Unit 9: Adverbs

In this unit we will learn verbal auxiliaries for the future tense and for inferring completed actions. We will also learn about verbal particles, adverbs, other auxiliaries, and the imperative. By the end of this unit you will know every tense and auxiliary commonly used in Standard Tibetan.

Unit 9 Sections:

1. 1. The future tense
   1. 1.1. The abbreviated future tense
   2. 1.2. Other future tense auxiliaries
2. 2. The perfect auxiliary
   1. 2.1. The negative perfect
   2. 2.2. The perfect with sensory verbs
   3. 2.3. Other notes on the perfect
3. 3. More on verbal particles
   1. 3.1. The mid-sentence particle ན་
   2. 3.2. The mid-sentence particle ནས་
   3. 3.3. The mid-sentence particle ཙང་
   4. 3.4. The mid-sentence particle ནའི་
   5. 3.5. The end-of-sentence particle ད་
4. 4. Adverbs
   1. 4.1. Adverb formats
   2. 4.2. The question word གང་འདྲས་སེ་
   3. 4.3. Why, because, and therefore
5. 5. Be-verb auxiliaries
   1. 5.1. Auxiliaries of uncertainty
   2. 5.2. Tense auxiliaries with be-verbs
   3. 5.3. The perfect auxiliary with be-verbs
6. 6. The imperative
   1. 6.1. Wishes
7. 7. Terminology
   1. 7.1. Vocabulary
   2. 7.2. Jargon

1. The future tense

The future tense (དུས་མ་འོངས་པ་) is used for actions and events that haven’t happened yet. It uses the format:

verb root + {ཀྱི་} + {ཡིན་}

For example:

• ང་ཚོང་ཁང་ལ་འགྲོ་ཡི་ཡིན། I’ll go to the store.
• ག་དུས་ནང་ལ་ཡོང་གི་ཡིན། When will you come home?
• དེ་རིང་ཆར་པ་བཏང་གི་རེད་པས། Will it rain today?

1.1. The abbreviated future tense

Future tense yes/no questions that are personal and volitional can be formed using the format:

verb root + གས་

For example:

• མཚན་ཚོགས་ལ་ཡོང་གས། Are you going to come to the party?
• ཁྱེད་རང་སྤོ་ལོ་རྩེ་གས། Are you going to play ball?

Future tense questions that have question words and are personal and volitional can be formed using the format:

verb root + ག་

For example:

• ག་པར་འགྲོ་ག Where will you be going?
• ག་དུས་ནང་ལ་ཡོང་ག When will you come home?

1.2. Other future tense auxiliaries

1) The ཡ་ and རྒྱུ་ constructions

Future tense actions can also be expressed with the following construction:

verb root + ཡ་/རྒྱུ་ + {ཡིན་}

For example:

• ང་དུག་སློག་གསར་པ་ཉོ་ཡ་ཡིན། I’ll buy new clothes.
• ག་དུས་ནང་ལ་ལོག་རྒྱུ་ཡིན། When will you return home?

The only difference between ཡ་ and རྒྱུ་ is that ཡ་ is more common in the spoken language, whereas རྒྱུ་ is used in the written language.

2) The རྩིས་ construction

Future plans can be expressed with the following construction:

verb root + རྩིས་ + {ཡོད་}

For example:

• ཟླ་བ་རྗེས་མ་ང་རྒྱ་གར་ལ་འགྲོ་རྩིས་ཡོད། I’m planning to go to India next month.
• རྔན་པ་ཅིག་ཉོ་རྩིས་ཡོད་པས། Are you planning on buying a gift?

3) The དགོས་ construction

Future actions that you’ll do to or for the person you’re talking to can be expressed using the format:

verb root + དགོས་

For example:

• ཆུ་ཚོད་དྲུག་པ་ལ་ཁྱེད་རང་ལ་ཁ་པར་བཏང་དགོས། I’ll call you at six o’clock.
• སང་ཉིན་ཁྱེད་རང་ལ་སྤྲད་དགོས། I’ll give it to you tomorrow.

