Unit 7: Noun phrases

In this unit we will learn about other ways to modify nouns, such as quantifiers and relative clauses. We will also look at a few more common constructions involving nouns. By the end of this unit you will know all of the main grammar related to nouns and their modifiers. You will be able to describe people, places, and things in great detail, and also to make several different kinds of sentences about the relationships between them.

Unit 7 Sections:

1. 1. Quantifiers
   1. 1.1. Numbers
   2. 1.2. Quantifiers as modifiers
   3. 1.3. The question word ག་ཚོད་
   4. 1.4. Negative quantifier constructions
2. 2. The associative particle དང་
   1. 2.1. The associative relation construction
   2. 2.2. X and Y
   3. 2.3. X or Y
3. 3. The connective particle {གི་}
   1. 3.1. Connecting nouns
   2. 3.2. Objects marked with connective particles
   3. 3.3. Apposition
4. 4. Postpositions
   1. 4.1. Two-eared postpositions
   2. 4.2. Left-eared postpositions
   3. 4.3. Right-eared postpositions
   4. 4.4. Bare postpositions
   5. 4.5. Other grammatical points
5. 5. Relative clauses
   1. 5.1. Preceding relative clause
   2. 5.2. Following relative clause
   3. 5.3. Notes on using relative clauses
   4. 5.4. Nominal relative clauses
6. 6. Summary of noun phrases
   1. 6.1. Noun phrases
   2. 6.2. Noun phrases + particles
   3. 6.3. Noun phrases + particles + verbs
7. 7. Terminology
   1. 7.1. Vocabulary
   2. 7.2. Jargon

1. Quantifiers

Quantifiers are a type of adjective that describes the quantity of a noun.

We learned about the quantifiers ཏོག་ཙམ་ (“a bit of”) and ཨོ་ཙམ་ (“a fair amount of”) in unit 6 section 2.2, and we saw the quantifier མང་པོ་ (“much, many”) throughout unit 6. In this section we will learn about other quantifiers, starting off with numbers.

1.1. Numbers

The Tibetan words and numerals for zero to ten are:

English	Tibetan	Numeral
Zero	ཀླད་སྐོར་	༠
One	གཅིག་	༡
Two	གཉིས་	༢
Three	གསུམ་	༣
Four	བཞི་	༤
Five	ལྔ་	༥
Six	དྲུག་	༦
Seven	བདུན་	༧
Eight	བརྒྱད་	༨
Nine	དགུ་	༩
Ten	བཅུ་	༡༠

Words like first, second, and third are generally formed by adding པ་ to the number. The one exception to this rule is that the word for first is དང་པོ་ and not གཅིག་པ་. (The word གཅིག་པ་ is an adjective that means “the same”.) See below:

English	Tibetan
First	དང་པོ་
Second	གཉིས་པ་
Third	གསུམ་པ་
Fourth	བཞི་པ་
Fifth	ལྔ་པ་
Sixth	དྲུག་པ་
Seventh	བདུན་པ་
Eighth	བརྒྱད་པ་
Ninth	དགུ་པ་
Tenth	བཅུ་པ་

1.2. Quantifiers as modifiers

Numbers

Numbers can be used as modifiers by being placed after the noun:

• བུ་མོ་གཉིས་ two girls
• ཞི་མི་ལྔ་ five cats

A noun can be modified by a typical adjective, a number, and an article (in that order) all at the same time:

• ཁྱི་ཆེན་པོ་གསུམ་འདི་ཚོ་ these three big dogs
• དེབ་སྔོན་པོ་བཞི་དེ་ཚོ་ those four blue books

Numbers can also be incorporated into pronouns. The word གཉིས་ is often added to pronouns (in place of the plural marker ཚོ་) to mark the dual number:

• ང་གཉིས་ the two of us
• ཚིག་དེ་གཉིས་ those two words

Note that the various forms of the pronoun ཁོ་ can also be used to refer to things, and not just people.

