will not
discuss them in much detail here.

It’s important to note that politeness in Standard Tibetan is not simply a

matter of using the appropriate honorifics. Politeness is multi-dimensional
just like in English, so it’s also about how you phrase things, how you interact
with people, and the kinds of words you use.

It’s polite to learn and use honorifics when talking about other people. It is
common for other people to use honorifics when talking about you, but you
should not use honorifics when talking about yourself.

To respectfully address someone, you can add the particle ལགས་ to the end of
their name:

བསྟན་འཛིན་ལགས།
མཚོ་མོ་ལགས།

0:00 / 0:02

It is very common to use ལགས་ after someone’s name, even among friends.

2. Pronouns
Pronouns are words that can stand in for people, places, and things. They
include words like “he”, “they”, “you”, and “us”. In the following example, the
pronoun “him” is used to stand in for the noun “the photographer”:

Alex loves the photographer

Alex loves him

Pronouns stand in for different nouns depending on the context. When

you’re talking to Tendzin, the word “you” refers to Tendzin, but when you’re
talking to Tsomo, the word “you” refers to Tsomo.

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Pronouns can be divided into personal pronouns and demonstrative

pronouns. Personal pronouns like “you” are pronouns that typically refer to
people, and demonstrative pronouns like “this” are pronouns that typically
refer to places and things.

A pronoun can be singular, meaning that it refers to only one person, place,
or thing; or it can be plural, meaning that it refers to multiple persons,
places, or things. For example, the pronoun “me” is singular, and the pronoun
“us” is plural.

2.1. Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns typically refer to people. Personal pronouns are divided
into three persons: first person, second person, and third person. First
person pronouns are words that the speaker uses to refer to themselves, such
as “I”, “me”, “we”, and “us”. Second person pronouns are words that the speaker
uses to refer to the audience, such as “you”, “you all”, and “y’all”. Third person
pronouns are words that refer to people that are not directly part of the
conversation, such as “he”, “she”, and “they”.

Standard Tibetan has a wide range of personal pronouns (མིང་ཚབ་), but we will
focus on 6 main ones:

Singular: Plural:

First person: ང་ I / me ང་ཚོ་ we / us

Second person: ཁྱེད་རང་ you (singular) ཁྱེད་རང་ཚོ་ you all

Third person: ཁོང་ they / them (singular) ཁོང་ཚོ་ they / them (plural)

0:00 / 0:06

You will notice that Standard Tibetan does have separate plural forms for
pronouns. The plural marker ཚོ་ is an exception to standard pronunciation
rules, because it is often pronounced as if it had a nasal prefix letter, hence
the n sound in ང་ཚོ་ ngan-tsho. This n sound does not occur 100% of the time.

I use slashes (e.g. “I / me”) to show that e.g. ང་ can mean both “I” and “me”.

Also, the words ཁོང་ and ཁོང་ཚོ་ are polite and would not be used when speaking
about people younger than you. For people younger than you, you can use ཁོ་
for “he” and མོ་ for “she”. The plural forms of these words are respectively ཁོ་རང་
ཚོ་ and མོ་རང་ཚོ་.

2.2. Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns typically refer to places or things. Demonstrative
pronouns like “this” or “that” describe where something is in space relative to
the speaker.
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Standard Tibetan has a wide range of demonstrative pronouns, but we will

focus on 4 main ones:

Singular: Plural:

Near: འདི་ this འདི་ཚོ་ these

Far: དེ་ that དེ་ཚོ་ those

0:00 / 0:03

We will now turn our attention to verbs.

3. ཡིན་ And རེད་

The words ཡིན་ and རེད་ are common verbs in Standard Tibetan. I will call them
be verbs because they are similar in meaning to the English verb “to be” and
its various forms (am, are, is, etc.). For example, the following English
statements would be expressed with ཡིན་ and རེད་ in Standard Tibetan:

I am Tendzin
Lhasa is a city
Rainbows are colorful

The verbs ཡིན་ and རེད་ are typically used to describe things that are essential to
the identity of a person, place, or thing, so I will also call them essential be
verbs. For example, the sentence “Lhasa is a city” would use an essential be
verb because it expresses an essential characteristic of what Lhasa is: Lhasa is
a city.