In this usage, དགོས་ is often pronounced ko.

2. The perfect auxiliary

The perfect is an auxiliary used for actions that have already been completed, but that still have some enduring relevance in the present. For example, the experiential perfect implies that you didn’t see the actual action at the time it was performed, but are inferring it based on seeing its traces in the present.

Several types of static relationship such as inclusion (X is included in Y) and location (X is located in Y) are typically expressed with the perfect, because the use of present would imply the possibility of change. Other verbs such as འཁོད་ (“to mention”, e.g. “your name is mentioned in the newspaper”) are typically expressed with the perfect because they are competed events that you infer based on their present-day traces.

The perfect auxiliary has the format:

verb root + {ཡོད་}

The assertive form of the personal and factual perfect are not very common, so we won’t discuss them much here.

The experiential perfect (+འདུག་) is used to tie a present observation to a completed past action. It’s typically used for inference, which we will discuss below. The written language uses འདུག་ for the experiential perfect, but the spoken language generally uses བཞག་ (also spelled ཤག་).

For example:

• བསྟན་འཛིན་འགྲོ་འདུག Tendzin must have left (written)
• བསྟན་འཛིན་འགྲོ་ཤག Tendzin must have left (spoken)

The above sentences imply that you didn’t directly see Tendzin go, but are inferring it based on something else — for example, maybe you’ve noticed that his shoes are no longer at the entrance, and his bag has disappeared. Tendzin’s already gone, but we are observing the traces of that action in the present, and are making a statement that ties those present traces to the past event.

We can thus summarize the difference between the past tense and the perfect as follows:

• བསྟན་འཛིན་འགྲོ་སོང་། Tendzin left (an event I directly observed)
• བསྟན་འཛིན་འགྲོ་འདུག Tendzin left (an event I indirectly inferred)

2.1. The negative perfect

The negative form of the personal perfect, མེད་, is the main way that personal past tense sentences are negated. For example:

• ངས་ཁ་ལག་བཟོས་པ་ཡིན། I made food. (past tense auxiliary)
• ངས་ཁ་ལག་བཟོས་མེད། I didn’t make food. (perfect auxiliary)

I do not have any good data on the negative form of the factual perfect, ཡོད་མ་རེད་.

The negative forms of the experiential perfect are respectively:

verb root + མི་འདུག་

མ་ + verb root + བཞག་

For example:

• ཉི་མས་ཁ་ལག་བཟོ་མི་འདུག Nyima didn’t make food
• ཉི་མས་ཁ་ལག་མ་བཟོས་ཤག Nyima didn’t make food

The above sentences would be said if you’re inferring that Nyima didn’t make food — for example, if you see the unprepared ingredients still in the fridge when you get home.

2.2. The perfect with sensory verbs

A subset of non-volitional verbs are sensory verbs, which describe our sensations, thoughts, and feelings. They include verbs like “to hear”, “to think”, and “to love”. Unlike other non-volitional verbs, sensory verbs are not directly observable by other people. For example, people can see that you fell down:

• ང་རིལ་སོང་། I fell down.
• བསྟན་འཛིན་རིལ་སོང་། Tendzin fell down.

But people can’t directly observe whether or not you heard something, for example; they can only infer it based on your outward actions. Therefore, impersonal statements with sensory verbs must use the experiential perfect auxiliary for the past tense. For example:

• ངས་གོ་སོང་། I heard it
• བསྟན་འཛིན་གྱིས་གོ་འདུག Tendzin heard it (written)
• བསྟན་འཛིན་གྱིས་གོ་ཤག Tendzin heard it (spoken)

2.3. Other notes on the perfect

You can also use the experiential perfect with yourself:

• ངས་དྲན་པ་བརྗེད་བཞག I’ve forgotten
• དེ་རིང་ང་རྩེད་མོ་ལ་མགོ་ཐོམ་ཤག་ I lost myself in gaming today

The experiential perfect is often preferred for verbs like “forget” because you don’t really observe yourself forgetting something; you infer it based on not finding the relevant memory. Likewise, you don’t directly observe yourself getting lost in some engrossing activity; you infer it as you come out of that state, based on observing the passage of time.

