Tibetan Grammar
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The Tibetan Language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family. The grammar of Tibetan differs greatly from that of European languages but is similar to the Basque language in that it is an ergative language. Nouns, in a similar manner to Mandarin, are generally unmarked for grammatical number but they are, however, marked for 6 grammatical cases. Adjectives are never marked and appear after the noun. Demonstratives, like adjectives, come after the noun but are marked for number. Verbs are possibly the most complicated part of Tibetan grammar in terms of morphology.
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[edit] Nouns
Nouns are not usually marked for grammatical gender or number, but are marked for 6 cases.
Natural gender is shown through the lexicon (གཡག་ [gyag] yak (male) vs. འབྲི་ ['bri] yak-cow) or, in human or animate nouns, through suffixes. These suffixes are generally པ་ [pa] or པོ་ [po] for the male and མ་ [ma] or མོ་ [mo] for the female (ཁམས་པ་ [khams-pa] man from Kham vs. ཁམས་མོ་ [khams-mo] woman from Kham or མཛོ་ [mdzo] yak/cow hybrid vs. མཛོ་མོ་ [mdzo-mo] female dzo).
Number is never marked in inanimate nouns or for animals. Human nouns can only be marked with the plural marker ཚོ་[tsho] if they are specified or definite ཨ་མ་ [a-ma] (mother) vs. ཨ་མ་ཚོ་ [a-ma-tsho] (the mothers). The form mothers never occurs in Tibetan and is worked out from context.
[edit] Case
As mentioned, Tibetan nouns are marked for 6 cases; absolutive, agentive, genitive, ablative, associative and the oblique. The difference between Tibetan and European languages is that when the suffixes are attached to the noun, the noun remains the same and the suffix changes form. This change in form depends on the final sound of the noun to which the suffix is attached.
The Absolutive Case
The Absolutive Case is the unmarked form of the noun. It marks the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb. It also marks the experiencer of an emotion.
The Genitive Case
The Genitive Case marks possession and is translated as "of".
The form which the genitive suffix takes 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].
The Genitive is also used to form relative clauses:
དེབ་ནང་ལ་ཡོད་པའི་པར་ [deb nang-la yod-pai bar] book inside is-gen. photo. the photo that is in the book.
Here, the genitive suffix is attached to the verb and is translated as that or who.
The Agentive Case
The Agentive Case is built around the genitive in determining its form in that ས་ [-s] is added to the genitive:
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 the ergative and instrumental functions. The ergative function is used to mark the subject, agent or causer of transitive verbs and the agent of “mental” and “verbal” actions and the perceiver of a sensation.
The Ablative Case
The Ablative suffix is invaribale and therefore is always ནས་ [nas].
The Ablative Case marks direction towards the noun and, like the Agentive Case, can take the ergative role and mark the agent of an action.
The Associative Case
The Associative Case is marked by the suffix དང་ [dang], which roughly translates as "and", but also as "with", "against" or is simply not translated at all.
When the Associative Case is used a pause is placed after the suffix:
པཱ་ལགས་དང་། ཨ་ཁུ་དང་། ཨ་ནེ། [paa-lags-dang...a-khu-dang...a-ne] - father and ... uncle and ... aunt.
The Associative suffix cannot appear alongside other case or plural markers on the same noun or noun phrase:
ཨ་མ་དང་སྤུ་གུ་ཚོ། [a-ma-dang sbu-gu-tsho] “mother-and the children - mother and children”
བུ་དང་བུ་མོ་ཚོར་ལག་རྟགས་སྤྲད་པ་རེད། [bu-dang bu-mo-tshor lag-rtags sbrus-pa-yod] “boy-and girl-to present gave - (they) gave presents to the boys and girls”
The Oblique Case
The Oblique suffix takes the function of two cases, the Dative and the Locative. The Dative Case marks the target 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 of which 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 with monosyllabic words when it marks the dative except in personal pronouns and demonstrative and interrogative adjectives.
[edit] Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
Pronouns have between one and three registers and three numbers: singular, dual and plural.
The first person pronouns are;
ང་ [nga] me; ང་ཚོ་ [nga-tsho] we.
The singular second person pronouns are;
རང་ [rang] you-ordinary; ཁྱེད་རང་ [khed-rang] you-honorific; ཁྱོད་ [khyod] you-pejorative.
