Note: on this page, a “subject” is whatever would be a grammatical subject in English, and an “object” is whatever would be a grammatical object in English.

Table of contents:

1. Noun phrases
   1. Nouns
      1. Internal structure
      2. Bound endings
   2. Adjectives
      1. Internal structure
      2. Bound endings
   3. Particles
2. Verb phrases
   1. Verbs
      1. Internal structure
      2. Bound endings
   2. Adverbs
   3. Particles
3. Constructions
4. Sort by grammatical category
   1. Bound endings
   2. Particles
5. Sort by meaning

Pronunciation

Irregular pronunciations

• The vowel “e” often turns into “a” in the spoken language:
  • མཁྲེག་པོ་ “thick” (pronounced “tr^hak po”)
  • འཛེགས་ “climb” (pronounced “dzak”)
  • སྙིང་རྗེ་ “compassion” (pronounced “nying ja“)
  • བཞེངས་མཁན་ “builder, installer” (pronounced “shang ngen”)
• The cluster “önp” often becomes “omp” in the spoken Lhasa dialect, losing its umlaut:
  • རློན་པ་ “wet” (sometimes pronounced like རློམ་པ་ lompa)
  • འདོན་པ་ “recitation” (sometimes pronounced like འདོམ་པ་ dompa)
• Voiced consonants are sometimes devoiced and aspirated:
  • ང་ལ་བདག་མི་འདུག It doesn’t belong to me. (བདག་ pronounced “t^hak”)

Noun phrases

Nouns

Internal structure

In Standard Tibetan:

1. [noun root]
   • e.g. ཁྱི་ dog
2. [noun root] + [default ending]
   • e.g. དཔོན་པོ་ boss
3. [noun root x2]
   • e.g. ཙི་ཙི་ mouse
4. [noun root] + [noun root] (near synonyms)
   • e.g. བདེ་སྐྱིད་ happiness
5. [noun root] + [noun root] (combined meaning)
   • e.g. ནུབ་བྱང་ northwest
6. [noun root] + [noun root] (separate meaning)
   • e.g. ཕ་མ་ parents (“father [and] mother”)
7. [shared morpheme] + [one ending] + [another ending] (separate meaning)
   • དགེ་ཚུལ་སློང་ getsüls and gelongs (source)
8. [noun root] + [noun root] (connective meaning)
   • e.g. ས་མཚམས་ border (“boundary [of] the earth”)
9. [noun root] + [adjective root]
   • e.g. གླང་ཆེན་ elephant
10. [noun root] + [verb root]
    • e.g. སྲིད་འཛིན་ president
11. [verb root] + [verb root] (near synonyms)
    • e.g. གོང་འཕེལ་ an increase
12. [verb root] + [deverbal ending] (see “bound endings” below)
13. [noun root] + [denominal ending] (see “bound endings” below)

Bound endings

In Standard Tibetan:

• Default endings:
  • -པ་, -བ་, -མ་
    • e.g. ཐག་པ་ rope
  • -པོ་, -བོ་, -མོ་
    • e.g. དཔོན་པོ་ boss
• Other endings:
  • མང་ཚིག Plurals:
    • རྣམས་ (written)
    • ཚོ་ (spoken)
    • རྣམས་ཚོ་ (e.g. ཁོ་རྣམས་ཚོ་) (less common)
    • ཁག་ (less common)
  • རང་
    • e.g. ཨ་མ་ལགས་རང་ Mom / Mother (note: this is not an apposited pronoun རང་ “rang”, it is a bound ending. Using the pronoun རང་ “rang” for your mom is really disrespectful.)
• Derivational endings (nominalizers):
  • Deverbal ([verb] + ___):
    • {པ་}, ཡ་/ཡག་/ཡས་, མཁན་, ས་, སྲོལ་, རེས་, etc.
  • Denominal ([noun] + ___):
    • {པ་} (the བདག་སྒྲ་)
      • e.g. ཞིང་པ་ farmer (< ཞིང་ field)

Pronouns

• མོ་རང་
  • Note: this technically means “she”, but in the spoken language of Lhasa, it can be used for all genders.
• ཁོ་
  • Note: this technically means “he”, but it can be used to mean “it” for inanimate objects.

