lama choedak

Therefore prefixe should not be described as being mute or silent theydo not simply remain silent. They
modify the whole sound of a root consonant with some exceptions. A prefix does not occur in a
syllable without a vowel or a suffix.

8.1 Progressive
Each of the eight tenses (we have studied in lesson 7) can be slightly changed to show action
continuing over an extended period of time. Such continuity is indicated by the progressive tenses.
The progressive tenses are formed by combining some form of verb to be (is, was, will be, would
be, has been, had been, will have been, would have been) with the -ing form of another verb (i~
writing, was writing etc.). This is known as present participle.

Practice combining the vowels with the consonants shown above once you have~tered
pronouncing the consonants clearly. Someone who has taught themselves how to read and
understand Tibetan manuscripts may feel that learning how to read and spell Tibetan the way it is
traditionally taught is a very tiring process. However, if one wishes to learn to speak the language
properly there is no short cut that will help you communicate in the spoken language other than
learning it in the traditional sequence.

Unlike Sanskrit, Tibetan language is a living and progressive language which is spoken in many countries in the Himalayan region.

The thirty consonants of the Tibetan alphabet known as "I'w'.r§"i·~ .. rqil· gsal byed sum bcu are
classified into seven and half groups of four. The order in which the four letters are arranged in
each group are very significant in terms of the Tibetan phonology. Thus Tibetan alphabet is
traditionally written sequentially in four columns in seven and half horizontal rows as given below.
Grammatically these groups are named after the first letters of each group ~'(~ ..
"''1 v
'*f
1
U
e
o
Palatal
Palatal and Labial
Palatal
Platal and Labial
Articulation
Partial bending from the head in narrowness
Nearly closed lips in narrowness
Slight contact with head, rising in broad space
Uplifting of lower lip
Practise hoy.' to pronounce the consonants clearly. No phonetic system can teach the correct
pronunciation unless one listens and learn it from a native speaker. Written characters are designed
to help to express the unalterable sound and meaning of the spoken language (this is what the
Sanskrit word for letter aksara means). Try to recognize the characters of the Tibetan alphabet so
that the appropriate pronunciation of the letters can be learnt with minimum help of the Romanized
forms. Even if the Romanized forms prove helpful in the preliminary stages, do not develop a
habit of not writing and reading in the language one is supposedly learning. Even if we know the
grammar of the language, we will never be able to speak or write it properly if we do not use the
script. Historically, until Tibet's recent colonization there had been no attempt to enforce a foreign
script and leave Tibetan redundant.
1.9.a In most Tibetan grammmaticalliterature, the place of origin of a letter clj·~iS.·~·"Ii!i»r (yi ge'i
skye gnas) is discussed in great length under four important topics: The three narrow places of
articulation ~"I'

The first interest of the study of Tibetan language in the West was perhaps motivated by Christian
missionaries. Some took crash courses in Tibetan and translated the Bible with the help of some
Tibetan scholars and wrote Tibétan Grammar in English giving most of the examples from the
translation of the Bible. The first Tbetan printing ress in Kalimpong was primarily run and owned
by Khunu Tharchin, a Tibetan speaking Christian from Spiti in Jammu. Some hastily compiled
Tibetan English dictionaries appeared as early as mid nineteen century.·

In exile many Tibetans schools were
opened and monasteries were rebuilt Hundreds of refugees are continuing to escape from Tibet with
their young children in hope of giving them proper Tibetan language training in India and Nepal. I
can recall learning how to read and write Tibetan under a tree in a refugee camp in Pokhara, Nepal.
There were no classes, all the children sat together under a trea learning how to pronounce the .
alphabet The first thing we memorized were Sum cu pa by Thonmi Sambhota.

The communist invasion of Tibet can never be forgiven and is a great threat to the survival of
traditional culture. Maoist anarchists from China has tried to destroy Tibet's cultural and our national
heritage. The study of the unique Tibetan language was prohibited and 6000 monasteries and
educational institutions in Tibet were destroyed. In spite of all the catastrophic destruction of the
Tibetan culture, religion and language, Tibetans have managed to preserve their language and culture
in exile under the leadership of His Holiness' the Dalai Lama.. In exile many Tibetans schools were
opened and monasteries were rebuilt

[version de la même période historique en Français dans Parlons Tibétain, dans ce livre c'est en anglais]
During the reign of Trisong Deutsen (khri srong lde'u
btsan), Tibetan language received an extensive revision. In spite of the dark era caused by the
prosecution of Buddhism by Lang Darma, it gave a much needed motivation amongst the Tibetans to
send more Tibetans to study Buddhadharma in India. As a result, in 10th century galaxies of eminent
Tibetan translators emerged including Lochren Rinchen Sangpo, Drogmi Lotsawa Shaky a Yeshi,
Ngok Lotsawa Lodhen Sherab and others. They were responsible for the revival of Buddhism in
Tibet and standardisation of the complex Tibetan Buddhist terminology. The entire Tibetan Buddhist
canon were compiled under the supervision of Buton Rinpoche and were printed in wooden
xylographs.

Tibetan is spoken by approximately ten million people in more than a half a dozen of countries in
the Asian sub-continent including Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim, India and South West China. It is
understood by Mongolians who have had traditional monastic education. Tibetan is a member of the
Tibeto-Burman group of languages, but has no great association with Chinese, so it is a mistake to
coin the term 'Sino-Tibetan language family'. Tibetan language with its separate alphabet is a
powerful expression of Tibet's independence. Its written language was based on the 7th century
Gupta script of India and its logical grammar is easy to follow in spite of its close association with
Sanskrit.

