བྱ་བྱེད་ཐ་དད་མི་དད་ཀྱི་བྱ་ཚིག ། རང་དབང་ཅན་དང་གཞན་དབང་ཅན་གྱི་བྱ་ཚིག །

§1. For pragmatic purpose, verbs in Tibetan may be classified into (a) copular-or-auxiliary and (b) main verbs. (a) With copular verb, I am thinking of mainly yin pa (sein or “to be”) and its various forms (particularly in modern Tibetan) and (arguably) yod pa (dasein or “to be there”). §2. The distinction between copular and auxiliary verbs does not lie in the nature of the verbs but in their function in a sentence. Note the difference: “He is a shoe-maker.” “He is making shoes.” §3. I personally find useful to speak of verbs such as gcod pa (“to cut”), na ba (“to be sick”), ’gro ba (“to go”), and so on, as main verbs. §4. One of greatest challenges in learning Tibetan seems to be to be able to clearly distinguish between these four categories of verbs and to determine their relationship and usage. Thus, the topic of the four-category of Tibetan main verbs is a “hard nut to crack” and a “difficult issue” (dka’ ba’i gnas/gnad or dka’ gnas/gnad). A nuanced understanding of this category of verbs and their usage seems utterly important. §5. Transitive (bya byed tha dad pa) are main verbs that require a direct or accusative object. The direct object in Tibetan is usually not required to to be marked with an accusative marker. E.g. za ma bza’ ba “to eat food” or skar ma mthong ba “to see stars.” However, compare verbs such as ’gro ba, e.g. shar phyogs su ’gro. In fact this is one of the few examples of the use of main verbs with an accusative particle. Some artificial Tibetan translation from the Sanskrit may have accusative particles where they are actually not necessary. This, however, is not natural to Tibetan language. In German accusative is clearly marked, e.g. “Ich habe ihn gesehen.” In English it is often or less conspicuous, e.g. “I saw him.” This is because him can also be an indirect or dative object, e.g. “I gave him a book.” §6. Intransitive (bya byed tha mi dad pa) verbs are main verbs that do not require a direct or accusative object, e.g. ’chi ba “to die” or skye ba “to be born.” These ought to be clearly distinguished from gsod pa “to kill” and skyed pa “to generate/produce.” §7. Transitivity of a verb is said to determine the ergativity of the subject. We shall have to see if this rule holds. §8. Transitive verbs are more complex in their graphic/character representations. Compare bsgrubs (transitive) and grub (intransitive). §9. Knowing the classification of main verbs into autonomous and heteronomous is crucial. Autonomous and heteronomous verbs are aptly called rang dbang can gyi bya tshig and gzhan dbang can gyi bya tshig, respectively, by sKal-bzang-’gyur-med (Rab gsal me long, pp. 365, 368). Those main verbs in Tibetan, be they transitive or intransitive, that express volitional actions are called autonomous verbs, and hence can be described as “verbs of volitional actions” (Handlungsverben). Those main verbs in Tibetan, be they transitive or intransitive, that express (non-volitional) occurrence are called heteronomous verbs, and hence can be described as “verbs of happenings” (Geschehensverben). §10. Tibetan grammarians do not necessarily consider autonomous and heteronomous verbs to be contradictory insofar as a causal relationship is possible between the latter and the former. If one “kills” a person, he or she would “die.” If one “looks,” one may “see” (mthong). If one “goes,” one will “arrive.” §11. Only autonomous verbs have imperative forms, e.g. song zhig “Go!” It makes no sense to give orders to persons who have no autonomy to act. Both autonomous and heteronomous verbs can be construed in the optative. One can wish that something be done or takes place. E.g. ma na bar gyur cig “May [you] not be sick!” §11. The relationships between transitive, intransitive, autonomous, and heteronomous is important. §12. All transitive verbs are autonomous verbs except verbs of perception. For example, mthong ba “to see” is a transitive verb because it requires a direct or accusative object, but it is heteronomous because a person has no autonomy over whether he or she sees something or not. He/she may “look” (lta) but may not “see” (mthong), or, he/she may “see” something even without “looking” at it. §13. All intransitive verbs are heteronomous verbs except verbs of movement. For example, ’gro ba “to go” is intransitive because it requires no direct object, but it is autonomous because a person has autonomy over the act of going. According to Tibetan grammarians, the object of going is the goer himself or herself, and so it is intransitive. §14. Most (if not all) those verbs that function as modal verbs seem to be intransitive-cum-heteronomous verbs. §15. In modern Tibetan heteronomous verbs can never be construed from a personal standpoint/perspective. An event or occurrence over which one has no autonomy can never be personal or subjective, even when one experiences it oneself directly. It is only and always impersonal and objective, e.g. na ba “to be sick.”