As seen in some of the above examples, the experiential perfect is often used when you’ve found out some new information. Some scholars have proposed that this is a distinct type of evidentiality called “mirativity”, but the validity of this new category is not well-supported for Tibetan. Instead, this is better understood as a natural connotation of some uses of the experiential perfect.

3. More on verbal particles

In Unit 5 Section 4 we first encountered verbal particles, which are small words that can be attached to a verb to alter its meaning. We learned about the verbal particles {པས་}, པ་, and ན་, which are used at the end of a sentence to form different kinds of questions.

Verbal particles can be divided into end-of-sentence particles and mid-sentence particles. End-of-sentence particles are used at the end of a sentence, and leave the sentence feeling complete without needing to say anything more. Mid-sentence particles are used in the middle of a sentence, and leave the sentence feeling incomplete, with the audience waiting for you to finish your thought.

Mid-sentence particles correspond to English subordinating particles such as “if”, “after”, “because”, and so on:

• If you really love me…
• After news of the scandal broke…
• Because Dawa knew how to pilot a plane…

Some Tibetan particles can be used after both nouns or verbs, but have a different meaning in each context. For example, when ནས་ is used after nouns it means “from”, but when it’s used after verbs it means “while” or “after”.

Some verbal particles have different meanings depending on whether they are used end-of-sentence or mid-sentence. For example, ན་ forms a curious question when used as an end-of-sentence particle, but means “if” when used as a mid-sentence particle.

Verbal particles can be used directly after the verb root, or after an auxiliary. When used after an auxiliary, the auxiliary is used in the personal form (i.e. with ཡིན་ or ཡོད་) for all persons. The examples below will focus on particles occurring directly after verb roots.

3.1. The mid-sentence particle ན་

The particle ན་ has different meanings when used after nouns or verbs.

• When used after nouns, ན་ means “in”.
• When used after verbs, ན་ can occur either end-of-sentence or mid-sentence:
  • As an end-of-sentence particle, ན་ forms a curious question, which we learned about in Unit 5 Section 4.5.
  • As a mid-sentence particle, ན་ means “if”.

For example:

• བསྟན་འཛིན་འགྲོ་ན་ང་ངུ་གི་རེད། I’ll cry if Tendzin leaves.
• སློབ་སྦྱོང་མ་བྱས་ན་ཧ་གོ་གི་མ་རེད། If you don’t study, you won’t understand.

3.2. The mid-sentence particle ནས་

The particle ནས་ has different meanings after nouns or verbs.

• When used after nouns, ནས་ means “from”, which we learned about in Unit 5 Section 5.1.
• When used mid-sentence after verbs, ནས་ can mark either simultaneous actions or successive actions.

Simultaneous actions occur at the same time, for example:

• ཁོ་རང་ཚོ་ངུས་ནས་རྩེད་མོ་རྩེ་ཀྱི་འདུག They’re playing games while crying
• ཉི་མ་སེམས་སྐྱོ་ནས་ནང་ལ་ཕྱིན་པ་རེད། Nyima went home sadly (lit. “while being sad“)
  • སེམས་ mind (n.) + སྐྱོ་ to be sad (v.) = སེམས་སྐྱོ་ to be sad (v.)

Successive actions occur one after the other, for example:

• མཚོ་མོ་ལངས་ནས་སོ་བཀྲུས་པ་རེད། Tsomo got up and brushed her teeth.
• སློབ་ཚན་ཚར་ནས་ང་རྩེད་མོ་རྩེ་གི་ཡིན། I’ll play games after the lesson finishes.

The mid-sentence particle ནས་ is common in both the written language and the spoken language. In the spoken language, it can be replaced with བྱས་:

• མཚོ་མོ་ལངས་བྱས་སོ་བཀྲུས་པ་རེད། Tsomo got up and brushed her teeth.

