Basic grammar and 7 cases

noun = thing (can be a subject and an object)

adj = whatever specifies the thing

verb= action or state of the thing

adv= specifies the verb

object: the thing upon which the action is done, the thing that receives the action

subject = the thing which does the action, or feels the action (if the verb is a verb of emotion,
like being happy, etc.)

a buddhist temple

a buddhist practitioner reads a story

In english, we differentiate between an object and a subject because of their position in the
sentence and the context.

The subject usually comes before the verb

The object usually comes after the verb.

I am happy

Exception:

Are you here?

In the case of a question, the verb can usually come before the subject and the object, but the
object is still after the subject.

In English, there are also various prepositions (words that come before other words) that
change the meaning of the object or create an indirect object (like a second object). For
example: for, from, to, as, like

I did it for you (here it is the object, and for you is the indirect object)

I came from montreal (here the word from expresses that montreal was my starting location)

I bend it like beckham (here the word like expresses that beckham is equal to how I bend it.)

All these prepositions are able to give any possible function to any word in a sentence.
 Cases

All the possible fonctions of a word in a sentence are 8:

Nominative (Subject of a verb of action)

Accusative (object of a verb of action)

Instrumental/Agentive (usually uses the preposition with or by)

Dative (Indirect object) (usually uses the prepositions for, to etc..)

Ablative (usually uses the preposition from)

Genitive (uses the preposition of)

Locative (uses the preposition in, at, on etc.)

Vocative (this is when you call someone by a name, like Adrien, come here! The Adrien here is
in the vocative case).

Cases are just a fancy noun to explain what function a word has in a sentence.

Although you might not know them, you actually know them intuitively.

For example:

I came here from montreal to learn English

I, is the subject, so it is in the nominative case.

Come is the verb.

Here is in the accusative case

From Montreal = This is in the ablative case.

To learn English = This is in the dative case.

As you can see, the words that come AFTER a preposition are in a certain case. So the
preposition DETERMINES THE CASE not the word itself.

In Tibetan

In Tibetan we do not use prepositions, we use postpositions. Post means after. So they are
words that come AFTER the words they modify.

Hence, in English we say from montreal, and in Tibetan it would be montreal from.

So in Tibetan:

I here (postposition that marks the object) montreal (postposition that marks the ablative case)
learn English (postposition that marks the dative case)
What do I mean by postposition? Well it is a word like to, for, from, the only difference is that it
goes after the word it modifies.

The genitive case

In English, we use the preposition of or which or whose etc. , to transform the words that
follow it into an adjective.

For example: Adrien is a noun but if I write the computer of Adrien, Adrien becomes like an
adjective because it specifies computer. (our definition of adjective is anything that specifies the
noun).

Another way to do the genitive in english is to add s. Adriens computer means the computer of
Adrien.

In Tibetan, there are 4 words or particles that you can use to transform words into the genitive
case.
8m- >m- #m- <m- 9m-
These four particles act like the words of, or which is in English, except they come after the
words they modify not before.

So:

People of Tibet Becomes Tibet >m

people

Adrien, whose eyebrows are big becomes eyebrows are big #m- Adrien
the 8m- particle is special because it goes directly after a word that ends with a vowel and it

changes the vowel sound. For example:

0}+-.8m-={1=-%,-
Here, the pai is read as p. Other vowel sounds also change (almost the same as the way La Sa
Da and Na change a vowel sound except for pei) :
pui -> pu
poi -> peu
pii -> pii
pei -> pei
 The Agentive Case

The agentive case (with or by) uses almost the same particles of the genitive, with the only
difference being that we add a sa . The 5 particles are

=- >m=- <m=- #m=- 9m=-

Just like the i of the genitive, the =- here can only be put after vowels. For example :

0}+-.=- By tibetans, with tibetans.

All these particles have various purposes.

1) They can indicate the agent or the instrument of a sentence (as shown above)

2) they can indicate the reason for something (because) :

={1=->m=- because of the mind

3) They can form adverbs slowly etc

 The Accusative case/Dative case/Locative case :

Tibetan has one nice particularity. They use the same words for those 3 cases. In other words,
the postpositions they use for the accusative can be used for the dative and for the locative.

There are 7 Locative/Object (accusative)/Purpose(dative) particles. They are called LOP particles
for short.

those 7 are :
;- ,- :- =v :v- `o- _p-
The: is like the i of the genitive, because it only appears after a vowel. For example :

0}+-.:- For tibetans.

,- is used for real physical locations. Like in Tibet, At Dawson etc Na would be used.

;- la is the most often used of the LOP and its meaning is principally to, for (direct and

indirect object) but it can also be used for an abstract location, like in ones heart, or in the
mind. It can also mean and or with respect to . so :

={1=-;- can mean in the mind, for the mind, with respect to the mind etc.

;-
Uses of :

1) direct object
2) Indirect object
3) Abstract location
4) And
5) with respect to

=v :v- `o- _p- are more often used to form adverbs. For example,

especially , slowly etc. They would come after a noun or an adjective and make it into an
adverb.
 The ablative case

Only 2 particles are used in Tibetan for the ablative (from). These 2 particles are
;=- ,=-
0}+-,=- = From Tibet

These particles however are various usages.

Usage common to both Las and Nas :

1) Source, origin (from this comes that)
2) movement away from, or beyond (going away from Tibet)
3) Separation (from among) (from among these things)
Usage unique to Las :
1) Reason (due to, because of)
2) Comparative (than, greater than)
3) Exclusion (other than this)
4) inclusion (within, from within)
Usage unique to Nas :
1) Instrumental (by means of)
2) Succession (After, since)
3) Adverbial (slowly etc)
All these usages can be learned simply from reading so no need to learn by heart. Just
remember that they are most often used like from .
 The Nominative case
In the nominative case, the subject , no particles are used. In other words, it is the only case
marked by no particles.
Example of a sentence to analyze :

0}+-,=-=}$-#m-=$-+},->m=-$-3~-;-1}#-1}#-A{+-
bod = tibet
sang don = Sangdon
song= to leave (v)
nga = I
mog mog = momos
byed = did

Translate the sentence using the vocab list above.

Passive vs active voice *