Working with verbs through imperatives Imperatives are used to make requests or to direct commands. Within my own studies, initially, I found working with verbs to be the most difficult aspect of language. With tenses and proper verb conjugation being overly, complicate. However, in spoken Tibetan, verbs are a bit easier to work with because in simple spoken Tibetan (unlike written Tibetan) present tense verbs are usually used for all tenses, with tense particles and their accompanying copulas determining the specific tense. So I found a trick, I started working with verbs in their imperative form and found this to be an very easy way to become familiar with verbs. Here is the table on imperatives from my text, Spoken Tibet Basics Imperatives - Request or Command Words. Please (the most polite) Rated by Importance Please do it. ང Often pronounced da ཨ Affectionate Request Do it. Informal request ང Do it. Stronger request (urgency or possible danger) ཨ Do it. Strong request Do it. For a strong command say Just the verb Command Do! So to begin working with verbs in their imperative state, first, 1. Choose a verb: - to do 2. Chose an imperative: ང and you have the imperative Do it! - ང Other Examples: Don t tease - མ + Listen - ཉན + Come here + ང Study your homework - ནང ང + Don t talk - ས ད ཆ མ ཤད + ཨ It s that easy, I practice giving orders (to myself) and soon I got the knack for verbs. Note: Some imperatives work better in the negative, some need help by adding a noun or verbalizer. Also: don t forget that Verbalizers in spoken Tibetan use their past tense pronunciations for all tenses. Work (noun) ཀ + Verbalizer = ཀ to work / ཀ + ང = the imperative. All of this and more is covered in my free text Spoken Tibetan Basics Free Downloads at: Tibet2009.com
Verb Imperatives Conversation Verbs Common Verbs to Ask ས ད ཆ *( ) ང to Do དང to Call ( ཏང ) ང to Drop ང to Introduce ང ས ད ( )ཨ to Grab ང to Invite (to call) ( ཏང ) ང to Hold ང to Meet ཐ ག དང to Keep ཉ དང to Say ལབ དང to Leave བཞ དང to Talk ས ད ཆ (བཤད )དང to Pick up ན དང to Visit ལ ས ར (འག )དང to Pull ན དང to Push Coming/Going Verbs to Put བཞ དང to Come back ང to Take ན ང to Come from (Honorific) བ to Throw away ང to Drive (a car) ཏང ང to Touch ཆང ང to Drive (cycle / horse) ཞ ན ང བ དང to Go ང Honorific Verbs to Go (Honorific) བ ང to Come or Go བ ང to Return to Do ནང དང to Ride (in a car) ནང ང to Drink or Eat ཆ དང to Ride (cycle / horse) ཞ ན ང to Give ནང ང to Take a (train / bus) ནང to Please Do (request) ནང ང to Sit བ ང * Verbalizers are shown in parentheses and are used with the noun in order to create a verb: Noun Verbalizer Imperative E.g. to Ask ས ད ཆ ( ) ང = ས ད ཆ ང