3.3. The mid-sentence particle ཙང་

The mid-sentence particle ཙང་ means “therefore”. For example:

• མཚོ་མོ་རྒྱ་གར་ལ་ཕྱིན་ཙང་ང་སེམས་སྐྱོ་གི་འདུག Because Tsomo went to India, I’m sad.
• ཁ་ལག་བཟས་པ་ཡིན་ཙང་གྲོད་ཁོག་ལྟོགས་ཀྱི་མི་འདུག Because I ate food, I’m not hungry.

The written equivalent of ཙང་ is the mid-sentence particle {པས་}.

3.4. The mid-sentence particle ནའི་

The mid-sentence particle ནའི་ means “but” or “even though”. For example:

• ཉིན་གུང་ཁ་ལག་བཟས་པ་ཡིན་ནའི་ད་དུང་གྲོད་ཁོག་ལྟོགས་ཀྱི་འདུག Even though I ate lunch, I’m still hungry.
• མཚོ་མོ་ནང་སྦྱོང་བྱེད་མ་ཚར་པ་ཡིན་ནའི་རྩེད་མོ་རྩེ་གི་འདུག Tsomo’s playing games even though she didn’t finish doing her homework.

ནའི་ is pronounced with a rising tone and a long vowel, which help distinguish it from ནས་.

The written equivalent of ནའི་ is either ན་ཡང་ (= ན་ + {ཡང་}) or རུང་.

These three constructions (ནའི་ in the spoken language, ན་ཡང་ or རུང་ in the written language) can be used with question words to make absolute “-ever” statements. For example:

• ཁྱེད་རང་ག་པར་འགྲོ་ནའི་ང་ཡོང་གི་ཡིན། Wherever you go, I’ll come along.
• སྐད་ཡིག་ག་རེ་སྦྱང་ནའི་ཡག་པོ་ཡོད་རེད། Whatever language you learn is good.

3.5. The end-of-sentence particle ད་

The end-of-sentence emphatic particle ད་ (also spelled གདའ་) is often used in the spoken language to put emphasis on a statement when correcting someone’s mistake, or when clarifying something that someone else didn’t realize:

• མཚོ་མོ་ཞིང་པ་མ་རེད་ད། Tsomo’s not a farmer!

It’s best not to use ད་ when speaking to someone in a higher social position, because it can come across as rude or insubordinate.

There are many other particles in Tibetan — too many to cover in detail here. This was just an overview of the most common ones.

4. Adverbs

Adverbs are words that modify verbs. They specify the time or manner in which a verb is done. For example:

• Adverb of time: I’ll call you later.
• Adverb of manner: The baby cried loudly.

4.1. Adverb formats

Adverbs in Standard Tibetan have many different formats.

They may be a self-standing word, especially with adverbs of time:

• ལམ་སང་ immediately
• གནས་སྐབས་རིང་ temporarily
• འབྱུང་འགྱུར་ in the future
• སྔ་པོ་ early
• ཕྱི་པོ་ late

They may be derived from an adjective + ར་:

• ང་མགྱོགས་པོར་སླེབས་ཀྱི་རེད། I’ll arrive soon.
  • from མགྱོགས་པོ་ “quick”

They may be derived from a negative verb + པ་/བ་ + -ར་, བྱས་, or ནས་, which can be translated as “without [verb]ing”:

• བསྟན་འཛིན་གྱིས་གལ་མ་བཤད་པར་ཕྱིན་པ་རེད། Tendzin left without saying anything.

They may be derived from an adjective + the postposition ({གི་})ངང་ or ({གི་})ངང་ནས་:

• ཁོ་རང་ཚོ་འཇམ་ཐིང་ཐིང་ངང་ནས་ནང་སྦྱོང་བྲིས་པ་རེད། They did their homework quietly.
• དགའ་དགའ་སྤྲོ་སྤྲོའི་ངང་རྩེད་མོ་རྩེ་པ་རེད། They played gleefully.