Numbers with the ending པོ་ can be used to refer to groups of things:

• དེབ་གསུམ་པོ་འདི་ཚོ་ these three books
• ཁྱི་བཞི་པོ་དེ་ཚོ་ those four dogs

Terms like “both” or “all three” are formed by adding the ending ཀ་ after the number. In the spoken language only, the ending ཀ་ལོག་ is used:

• ཨ་མཆོག་གཉིས་ཀ་ལོག་ both ears
• སློབ་ཕྲུག་གསུམ་ཀ་ all three students

Other quantifiers

The word for “all” is ཚང་མ་ or, in the spoken language only, ཚང་མ་ལོག་:

• སློབ་ཕྲུག་ཚང་མ་ལོག་ཁ་དཔེ་ཁུ་སིམ་པོ་འདུག All the students are very quiet.

The word for “some” is ཁ་ཤས་:

• མི་ཁ་ཤས་ཡག་པོ་མ་རེད། Some people are not good.

1.3. The question word ག་ཚོད་

The question word ག་ཚོད་ means “how many”:

• རྒྱ་གར་ལ་མི་ག་ཚོད་ཡོད་རེད། How many people are there in India?
• ཁྱེད་རང་ལོ་ག་ཚོད་ཡིན། How old are you? (literally “how many years are you?”)
• ཆུ་ཚོད་ག་ཚོད་རེད། What time is it? (literally “how many hours is it?”)

In some contexts, the word མང་ལོད་ (“how much”) can be used instead:

• ཁ་ལག་མང་ལོད་འདུག How much food is there?
• ཁྱེད་རང་ལ་དངུལ་མང་ལོད་ཡོད། How much money do you have?

1.4. Negative quantifier constructions

Quantifiers are often used with negative forms of {ཡོད་} to make what I call negative quantifier constructions. They have several basic formats:

• quantifier + {མེད་}
• quantifier + ལས་ + {མེད་}
• quantifier + {ཡང་} + {མེད་}

The simplest format is just a quantifier plus a negative form of {ཡོད་}. A common quantifier used in this context is སྤུ་ཙམ་, which means “the slightest bit of” (literally “a mere hair”). For example:

• སྐད་ཅོར་སྤུ་ཙམ་མི་འདུག There’s not the slightest bit of noise.
• ང་ལ་ལས་ཀ་སྤུ་ཙམ་མེད། I don’t have the slightest bit of work.

Another common quantifier used in this context is k^hä (often spelled གའི་ or གལ་, but ultimately derived from གང་ཡང་), which means “any”:

• སྐད་ཅོར་གལ་མི་འདུག There’s not any noise.
• ང་ལ་ལས་ཀ་གལ་མེད། I don’t have any work.

The intensive or emphatic form of གལ་ is ག་གལ་, spoken with a short pause between the two syllables for emphasis:

• སྐད་ཅོར་ག་གལ་མི་འདུག There’s not any noise at all
• ང་ལ་ལས་ཀ་ག་གལ་མེད། I don’t have any work at all.

The phrase གལ་ཡོད་མ་རེད། (“There’s nothing”) is often used to mean “it’s okay” or “don’t worry about it”:

• དགོངས་དག Sorry.
  • གལ་ཡོད་མ་རེད། No worries.

Another common negative quantifier construction uses a quantifier followed by the particle ལས་, which in this context means something like “other than”. This kind of construction is used like the English word “only”:

• ཟླ་བ་ལ་ཞི་མི་གཉིས་ལས་ཡོད་མ་རེད། Dawa only has two cats. (literally, “Dawa doesn’t have other than two cats”)
• ང་ལ་ཞི་མི་གཅིག་ལས་མེད། I have only one cat. (literally, “I don’t have other than one cat.”)

A third common negative quantifier construction uses a quantifier followed by the particle {ཡང་}, which means “even” in this context. The particle {ཡང་} has three alternate forms in the written language:

• ཀྱང་ is used after ག་ད་བ་ས་
• ཡང་ is used after ང་ན་མ་ར་ལ་
• འང་ is used after འ་ or vowels

In the spoken language, the form ཡང་ is used in all contexts. ཡང་ is often pronounced like yä (when by itself) or like ya (when used after ལ་). Here is an example of a negative quantifier construction with {ཡང་}:

• བསྟན་འཛིན་ལ་ཞི་མི་གཅིག་ཀྱང་ཡོད་མ་རེད། Tendzin doesn’t even have one cat.

