Pronouns
You should try to memorize the personal pronouns and the most common demonstrative- and interrogative pronouns. This combined with a basic knowledge of nouns and verbs will soon enable you to maintain a simple conversation.
Personal Pronouns
The personal pronouns are fairly simple and easy to remember. The words are short and the plural is always formed in the same way. In the Lhasa dialect people usually refer to other people (he, she, they, etc) using the honorific form of the pronoun. In Amdo and Kham this is not the case. In these areas people use honorific much less, it is mainly used when referring to a lama or someone of a high status.
| Personal Pronouns in the Lhasa Dialect | |||
| Pronoun | Pronunciation | Meaning | Comments |
| $- | nga | I | This pronoun has no honorific form |
| $-3~- | nga-tsho | We | |
| ={+-:$-í | khyë-rang | You | Honorific |
| ={+-:$-3~-í | khyë-rang-tsho | You (plural) | Honorific |
| "}$- | khong | He/She | Honorific |
| "}$-3~-í | khong-tso | They | Honorific |
You can use these forms of the personal pronouns in most situations. There are other forms for those pronouns which you should be aware of. Remember that Tibetans from other areas than Lhasa might use those more than the ones listed above.
| Other forms of Personal Pronouns | |||
| Pronoun | Pronunciation | Meaning | Comments |
| ={+- | khyë | You | Honorific, but not as polite as above |
| ={+-3~- | khyë-tsho | You (plural) | Same as previous |
| =}+- | khyö | You | Non-Honorific |
| =}+-3~- | khyö-tsho | You (plural) | Non-Honorific |
| "}- | Kho | He | Non-Honorific |
| "}-3~- | Kho-tsho | They | Non-Honorific, males only |
| 1}- | mo | She | Non-Honorific |
| 1}-3~- | mo-tsho | They | Non-Honorific, females only |
There are still other versions of the above listed pronouns. Some only exist in writing while others are more or less disappearing from the spoken language. The above listed pronouns are what you will mostly come across.
Demonstrative Pronouns
Below is a list of the most common demonstrative pronouns.
| Demonstrative Pronouns | |||
| Pronoun | Pronunciation | Meaning | Comments |
| 8+m- | di | This | |
| 8+m-3~-í | di-tsho | These | |
| +{- | de | That | |
| +{-3~- | de-tsho | Those | |
| /-#m- | pha-gi | That over there | Spoken Tibetan only |
| /-3~- | pha-tsho | Those over there | Spoken Tibetan only |
| 9-#m- | ya-gi | That up there | |
| 9-3~- | ya-tsho | Those up there | |
| 1-#m- | ma-gi | That down there | |
| 1-3~- | ma-tsho | Those down there | |
Interrogative Pronouns
Below is a list of some common interrogative pronouns. Interrogatives will be dealt with in more detail at later stage.
| Interrogative Pronouns Used in Spoken Tibetan | ||
| Pronoun | Pronunciation | Meaning |
| #-:{- | ga-re | What |
| #-.:- | ga-bar | Where (In central and Western Tibet) |
| #-`o=- | ga-dü | When\At what time |
| #-8H=- | gan-drë | How\Like what |
| #-3+- | ga-tshhë | How many\How much |
| #-3~+- | ga-tshhö | How many\How much |
| =v- | su | Who |
| =v8m-í | sui | Whose |