They may be derived from all kinds of words + ནས་:

• སེམས་སྐྱོ་ནས་ sadly
  • from སེམས་ mind (n.) + སྐྱོ་ to be sad (v.)
• སྐྱིད་པོ་བྱས་ནས་ happily
  • from སྐྱིད་པོ་ happy (adj.) + བྱས་ to do (v.)
• མུ་མཐུད་ནས་ continuously
• རྩ་བ་ནས་ totally
• ཁྱོན་ནས་ at all
• གཞི་རྩའི་ཐོག་ནས་ basically

A few are derived with the adverbial suffix སེ་, which is pronounced “-s”:

• ཡང་སེ་ often
• ད་ག་སེ་ randomly/thoughtlessly

4.2. The question word གང་འདྲས་སེ་

In Unit 6 we learned the question word གང་འདྲ་ (usually pronounced གང་འདྲས་ in the spoken language), which means “how” with respect to nouns:

• དེ་རིང་གནམ་གཤིས་གང་འདྲས་འདུག How is the weather today?

The question word གང་འདྲས་སེ་, which is formed with the adverbializer སེ་, means “how” with respect to verbs:

• གང་འདྲས་སེ་ཡུ་རོབ་ལ་འགྲོ་གི་ཡིན། How will you go to Europe?

4.3. Why, because, and therefore

In English, the phrase “what are you doing…” can mean something like “why”. Consider the following two sentences:

• You’re poor; why are you buying another TV?
• You’re poor; what are you doing buying another TV?

In Standard Tibetan, the phrase “what are you doing…” (ག་རེ་བྱས་ནས་) is used to mean “why”. For example:

• ག་རེ་བྱས་ནས་བརྙན་འཕྲིན་གཞན་པ་ཅིག་ཉོ་གི་ཡོད། Why are you buying another TV?

The ནས་ here is marking simultaneous actions; it could literally be translated as “While doing what are you buying another TV?”. This construction asks about people’s underlying motivations for an action.

Answers to this question are usually given with the phrase ག་རེ་རེད་ཟེར་ན། (“If you say what it is…”) to mean “because”:

• ག་རེ་རེད་ཟེར་ན་ང་བརྙན་འཕྲིན་ལ་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད། Because I like TVs.

This “what are you doing” phrase is flexible, and can be customized in a variety of ways. For example, you can explain some situation and then say བྱས་ཙང་ (“by doing…”) to mean “so”, or འདི་བྱས་ནས་ (“in doing this…”) to mean “because of this…” as in:

• བྱས་ཙང་ང་རྒྱ་གར་ལ་ཕྱིན་མེད། So, I didn’t go to India.
• འདི་བྱས་ནས་ང་རྒྱ་གར་ལ་ཕྱིན་མེད། Because of this, I didn’t go to India.

The phrases དེ་འདྲ་ཡིན་ཙང་ (“because it’s like that”) and དེ་འདྲ་སོང་ཙང་ (“because it went like that”) are also used like “therefore” in English.

The phrases ་་་ག་རེ་བྱ་གི་ཡིན། (“What will you do?”) and ་་་ག་རེ་བྱེད་དགོས་རེད། (“What should you do?”) are used to mean “what’s the point of”. These constructions are asking what people will or would do once they’ve done an action. These are used after either ནས་ or བྱས་. For example:

• ཁྱེད་རང་གིས་བརྙན་འཕྲིན་ཉོས་ནས་ག་རེ་བྱ་གི་ཡིན། What was the point of buying a phone?
  • ཁྱེད་རང་གིས་བརྙན་འཕྲིན་ཉོས་བྱས་ག་རེ་བྱ་གི་ཡིན། (same as above)
• རྩེད་མོ་རྩེ་ནས་ག་རེ་བྱེད་དགོས་རེད། What’s the use of playing games?
  • རྩེད་མོ་རྩེ་བྱས་ག་རེ་བྱེད་དགོས་རེད། (same as above)

5. Be-verb auxiliaries

The be-verbs {ཡིན་} and {ཡོད་} can’t take tense auxiliaries like true verbs can, but they can still auxiliaries for other purposes. In this section we will learn about how auxiliaries are used with {ཡིན་} and {ཡོད་}.