When applied to people, the essential be verbs are used for people’s names,
relations to other people, occupations, and other basic descriptions of the
person’s identity.

3.1. Subjects, objects, and verbs

English and Standard Tibetan have different sentence structures. In order to
make a statement about a noun using a be verb, English would use the
sentence structure:

subject + be verb + object

For example:

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Tsomo + is + a student = Tsomo is a student.

First comes the subject (Tsomo), which is is the noun that you’re making a
statement about. Then comes the be verb (is), which is used to equate the
subject and object. Then comes the object (a student), which is the
description or quality that you’re assigning to the subject. To express this in a
simple way, we can say that English has a subject-verb-object sentence
structure.

Standard Tibetan, however, has a subject-object-verb sentence structure. First

comes the subject, then the object, then the be verb:

subject + object + be verb

The usual be verb in Tibetan is རེད་, so the sentence “Tsomo is a student” could
be translated into Tibetan as:

མཚོ་མོ་ + སློབ་ཕྲུག་ + རེད་ = མཚོ་མོ་སློབ་ཕྲུག་རེད། (“Tsomo is a student.”)

0:00 / 0:01

3.2. Personal vs. impersonal

We’ve learned that ཡིན་ and རེད་ are both essential be verbs, so what exactly is
the difference between them? They are distinguished by how personal they
are. The word ཡིན་ is a personal verb form because it’s typically used to make
statements about yourself or about a group that you’re a part of. For example:

ང་བསྟན་འཛིན་ཡིན། I am Tendzin
ང་ཚོ་སློབ་ཕྲུག་ཡིན། We are students

0:00 / 0:03

The word རེད་ is an impersonal verb form because it’s typically used to make
statements about other people or things. For example:

ཁྱེད་རང་དགེ་རྒན་རེད། You are a teacher

མཚོ་མོ་སློབ་ཕྲུག་རེད། Tsomo is a student
འདི་དེབ་རེད། This is a book

0:00 / 0:04

This distinction is important in Standard Tibetan grammar, so it must be

carefully understood. Going by the above description, it may seem that you
use ཡིན་ for the first person and རེད་ for the second and third persons. This is a
good approximation for beginners, but it’s not the full story.

In fact, the use of personal vs. impersonal verb forms is more about how
much ownership you’re taking over the statement. It may be possible to use
རེད་ in statements about yourself if you are making an impersonal,

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externalized assessment of yourself, such as when describing someone else’s

opinion of you.

We don’t need to understand this point fully right away, so for now, it’s
sufficient to learn that ཡིན་ is used for statements about yourself and རེད་ is
used for statements about other people or things.

3.3. Affirmative vs. negative

The negative forms of ཡིན་ and རེད་ are respectively མིན་ and མ་རེད་. For example:

འདི་ཁ་པར་རེད། This is a phone. (affirmative statement)

འདི་ཁ་པར་མ་རེད། This is not a phone. (negative statement)
ང་བོད་པ་ཡིན། I am Tibetan. (affirmative statement)
ང་བོད་པ་མིན། I am not Tibetan. (negative statement)

0:00 / 0:06

མིན་ is usually pronounced as mä(n), so it is an exception to the pronunciation

rules. Also, note that མིན་ originally comes from མ་ཡིན་, which is no longer said.
The word མ་ marks negative sentences, and can be used in front of almost all
verbs in Standard Tibetan, according to the format:

མ་ + verb

In front of certain verbs it takes the alternate form མི་, which we will discuss
more in the next unit.

3.4. Alternate forms and curly brackets

Many words in Standard Tibetan have alternate forms whose usage
depends on the context or the adjacent words. Throughout this course I will
use curly brackets as a convention to indicate a set of alternate forms.

To start with, from now on I will use {མ་} as a shorthand way to refer to the
negative marker མ་ and its alternate form མི་.

I will also do this for verbs. We’ve learned how the essential be verb takes two
different forms in Standard Tibetan: ཡིན་ or རེད་, depending on whether the
statement is personal or impersonal. In addition, each of these has a
corresponding negative form (མིན་ and མ་རེད་). The form that you should use
(personal or impersonal, affirmative or negative) depends on what you’re
trying to say, so I will use {ཡིན་} as a shorthand for all of these forms: ཡིན་, རེད་,
མིན་, and མ་རེད་.