Note that ལས་ and {ཡང་} can be used in ordinary sentences, too; not only in negative quantifier constructions. The particle {ཡང་} means “even” in some contexts, and “also” in other contexts. For example:

• མི་ཚང་མ་ལོག་ཞི་མི་ལ་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད་རེད། ཚེ་རིང་ཀྱང་ཞི་མི་ལ་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད་རེད། Everyone likes cats. Even Tsering likes cats.
• ང་ཁྱི་ལ་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད། ཞི་མི་ལ་ཡང་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད། I like dogs, and I also like cats.

2. The associative particle དང་

The associative particle དང་ generally means “with” or “and”. It has no alternate forms.

2.1. The associative relation construction

The associative particle དང་ can be used with relation words such as འཆམ་པོ་ (“friendly”), གཅིག་པ་ (“the same”), and འདྲ་པོ་ (“similar”) to form what I will call associative relation constructions. They have the following format:

subject + object དང་ + relational word + {ཡིན་} / {ཡོད་}

For example:

• ང་སྒྲོལ་མ་དང་འཆམ་པོ་ཡོད། I get along with Drölma.
• བསྟན་འཛིན་མཚོ་མོ་དང་ལོ་གཅིག་པ་རེད་པས། Is Tendzin the same age as Tsomo?
• གློག་བརྙན་དེ་དེབ་འདི་དང་འབྲེལ་བ་ཡོད་མ་རེད། That movie has no connection to this book.
• བསྟན་འཛིན་ཞི་མི་དང་འདྲ་པོ་མི་འདུག་གས། Isn’t Tendzin similar to a cat?

Shorter expressions are usually preferred in the spoken language, so it’s better to use the relation word in the object position, if possible:

• ང་གཉིས་འཆམ་པོ་ཡོད། The two of us get along.
• ཁོ་གཉིས་ལོ་གཅིག་པ་རེད། The two of them are the same age.

2.2. X and Y

The word དང་ is also used to mean “and”. This allows us to make lists of nouns. It is generally followed by a ཤད་:

• ཀུ་ཤུ་དང་། ངང་ལག་དང་། ཨ་མྲ་ apple and banana and mango
• བཀྲ་ཤིས་དང་། བསྟན་འཛིན་དང་། མཚོ་མོ་ Tashi and Tendzin and Tsomo

However, this word is not usually put in between every item in a list. Instead, the word is often only used after the first item (or not at all), and a ཤད་ is used after any subsequent items in the list except for the last one:

• ང་མེ་འཁོར་དང་གནམ་གྲུ། གྲུ་གཟིངས། སྦག་སྦག་ལ་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད། I like trains, planes, boats, and motorcycles.

If a list is exhaustive, then it is common to end it in a number showing how many items were in the list, or else to end it in the word བཅས་ (“as well as”):

• ཉི་མ་དང་རྡོ་རྗེ། མཚོ་མོ། སྒྲོལ་མ་བཞི་ the four: Nyima, Dorje, Tsomo, and Drölma
• ཉི་མ་དང་རྡོ་རྗེ། མཚོ་མོ། སྒྲོལ་མ་བཅས་ Nyima, Dorje, Tsomo, and Drölma

If a list is non-exhaustive, then it is common to end it in སོགས་ (“and so on”):

• ང་ཚོ་ལ་གཡག འབྲི། ར། ལུག་སོགས་ཡོད། We have yaks, dri, goats, sheep, and so on.

In casual speech, the word བྱས་ is usually used instead of དང་:

• ཀུ་ཤུ་བྱས། ངང་ལག་བྱས། ཨ་མྲ་ apple and banana and mango

When asking a question, you can specify that you want a list of things as an answer by using reduplicated question words like ག་རེ་ག་རེ་ and སུ་སུ་. For example:

• ཁྱེད་རང་ཤིང་ཏོག་ག་རེ་ག་རེ་ལ་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད། What fruits do you like?
  • ང་ཀུ་ཤུ་བྱས། ངང་ལག་བྱས། ཨ་མྲ་ལ་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད། I like apple, banana, and mango.
• སློབ་ཕྲུག་གསར་པ་དེ་ཚོ་སུ་སུ་རེད། Who are the new students?
  • ཁོ་ཚོ་སྒྲོལ་མ་བྱས། བཀྲ་ཤིས། ཚེ་རིང་བཅས་རེད། They are Drölma, Tashi, and Tsering.