5.1. Auxiliaries of uncertainty

Degrees of probability can be expressed using auxiliaries of uncertainty. The three most common ones are ས་རེད་, པ་འདྲ་, and {གི་}རེད་:

• “I think…” (when you have reason to believe something)
  • ཡིན་ས་རེད་
  • ཡོད་ས་རེད་
  • verb root + ས་རེད་
• “It seems that…” (when your statement is grounded in some observation)
  • ཡིན་པ་འདྲ་
  • ཡོད་པ་འདྲ་
  • verb root + པ་འདྲ་
• “It might be that…” (when you have no real evidence or certainty)
  • ཡིན་གྱི་རེད་
  • ཡོད་ཀྱི་རེད་
  • (cannot be attached to a verb root)

The translations provided above are provisional. The main point is that ས་རེད་ and པ་འདྲ་ are used when you have reason to believe something, with ས་རེད་ being more rational and པ་འདྲ་ being more observational. {གི་}རེད་ is used when you’re not so certain about an statement. We will discuss them below in more detail.

The auxiliaries of uncertainty must use the personal forms ཡིན་ and ཡོད་, but are only used to make impersonal statements, because personal statements imply control and therefore certainty. These auxiliaries also do not have tenses, although པ་འདྲ་ and ས་རེད་ may be used to make weak predictions about what you think might happen.

The auxiliary ས་རེད་

The auxiliary ས་རེད་ means “I think…” when saying something that you have reason to be pretty sure about. Simple opinions (e.g. “I think he’s an idiot”) are not expressed this way. Its negative form is ས་མ་རེད་ and it can take question particles (e.g. ས་རེད་པས་) too.

• མཚོ་མོ་དགེ་རྒན་ཡིན་ས་རེད། I think Tsomo’s a teacher.
• བསྟན་འཛིན་ནང་ལ་ཡོད་ས་རེད། I think Tendzin’s at home.
• ཁོ་མཚན་ཚོགས་ལ་ཡོང་ས་རེད། I think he might come to the party.

The auxiliary པ་འདྲ་

The auxiliary པ་འདྲ་ means “It seems that…” when making a judgment based on some observation. Its negative form is མིན་པ་འདྲ་ or མེད་པ་འདྲ་ or མ་[verb]པ་འདྲ་.

• ཁོང་ཚོ་ཞིང་པ་ཡིན་པ་འདྲ། They seem to be farmers.
• བསྟན་འཛིན་གྲོད་ཁོག་ལྟོགས་པ་འདྲ། Tendzin seems hungry.
• མི་དེ་ལ་དངུལ་མེད་པ་འདྲ། That person doesn’t seem to have any money.

The auxiliary {གི་}རེད་

The auxiliary {གི་}རེད་ means “It might be that..” when you’re not really sure about what’s true.

• ཁོང་དགེ་རྒན་ཅིག་ཡིན་གྱི་རེད། He might be a teacher.

The auxiliaries ས་རེད་ and པ་འདྲ་ are sometimes used to make a weak future tense prediction (e.g. ཁོང་ཚོ་ཡོང་ས་རེད། “I think they’ll be coming”), and ཡིན་གྱི་རེད་ is sometimes used to politely agree with a statement that you actually disagree with (compare English “maybe” or “could be”).

Source: Chonjore p. 69, 137, 208

5.2. Tense auxiliaries with be-verbs

It is not possible to add present tense, past tense, or future tense auxiliaries to {ཡིན་} and {ཡོད་}. Instead, these verbs can use alternate roots that do allow for tense auxiliaries.

{ཡིན་} can be used for both the present tense and the past tense. When future tense of “be” involves a change of state, it can be expressed with the non-volitional verb ཆགས་ (“to become”) and a future tense auxiliary. For example:

• ང་སྐྱོ་པོ་ཆགས་ཀྱི་རེད། I’ll become poor. / I’ll be poor.