Using curly brackets like this will allow me to describe grammar rules quickly
and easily, without listing a separate rule for each form. It is up to the speaker
to determine which form they want to use in a given context. The
unbracketed words མ་ and ཡིན་, then, will henceforth refer only to མ་ and ཡིན་
specifically, and not to any of their alternate forms.

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4. Asking Questions
Particles are small words that alter the meaning of whatever they’re attached
to. Verbal particles are small words that can be attached to a verb to alter its
meaning. For example, the negation particle མ་ in མ་རེད་ changes an affirmative
sentence into a negative one.

Most verbal particles (with the exception of {མ་}) follow the verb, according to
the format:

verb + particle

In this section we will discuss three different verbal particles that can be used
for asking questions: {པས་}, {པ་}, and ན་. Usually only one verbal particle can be
used at a time, so they cannot be combined or strung together.

4.1. The question marker {པས་}

Yes/no questions are formed by adding the question marker {པས་} to the end
of the verb. For example:

ཁོང་བོད་པ་རེད། They are Tibetan. (statement)

ཁོང་བོད་པ་རེད་པས། Are they Tibetan? (question)
འདི་ཁ་པར་རེད། This is a phone. (statement)
འདི་ཁ་པར་རེད་པས། Is this a phone? (question)

0:00 / 0:06

The པ་ in རེད་པས་ is pronounced with the lips barely touching (see Unit 3 §6.2.)
and its vowels are subject to vowel harmony (see Unit 3 §6.3.), so its typical
pronunciation could be transcribed as räβ̞ä.

I refer to {པས་} as a “question marker” and not a “question particle” because it’s
technically made of two parts: the verbal ending པ་ plus the verbal particle ས་.
Regardless, because པས་ ends in a particle, it acts like a verbal particle in every
way, and so I have included it in our discussion of the verbal particles.

Note that པས་ has two other alternate forms:

གས་ is used after the suffix letter ག་

ངས་ is used after the suffix letter ང་

We will encounter these forms in later units.

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Negative questions

The question marker {པས་} turns negative statements into negative questions:

འདི་ཁ་པར་མ་རེད་པས། Isn’t this a phone?

ཁྱེད་རང་མཚོ་མོ་མིན་པས། Aren’t you Tsomo?

0:00 / 0:03

Just like in English, negative questions can be used to double-check

something.

4.2. The rule of anticipation

Personal and impersonal verbs work a bit differently when asking questions.
When you ask a question, you need to use the verb form (personal or
impersonal) that anticipates the verb form they would use in their response.
This is called the rule of anticipation.

For example, when asking someone a question about yourself, you generally
use the impersonal verb form because that’s what they’d use in their reply:

You ask: ང་དགེ་རྒན་རེད་པས། Am I a teacher?

They might reply: ཁྱེད་རང་དགེ་རྒན་རེད། You are a teacher.
Or: ཁྱེད་རང་དགེ་རྒན་མ་རེད། You are not a teacher.

0:00 / 0:01

And when asking someone a question about themselves, you generally use
the personal verb form because that’s what they’d use in their reply:

You ask: ཁྱེད་རང་སློབ་ཕྲུག་ཡིན་པས། Are you a student?

They might reply: ང་སློབ་ཕྲུག་ཡིན། I am a student.
Or: ང་སློབ་ཕྲུག་མིན། I am not a student.

0:00 / 0:02

4.3. Question words

Open-ended questions are typically formed by using question words like སུ་
(“who”) and ག་རེ་ (“what”) as the object of the sentence. For example:

དེ་ཚོ་ག་རེ་རེད། What are those?

ཁོང་སུ་རེད། Who is he? / Who is she?

0:00 / 0:03

The yes/no question marker {པས་} is not typically used in sentences that
already have a question word.

Question words also follow the rule of anticipation:

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ང་སུ་རེད། Who am I?
ཁྱེད་རང་སུ་ཡིན། Who are you?