Bathroom Verbs Bedroom Verbs to Brush hair ( བ ) ང to Go to sleep ཉ ( ) ང to Brush teeth (བ ) ང to Rest ཉ ( བ ) ང to Clip nails ན (བ བ ) ང to Sleep ཉ ང to Dry off པ ( ) ང Don t Snore བ ( བ ) ང to Put on makeup པ (བ )ཨ to Wake up ཡ ང ང to Shave to Wash ཞ ང བ ང Work Verbs Activity Verbs to Clean ཙང (བ ) ང to Dance ཞབ ( བ ) ང to Fix བ བ ( ) ང to Exercise ( ང ) ང to Help པ ( ) ང to Play music ང (བཏང ) ང to Make བ ང to Relax ཉ ( བ ) ང to Sell བཙ ང ང to Throw a party (བཏང ) ང to Show ན ང to Sing ཞ (བཏང ) ང to Work ཀ ( ) ང to Watch a movie བ ན ང Office Verbs School Verbs to Copy (photo copy) པ ( བ ) ང to Listen ཉན ང to Mail ཡ (བཏང ) ང to Memorize བ ལ ཟ ན ང to Research ཉ ཞ བ ( ) ང to Read ཀ ག ང to Supervise ( ) ང to Review བས ར ས ང (བ ད ) ང to Take notes ན ( བ ) ང to Say ལབ ང to Type བ ན ན ( བ ) ང to Study ས བ ས ང (བ ད ) ང to Write ང
Restaurant Verbs Preparing Verbs to Bring / Give ང to Bring (here) to Clean ཙང བ ང to Chop/Cut བ ང to Drink བ ང ང to Knead བ ང to Eat ང to Peal བ ང to Pass / Give ང to Pour ང to Pour ང to Stir ང to Take (there) ང Cooking Verbs Shopping Verbs to Boil ང to Buy ཉ ང to Cook / Make བ ང to Go Shopping ཉ བ ( བ ) ང to Deep fry (བཏང ) ང to Order ང ང to Finish ཚ བ ( ) ང to Pickup ན ང to Fry བ (བཏང ང ) to Return ང to Prepare ( ) ང to Sell བཙ ང ང to Steam ང ཚ ( བ ) ང to Take ང Doctor s Office Verbs Emergency Verbs to Cough ( བ ) ང to Be arrested ང to Examine བ ( ) ང to Beat ཉ བ ང (བཏང ) ང to Get a shot བ ( བ ) ང to Cheat (བཏང ) ང to Recover པ to Kill བ ང to Throw up པ ( ) ང to Need help པ ( ) ང to Steal ( བ ) ང
Buddhism Verbs Sports Verbs to Chant ན པ ( ན ) ང to Dive ཆ ང ང to Gain merit བ ( བ ) ང to Hit ང to Make offering ཡ ན ཆབ ( ) ང to Kick ( ) ང to Pray ན ( བ ) ང to Jump ཆ ང ང to Prostrate ཚ ང to Run ( ན ) ང to Recite mantras ང ( ན ) ང to Play ང to Walk kora ( བ ) ང to Score ང to Visualize ཡ ཆ ང Senses Verbs Mind Verbs to Feel ཚ བ ( ང ) ང to believe ཡ ཆ ( ) ང to Listen ཉན ང to Care ང ( ) ང to Look བ ང to Choose ( ) ང to Smell ( ) ང to Create བ ང to Taste ( ང ) ང to Decide ( ) ང to Watch ང To Make Plans ཆ ཞ བ ང to Think བ (བཏང ) ང Speech Verbs to Trust ཡ ཆ ( ) ང to Ignore ཡ ( ) ང to Insult ཚ ཏ (བཏང ) ང to Joke ཆ བ ང ང to Judge (བཏང ) ང to Lie ན བ ང to Tease ( ) ང
Bodily Action Verbs Bodily Function Verbs to Bite ( བ ) ང to Bleed བཏ ན to Come here ང to Breath (བཏང ) ང to Fight པ ( བ ) ང to Burp པ ( བ ) ང to Hit/slap (བ ) ང to Cough ( བ ) ང to Hug ང to Cry ང to Kick (བ ) ང to Fart (བཏང ) ང to Kiss ང to Hiccup ཨ ཀ ( བ ) ང to Kneel བ ང to Pee ན པ (བཏང ) to Laugh ང to Poop བཙ པ (བཏང ) to Lay down ཉ ང to Have Sex ( ) ང to Lean against ཉ ང to Sneeze བ ( བ ) ང to Lick ང to Squat ཙ ( ) ང to Massage ཉ (བཏང ) ང to Swallow ང to Punch ང to Sweat ན ( བ ) ང to Push to Rub to Scratch to Sit down བ ང to Stand up ང ང ( བ ) ང (བཏང ) ང ( བ ) ང