The Manual of Standard Tibetan

Quick Links to Chapters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

The Manual of Standard Tibetan by Nicolas Tournadre and Sangdak Dorje is designed to teach students modern spoken Lhasa Tibetan and the basics of reading modern Tibetan from a beginning to intermediate level. The print publication, which is a translation from the original French publication, is due out from Snow Lion Publicationsin the late spring of 2003. The core of the book is forty one lessons which systematically teach the grammar of Tibetan as organized around dialogs or simple stories. In addition to a dialog, each chapter is supplementedby vocabulary, grammatical notes and exercises.

Tournadre and Dorje together with Edward Garrett and David Germano are currently directing an on-line project to extend the Manual by adding videotaped versions of the dialogs, as well as audio versions of the vocabulary. In addition, additional testing and guidelines for classroom use are being added to build a dynamic set of web resources to be used in conjunction with the printed book.

To learn more about the Manual and how to use it, visit our Instructional Resources page.

The following list of the Manual's 41 chapters specifies the grammatical topics covered in each, with links to the THDL Reference Grammar; and provides Web-based access to dialogs and supplementary materials when available.

1 "What's this?" 'di ga re red/

• Word order, the verb "to be", the demonstratives, the interrogative pronoun ga re, the honorific

2 "Who's this?" khong su red/

• The interrogative particles, the plural marker, gender, the interrogative pronoun su

3 "The telephone" kha par/

• The verb yin- and "egophoric" verbs, the rule of anticipation, existential verbs

4 "Come in!" yar phebs/

• General presentation of cases, the genitive case, the absolutive case, the imperative with the verb only

5 "I have many books" deb mang po yod/

• The oblique case, "mediatory" moods, the connective yang- "also", the existential verbs yod red and yod, the main towns of Tibetan culture 92

6 "Family photo" nang mi par/

• The singular indefinite article, the importance of context, translating the verbs "to be" and "to have", the interrogative pronoun ga par

7 "Where did you go?" ga par phebs pa/

• Word order and postpositions, cardinal and ordinal numbers, the past (aorist) auxiliaries pa yin, pa red, song

8 "Invitation to a meal" gsol tshigs btang ba/

• Classes of verbs, the agentive case, the past receptive egophoric auxiliary �G-, the future auxiliaries: gi red, gi yin, the interrogative pronoun ga gi

9 "What's your name?" khyed rang gi mtshan la ga re zhu gi yod/

• Verb constructions, the associative case, the present auxiliaries gi yod red, gi 'dug, gi yod, the interrogative pronouns ga nas and ga tshod

10 "What are you doing these days?" deng sang ga re byed kyi yod

• The notion of verb aspect, auxiliary verbs, the past (perfect) auxiliaries yod, the interrogative pronoun ga dus, alternative questions

11 "Pilgrimage" gnas mjal/

• Auxiliaries of probability: yod pa 'dra, yod kyi red, yod sa red, yin pa 'dra, yin kyi red, yin sa red, the nominalisers yag and rgyu, the connective: V+tsang - "because", secondary verbs, the modal verbs thub, srid - "to be able" , the main mountains of Tibet , the main lakes of Tibet , he main rivers of Tibet

12 "The football match" rkang rtsed spo lo/

• The complement of verbs of motion , the time , omitting the ergative case , omitting the subject , the different meanings of gcig

13 "Arriving at the airport" gnam gru 'bab thang la slebs pa/

• The conditional V(past) + na , the imperative suffix rogs gnang , the construction V+ 'gro'o + Aux. "to be about to", "to have just" , administrative Tibet

14 "The Banaksh�l area" sba nag zhol/

• Verbalisers , the connective nas , the construction V+ pa da ga

15 "Lobzang's house" blo bzang gi khang pa

• Reported speech. , the experiential auxiliary

16 "Lobzang's house" blo bzang gi khang pa (contd.)

• The modal verb dgos- "to have to" , the interrogative pronoun "why?"

