Unit 6: Adjectives

In this unit we will learn how to describe nouns using adjectives. We will also learn how to form sentences about location, possession, opinion, and comparison. By the end of this unit you will be able to say things like “How is the weather today?”, “I’m taller than you,” and “Tsomo has too many cats”.

Unit 6 Sections:

1. 1. Adjectives
   1. 1.1. Simple and complex adjectives
   2. 1.2. Using adjectives as modifiers
   3. 1.3. Using other words as modifiers
2. 2. Adverbs of degree
   1. 2.1. Preceding and following adverbs of degree
   2. 2.2. Quantifiers vs. adverbs of degree
   3. 2.3. The question ending ལོད་
3. 3. ཡོད་, ཡོད་རེད་ and འདུག
   1. 3.1. Factual vs. experiential
   2. 3.2. The negative forms of {ཡོད་}
   3. 3.3. The existential “be”
   4. 3.4. The question word གང་འདྲ་
4. 4. Adjectival Endings
   1. 4.1. The comparative ending {པ་}
   2. 4.2. The comparative particle ལས་
   3. 4.3. The superlative ending ཤོས་
   4. 4.4. The excessive ending དྲགས་
5. 5. The locative particle ལ་
   1. 5.1. The locative construction
   2. 5.2. The possessive construction
   3. 5.3. The locative opinion construction
   4. 5.4. The question word ག་པར་
6. 6. Determiners
   1. 6.1. The demonstrative adjectives
   2. 6.2. The article {ཅིག་}
   3. 6.3. The question word ག་གི་
7. 7. Terminology
   1. 7.1. Vocabulary
   2. 7.2. Jargon

1. Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe a noun’s characteristics, such as “a little cat” or “good friends” or “scientific research”. Adjectives help answer the question, “What kind of…?” For example:

• What kind of cat is it?
  • a little cat
• What kind of friends are they?
  • good friends
• What kind of research is it?
  • scientific research

There are many different kinds of words and phrases that describe a noun’s characteristics, such as:

• Typical adjectives are words that describe a noun’s qualities, such as the words “little”, “good”, or “scientific”
• Demonstrative adjectives are words that clarify which specific thing we are talking about, such as “this book” or “that person” or “these feelings”
• Quantifiers are words that describe a noun’s quantity, such as “some rain” or “many ways” or “all the people”
• …and so on.

In this unit we will learn about the above three kinds of adjectives.

1.1. Simple and complex adjectives

There are two main kinds of typical adjective in Tibetan:

• simple adjectives (e.g. རིང་པོ་ “long”)
• complex adjectives (e.g. གཟུགས་པོ་རིང་པོ་ “tall”)

Simple adjectives such as རིང་པོ་ (“long”) usually have two parts: 1) an adjective root (e.g. རིང་) that carries the meaning of the adjective, and 2) a functional ending (e.g. པོ་) that has no meaning in and of itself.

Some simple adjectives have a reduplicated adjective root as their functional ending (e.g. སྐྱ་སྐྱ་ “grey”). Such a form may even be in free variation with a standard non-reduplicated form (e.g སྐྱ་པོ་ “grey”).

Some simple adjectives are made of a noun root plus a functional ending. For example, the word སྙིང་རྗེ་པོ་ (“cute”) is formed by combining the noun སྙིང་རྗེ་ (“compassion, sympathy”) with the functional particle པོ་.

As we will see later on, there are many different functional endings that can be used to alter the meaning of the adjective.

Complex adjectives such as གཟུགས་པོ་རིང་པོ་ (“tall”, literally “long-body”) are made of a noun (e.g. གཟུགས་པོ་ “body”) followed by a simple adjective (e.g. རིང་པོ་ “long”). Some other common complex adjectives include:

• གོང་ price (n.) + ཆེན་པོ་ big (adj.) = གོང་ཆེན་པོ་ expensive (adj.)
• ལས་ action (n.) + སླ་པོ་ easy (adj.) = ལས་སླ་པོ་ easy (adj.)
• བྲེལ་བ་ business (n.) + ཚ་པོ་ hot (adj.) = བྲེལ་བ་ཚ་པོ་ busy (adj.)