Adjectives

Internal structure

In Standard Tibetan:

• Natural adjectives:
  1. [adjective root] + [default ending]
     • e.g. སྐྱ་པོ་ grey
  2. [adjective root x2]
     • e.g. སྐྱ་སྐྱ་ grey
  3. [adjective with default ending] + [adjective root] + རྐྱང་
     • e.g. གཅིག་པ་གཅིག་རྐྱང་ totally the same
     • e.g. དཀར་པོ་དཀར་རྐྱང་ totally white
  4. ཇེ་ + [adjective root]
     • ཇེ་མཐོ་ highest, supreme
     • ཇེ་ཉུང་དུ་ fewer and fewer
  5. [adjective root] + ནས་ + [adjective root] {རུ་}
     • མདོག་ཉེས་ནས་ཉེས་སུ་ uglier and uglier (from མེ་ཏོག་དང་རྨི་ལམ་ chapter 1)
  6. [adjective root] + {རུ་} + [adjective root] + {རུ་}
     • མདོག་ཉེས་རུ་ཉེས་རུ་ uglier and uglier (from 08:36 of the audiobook for chapter 1 of མེ་ཏོག་དང་རྨི་ལམ་)
• Derived adjectives:
  1. གང་ + [adjective root x2]
     • e.g. གང་མང་མང་ as much as possible
  2. གང་ + [verb root x2]
     • e.g. གང་ཐུབ་ཐུབ་ as much as you can
  3. [noun] + [adjective]
     • e.g. གཟུགས་པོ་ཆེན་པོ་ tall (“big-body”)
• Complex adjectives:
  1. [noun] + ཚ་པོ་
     • Note: According to Gen Dawa Tsering, the use of this ending implies that the adjective is bad. However, while it’s true that this ending is often used for bad adjectives, it is also used for neutral (e.g. བྲེལ་བ་ཚ་པོ་ “busy”) and positive (e.g. ཤ་ཚ་པོ་ “cute”, said of animals or children) words.

Bound endings

In Standard Tibetan:

• Default endings:
  1. -པ་, -བ་, -མ་
     • e.g. གསར་པ་ new
  2. -པོ་, བོ་, མོ་
     • e.g. དཀར་པོ་ white
• Other endings:
  1. -{པ་} (comparative)
     • e.g. ཆུང་ང་ smaller
  2. -ཤོས་ (superlative)
     • e.g. ཆུང་ཤོས་ smallest
  3. -དྲགས་ (excessive)
     • ཆུང་དྲགས་ too small
  4. -ལོས་ (interrogative)
     • e.g. ཆུང་ལོས་ how small
• Derivational endings (adjectivalizers):
  • རུང་, ལོས་, ཡ་, རན་

Particles

In Standard Tibetan:

• (unmarked)
  • used for the patient (i.e. the object of an intransitive verb, or the subject of a transitive verb)
  • used for some items in a list
• [add other particles]

Verb phrases

Verbs

Internal structure

Bound endings

In Standard Tibetan:

• {གི་}
• {པ་}
• བཞིན་
• {གིན་}

Adverbs

Particles

Constructions

auxiliaries

• Auxiliaries:
  • [verb] པ་འདུག: this can be used to mean you “might [verb]”
• Reduplication:
  • No intervening words:
    • ག་པར་ག་པར། “tsk-tsk”; or “it’s nothing” / “don’t mention it” (in response to “thank you” or if someone praises you and you want to deflect)
    • ག་ནས་ག་ནས་ “it’s nothing” / “don’t mention it” (in response to “thank you” or if someone praises you and you want to deflect)
    • [verb root] [verb root] used for intensification:
      • ངས་ཁོང་གིས་མོག་མོག་ཚང་མ་ཟ་གི་རེད་བསམ་བསམ་མ་བྱུང་། I never thought he’d eat all the momos!
  • Intervening words:
    • [verb root] ཡ་ [verb root]: used to express something that happens, but to a limited or reduced degree than it usually would.
      • e.g. མོག་མོག་བཟའ་ཡ་བཟའ་གི་ཡོད། I eat momos [but not all that much]
      • e.g. ལབ་ཡ་ལབ་ཀྱི་རེད། People do say that [but not often]
• Postpositions:
  • On top of, in addition to, about:
    • ({གི་})སྒང་(ལ་) (spoken)
    • ({གི་})སྟེང་(ལ་) (written)
  • About, regarding:
    • ({གི་})སྐོར་(ལ་) (spoken)
    • ({གི་})ཐད་(ལ་) (written)