0:00 / 0:03

Personal questions that use question words, such as ཁྱེད་རང་སུ་ཡིན། (“Who are
you?”), may come across as too direct or blunt. It’s common to soften such
questions with the particles {པ་} and ན་, which we will learn about below.

4.4. The confirming verbal particle {པ་}

The verbal particle {པ་} has four alternate forms:

ག་ is used after the suffix letter ག་

ང་ is used after the suffix letter ང་
པ་ is the default form
བ་ is used after vowel sounds

The verbal particle {པ་} is used for several purposes:

to make a weak question where you want to double check something:

དེ་དེབ་རེད་བ། That’s a book, right?
to soften a personal question that uses a question word:
ཁྱེད་རང་སུ་ཡིན། Who are you? (direct)
ཁྱེད་རང་སུ་ཡིན་པ། Who are you? (polite)
to respond to questions emphatically (this will be discussed in §6)

0:00 / 0:05

The particle {པས་} shows that you want an actual answer to your question, but
{པ་} is often used rhetorically, without any expectation of a response.

4.5. The wondering verbal particle ན་

Just like {པ་}, the verbal particle ན་ can be used to soften a personal question
that uses a question word:

ཁྱེད་རང་སུ་ཡིན། Who are you? (direct)

ཁྱེད་རང་སུ་ཡིན་ན། Who are you? (polite)

0:00 / 0:02

Outside of personal questions, ན་ is used show that you’re wondering about

something. However, note that ན་ uses the personal form of the verb in all
contexts. This means that the form ཡིན་ན་ is used for both personal and
impersonal sentences, whereas the form རེད་ན་ is not used. For example:

ཁོང་བསྟན་འཛིན་ཡིན་ན། I wonder if he’s Tendzin?

དེ་ཁ་པར་ཡིན་ན། I wonder if that’s a phone?

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As we will see throughout this course, most verbal particles in Standard

Tibetan use the personal form of the verb in all contexts.

5. Nominal Particles
In the previous section we learned about particles, which are small words that
alter the meaning of whatever they’re attached to. We looked at three
examples of verbal particles, which are particles that are attached to the verb.

In this section we will look at nominal particles. Nominal particles are small
words that attached to a noun to alter its meaning. The word nominal just
means “of a noun”.

English has many words that are analogous to Tibetan nominal particles,
such as from, to, of, by, and so on. In English, these words are attached to the
left side of the noun:

from Tendzin
to Tsomo
of Tibet
by the author

In Tibetan, nominal particles are attached to the right side of the noun:

noun + particle

For example:

from Tendzin = བསྟན་འཛིན་ནས་

to Tsomo = མཚོ་མོ་ལ་
of Tibet = བོད་ཀྱི་
by the teacher = དགེ་རྒན་གྱིས་

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We won’t worry about most of these particles for now. In this section we will
focus on learning the particle ནས་, which means from.

5.1. The ablative nominal particle ནས་

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The nominal particle ནས་ means from, and it’s attached to the right side of the
noun like all other nominal particles:

བོད་ནས་ from Tibet

རྒྱ་གར་ནས་ from India
ཡུ་རོབ་ནས་ from Europe

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It is often called the ablative particle in English. Ablative means “moving

away from something”, which is the meaning that this particle expresses.

5.2. Marked and unmarked nouns

When discussing nouns, the unmarked form is the noun without any
particle after it. The marked form is the noun with a particle after it.

As we have seen above, sentences with {ཡིན་} generally contain two unmarked
nouns. However, it is sometimes possible to put a marked noun in the object
position of {ཡིན་}. For example, you can talk about where someone is from by
putting a place name marked with ནས་ in the object position of {ཡིན་}:

ང་རྒྱ་གར་ནས་ཡིན། I am from India.

བསྟན་འཛིན་བོད་ནས་རེད་པས། Is Tendzin from Tibet?

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5.3. The question word ག་ནས་

The question word ག་ནས་ (“from where”) can also be placed in object position:

མཚོ་མོ་ག་ནས་རེད། Where is Tsomo from? (literally, “Tsomo is from where?”)

མཚོ་མོ་རྒྱ་གར་ནས་རེད། Tsomo is from India.