Adjectives and adverbs do not generally have honorific forms. However, complex adjectives may have honorific forms which are created by using the honorific form of the noun component. For example, compare the following:

• གཟུགས་པོ་ body (n.) + བདེ་པོ་ well (adj.) = གཟུགས་པོ་བདེ་པོ་ healthy (adj.)
• སྐུ་གཟུགས་ body (hon. n.) + བདེ་པོ་ well (adj.) = སྐུ་གཟུགས་བདེ་པོ་ healthy (hon. adj.)

1.2. Using adjectives as modifiers

When an adjective is tagged onto a noun to alter its meaning, we say that the adjective is modifying that noun. For example, in English we can add the adjective hungry to the noun hippos to get the phrase hungry hippos. The adjective hungry here is specifying what kind of hippos we are talking about: not just any hippos, but hungry hippos.

In English, adjectives generally go before the noun that they modify:

adjective + noun

For example:

• tall + person = tall person
• new + book = new book

In Tibetan, adjectives generally go after the noun that they modify:

noun + adjective

For example:

• མི་ person + གཟུགས་པོ་རིང་པོ་ tall = མི་གཟུགས་པོ་རིང་པོ་ (“a tall person”)
• དེབ་ book + གསར་པ་ new = དེབ་གསར་པ་ (“a new book”)

1.3. Using other words as modifiers

In this course we will talk about different kinds of words being “used as adjectives” or “used as modifiers”. These statements are equivalent, and simply mean that the word can be added after a noun to modify it.

For example, the demonstrative pronouns we learned in unit 4 can be used as adjectives, in which case they are called demonstrative adjectives:

• མི་དེ་ that person
• དེབ་འདི་ཚོ་ these books

You can also add both a typical adjective and a demonstrative adjective onto a single noun, using the format:

noun + typical adjective + demonstrative adjective

For example:

• མི་གཟུགས་པོ་རིང་པོ་དེ་ that tall person
• དེབ་གསར་པ་འདི་ཚོ་ these new books

Many question words, such as ག་ནས་, can also be used as adjectives:

• ཁྱེད་རང་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ག་ནས་ཡིན་ན། What country are you from?

Putting all of this together, we can start to form slightly more complex sentences:

• མི་གཟུགས་པོ་རིང་པོ་དེ་སུ་རེད། Who is that tall person?
• སློབ་ཕྲུག་དེ་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ག་ནས་རེད། What country is that student from?

2. Adverbs of degree

Adverbs of degree are words that express the degree or intensity of an adjective, such as “slightly”, “somewhat”, or “very”. Adverbs of degree modify adjectives in much the same way as adjectives modify nouns. For example, we might say that a person is “somewhat tall” or “very tall”, in which the words “somewhat” and “very” specify just how tall they are.

Some common adverbs of degree in Standard Tibetan are:

• ཏོག་ཙམ་ a bit
• ཨོ་ཙམ་ somewhat
• དཔེ་ very
• ཞེ་པོ་ very
• ཞེ་དྲག་ very

Note that the words ཏོག་ཙམ་ and ཨོ་ཙམ་ are pronunciation exceptions: they are generally pronounced as “tots” / “tis” and “ots” respectively.

2.1. Preceding and following adverbs of degree

Adverbs of degree may either precede or follow the adjective that they modify. Adverbs of degree that precede the adjective are called preceding adverbs of degree. These include ཏོག་ཙམ་ and ཨོ་ཙམ་. Adverbs of degree that follow the adjective are called following adjectives of degree. These include ཞེ་པོ་ and ཞེ་དྲག་. The word དཔེ་ can either precede or follow the adjective.

Preceding adverbs of degree have the format:

adverb of degree + adjective

For example:

• ཏོག་ཙམ་གྲང་མོ་ a bit cold
• ཨོ་ཙམ་གསར་པ་ somewhat new

In complex adjectives, preceding adverbs of degree can either precede the whole adjective, or just its adjective component:

• ཨོ་ཙམ་ལས་སླ་པོ་ fairly easy
• ལས་ཨོ་ཙམ་སླ་པོ་ fairly easy

Following adverbs of degree have the format:

adjective + adverb of degree

For example:

• སྤྱང་པོ་ཞེ་པོ་ very smart
• ཡག་པོ་ཞེ་དྲག་ really good

2.2. Quantifiers vs. adverbs of degree

The words ཏོག་ཙམ་ and ཨོ་ཙམ་ can actually be used in two different ways: as adverbs of degree, or as adjectives. When used as adjectives, they express the quantity of something and so they are called quantifiers. Compare the following:

• As adverbs of degree:
  • ཏོག་ཙམ་གྲང་མོ་ a bit cold
  • ཨོ་ཙམ་གསར་པ་ fairly new
• As quantifiers:
  • ཆུ་ཏོག་ཙམ་ a bit of water
  • ཆུ་ཨོ་ཙམ་ a decent amount of water

2.3. The question ending ལོད་

In English, we can use the question word “how” to ask about the intensity or degree of an adjective. Questions of this kind are answered with an adverb of degree:

• how long?
  • somewhat long
• how tall?
  • very tall

In Standard Tibetan, these “how” questions are created by replacing the functional ending of the adjective with the adjectival ending ལོད་:

• རིང་ལོད། how long?
  • ཨོ་ཙམ་རིང་པོ། somewhat long
• གཟུགས་པོ་རིང་ལོད། how tall?
  • གཟུགས་པོ་དཔེ་རིང་པོ། very tall

3. ཡོད་, ཡོད་རེད་ and འདུག

In Unit 5 §3 we learned that {ཡིན་} is the be verb used in Standard Tibetan to talk about a noun’s essential qualities:

• ང་བསྟན་འཛིན་ཡིན། I am Tendzin.

However, a different be verb, namely {ཡོད་}, is used to talk about a noun’s general or circumstantial qualities:

• ང་བྲེལ་བ་ཚ་པོ་ཡོད། I am busy.

When I say ང་བསྟན་འཛིན་ཡིན།, I’m describing who I am in an essential way. When I say ང་བྲེལ་བ་ཚ་པོ་ཡོད།, I’m just describing a state that I’m in, without framing it as an essential part of who I am. This, in a nutshell, is the difference between {ཡིན་} and {ཡོད་}. I have labelled {ཡིན་} as the essential be verb, and I will call {ཡོད་} the existential be verb.

Colours are a good way to illustrate the difference between {ཡིན་} and {ཡོད་}. For example, consider the English sentence, “Dawa’s face is green”. In Standard Tibetan, you would express this using the verb {ཡོད་} if you wanted to convey that Dawa’s face is only circumstantially green, such as if Dawa is sick or is on some strange new medication. By contrast, you would express this using the verb {ཡིན་} if you wanted to convey that Dawa’s face is essentially green, such as if Dawa is an ogre.

What counts as an essential quality vs. a general quality is somewhat socially constructed. In Standard Tibetan, {ཡིན་} is sometimes used for temporary states, such as when discussing someone’s health, age, or occupation:

• ཁྱེད་རང་སྐུ་གཟུགས་བདེ་པོ་ཡིན་པས། Are you well?
• སློབ་ཕྲུག་དེ་ཚོ་ལོ་བཅུ་རེད། Those students are ten years old.
• བསྟན་འཛིན་དགེ་རྒན་རེད། Tendzin is a teacher.

Likewise, sometimes {ཡོད་} is used for what English speakers might consider essential qualities, such as someone’s height:

• ང་གཟུགས་པོ་རིང་པོ་ཡོད། I’m tall.

These unexpected uses of {ཡིན་} and {ཡོད་} can simply be memorized as exceptions.

3.1. Factual vs. experiential

We learned in Unit 5 §3.2 that {ཡིན་} has two different forms:

• ཡིན་ is the personal form
• རེད་ is the impersonal form

By contrast, {ཡོད་} has three different forms:

• ཡོད་ is the personal form
• ཡོད་རེད་ is the factual impersonal form
• འདུག་ is the experiential impersonal form

What’s the difference between the two impersonal forms of {ཡོད་}? The factual form ཡོད་རེད་ is used for talking about general facts and things you already know, whereas the experiential form འདུག་ is used for talking about your observation or experience of something. This allows us to make a subtle distinction:

• བསྟན་འཛིན་གཟུགས་པོ་རིང་པོ་ཡོད་རེད། Tendzin is tall.
  • This implies that you simply know that Tendzin is tall, as a general fact.
• བསྟན་འཛིན་གཟུགས་པོ་རིང་པོ་འདུག Tendzin is tall.
  • This implies that you’re looking at Tendzin and are directly observing that he’s tall.

At this point in the course, we have now learned two ways of using Tibetan adjectives: as the modifier of a noun (e.g. that tall person), or as the object of a sentence (e.g. that person is tall).