Sort by grammatical category

Bound endings

In Standard Tibetan

• {པ་}
  1. default noun ending
     • e.g. ཐག་པ་ rope
  2. default adjective ending
     • e.g. གསར་པ་ new
  3. comparative ending for adjectives
     • e.g. སྲབ་པ་ thinner
  4. forms infinitive verbs and gerunds (written, formal or archaic)
     • e.g. བྱེད་པ་ to do, doing
     • this is done with ཡ་ in the spoken language
  5. derives nouns from nouns
     • e.g. ཞིང་པ་ farmer (< ཞིང་ field)
  6. derives patientive nouns from verbs (in the spoken and written language)
     • e.g. དྲི་བ་ question (< དྲི་ to ask)
  7. derives agentive nouns from verbs (in the written language)
     • e.g. བྱེད་པ་ grammatical instrument (“doer”)
     • this is done with མཁན་ in the spoken language
• ཡ་/ཡག་/ཡས་
  1. Forms infinitive verbs and gerunds (colloquial)
  2. Used with {ཡིན་} to express future tense or purpose-oriented statements
     • e.g. ཆུ་འདི་འཐུང་ཡ་མ་རེད། This water is not to be drunk.
     • e.g. ཆུ་ཚོད་ལྔ་པར་ང་ཚོང་ཁང་ལ་འགྲོ་ཡ་ཡིན། At 5 o’clock I’m going to the store.
  3. asdf
• རྒྱུ་
  1. Forms infinitive verbs and gerunds (written, modern)
  2. Used with {ཡིན་} to express future tense, often with the sense of not having done something yet. Never used with the negative of {ཡིན་}.
     • e.g. ང་ཞོགས་ཇ་ཟ་རྒྱུ་ཡིན། I have yet to eat breakfast.

Particles

[under construction]