སྲེལ། སྲོལ།

srel, srol:

Like the German pflegen “to nurse” and Gepflogenheit “custom,” Tibetan srel ba “to bring up, rear, nurse, train” and srol “usage, custom” are said to be related. See Simon 1980: 133.

བྱེད་སྒྲ་ + བྱ་ཚིག །

Some verbs that are construed with the instrumental: 

(a) x + gyis + (mi) lang ba (lit. “to be (not) sufficiently x-able”)

1. brjod kyis mi lang ba “not sufficiently expressible” or “inexpressible” {Bod rgya}

2. bstod kyis mi lang ba “not sufficiently laudable” {Bod rgya}

3. bgrang gis mi langs pa “not sufficiently countable” {Bod rgya}

(b) x + gyis + chog (mi) shes pa (lit. “to know (no) contentment with x”) {Bod rgya}

1. zas gos gnas mal sogs ngan ngon tsam gyis chog shes pa {Bod rgya}

2. blta bas chog mi shes pa {Bod rgya}

3. lta bas chog mi shes pa’i rdzas {Jäschke 1881: s.v. chog pa}

(c) x + gyis+ chog pa (lit. “to suffice with x”)

1. nged la de kas chog {Jäschke 1881: s.v. chog pa}

2. dris pas chog go {Jäschke 1881: s.v. chog pa}

3. nged la nor longs spyod kyis chog pa yod {Jäschke 1881: s.v. chog pa}

4. ’di gsum gyis chog na {Jäschke 1881: s.v. chog pa}

5. rin po ches chog par gyur nas {Jäschke 1881: s.v. chog pa}

6. ’di tsam gyis chog pa ma yin no || {Jäschke 1881: s.v. chog pa}

7. phyin pas chog gi {Jäschke 1881: s.v. chog pa}

8. khrid pas chog {Jäschke 1881: s.v. chog pa}

9. ’gran pas chog {Jäschke 1881: s.v. chog pa}

10. ’tsho ba drans pas chog {Jäschke 1881: s.v. chog pa}

11. ha cang spros pas chog go ||

(d) (mi) ldang ba

 1. ’bor tshad kyis mi ldang ba {Bod rgya}

(e) (mi) khyab pa

1. bsam gyis mi khyab pa {Bod rgya}

(f) (mi) tshad pa

1. bsam ’char re re gnyis gnyis kyis mi tshad pa {Bod rgya}

2. de tsam gyis mi tshad {Bod rgya}

(g) gtsos pa

1. nas kyis gtsos pa’i ’bru rigs {Bod rgya}

2. bal gyis gtsos pa’i yul zog {Bod rgya}

(h) ’thus pa

1. lto gos bzang ngan de tsam gyis ’thus {Bod rgya}

2. bshad pas ’thus {Bod rgya}

3. sman ’di btung bas ’thus {Bod rgya}

(i) ’grig pa

1. de ring ’khrid rgyu’i dpe cha de ga tsam gyis ’grig {Bod rgya}

(j) tshim pa

1. zas kyis tshim pa “satiated with food” {Bod rgya}

(k) khengs pa

1. bang mdzod bdog pas khengs pa “treasury filled with riches/reserves/assets” {Bod rgya}

(l) x + gyis + gang ba “to be filled with x”