Since the factual/experiential split only applies to the impersonal forms, it is unnecessary to specify that something is both factual and impersonal, or both experiential and impersonal. So, I will use the following shorthand descriptions:

• ཡོད་ is the personal form
• ཡོད་རེད་ is the factual form
• འདུག་ is the experiential form

3.2. The negative forms of {ཡོད་}

The affirmative and negative forms of {ཡོད་} are as follows:

	Affirmative:	Negative:
Personal:	ཡོད།	མེད།
Factual:	ཡོད་རེད།	ཡོད་མ་རེད།
Experiential:	འདུག	མི་འདུག

All three of the negative forms here are exceptions to the usual “{མ་} + verb” rule, and so they must simply be memorized.

Verbal particles such as {པས་} and {པ་} can be added onto these verb forms, just as with any other verb. Note that the word འདུག་ ends in the suffix letter ག་, so its question form is འདུག་གས་ and its confirmation form is འདུག་ག་.

Some examples of sentences with {ཡོད་}:

• ཆུ་དེ་གྲང་ལོད་འདུག How cold is that water?
• མཚོ་མོ་སྤྱང་པོ་ཡོད་རེད། Tsomo is smart.
• ཁྱེད་རང་གཟུགས་པོ་རིང་ལོད་ཡོད། How tall are you?
• རི་དེ་ཚོ་ཆེན་པོ་ཞེ་དྲག་འདུག Those mountains are very big.

3.3. The existential “be”

Although {ཡོད་} is often used as a be verb for non-essential characteristics, its primary meaning is “to exist”. It has this meaning when used with a subject and no object. For example:

• ཆུ་གྲང་མོ་འདུག་གས། Is there any cold water?
• ང་མེད། I do not exist.
• མི་གཟུགས་པོ་རིང་པོ་ཡོད་མ་རེད་པས། Are there no tall people?
• མི་མང་པོ་འདུག There’s a lot of people.

3.4. The question word གང་འདྲ་

The question word གང་འདྲ་ (written) or གང་འདྲས་ (spoken) is used to ask for a qualitative description of something. It is used like the English terms how or like what, and it can be used either in object position or as an adjective. For example:

• དེ་རིང་གནམ་གཤིས་གང་འདྲས་འདུག How is the weather today?
  • དེ་རིང་གནམ་གཤིས་གྲང་མོ་འདུག The weather is cold today.
• བསྟན་འཛིན་སློབ་ཕྲུག་གང་འདྲ་ཡོད་རེད། What kind of student is Tendzin?
  • བསྟན་འཛིན་སློབ་ཕྲུག་སྤྱང་པོ་ཡོད་རེད། Tendzin is a smart student.

4. Adjectival Endings

The default functional ending of an adjective can be replaced with other functional endings to express different variations in meaning. In this section we will look at three other adjectival endings that are commonly used to express different degrees of intensity:

• (Default: སྐྱིད་པོ་ fun)
• Comparative: སྐྱིད་པ་ more fun / particularly fun
• Superlative: སྐྱིད་ཤོས་ the most fun
• Excessive: སྐྱིད་དྲགས་ too fun

Note: སྐྱིད་ཤོས་ is unexpectedly pronounced like “kyip-shö”.

We will start by discussing the comparative ending {པ་}.

4.1. The comparative ending {པ་}

Comparative adjectives include words like taller or older or better. They express that a noun has more of some quality than other nouns. Comparative adjectives are formed by replacing the adjective’s default ending with the comparative ending པ་:

• སྣུམ་པོ་ dark > སྣུམ་པ་ darker
• སྐྱིད་པོ་ fun > སྐྱིད་པ་ more fun
  • སྐྱིད་པོ་ could also be translated as “pleasant” or “nice”, and is mainly used to describe places or things (e.g. a fun party, nice weather, etc.)

