Language/Tibetan/Grammar/How-to-Use-Be
Hi Tibetan learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will learn how to use the verb "be" (འདི་གི་གནད་དོན་) in Tibetan. The verb "be" is very important in forming sentences and expressing ideas. It is also used to describe the state of being, identity, and location.
Take a moment to explore these relevant pages as you conclude this lesson: Adjectives & Gender.
Basic Forms of "Be"[edit | edit source]
The verb "be" has several forms in Tibetan depending on the tense, aspect, and mood of the sentence. Here are the basic forms of "be" in Tibetan:
| Tibetan | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| འདི་ | "di" | "is/are/am" |
| རེད་ | "re" | "was/were" |
| དགོས་ | "gö" | "will be" |
| ཚང་མ་ | "tsang ma" | "not be" |
For example, we can use "di" to say "I am a teacher":
- ང་རྩོམ་པ་འདི་བཟོ་བ་ ("nga tshompa di zo ba")
(I am a teacher)
Or we can use "re" to say "He was happy yesterday":
- གང་རེད་ཏེ་དགོས་པ་བདག་ཉིད་ ("gang re te gö pa de nyid")
(he was happy yesterday)
Copula "Be"[edit | edit source]
In Tibetan, the verb "be" is not only used as an auxiliary verb but also as a copula to link the subject to the predicate. The copula "be" can be translated as "is," "are," or "am" in English. For example:
- ཁྱེད་རང་གི་གིས་འདི་བཀའ་དྲིན་པས་བཞིན་དུ་ལས་བྱེད་པ་ ("khyé rang gi gis di ka drin pa shi ndu la bye pa")
(He is a very talented musician)
To use the copula "be" in a negative sentence, we can use the negation particle "ma." For example:
- གློག་ལས་དྲི་མ་འཕྲོ་མ་ཆུ་བྱེད་མི་ཚུལ་མ་ཚད་བྱེད་པ་ ("lok la dri ma 'phro ma chu bye mi tshul ma tshed bye pa")
(Water doesn't boil at a high temperature)
Adjectives + "Be"[edit | edit source]
When we describe persons, places, or things in Tibetan, we use adjectives combined with the copula "be." Here are few examples of using adjectives with "be" in Tibetan:
| Tibetan | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| གནས་པ་འདི་བཞིན་པ་ | "nen pa di shi npa" | "This is beautiful" |
| ཁག་པ་འདི་འགྲོ་བ་ | "khak pa di gro ba" | "This is big" |
| མཁོ་པའི་འགྲོ་བ་ | "khpo pa'i gro ba" | "The pot is big" |
We can use the particle "gnyis" to emphasize the adjective in Tibetan. For example:
- ཁག་པ་འདི་འགྲོ་བ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་སྒྲིང་པོས་བསལ་བཞག་པའི་བཀའ་རྣམས་བསྐྱར་པ་ ("khak pa di gro ba gnyis kyi sgring pos bsal bzang pa'i ka rnam bsKyars pa")
(This big tree with beautiful leaves stands on the hill)
Dialogue[edit | edit source]
Here is a dialogue between two friends where you can see the use of "be" in context:
- Person 1: ཁྱེད་རང་གི་གྲུ་གཏུ་ལ་བདེ་སྐྱོན་བཟུང་ཡོད་པའི་ཚོགས་དང་འདི་གི་ཚོགས་པའི་འདིའི་སྒོ་འབྲེལ་ཡིན་པ་ ("khyé rang gi dru gtu la bde skyon bzung yod pa'i tshogs dang 'di gi tshogs pa'i 'di'i sgo 'brel yin pa")
(I love the sound of the river flowing nearby and the atmosphere here)
- Person 2: འཐོབ་པར་གློ་བརྒྱུད་བཟུང་མ་མཆོག་འཕྲིན་ཡོད་དེ་ ("thop par lo brgyud bzung ma mchog 'bring yod de")
(The beauty of nature here cannot be described in words)
Conclusion[edit | edit source]
The verb "be" is an essential verb in every language, and Tibetan is no exception. We hope this lesson has helped you understand the use of "be" in the Tibetan language. To improve your Tibetan Grammar, you can also use the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions! Don't forget to check out our Grammar page for more Tibetan grammar lessons. Happy learning! 😊
➡ If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section below.
➡ Feel free to edit this wiki page if you think it can be improved. 😎
Great work on completing this lesson! Take a moment to investigate these connected pages: How to Use Have & Plurals.
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
Sources[edit | edit source]
- Modern Lhasa Tibetan grammar - Wikipedia
- Tibetan Grammar - How to Use "Be"
- Tibetan Grammar References and Texts - Padma Karpo Translation ...