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6. Clipping
In Standard Tibetan it’s common to shorten a sentence by leaving out
(“clipping“) the subject, the object, or both. This happens for various reasons,
and we’ll discuss a few common ones below.

6.1. Subject clipping

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If the subject is implied by the context, then there is no need to mention it

again, so it gets clipped. When ཡིན་ or རེད་ are used with only one noun, it is
understood that the subject has been clipped and only the object is being
mentioned:

དེ་ག་རེ་རེད། What is that?

དེབ་རེད། [It] is a book.
ཁོང་སུ་རེད། Who is that?
བསྟན་འཛིན་རེད། [It]’s Tendzin.
མཚོ་མོ་དགེ་རྒན་རེད། རྒྱ་གར་ནས་རེད། Tsomo is a teacher. [She] is from India.

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6.2. Object clipping

We will see object clipping in later units when we discuss other verbs.

6.3. Subject and object clipping

1) With no verbal particle:

Standard Tibetan has no independent words for “yes” or “no”. Responses to

yes/no questions are done by repeating the verb of the original question,
with the subject and object clipped off:

མཚོ་མོ་དགེ་རྒན་རེད་པས། Is Tsomo a teacher?

རེད། Yes.
ཁྱེད་རང་བོད་ནས་ཡིན་པས། Are you from Tibet?
མིན། ང་རྒྱ་གར་ནས་ཡིན། No, I’m from India.

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So, the way to say “yes” or “no” depends on the verb used in the original
question.

If you are negating someone, it’s usually more polite to add an explanation
instead of just saying “no”, which is why the last sentence from the above
examples says, མིན། ང་རྒྱ་གར་ནས་ཡིན།. This is true in English too, of course.

If a simple “yes” or “no” answer would feel too curt, you can lengthen your
answer in several ways. Two common strategies are:

add ལགས་ before the yes/no answer to make it more polite

duplicate the verb to make it less curt

For example:

ཁོང་བསྟན་འཛིན་རེད་པས། Is he Tendzin?
ལགས་རེད། Yes (polite)
རེད་རེད། Yes, he is

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ལགས་མ་རེད། No (polite)
ཁྱེད་རང་དགེ་རྒན་ཡིན་པས། Are you a teacher?
ལགས་ཡིན། Yes (polite)
ཡིན་ཡིན། Yes, I am
ལགས་མིན། No (polite)

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2) With {པས་}:

Subject + object clipping can be done with other verb forms as well. For
example, the question verb རེད་པས། can be used as a response to a statement,
meaning something like “really?” or “is that true?”:

མཚོ་མོ་བོད་ནས་རེད། Tsomo is from Tibet.

རེད་པས། རྒྱ་གར་ནས་མ་རེད་པས། Really? Isn’t she from India?
Note: རེད་པས་ here could also be translated as “Is she?”

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For personal sentences, ཡིན་པས། can be used:

ང་དགེ་རྒན་ཡིན། I’m a teacher.

ཡིན་པས། Really? / Are you?

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རེད་པས་ can be used to mean “really?” after verbs other than {ཡིན་}. You can treat
it as a self-standing word, without trying to match it to the verb used in the
original statement.

3) With {པ་}:

The words རེད་བ། and ཡིན་པ། can be used similarly to རེད་པས། and ཡིན་པས།:

བསྟན་འཛིན་བོད་ནས་རེད། Tendzin is from Tibet.

རེད་བ། Really? / Is she?
ང་དགེ་རྒན་ཡིན། I’m a teacher.
ཡིན་པ། Really? / Are you?

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Also, sometimes རེད་བ་ (but not ཡིན་པ་) can be used with a falling intonation to
show that you agree with the original sentence:

བསྟན་འཛིན་སྤྱང་པོ་རེད། Tendzin is smart.

རེད་བ། Yes, he is.

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This use of {པ་} is most common among older people.

4) X or Y:

Standard Tibetan doesn’t have a single dedicated word for “or”, so

alternatives are often expressed using the format:

verb + negative verb

For example:

ཁོང་སློབ་ཕྲུག་རེད་མ་རེད། Are they a student, or not?

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However, this is only done with non-personal forms, so ཡིན་མིན་ is not used in
this way.