The comparative ending པ་ has several alternate forms:

• ག་ is used after the suffix letter ག་
  • e.g. ཡག་པོ་ good > ཡག་ག་ better
  • e.g. སྡུག་ཅག་ bad > སྡུག་ག་ worse
• ང་ is used after the suffix letter ང་
  • e.g. གྲང་མོ་ cold > གྲང་ང་ colder
  • e.g. མང་པོ་ many > མང་ང་ more
• ར་ is used after the suffix letter ར་
  • e.g. མངར་མོ་ sweet > མངར་ར་ sweeter
  • e.g. སྐྱུར་པོ་ sour > སྐྱུར་ར་ more sour
• བ་ is used after words without suffix letters
  • e.g. བདེ་པོ་ healthy, comfortable > བདེ་བ་ healthier, more comfortable
  • e.g. ལས་སླ་པོ་ easy > ལས་སླ་བ་ easier

In the written language, བ་ tends to be used instead of the alternate forms ང་ and ར་:

• ཆུང་བ་ smaller
• མངར་བ་ sweeter

Some adjectives already end in པ་ in their default form, and so their comparative form is distinguished simply by a slower rhythm:

• དམ་པ་ eminent > དམ་པ་ more eminent

The adjective ཆེན་པོ་ uses the alternate root ཆེ་ when used with any non-default functional ending:

• ཆེན་པོ་ big > ཆེ་བ་ bigger

Note that the comparative adjective is often used in an intensive, non-comparative sense. For example, གཟུགས་པོ་རིང་ང་ could be used to mean “particularly tall”, without any specific basis of comparison.

4.2. The comparative particle ལས་

The nominal particle ལས་ can be used with comparative adjectives to mean “than”. I will call such sentences comparative constructions. Their format is:

subject + object ལས་ + comparative adjective + {ཡིན་} / {ཡོད་}

For example:

• བོད་རྒྱ་གར་ལས་གྲང་ང་ཡོད་རེད། Tibet is colder than India.
• དེབ་འདི་དེ་ལས་གོང་ཆེ་བ་འདུག This book is more expensive than that one.

4.3. The superlative ending ཤོས་

Superlative adjectives include words like the greatest, the oldest, or the worst. They express that a noun has the most of some quality. Superlative adjectives in Standard Tibetan are formed by replacing the functional ending of the adjective with the superlative ending ཤོས་:

• ཡག་པོ་ good > ཡག་ཤོས་ best
• ཆེན་པོ་ big > ཆེ་ཤོས་ biggest
• ལས་སླ་པོ་ easy > ལས་སླ་ཤོས་ easiest

The superlative ending does not have alternate forms; ཤོས་ is used in all environments.

4.4. The excessive ending དྲགས་

Excessive adjectives include words like too tall or too easy. They express that a noun has too much of some quality. Excessive adjectives in Standard Tibetan are formed by replacing the functional ending of the adjective with the excessive ending དྲགས་:

• མང་པོ་ many > མང་དྲགས་ too many
• ཆེན་པོ་ big > ཆེ་དྲགས་ too big
• ལས་སླ་པོ་ easy > ལས་སླ་དྲགས་ too easy

The excessive ending does not have alternate forms; དྲགས་ is used in all environments.

5. The locative particle ལ་

The particle ལ་ is added to nouns to mark locations and destinations. It corresponds broadly to English words such as at, on, in, to, and for. For example:

• བོད་ལ་ to Tibet / in Tibet
• རྒྱ་གར་ལ་ to India / in India

The particle ལ་ is used with {ཡོད་} to make several common grammatical structures.

5.1. The locative construction

When using the verb {ཡོད་}, we can add a subject or object marked with ལ་ to show where something exists. For example:

• བོད་ལ་རི་མང་པོ་ཡོད་རེད། There are many mountains in Tibet.
• ཁྱེད་རང་ནང་ལ་ཡོད་པས། Are you at home?
• སྦ་སིང་སེ་ལ་དམག་འཁྲུག་མི་འདུག There is no war in Ba Sing Se.
• ང་རྒྱ་གར་ལ་ཡོད། I’m in India.

5.2. The possessive construction

Consider the following two English sentences:

• There are many mountains in Tibet.
• Tibet has many mountains.

These sentences mean basically the same thing, don’t they? This point has not gone unnoticed in the world’s languages. Many languages, including Standard Tibetan, use the same phrasing for marking location as they do for marking possession. Therefore, in order to say Tashi has a book, Tibetan uses the phrasing a book exists at Tashi:

• བཀྲ་ཤིས་ལ་དེབ་ཡོད་རེད། Tashi has a book.

The standard format for making possession in Tibetan is that the subject is marked with ལ་ and the object is unmarked:

subject ལ་ + object + {ཡོད་}

We can use this principle to make more complex sentences:

• ང་ལ་ཁ་པར་མེད། I have no phone.
• མཚོ་མོ་ལ་ཞི་མི་མང་པོ་ཡོད་མ་རེད་པས། Doesn’t Tsomo have a lot of cats?
• ཕོ་རོག་དེ་ལ་མཆུ་ཏོ་རིང་པོ་འདུག That crow has a long beak.
• ཁྱེད་རང་ལ་ཞི་མི་ཡོད་པས། Do you have a cat?