2.3. X or Y

If Standard Tibetan has a word for “and”, we might also expect that it has a word for “or”, but it’s not so simple. In most contexts, there is no specific word for “or”. In order to list some possible alternatives, you can simply list the alternatives in a row without any word between them:

• ཁྱེད་རང་ལ་ཨ་ཅག་ཇོ་ཇོ་ཡོད་པས། Do you have any sisters or brothers?
• མཚོ་མོ་ལ་ཞི་མི་བཞི་ལྔ་ཙམ་ཡོད་རེད། Tsomo has about four or five cats.

Or, if you want someone to make a choice between some options, the sentence may be repeated with the subject clipped:

• མི་དེ་དགེ་རྒན་རེད། སློབ་ཕྲུག་རེད། Is that person a teacher or a student?
• དེབ་དེ་སྔོན་པོ་འདུག དམར་པོ་འདུག སེར་པོ་འདུག Is that book blue, red, or yellow?

It’s acceptable to use the question form of the verb here (e.g. མི་དེ་དགེ་རྒན་རེད་པས། སློབ་ཕྲུག་རེད་པས།), but it takes more effort so it’s not generally preferred.

3. The connective particle {གི་}

The connective particle generally means “of”. It consists of five alternate forms in the written language:

• ཀྱི་ is used after the suffix letters ད་བ་ས་ (and the post-suffix letters ད་ས་)
• གི་ is used after the suffix letters ག་ང་
• གྱི་ is used after the suffix letters ན་མ་ར་ལ་
• འི་ is added to words with no suffix letter, or is added in place of the suffix letter འ་
• ཡི་ is mainly used in verse to fill out the meter

In the spoken language, all of these forms except འི་ are pronounced as ki.

The form འི་ has no pronunciation in and of itself, and instead simply causes vowel raising just like the suffix letters ད་ན་ལ་ས་:

• མདའི་ dä
• རྒྱུའི་ gyü
• མོའི་ mö

3.1. Connecting nouns

The connective particle is mostly used to make nouns modify other nouns:

noun + connective particle + noun

In this usage, the first noun becomes a modifier for the second noun.

The connective particle is most often used after a person or pronoun to show possession:

• བསྟན་འཛིན་གྱི་ཁ་པར་ Tendzin’s phone
• ངའི་གྲོགས་པོ་ my friend
• ཨ་མ་ལགས་ཀྱི་བྱམས་བརྩེ་ a mother’s love

It’s also used to show any kind of connection between two things that might be translated as “of” or “‘s” in English:

• བོད་ཀྱི་ལོ་རྒྱུས་ the history of Tibet / Tibet’s history
• ཟ་ཁང་གི་སྦྱིན་བདག་ the owner of the restaurant / the restaurant’s owner
• སྡུག་བསྔལ་གྱི་རྒྱུ་ the cause of suffering

Note that when translated as “of”, the order of the words is backwards compared to English. For example, ཟ་ཁང་གི་སྦྱིན་བདག་ can be translated as “the owner of the restaurant”, but it would be incorrect to translate it as “the restaurant of the owner”.

English may also use special adjectives where Tibetan just uses a connective particle:

• བོད་ཀྱི་ of Tibet / Tibet’s / Tibetan
• དཔལ་འབྱོར་གྱི་ of the economy / the economy’s / economic
• གཞུང་གི་ of the government / the government’s / governmental

Either noun in a connective construction may be modified further. For example:

• སློབ་ཕྲུག་གསར་པའི་སློབ་དེབ་ the new student’s textbook
• ངའི་དགེ་རྒན་སྔོན་མ་ my previous teacher

Connective particles may also be nested:

• དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོའི་བླ་མའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་ the guruyoga of the Kalachakra

Note that this kind of nesting means that connective particles can appear to be discontinuous on small scales. In the above example, དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་འི་ does not modify བླ་མ་ even though that is the immediately following noun. Instead, it modifies the entire phrase བླ་མའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་. As you become familiar with common collocations such as བླ་མའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་, you will get better at identifying and thus correctly interpreting nested connective particles.

