Language/Tibetan/Grammar/How-to-Use-Have

Tibetan Grammar - How to Use "Have"

Hi Tibetan learners! 😊

In this lesson, we will learn how to use "have" in Tibetan grammar. "Have" is a very important verb that allows us to express possession or to indicate that an action has already happened.

Before we start, make sure you have a good grasp of Tibetan Grammar, especially the present tense and simple past tense. If you need a quick refresher, check out our grammar page or feel free to ask any questions on the Polyglot Club language exchange platform and find native speakers to practice with!

Using "Have" as Possession

To express possession in Tibetan, we use the verb "དེའི་ (de'i)" followed by the noun that is being possessed. The structure is as follows:

Tibetan: ཁྱོད་རའི་ + དེའི་ + བྱེད་པ་ Pronunciation: Kyö re-yi + de-i + jepa English Translation: possessive particle + possessive verb + noun

For example:

Tibetan	Pronunciation	English
ཁྱོད་རའི་དབང་པོ་དེའི་བརྒྱད་པ་	Kyö re-yi wangpo de-i gyepa	His horse is his possession.|-	ཁྱོད་རའི་མི་འདུག ་དེའི་མཐའ་ཡས་དགའ་པ་	Kyö re-yi mi duk de-i thaye dagpa	My house is made of wood. |-	ཁྱོད་རའི་སློབ་གྲྭ་དེའི་དུས་ཉི་ཧུ་	Kyö re-yi lobdruk de-i dusnyi hu	-

You can try making your own sentences with possession by using the above structure.

Using "Have" as Completed Action

To indicate that an action has already happened in Tibetan, we use the verb "རེད་དཔྱད་ (red-péjé)" followed by the verb in the past tense. The structure is as follows:

Tibetan: ཁྱོད་རའི་ + རེད་དཔྱད་ + བྱེད་པ་ + བཀྲམ་སྒྲིབ་ Pronunciation: Kyö re-yi red-péjé jepa karm-gri English Translation: possessive particle + completed verb + noun + finished particle

For example:

Tibetan	Pronunciation	English
ཁྱོད་རའི་དྲུག་པ་རེད་དཔྱད་བྱེད་པ་བཀྲམ་སྒྲིབ་	Kyö re-yi drukpa red-péjé jepa karm-gri	-	ཁྱོད་རའི་ནང་སྟོང་གཞུང་ལྷུན་རེད་དཔྱད་བྱེད་པ་བཀྲམ་སྒྲིབ་	Kyö re-yi nangtong shung lun red-péjé jepa karm-gri	-	ཁྱོད་རའི་ཁང་ཆེན་བཀོད་པ་རེད་དཔྱད་བྱེད་པ་བཀྲམ་སྒྲིབ་	Kyö re-yi khangchen kopa red-péjé jepa karm-gri	-

You can try making your own sentences with completed action by using the above structure.

Dialogue

Here is a dialogue to help you see how these structures might be used in a real-life situation:

• Person 1: you see my bag?
• Person 2: གོས་བྱོས་ཕྱི་མ་དེའི་པར་བྱེད་པ་ (gö jö-chi ma de'i par jepa) [Have you checked

whether it's yours?]

• Person 1: གོས་བྱོས་ལྟ་བའི་པར་བྱེད་པ་ (gö jö-la tey de'i par jepa) [I have looked everywhere already.]
• Person 2: སྤྲོད་པ་གཏོགས་ཕོག་ (drowpa-tokpö) [Wait a minute.]
• Person 2: ཁྱོད་རའི་ཁབ་མའི་དཀར་དུ་རེད་དཔྱད་བྱས་པའི་ལས་དང་རོགས་རང་ཉེར་རྟོགས་སུ་གཏོགས་ཕོག་ (Kyö re-yi kab ma'i kar-du red péjé jepa'i lay dang rok rang nyer-tok su tokpö) [I checked the lost and

found and they said they already have it.]

• Person 1: འདི་གཅིག་པར་འདིའི་པར་དེའི་བཟང་བ་རེད་དཔྱད་བྱེད་པ་ ((di jikpar a-di'i par de'i zangba red-péjé jepa)? [Do you mean they have this one that is mine?]
• Person 2: ཁྱོད་རའི་ལམ་སྟོན་བྱེད་པ་ (Kyö re-yi lamtön jepa) [Exactly.]

Conclusion

In this lesson, we have learned how to use "have" in Tibetan grammar to express possession or to indicate a completed action. With practice and continued exposure to the language, you will be able to use these structures naturally in conversation. Try making your own sentences and practice with native speakers on Polyglot Club. Happy learning! 😊

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