1.14 We have already seen the Tibetanized Sanskrit alphabet and have noticed the similarities
and disimilarities between the Sanskrit and the Tibetan alphabet. It is very important for any student
who wishes to learn the Tibetan language to see the unique relationship between the two languages
and remember the additional characters in the Tibetan alphabet which do not exist in the Sanskrit
alphabet

List of verbs

A Tibetan verb can come in two to folir different forms to expressl the three tenses and the Imperative. In forming different tenses and moods, the root of a verb can be affected either by the addition, delition or susbstitution of a prefix, the second suffix '\I'. Sometimes even the root
letter is transformed and the vowel is dropped. Examples of verbs which only has one form for all tenses and moods will not be listed asthey are unlikely to cause any problem as long as one can find their meaning in dictionaries. IJl spite of the importance of knowing the rules which
govern the spelling changes of the verbs for the tenses and moods it is equally important that. students become familiarised with the various auxiliary verbs which are applicable for the main
verbs. The limited understanding of the cultural, historical and religious context and the ignorance of the way Tibetan speaking people think, write and talk make many textual scholarsconfused and blame the ambiguity of the language. It is the inherent danger of learning any
languages through books and have no practical application of using it as a living language.
Memorizing some rigid grammatical rules written some 1300 years ago is inadeqaute if one is unprepared to examine the relevance of such rules.in the present day and why the changes have occurred. Any system of theory which is not applied in every day practice is redundant.
Following are some of my observations on spelling changes of Tibetan verbs:

The Passive Voice
As a rule, the subject of an active verb performs the action of the verb while the subject of a
passive verb receives the action of the verb, . The subject of a passive verb is what in the active
would be an object. In Tibetan since the subject is not necessarily mentioned, an attempt to
make a big difference between active and passive verbs seems to be rather superfluous except
when translating English passive sentences into Tibetan, The ergativity of the Tibetan language
makes it full of passive idea, The formation of passive is very simple as there is no change to the
root of the verb. The only difference is the shift of the subject into object.

There is a joke about people of gtsang making excessive
use of honorific expressions that they even use when quarrelling. One form of honorific can be
more polite than the other. The basic idea is that the speaker should use ordinary words and
expressions when speaking of himself or of his property and concerns, or when he addresses
someone younger or junior and discusses his concerns and property. But the speaker uses polite
words and expressions which may be of concern to his parents, teachers, seniors, ordained monks,
nuns or to strangers. We will try to give the basic examples of Tibetan honorifics and their
formation. In Tibetan there is an exclusive honorific vocabulary for most nouns, verbs, adjectives
and pronouns.

Tibetans have extraordinary faith in the special power attached to this language from which all the
Buddhist scriptures in the Tibetan Buddhist canon were translated. Tibetanized Sanskrit syllables,
names, Mantras and Dharanis are commonly found in Tibetan literature and one should know the
Sanskrit pronunciation of them - it is very different from the Tibetan pronunciation.

Dédicace
Although this manual is the result of many months' hard
work, it was much easier than attending classes under
trees while missing my little sister who died on our way
in Mustang when we were escaping from Tibet in 1959.
I .dedicate this book for her and many other young
Tibetan children who died as the result of communist
occupation of Tibet. My very existence and this book
could not have appeared without the loving care,
protection and guidance which I have received from my
parents and His Eminence Chogay Trichen Rinpoche, I
hope that this is. the first drop of the fluidity of my
repaying of their kindness. Special thanks are also due
to my wife Mirabelle for her understanding, patience
and constant support in my work. I also express my
gratitude to Merrill Cook and Ken Gardiner for their
help and to my students for their support and
encouragement.

Students who successfully complete this course will not put through such difficulties. I have
written this manual because Tibetan is my mother tongue and I am well versed on the subject. I have
had a thorough traditional training in both school and monastery under the tutelage of some of the
leading Tibetan linguists, poets and grammarians alive today. My teacher, His Eminence Chogay
Trichen Rinpoche was on the board of writers who designed the Tibetan school text book under the
auspices of the Council of Tibetan Education in Dharamsala. I have been teaching Tibetan to nonTibetans
some years now and this book is an outcome of my own interest in teaching the language.

Practise hoy.' to pronounce the consonants clearly. No phonetic system can teach the correct
pronunciation unless one listens and learn it from a native speaker. Written characters are designed
to help to express the unalterable sound and meaning of the spoken language (this is what the
Sanskrit word for letter aksara means). Try to recognize the characters of the Tibetan alphabet so
that the appropriate pronunciation of the letters can be learnt with minimum help of the Romanized
forms. Even if the Romanized forms prove helpful in the preliminary stages, do not develop a
habit of not writing and reading in the language one is supposedly learning. Even if we know the
grammar of the language, we will never be able to speak or write it properly if we do not use the
script. Historically, until Tibet's recent colonization there had been no attempt to enforce a foreign
script and leave Tibetan redundant.

The Tibetan alphabet is based upon the Devanagari script. Designed to conform with the
existing Tibetan language, Thonmi's Tibetan alphabet is one of the few scripts in the world which was solely created for the purpose of translating Buddhist scriptures. Scholars and students ofBuddhist Studies in modern times have recognized that the Tibetan language is one of the most important languages which has preserved few of the most accurate translations of the complete Buddhist Canon.

I was fortunate enough to thoroughly study amongst other things, the two grammatical works under His Eminence Chogay Trichen Rinpoche in Lumbini, the birth-place of the Buddha. His Eminence is one of the most remarkable Tibetan poets alive today. Having served as his secretary
and personal assistant for some six years, my Tibetan education was fulfilled beyond my expectation.