Sort by meaning

• Greeting someone
  • བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས། Greetings (more formal, often used if you haven’t seen them in a while)
  • སྐུ་ཁམས་བཟང་། Hello (a more common everyday phrase)
  • ག་རེ་བྱས་སོང་། What’s happened to you? (e.g. if you happen across your friend and see that they’ve been hurt, are homeless, etc.)
  • ཁྱེད་རང་ཐང་ཐང་ཡིན་པས། Are you OK? (can be used e.g. if someone is acting strange)
• Asking yes-no questions:
  • {པས་} (pas)
  • འབྱེད་སྡུད། (‘byed sdud)
  • ཨེ་ (e)
• Expressing uncertainty:
  • {གྱི་}རེད་ (gyi red)
  • ཨ་ (a)
• -ever words:
  • [question word] + [verb] + [རྒྱན་སྡུད། (rgyan sdud)] (written)
    • e.g. ག་རེ་བྱེད་ཀྱང་་་ Whatever you do…
  • [question word] + [verb] + ན་ཡང་ (written)
    • note: you can also use ནའང་, which may be read either as ནའང་ or ན་ཡང་ in speech.
  • [question word] + [verb] + ནའི་ (spoken)
    • e.g. ག་དུས་ཡིན་ནའི་ whenever / ever
  • [question word] + [verb] + ནའི་ལའི་ (spoken)
    • ག་གི་ཡིན་ནའི་ལའི་འདེམས་ན་་་ Whichever one you choose…
• Consequence:
  • ({གི་})རྐྱེན་གྱིས་་་ As a result of…
  • ({གི་})རྐྱེན་པས་་་ As a result of…
• Partitivity:
  • [superlative] + {ཅིག་}
    • e.g. ཅ་ལག་རྩ་ཆེ་ཤོས་ཅིག་ one of the most precious/important things
• Discourse markers and common phrases:
  • Of transition:
    • ཨོ་ཡ། (often said when you’re changing tasks, either to signal you want to switch to the new task now or to signal that you’re done talking about this topic and want to move on)
    • But / however:
      • ཡིན་ན་ཡང་
      • ཡིན་ནའི་
      • ཡིན་པ་ཡིན་ནའི་
  • Of emotion:
    • Agreement
      • ལགས་སོ། “okay” (often spelled ལགསོ། and/or pronounced like “less”)
      • འགྲིག་གི་རེད། That’s okay / that’s fine / that will work.
      • ཡ་ཡ། Alright / okay. (used when agreeing)
      • ཡོང་ང་། Fine / alright. (In the spoken language, this is used for ཡོང་གི་རེད།)
      • བྱས་ན་ཡོང་ང་། Alright then.
    • Disagreement
      • The ས་རེད། declension is often used as a polite way to disagree.
        • e.g. འགྲིག་ས་རེད། That should be fine. (said when you don’t really want it)
      • ད་དེ་་་ (ད་ + the pronoun དེ་ are often used to signal hesitation or politely not agreeing with something)
        • e.g. ད་དེ་ཡོང་ས་མ་རེད། I’m not sure that will work. / I think that might not work.
    • Desire:
      • To ask if someone wants to do something, you just use the future tense.
        • e.g. གསོལ་ཇ་འཐུང་གི་ཡིན་པས། Do you want (to drink) tea?
      • Constructions like སྙིང་འདོད་ are more used for personal feelings, or (insofar as they’re used with འདུག་) for making observations about other people’s feelings.
        • e.g. གཅིག་ཟ་སྙིང་འདོད་ཀྱི་འདུག་གས། Do you want to eat something? (you’re asking because they’re rummaging around in their pantry or something like that)
    • Emphasis or intensification:
      • (You could use an adverb of degree, like དཔེ་ “very”.)
      • ཁོ་ར་ “at all” (Lhasa-style speech, only used in negative sentences.)
        • e.g. ཁང་པ་དེའི་ནང་ལ་མི་ཁོ་ར་མི་འདུག There’s nobody at all in that house.
      • རྦད་དེ་ཁོ་ར་ “at all”, “totally” (can sometimes be used in affirmative sentences)
        • e.g. རྦད་དེ་ཁོ་ར་མངར་མོ་རེད། It’s super sweet.
      • དངོས་གནས་ really
      • དངོས་གནས་དྲང་གནས་ truly (stronger than དངོས་གནས་)
        • e.g. དངོས་གནས་དྲང་གནས་ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ་གནང་། Truly, thank you so much.
    • Sadness:
      • ཨ་ཁ། (“ah, damn”, interjection of disappointment)
      • སྡུག་ག་གཅིག་ལ་་་ (“sadly”)
      • བློ་ཕམ་པ་གཅིག་ལ་་་ (“unfortunately”, “depressingly”)
      • ད་ཡིན་ན་་་ (a discourse marker with a negative connotation, used when something is bad)
      • ད་ཡིན་ན་འདུག། (“damn” / “too bad”)
      • ང་བློ་ཕམ་བྱུང་། (“I feel disappointed”)
      • དཔེ་བསགས་སོང་། (“oh my god”)
      • ད་ཡིན་ན་དཔེ་བསགས་པ་རེད། (“oh no, how awful”)
      • ཆག་སྒོ། (“how horrible”, lit. “calamity”)
    • Surprise:
      • ཨ་རྫི། (“ah”, “oh”)
      • སྐུ་མཁྱེན། (“oh my god”)
    • Anger or annoyance:
      • ཨ་ཙི། ugh / come on
      • ད་ can be used before lots of sentences to express that you’re fed up. However, it is also used as a filler word sometimes (like “ani”).
      • ད་འགྲིག་སོང་། That’s enough, now. (this implies a slight negative feeling expressed somewhat politely)
      • ད་ཡིན་ན་འགྲིག་སོང་། (“tayina driks”) Hey now, that’s enough. (this sentence could be used sarcastically with a friend)
        • This can also be used to mean “finally”, when after a long time, something is finally ok / good / working.
      • ད་ཡིན་ན་འགྲིག་མ་སོང་། Ah, that’s not good. (Used e.g. when seeing bad news)
      • ག་རེ་ཡིན་པའི་ཁུལ་རེད། What the hell (lit. “what is this pretending to be”. Only said in a familiar context, like among friends. Not appropriate in other contexts.)
      • ཇུས་གཏོགས་མ་བྱེད། None of your business. (can be shortened to just ཇུས་གཏོགས་)
    • Realization:
      • ཨ་ལེ། (“oh” — this word is very common)
    • Uncertainty or incredulity:
      • ངའི་གོ་ཐོས་ལ་་་ As far as I’ve heard…
        • e.g. ངའི་གོ་ཐོས་ལ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་བོད་པ་མ་རེད། As far as I’ve heard, Tashi isn’t Tibetan.
      • ཨ་ or ཨེ་ (particle used at the end of a word or phrase that you are repeating in response to something someone else said. Expresses disbelief or skepticism.)
  • Exploring alternatives:
    • ཡང་ན་ or
    • ཡང་མིན་ན་ or / alternatively (used if someone doesn’t like the first choice)
    • གཞན་མ་གཏོགས་་་ otherwise, …
    • དེ་མ་བྱུང་ན་་་ otherwise, … (used if the first option is ideal, but this is a fallback)
    • གང་ལྟར་་་ Regardless / in any case…
  • Showing attention:
    • ཨའ་ (interjection that signals you’re listening when someone is speaking to you. This is a big rough, not really polite.)