17 "In the kitchen" thab tshang nang la

• Adjectival suffixes

18 "How many rooms are there?" khang mig ga tshod yod red/

• The nominaliser , the auxiliaries of probability min 'gro yin 'gro , adverbial constructions

19 "The post office" sbrag khang/

• Imperative markers, the modal verb chog - "to be able, to be allowed"

20 "Asking the way" lam khag 'dri ba/

• The nominalizer mkhan

21 "Tibetan tea or milk tea?" bod ja yang na ja mngar mo/

• Superlative constructions , comparative constructions of equality , the construction ma gtogs - "apart from", "unless" , Tibetan tea

22 "The Bharkor" bar skor

• Comparative constructions of superiority , the connective of enumeration byas

23 "Doing the shopping" nyo cha rgyag pa/

• The suffix tsam , future auxiliaries with dgos

24 "The picnic" gling ga gtong ba/

• Temporal connectives of simultaneity: dus- "at the moment when", skabs la- "at the moment when", ring la- "during", etc. , the use of the future in habitual constructions

25 "The picnic" gling ga gtong ba/ (contd.)

• The nominalizer pa , the topicalizer ni , picnics , fumigation offerings

26 "About the Lhokha pilgrimages" lho gnas kyi skor/

• Relative pronouns , the modal verb 'dod- "to want"

27 "Visiting the temple" mchod mjal gyi skor/

• The modal auxiliaries of past and present: past - rgyu byung, rgyu byung song, yag byung, yag byung song; present - rgyud yod ma red, rgyu mi 'dug , the religions of Tibet

28 "The car has broken down" mo Tra skyon shor ba

• The auxiliaries of probability: rgyu yin, rgyud red, yag yin, yag red , the factitive construction

29 "The car has broken down" mo Tra skyon shor ba (contd.)

• The present gerundive : , V(past) + nas , V(pres.) + gin + V(pres.) + gin , the auxiliaries of probability: a yod, a yin, a yong

30 "Approaching the tents" sbra gur gyi nye 'dabs la slebs pa/

• The adverbializer ze: ga 'dras and ga 'dras ze - "how"; di 'dras and 'dei 'dras ze - "like this"; da ga "the very one" and da ga ze "just like that" , the modal formulations: "to have no choice" - ma + V + rang- + V; ma + ka med + V

31 "The nomads' way of life" 'brog pa'i 'tsho ba'i bskor/

• The constructions V+ dgos byung , the echo question: as- , expressive adjectives , the Drogpas

32 "City life" grong khyer gyi 'tsho ba skyel stangs/

• The nominalizer stangs- "the way of doing X", the secondary verb long- "to have time" , indirect questions

33 "The harvest festival" 'ong skor/

• Omitting the auxiliary verb , expressive particles , corrective and mnemic constructions , traditional festivals

34 "A visit to the doctor" aem chi bsten pa/

• The connective "before �ing": ma + V + gong la , the connective "after �ing": V + pa'i rjes la , the connective "after �ing": V + pa'i gzhug la , the connective byas "after �ing" , Tibetan medicine

35 "Illness" na tsha'i skor/

• Causative and resultative verb pairs , sky burial

36 "Tibetan New Year" lo gsar

• The nominalizer srol , the aspectual auxiliary tshar - "to finish" , the purposive connective ched du - "in order to"

37 "The Great Prayer Festival and the Full Moon Offering" smon lam chen mo dang bco lnga mchod pa

• The construction pa ma zad- "not only, but�"

38 "The Great Offering" tshogs mchod chen mo

• Rhetorical questions , the connective ste -"but"

39 "The three monastic seats" gdan sa gsum

• The distanciation marker tshul - "it appears", modal formulations of the type � khag byed

40 "Some summer festivals" dbyar kha'i skabs kyi dus chen kha shas/

• The aspectual auxiliary bsdad - "to stay"

41 "The Yogurt Festival and the Ceremony of P�nd�n Lhamo" zho ston dang dpal lha'i ri khrod

• Directional auxiliaries , completive clauses , the construction gang- + Adj / V / doubled Adv