6.4. Tag questions

Tag questions are mini questions like “right?” or “isn’t it?” that you can add
after making a statement. They can be used to make sure that your audience
is following along, or they may just be part of someone’s manner of speech,
without really meaning anything in particular. (For instance, think of
someone saying, “So I was talking to Joan, right? And she tells me that…”)

Some of the most common tag questions in Standard Tibetan are རེད་བ།
(“right?”), རེད་མ་རེད། (“right?”, or literally “is it or isn’t it?”), and མ་རེད་པས། (“right?”,
or literally “isn’t it?”). For example:

ཁོང་བསྟན་འཛིན་རེད། རེད་བ། He’s Tendzin, right?

མཚོ་མོ་སློབ་ཕྲུག་རེད། རེད་མ་རེད། Tsomo is a student, right?
ཁོང་དགེ་རྒན་རེད། མ་རེད་པས། They’re a teacher, right?

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We’ve now finished learning about Standard Tibetan nouns and the essential
be verb {ཡིན་}. In the next unit (unit 6), we will learn about adjectives and the
existential be verb {ཡོད་}.

← Go to unit 4 Go to unit 6 →

7. Terminology

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7.1. Vocabulary
In this section I include basic Standard Tibetan vocabulary that’s useful for
beginners to know. You can try testing yourself by covering up the right side
of the vocab list to see if you know what the Tibetan words mean 🙂
Nouns:

སློབ་ཕྲུག་ student

ཁ་པར་ phone

དགེ་རྒན་ teacher

དེབ་ book

བོད་པ་ Tibetan

བསྟན་འཛིན་ Tendzin

མཚོ་མོ་ Tsomo

བོད་ Tibet

རྒྱ་གར་ India

ཡུ་རོབ་ Europe

Pronouns:

Please refer to §2.

Verbs:

ཡིན་

the essential be verb, personal form

རེད་

the essential be verb, impersonal form

7.2. Jargon
In this section I only include jargon that will be useful to know for later
lessons. Jargon that pertains only to specific topics can be learned in those
topics’ respective sections.

noun

A word that refers to a person, place, or thing. For example, “Alex”,

“Thailand”, or “flowers”.

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verb

An action that a noun does, or has done to it. Verbs may also simply express
the state of a noun or the relationship between two nouns. For example,
“cries”, “loves”, “is”, “has”.

modifier

A word that describes a noun or a verb in more detail. For example, “pretty”
or “constantly”.

honorific

A special form of a noun or a verb, which is used to show respect.

pronoun

Words that stand in for a person, a place, or a thing. Divided into personal
pronouns and demonstrative pronouns.

personal pronoun

Pronouns that mainly refer to people, e.g. “me” or “they”.

demonstrative pronoun

Pronouns that mainly refer to places or things, e.g. “this” or “those”.

singular and plural

Whether a person, place, or thing is one (singular) or many (plural). For

example, singular forms: me, student, country, and phone. Plural forms: us,
students, countries, and phones.

essential be verb

A verb that means be (or is, are, am, etc.), and that expresses an essential
characteristic of a noun.

subject-object-verb

Tibetan’s typical sentence structure, in which the verb goes at the end of the
sentence.

personal form

A verb form used to make statements about yourself or a group that you’re a
part of, e.g. ཡིན་.

impersonal form

A verb form used to make statements about other people or things, e.g. རེད་.

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alternate forms

Different forms of a word, whose usage depends on the context or the

adjacent words. Represented using {curly brackets}.

particle

A small word that alters the meaning of whatever it’s attached to.

verbal particle

A particle that’s attached to a verb (or a verb phrase).

nominal particle

A particle that’s attached to a noun (or a noun phrase).

rule of anticipation

When you ask a question, you need to use the same verb form (personal or
impersonal) that the person you’re talking to would use in their response.

question words

Words that turn a sentence into an open-ended question, such as སུ་ (“who”)
or ག་རེ་ (“what”).

marked noun

A noun followed by some nominal particle.

unmarked noun

A noun not followed by any nominal particle.

clipping

Removing a sentence’s subject, object, or both.

tag question

Mini questions like “right?” that you can add onto the end of a statement.

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