5.3. The locative opinion construction

The locative particle ལ་ can be used with opinon words to make sentences that express opinions, thoughts, and feelings. I will call these locative opinion constructions. Their format is:

subject + object ལ་ + opinion word + {ཡོད་}

For example:

• ང་ཁྱེད་རང་ལ་ཡིད་ཆེས་ཡོད། I believe you.
• མཚོ་མོ་ཁྱི་ལ་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད་མ་རེད། Tsomo doesn’t like dogs.
• ང་བླ་མ་དེ་ལ་དད་པ་ཡོད། I have faith in that guru.
• ང་ལ་དོགས་པ་ཡོད་པས། Do you doubt me?

5.4. The question word ག་པར་

The question word ག་པར་ means where or at what, and can be used both as an object and as a modifier:

• དབང་མོ་ག་པར་འདུག Where’s Wangmo?
• ཁྱེད་རང་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ག་པར་ཡོད། What country are you in?

6. Determiners

We learned about demonstrative adjectives in section 1.3. In this section we will learn about two other words that can fill the same spot in a sentence: the particle {ཅིག་} and the question word ག་གི་. These three groups together are called determiners.

6.1. The demonstrative adjectives

See section 1.3.

6.2. The article {ཅིག་}

Articles are words like the, a, or an that express whether we are talking about a specific noun or a general one. Articles that show we’re talking about a specific noun (e.g. the student) are called definite articles. Articles that show we’re talking about a general noun (e.g. a student) are called indefinite articles.

Standard Tibetan doesn’t actually use articles very often, so beginners don’t need to worry about them too much. In this course I will explicitly tell you when articles are required, so you can leave them out otherwise.

In Standard Tibetan, articles follow the noun and are used in the same position as demonstrative adjectives. The demonstratives དེ་, དེ་གཉིས་, and དེ་ཚོ་ are used as definite articles, and the word {ཅིག་} is used as an indefinite article. The word {ཅིག་} has three alternate forms in the written language:

• ཅིག་ is used after the suffix letters ག་ད་བ་ and the post-suffix letter ད་
• ཤིག་ is used after the suffix letter ས་ and the post-suffix letter ས་
• ཞིག་ is used after the suffix letters ང་ན་མ་འ་ར་ལ་ and after syllables with no suffix letter

However, in the spoken language, it always is pronounced simply as chik. It is a modified form of the number གཅིག་ (“one”), which has the same pronunciation. However, {ཅིག་} can also be used after adjectives like མང་པོ་ (“many”), so it does not necessarily imply that a noun is singular.

Some examples:

• ཁྱེད་རང་ལ་ཞ་སྨྱུག་ཅིག་ཡོད་པས། Do you have a pencil?
• སློབ་ཕྲུག་དེ་ལ་ཞི་མི་ཆེན་པོ་ཞིག་འདུག That student has a big cat.

I will not discuss the usage of articles in detail here because they are usually optional, and are best learned by listening to and mimicking native speakers.

Articles can be used after adjectives to refer to a noun. For example:

• སྔོན་པོ་ཞིག་ a blue one
• སྔོན་པོ་དེ་ the blue one

These are often used as standalone answers to questions. For example:

• ཁྱེད་རང་ལ་ཞ་སྨྱུག་གང་འདྲ་ཡོད། What kind of pencil do you have?
  • ང་ལ་སྔོན་པོ་ཞིག་ཡོད། I have a blue one.

6.3. The question word ག་གི་

The question word ག་གི་ means “which”. For example:

• དེབ་ག་གི་ལ་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད། Which book do you like?
• སློབ་ཕྲུག་ག་གི་ཡུ་རོབ་ནས་རེད། Which student is from Europe?

Using the grammar we’ve learned in this unit, we can generalize the order of nominal modifiers as follows:

noun + adjective + determiner

We have now finished learning about adjectives and the existential be verb {ཡོད་}. In the next unit we will learn about other ways to modify nouns.

7. Terminology

7.1. Vocabulary

Adjectives:

Adverbs of degree:

Nouns:

7.2. Jargon