The singular third person pronouns are;
ཁོང་ [khong] he/she-ordinary; ཁོ་(རང་) [kho(-rang)] he-familiar; མོ་(རང་) [mo-(rang)] she-familar
The plurals of these pronouns are formed by suffixing ཚོ་ [tsho]. The dual forms of these pronouns is formed by suffixing གཉིས་ [gnyis] (two).
Demonstrative Pronouns
Tibetan has proximal, medial and distal demonstrative pronouns. The proximal འདི་ ['di] can be tranlsated as "this", the medial དེ་ [de] can be translated as "that" and the distal ཕ་གི་ [pha-gi] can be translated as "that over there". Whether they appeaqr as adjectives or as pronouns they come after the noun and take the case and number suffixes which helps to differentiate between non-human singular and plural nouns.
འདི་ ['di] and དེ་ [de] also have temporal meanings where དི་ ['di] is connected with present and དེ་ [de] is connected with the past or the future:
ལོ་འདི་ [lo 'di] “this year” (present) vs. ལོ་དེ་ [lo de] “that year” (past or future).
ཕ་གི་ [pha-gi] on the other hand can only express spatial distance.
These demonstrative pronouns can be used to form three adverbs; འདིར་ ['dir] "here", དེར་ [der] "there", and ཕ་གིར་ [pha-gir] "over there".
[edit] Verbs
Classes
The two main classes of verbs are volitional, i.e. controllable actions, and non-volitional actions, i.e. non-controllable actions. This difference is similar to that between look and see or listen and hear in English where listen and look are volitional because you can choose to do them but see and hear are actions which you cannot choose to do. In both the volitional and non-volitional classes are transitive and intransitive verbs, although the forms of transitive and intransitive verbs remain the same if the twoo verbs share the same root, like in English. The verb is indicated as either transitive or intransitive only by the surrounding vocabulary. If the verb takes an object then it is transitive, if it does not then it is intransitive.
[edit] 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 it denotes an essential quality of the noun. Copulas in the second class are existential, meaning that it expresses 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 language.
[edit] Essential Copulas
There are three essential copulas; རེད་ [red], ཡིན་ [yin] and རེད་བཞག་ [red-bzhag].
རེད་ [red]
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་ཐུབ་བསྟན་རེད། ['di thub-bstan red] “This is Thubtän.”
ཁོང་འབྲོག་པ་མ་རེད། [khong 'brog-pa ma-red] “He isn’t a nomad.”
མོ་རང་སྙིང་རྗེ་པོ་རེད། [mo-rang snying-rje-po red] "She’s pretty.”
This copula, in rare cases, may also express possession of a quality:
མོ་རང་མིག་ཆུང་ཆུང་རེད། [mo-rang mig chung-chung red] “She has small eyes.”
ཡིན་ [yin]
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་འབྲོག་པ་ཡིན། [nga 'brog-pa yin] “I am a nomad.”
ང་བདེ་པོ་ཡིན། [nga bde-po yin] “I am fine.”
ཡིན་ [yin] may, on rare occasions, express an intention or an insistence on the part of the speaker:
ཁྱེད་རང་གི་ཇ་ཡིན། [khyed-rang gi-ja yin] “It’s your tea [that I’m intending to give you].”
རེད་བཞག་ [red-bzhag]
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་རེད་བཞག [thub-bstan red-bzhag] “Hey! It’s Thubtän.”
འབྲོག་པ་རེད་མི་འདུག ['brog-pa red-mi-'dug] “No, he isn’t a nomad.”
སྨྱོན་པ་རེད་བཞག [smyin-pa red-bzhag] “Why, he’s mad! [I’ve just realized it]”
[edit] Existential Copulas
There are three existential copulas; འདུག་ ['dug], ཡོད་རེད་ [yod-red]and ཡོད་ [yod].
ཡོད་རེད་ [yod-red]
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་གནམ་གྲུ་ཡོད་རེད། [bod-la gnam-gru yod-red] “There are airplanes in Tibet.”
ཐུབ་བསྟན་ཨགས་འདིར་ཡོད་རེད། [thub-bstan ags 'dir yod-red] “Thubtän is here.”
ཚེ་རིང་ལ་མོ་ཊ་ཡོད་རེད། [tse-ring-la mo-to yod-red] “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་ཡོད་རེད། ['di snying-rje-po yod-red] “This is pretty.”