{ཡོད་} can be used for both the present tense and the past tense. When the past tense of “have” involves a change of state, it can be expressed with the non-volitional verb བྱུང་ (“got”) and a past tense auxiliary. However, first-person sentences can use བྱུང་ without an auxiliary. For example:

• ང་ལ་རྔན་པ་ཅིག་བྱུང་། I got a gift.
• བསྟན་འཛིན་ལ་རྔན་པ་ཅིག་བྱུང་སོང་། Tendzin got a gift.

When the future tense of {ཡོད་} involves a change of state, it can be expressed with the non-volitional verb ཡོང་ (“will get”) plus a future tense auxiliary. For example:

• བསྟན་འཛིན་ལ་རྔན་པ་ཅིག་ཡོང་གི་རེད། Tendzin will get a gift.

5.3. The perfect auxiliary with be-verbs

The experiential perfect auxiliary བཞག་/ཤག་ (or འདུག་ in the written language) can also be added to རེད་ and ཡོད་རེད་ to refer to a situation where you’re just now observing something that was already the case. For example:

• ཁོང་མཚོ་མོ་རེད་ཤག Oh, that’s Tsomo!

The negative forms are respectively མ་རེད་བཞག་ and རེད་མི་འདུག་.

6. The imperative

The imperative is a verb form used to make commands or requests. In Tibetan, it only occurs with volitional verbs. In Classical Tibetan, volitional verb roots had an imperative form that could be used by itself, but in modern Standard Tibetan it is more common to use imperative particles, and the imperative form of the verb root is mainly confined to the written language. However, certain verbs like འགྲོ་ (“to go”, imperative form རྒྱུགས་) and ཡོང་ (“to come”, imperative form ཤོག་) do use imperative verbal roots in the spoken language.

The basic imperative is formed with the end-of-sentence verbal particle ཨ་:

• ང་ལ་སྤྲད་ཨ། Give it to me!

Commands can be formed with the end-of-sentence verbal particle དང་:

• བཞུགས་དང་། Please sit down.

Respectful imperatives are formed by adding རོགས་, རོགས་གནང་, གནང་དང་, or རོགས་གནང་དང་ to the verb:

• ང་ལ་བཀའ་སློབ་གནང་རོགས་གནང་། Please give me advice.
• ག་ལེར་ཕེབས་རོགས་གནང་། Goodbye (respectful, lit. “please go slowly”)
• དགོངས་པ་གནང་རོགས་གནང་། Please excuse me (i.e. grant me permission to leave or cancel)

More direct imperatives can be formed without any imperative particle:

• འདིར་ཤོག Come here.
• ག་ལེར་ཕེབས། Goodbye (lit. “go slowly”)

Impatient imperatives can be formed with the verbal particle {ཅིག་}, which has the same alternate forms as the determiner {ཅིག་}:

• ལྟོས་ཤིག Look!
  • ལྟོས་ is the imperative form of ལྟ་ (“to look, to watch”)

The negative imperative can be formed by adding མ་ before the verb, for example:

• བརྫུན་མ་མ་བཤད་ཨ། Don’t lie!
• དགོངས་པ་མ་ཚོམས། I’m sorry (lit. “don’t get angry”)

6.1. Wishes

Involuntary verbs may not have an imperative form, but you can still use various constructions to express wishes with involuntary verbs.

One common construction uses འི་རེ་བ་ཡོད། after a verb stem when directly telling someone your wish for something will happen to them. You must leave out ཁྱེད་རང་ in this construction. For example:

• མགྱོགས་པོར་ན་དྲག་པའི་རེ་བ་ཡོད། I hope you get better soon.

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We’ve now finished learning every common verb tense and auxiliary. In Unit 10 we will learn other basic ways of modifying and using verbs.

7. Terminology

7.1. Vocabulary

Verbs:

Adverbs:

Nouns:

Adjectives:

7.2. Jargon