Sometimes a noun will modify another noun without any connective particle between them. For example:

• གློག་ཀླད་ཚོང་ཁང་ computer store
• མེ་འཁོར་འབབ་ཚུགས་ train station

We know that the nouns གློག་ཀླད་ (“computer”) and མེ་འཁོར་ (“train”) are modifiers here because they help specify what kind of store (a computer store) and what kind of station (a train station).

3.2. Objects marked with connective particles

Objects can be marked with the connective particle to show possession. For example:

• དེ་ངའི་ཡིན། That’s mine!
• སློབ་དེབ་འདི་ཚེ་རིང་གི་རེད་པས། Is this textbook Tsering’s?

3.3. Apposition

Apposition is when two nouns are placed right next to one another to describe the same thing. Apposition uses the format:

noun + noun

Here are some examples of apposition in English:

• Ralph the repairman
• my cat Mr. Snuggles
• the planet Mars

Standard Tibetan generally uses apposition in the same way as English, but we will take a look at a few contexts where Tibetan does things differently:

1. titles
2. pronouns
3. measure words

1. Titles

People of high status are often referred to using titles and epithets in Tibetan culture. Titles are words that describe someone’s job or social role, such as རྒྱལ་པོ་ (“king”), སྲིད་འཛིན་ (“president”), and བླ་མ་ (“guru”). Epithets are descriptive words that praise someone’s qualities, such as མཆོག་ (“the supreme”) or རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ (“the precious”). Titles and epithets can get quite lengthy and elaborate, but generally they have the following format:

title + name + epithet

Epithets are usually adjectives, which do not involve apposition. Titles, however, are usually nouns, so their use alongside a name counts as apposition.

Some examples of Tibetan titles and epithets:

• སྲིད་སྐྱོང་སྤེན་པ་ཚེ་རིང་མཆོག་ the State Protector Penpa Tsering the Greatest
• ༸སྐྱབས་རྗེ་ཡོངས་དགེ་མི་འགྱུར་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་མཆོག་ the Refuge Lord Yonge Mingyur the Precious One the Greatest

The honorific symbol ༸, which looks like the numeral for 7 but is ever so slightly distinct, is often used before the title or name of religious figures.

Also, titles and epithets derived from Sanskrit often use a different order:

• འཕགས་པ་སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་དབང་ཕྱུག་ The Noble One, Avalokita the Perfect Lord

For whatever reason, Tibetan titles and epithets are often left untranslated in English, which can lead to confusion about what words are part of people’s names or not. Also, Tibetan titles and epithets can be quite complex, with multiple similar terms that have slightly different connotations or that convey higher or lower status. Titles such as སློབ་དཔོན་ may also have different connotations in different contexts. The overall topic is quite complex, so we have just covered the basics here.

2. Pronouns

Tibetan often uses apposition with personal pronouns, which English doesn’t normally do:

• མི་ང་ me, the person
• མགོན་པོ་ཁྱེད་ you, the protector

In English, it might sound a bit strange to say “Sing a song for me, the girl”, but this is perfectly acceptable in Tibetan.

3. Measure words

English generally uses the word “of” with measure words to express a specific amount of something, using the format:

quantity + measure word + of + noun

For example:

• a spoonful of sugar
• four boxes of paper

In Standard Tibetan, however, measure words use the following format:

noun + measure word + quantity

For example:

• ཀུ་ཤུ་རྒྱ་མ་ལྔ་ five kilograms of apples
• མོག་མོག་སྡེར་མ་གསུམ་ three plates of momos
• ངང་ལག་རྐང་དྲུག་ six legs of bananas
  • note: Tibetan uses the measure word རྐང་ (“leg”) to count individual bananas, so this just means “six bananas”

The numbers གཅིག་ and གཉིས་ have the special forms གང་ and དོ་ when used after certain measure words:

• སྣུམ་ཐུར་མ་དོ་ two spoonfuls of oil
• བྱེ་མ་ཀ་ར་རྒྱ་མ་གང་ one kilogram of sugar

4. Postpositions

English phrases like “on top of the table” or “at the time of publication” are used to express precise relationships of location, timing, topic, and so on. Because these underlined phrases are placed before the noun in English, they are called prepositions. Their format is:

preposition + noun

Standard Tibetan has very similar structures, but they are placed after the noun, and so they are called postpositions. Their format is:

noun + postposition

For example:

• ཅོག་ཙེ་ (“table”) + འི་སྒང་ལ་ (“on top of“) = ཅོག་ཙེའི་སྒང་ལ་ (“on top of the table”)

Standard Tibetan has four basic formats for postpositions. I have created names for each format so that they are easier to understand and discuss:

1. Two-eared postpositions
2. Left-eared postpositions
3. Right-eared postpositions
4. Bare postpositions

We will now discuss each format in turn.

4.1. Two-eared postpositions

Two-eared postpositions use the format:

particle + core word + particle

Here are some examples of two-eared postpositions after a pronoun:

• དེའི་སྐོར་ལ་ about that
• དེའི་སྒང་ལ་ on top of that
• དེའི་ཆེད་དུ་ for the purpose of that
• དེའི་དུས་སུ་ at the time of that
• དེའི་དུས་ནས་ at that time of that
• ཁྱེད་རང་དང་མཉམ་དུ་ with you
  • note: this phrasing is more literary than colloquial

A two-eared postposition is defined by having two particles, or “ears”. The particle on the left side of the postposition is the left ear, and the particle on the right side of the postposition is the right ear.

In two-eared postpositions, the most common left ear is the connective particle, and the most common right ear is the locative particle. However, different postpositions use different particles, so you just need to memorize which ones use which particles.

Some postpositions allow different particles to be used as their left or right ear, and this may also change their connotations. For example, the use of the right ear ནས་ in འི་དུས་ནས་ and འི་སྐབས་ནས་ (“at the time of”) implies that the event has since passed and was now a little while ago, whereas normally these postpositions have no such connotations.

The written language uses two-eared postpositions quite often, whereas the spoken language tends to clip one or both ears. We will now turn our attention to clipped postpositions.

4.2. Left-eared postpositions

Left-eared postpositions have the format:

particle + core word

Not every postposition gets its ears clipped, and those that do don’t necessarily get clipped the same way. For example, the core word ཆེད་ (“purpose”) almost always appears as a two-eared postposition, whereas the core words དུས་ (“time”) and སྐབས་ (“occasion”) usually appear as left-eared postpositions.

Some examples of left-eared postpositions after a pronoun:

• དེའི་དུས་ at that time
• དེའི་སྐབས་ on that occasion
• དེའི་ཕྱིར་ for that purpose

4.3. Right-eared postpositions

Right-eared postpositions have the format:

core word + particle

Some examples of right-eared postpositions after pronouns and nouns:

• ཁྱེད་རང་མཉམ་དུ་ with you
• དུས་ཆེན་སྔོན་ལ་ before the holiday
• མོ་ཊ་ནང་ལ་ in the car
• བོད་སྐད་ཐོག་ནས་ in the spoken Tibetan language

4.4. Bare postpositions

Bare postpositions have the following format:

core word

Some examples of bare postpositions after nouns:

• ལྷ་ས་བརྒྱུད་ through Lhasa
• བོད་མི་ནང་ཁུལ་ among Tibetan people

4.5. Other grammatical points

Modifier postpositions:

Postpositions can be used as modifiers if their right ear is replaced with a connective particle. The typical format of modifier postpositions is:

noun + core word + connective particle + noun

For example:

• བོད་ནང་གི་བོད་མི་ Tibetan people (who are) in Tibet

Postpositions as marked objects:

Some postpositions can also be used to form marked objects of ཡིན་ and རེད་:

• ལྟད་མོ་འདི་ཚན་རིག་གི་སྐོར་ལ་རེད། This video is about science.