1. bum pa chus gang ba “a vase/pot filled with water” {Bod rgya}

(m) x + gyis + stong pa “to be empty of x”

1. chos thams cad rang bzhin gyis stong pa’o || “All phenomena are devoid of true nature” {Bod rgya}

(n) x + gyis + dben pa “to be devoid of x”

1. snying pos dben pa “to be devoid of essence” {Bod rgya}

2. nor ’khrul gyis dben pa “to be devoid of mistakes” {Bod rgya}

(o) x + gyis + mnar ba “to suffer from x”

1. nad kyis mnar ba “to suffer from sickness”

(p) x + gyis + gzir ba “to be afflicted with x”

1. mya ngan gyis gzir ba “to be afflicted with grief/sorrow”

(q) x + gyis + bsnyun pa “to suffer from x”

1. nad kyis bsnyun “to suffer from sickness” {Si tu’i ’grel chen, p. 69}

(r) x + gyis + mtshon pa “to be exemplified by x”

1.  des mtshon “exemplified by it” {Si tu’i ’grel chen, p. 68}

(s) x + gyis + ’tsho ba “to survive/live on x”

1. nya yis ’tsho ba “to sustain/live on fish” {Bod rgya}

(t) x+ gyis + brgyan pa “to be adorned with x”

(u)  ’gal gyis dogs “for fear of contradicting” and zhig gis dogs “for fear of falling apart” (RZ 2: 209)

(v) + gyis bskal pa:  
rang bzhin gyis bskal pa “far-removed by nature [from the domain of cognition]”
gnas kyis bskal pa “spatially far-removed [from the domain of cognition]”

dus kyis bskal pa “temporally far-removed [from the domain of cognition]”

(w) + gyis bar chod (RZ 2: 208)

+ ལས་ + བྱ་ཚིག །

+ las + verb:

1. x + las ’phags pa

2. x + las ’da’ ba

3. x + las lhag pa

4. x + las che ba (and all such comparatives)

5. x + las rgyal ba

6. x + las bshad pa

7. x + las byung ba

8. x + las grub pa

9. x + ’phro ba

10. x + las mched pa

11. x + las thon pa

12. x + las ’pho ba

13. x + las zlog pa

14. x + las thar pa

15. x + las rnam par grol ba

16. x + las brgal ba

17. x + las skyob pa

18. x + las skye ba

19. x + las ’khrungs pa

20. x + las med pa

21. x + las bzos/bzhengs pa

22. x + las gzhan pa

23. x + las tha dad pa

24. x + las ’thob/rnyed pa

25. x + las log/ldog/zlog pa

26. x + las btus pa

27. x + las (mi) g.yo ba

28. x + las thos/gsan pa
29. x + las dman pa

x + དང་ + བྱ་ཚིག །

x + dang + verb:

1. x + dang ’bral ba = “to be free from x” or “to be devoid of x”
2. x + dang ’gal ba = “to be at odds with x”
3. x + dang ’gran pa = “to compete with x”

4. x + dang ’brel ba = “to be associated/connected/related with x”
5. x + dang sbrel ba = “to connect/associate/join with x”
6. x + dang sbyar ba = “to be conjoined with x”
7. x + dang ldan ba = “to be endowed with x”
8. x + dang ’bcas pa = “to be together with x”
9. x + dang bsre ba = “to mix with x”
10. x + dang ’dre ba = “to mix with x”

11. x + dang mthun pa = “to conform with x”
12. x + dang mtshungs pa = “to be similar with” or “to resemble x”
13. x + dang ’dra ba = “to be simliar to x”

14. x + dang myam pa = “to be equal with x” “to be on par with x”
15. x + dang gcig pa = “to be one/identical with”
16. x + dang don gcig pa = “to be synonymous with x”

17. x + dang ’phrad pa = “to encounter with x”
18. x + dang mjal ba = “to meet with x” or “to have an audience with”
19. x + dang thug pa = “to encounter with x”
20. x + dang ’dzoms pa = “to meet with x”