Particles vs. postpositions:

Some fellow language nerds may wonder why I have not counted ordinary particles like ལ་ or ནས་ as postpositions, considering that they are placed after the noun and express relationships of location just like the postpositions discussed above. The reason for this is simply that these particles follow very different grammar rules from what I call postpositions, so I felt it would only cause confusion to use the same term for both things.

5. Relative clauses

Relative clauses are when a verb and its object are used to modify a noun. In English, relative clauses typically follow the noun that they modify, and are formed with the words “who”, “which”, or “that”, according to the format:

noun + who / which / that + verb (+ object)

For example:

• the student who is from India
• the store which is beside the bank
• the cat that has three legs

In Standard Tibetan, relative clauses may either precede or follow the noun that they modify. We will discuss each format below, using examples with the essential and existential be-verbs. I will underline the relative clause in the first two examples of each format to highlight its grammatical structure.

5.1. Preceding relative clause

5.2. Following relative clause

5.3. Notes on using relative clauses

Relative clauses for possession:

Possession is not usually expressed with relative clauses because it’s too wordy. Instead, you can just use an ordinary connective particle.

For example:

• མཚོ་མོ་ལ་ཡོད་པའི་ཁ་པར་དེ་ the phone that Tsomo has
  • (this sounds wordy)
• མཚོ་མོའི་ཁ་པར་ Tsomo’s phone
  • (this sounds natural)

Relative clauses with postpositions:

Also, postpositions are not usually expressed with relative clauses, for the same reason. Instead, you can just use a modifier postposition:

• བོད་ནང་ལ་ཡོད་པའི་བོད་མི་ Tibetan people who are in Tibet
  • (this sounds wordy)
• བོད་ནང་གི་བོད་མི་ Tibetan people in Tibet
  • (this sounds natural)

Note in the first example that the relative clause doesn’t end in དེ་. This is because དེ་ is specifically for singular words, whereas here we are talking about a plural: Tibetan people. Also, if we were to use དེ་ཚོ་ it would mean that we were referring to a specific group of Tibetan people (“those Tibetan people who are in Tibet”).

The order of modifiers:

Since we have now learned yet another way of modifying nouns, the full order of modifiers is:

preceding relative clause + noun + adjective + quantifier + demonstrative

Or:

noun + adjective + quantifier + following relative clause + demonstrative

For example:

• བོད་ནས་ཡིན་པའི་སློབ་ཕྲུག་གསར་པ་གསུམ་དེ་ཚོ་ those three new students who are from Tibet
• སློབ་ཕྲུག་གསར་པ་གསུམ་བོད་ནས་ཡིན་པ་དེ་ཚོ་ those three new students who are from Tibet

5.4. Nominal relative clauses

As we saw above, relative clauses usually act as a modifier to a separate noun. However, relative clauses can also be used as nouns in and of themselves, without needing to be attached to a separate noun. This kind of relative clause is called a nominal relative clause.

Nominal relative clauses for the essential be verb follow the format:

object + ཡིན་པ་ + དེ་

object + མིན་པ་ + དེ་

Nominal relative clauses for the existential be verb follow the format:

object + ཡོད་པ་ + དེ་

object + མེད་པ་ + དེ་

For example:

• བསྟན་འཛིན་ལ་ཡིན་པ་དེ་ the one that’s for Tendzin
• རྒྱ་གར་ནས་མིན་པ་དེ་ the one that’s not from India
• ཁྱེད་རང་ལ་ཡོད་པ་དེ་ that which you have
• ནང་མེད་པ་དེ་ the homeless person

Note that for location (e.g. ཚོང་ཁང་ལ་མེད་པ་དེ་ “the one that’s not in the store”) and possession (e.g. ཁྱེད་རང་ལ་ཡོད་པ་དེ་ “that which you have”), you can add the verb to the subject instead of the object.

Nominal relative clauses are often used as responses to questions with ག་གི་:

• དེབ་ག་གི་ལ་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད། Which book do you like?
  • བསྟན་འཛིན་ལ་ཡོད་པ་དེ་ལ་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད། I like the one that Tendzin has.
• སློབ་ཕྲུག་ག་གི་འཛིན་གྲྭའི་ནང་ལ་མི་འདུག Which student isn’t in class?
  • སློབ་དེབ་མེད་པ་དེ། The one who has no textbook.

6. Summary of noun phrases

At this point we have learned all of the basic grammar related to nouns and their modifiers. Let’s review.

6.1. Noun phrases

We have learned that we can refer to a person, place, or thing by using a pronoun:

• ཁོང་ they (singular)
• དེ་ that

Or, by using a noun:

• སློབ་ཕྲུག་ a student
• རྔན་པ་ a present

And we can ask about their identity by using question words:

• སུ་ who?
• ག་རེ་ what?

We have also learned several different kinds of words and constructions that can be used to modify nouns to make them more specific. These are called modifiers:

• typical adjectives (e.g. སློབ་ཕྲུག་སྤྱང་པོ་ a smart student)
• determiners (e.g. མི་དེ་ that person)
• quantifiers (e.g. ཞི་མི་ལྔ་ five cats)
• other nouns (e.g. མེ་འཁོར་འབབ་ཚུགས་ train station)
• relative clauses (e.g. སྒེའུ་ཁུང་མེད་པའི་ཚོང་ཁང་ the store that has no windows)

We have also learned two different ways of modifying typical adjectives:

• adverbs of degree (e.g. ཁྱི་དཔེ་ཆེན་པོ་ a very big dog)
• adjectival endings (e.g. ཁྱི་ཆེ་ཤོས་ the biggest dog)

We can simplify the above material by saying that these are all just different ways of 1) talking about nouns (i.e. persons, places, and things) and 2) specifying what kind of noun we are talking about (by using a modifier). Phrases that are made up of nouns and their modifiers are called noun phrases. Noun phrases must contain at least one noun or pronoun, and modifiers are optional. Multiple different modifiers can also be used in a single noun phrase (e.g. དེབ་གསར་པ་གསུམ་དེ་ཚོ་ those three new books). All of the examples given in this section 6.1. are noun phrases.

We have also learned how to string multiple noun phrases together using དང་:

• མི་དེ་དང་ཁོང་གི་གྲོགས་པོ་ that person and their friend

These are also just noun phrases, because they can be replaced with pronouns like any other noun phrase:

• མི་དེ་དང་ཁོང་གི་གྲོགས་པོ་ཡུ་རོབ་ནས་རེད། That person and their friend are from Europe.
• ཁོང་ཚོ་ཡུ་རོབ་ནས་རེད། They are from Europe.

Units 5-7 have taught all the basic grammar you need to know to understand noun phrases.

6.2. Noun phrases + particles

We have learned how to specify relationships between nouns by adding a particle to the end of a noun phrase, in three different ways:

• question words (e.g. རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ག་ནས་ from which country?)
• standalone particles (e.g. རྒྱ་གར་ནས་ from India)
• postpositions (e.g. ཅོག་ཙེའི་སྒང་ལ་ on top of the table)

These words are attached to end of a noun phrase, but they are not modifiers because they do not specify what kind of noun we are talking about. For example, “on top of the table” is not a kind of table. The function of particles is to specify the relationship between different nouns. Noun phrases + particles are usually combined with verbs to create sentences.

6.3. Noun phrases + particles + verbs

We have learned some basic ways to modify verbs:

• negative forms of {ཡིན་} and {ཡོད་}
• verbal particles such as {པས་}, {པ་}, and ན་

As well as several different constructions (or sentence formats) involving the verbs {ཡིན་} and {ཡོད་}:

• X is Y (essentially)
• X is Y (existentially)
• clipping
• “X or Y” constructions
• locative constructions
• possessive constructions
• locative opinion constructions
• negative quantifier constructions
• associative relation constructions

Up to this point, we’ve mostly talked about nouns being in some kind of static relationship with one another — relationships of being, location, association, and so on. In fact, {ཡིན་} and {ཡོད་} are not considered to be true verbs in traditional Tibetan grammar because they don’t express an action. The Tibetan word for “verb”, བྱ་ཚིག་, literally means “action word”.

In units 8-10 we will learn all about true verbs, their tenses, and their modifiers.

7. Terminology

7.1. Vocabulary

7.2. Jargon