English
125 TIBETAN GRAMMAR \$sr *l*Fg*^v * U tibecom i ng. Cheerless. I minortal. I tntnovable. V nbelieving. Merciless. Hopeless. £j3y£i^' ap-lf'’M* Infinite. I mnteasurable. Headless, Unsurtnou nted. J" Without riches. > Disrespect ful srcrprq* ^ Incorrect, wrong srjSVq* Having no leisure Unheard of. Immature, ra a;. callo Immodest. Illiterate. srsf^r^r ^ Without faith. ajsrgar Incorporeal. Passionless. Sinless. jljswsi^' Lawless , Illicit (xvii) Sometimes, in the Colloquial, the Active Participles for inanimate objects, and for animate objects, meaning which is , or are, who is, or are , are used adjectivally. Ex. : _ | That lama is a wily one. | This country is a fertile one. (xviii) In Literary Tibetan adjectives are frequently formed by adding to a noun, or to its root, or to a whole phrase, one of the ex¬ pressions <3f Chan, Dan, Dan-chan, ChX Nga, and Y5*, and so representing that class of English adjectives which end in ful, y, ou s, eous, ious, ate , ent , ic, ish, ed. It/, ive, etc. 126 TIBETAN GRAMMAR. Intelligent, Sagacious. Punctilious , moderate. SJdj'Sdf Beneficial, useful. Renowned, famous Costly, expensive. Passionate, amorous . 9‘W Rocky. WW Blissful, joyous. 3f^ficev m Talented , liter ale , accomplished. Intelligent. Wealthy a opulent. Full of moisture. Full of energy . Sinful. .-4 perfectly accomplished scholar. Having a pretty face. prsrippTaaj’ Having an ugly mouth. ®T is also said to be sometimes used thus :— instead of The Lama's /rrayer-wheel: but would seem to be the more correct. See, However. >s 31, V, (6). Instead of constructing an adjective out of the root, the particle, and the affix resort is often had to the root alone plus the affix 3’ .T‘a, or Cha. Ex. : — TIBKTAN GRAMMAR. 127 F rom From From -3^1'CJ*^' may he formed may be formed may be formed W? SS'S' Cheerful. Mortal. Vfry learned. II. -Augmenting of adjectives. This can be done in several ways : — (a) By simply repeating the adjective, either in the shape of the primitive root, or of the root with the particle. Ex. : — Sfttt Very crooked. Very silly, \e sr^'sic;*; Very sour. Very sweet. Very dirty. g-cfg'cr Very clean. Very early in the morning. Very late . (b) By repeating the adjective, in any of its forms, with Yang, inserted between them. In the Colloquial becomes Q.C’ aho, after consonants other than "T, er . and ^T| Rx. : — Sq&rWJCsS&l | Very beautiful. fpr^jerlp | Very thick. Very learned. ■W also becomes Q.C’ after vowels, both in the Literary Iancnnum and in Colloquial. Ex. §-era l c-§-q | wic-sfe^c-^C’^T | Very heavy (Lit.). Very light (Coll.). 128 TIBETAN GRAMMAR. In the Literary language CNC becomes 2F Ivyang, after final consonants ^ and Ex. : — fp-jc-fp I W C T'3 C ‘W CT 11 'O WS^JTjc^ar^ | Very true. Very obscure Very neat. Very narrow. (c) By use of the affix <5>* Ch‘e signifying emphasis generally. Ex. :— Extremely sinful . Exceedingly brilliant. Very precious. The above^ however, is more Literary than Colloquial. In the Colloquial <5<3j , added to the root, is more common, but it is often used merely to form the adjective, and not so much to augment its force. Ex. : — ^ <S<3j -J Precious. s***r Brilliant / nt effectual. Sinful. (d) Bv inserting Very , immediately before the adjective, or by adding <5^* Eery, to the adjectival root : — Tibetan is very difficult. Tht weather just now is very hot. Certain other adverbs may be inserted in sentence is a negative one. Ex. :— the same wav when tin* TIBETAN GRAMMAR. 129 (or 0£FTf) sp ^•<5*5--dpr^raj^rsr^^ [ This 15 qvt tf (or absolutelg itn proper. He is not right at all. That statement is not at all true HI-—The Comparative Degree. (n) To express this Tibetans make use of the postpositions r.X in the Colloquial, and <W or q$T rX wX, after vowels, or tinal C \ or ^ ) in Literature, signifying Than, or More than, but they so manipulate the sentence as to place first the object with which the subject is being compared, then the postposition, next the subject, then the adjective in its positive degree, and lastly the verb. Kx. pcxr^oi | (pronounced pen-jong ) W (orOJ^-^ ^’^-EJcrsTcAh | Q!£E T'^r* ra, * , ’*sr^ ora* ^1 7 his house is higher than that one. Literally, Than that house this high is. Tibet is colder than Sifchitn. A n hgious mun is happier than a worldling. P h u osopher , , ritualists. P -s i hap jiier than 'VFll Ascetics (meditators) are happier than professors. (b) When there is no expressed object with which to compare the subject, an object may be supplied by means of q^r’ This or S* That. Kx. :— 1 7 130 TIBETAK grammar. q^ia^rsiq*q ^iqcrci'ipj ] A higher house than this. A fleeter horse than that. Q^-<w^r^=T|*£r^=T| | A counsel exceeding this. (c) In the Colloquial the comparative degree of certain common adjectives has a special form. For instance, the comparative of Good , is Better ; of SJC^T Much , it is More ; of Ipr^T Thick , it is g^*q- Thicker; of Large, big. great, it is <5’^ Larger, bigger, greater. Even with them the same construction in <W is employed. Ex. :— ^ ^ ^ | This house is larger than that one. MV b °ok is better than yours. T^l (d) The particle belonging to an adjective is sometimes vulgarly i • fin cv conjugated, i.e. transmuted into or |Tr according to the rule with reference to the last letter of the root. It is better, however to avoid this. Ex..:— may be rendered ] may be rendered may be rendered 1 This woman is indeed pretty. This trine is not good. This house is larger than that one. But not where etc., has the sense of To have. Ex, TIBETAN GRAMMAR. 131 w not | S9 > 9 . T/iis man has wiser friends than that one. IV.— The Superlative Degree. (a) To express this a universal comparison is resorted to, the subject being placed, at option, either before or after the expression used for the universal comparison. This latter may take numerous forms such as z —— <£C"ffra|*r ' T ]<3j’ Q W (Literary) -o 1 <£C*SI^-<3p3pr ^ Than alt, J 1 crp'^-ap-apr ; SpF^c-^sr (Literary) i J ^crsjq^Tjora^j* ^ ^Z-fza^^mar^y (Literary) j From a mong alh t rom among all. or : That Jama is most frarttcd all). the W 132 TIBETAN GRAMMAR. w^vajPj^CSja/^ gCVB’q-^* or ( or **2pr5* 11 This is (he swiftest horse. This stone is the most valuable of all irell secured things. q§;psi*rsp , p a ; Gold is the most precious of all metals (meltable things). **'£T&* or | (or *!b V B. _Note that in its conjugated form becomes (If) Another equally common method of expressing the superlative degree is to affix Sho to the root of the adjective. The order in which the sentence is constructed does not much matter, and even the use of AJ5T fin Literature ^54" ^ , or ^^4 ) is optional. Ex. :— ^S’*3 CT F'* : F* I S 1 ? rapr (or ) This horse is the fleetest. Gold is the dearest of metals. If the speaker likes he may insert The, after thus:— A') This horse is the fleetest. This stone is the most valuable. CV V B. _like many other words in MS. t is often abbre¬ viated into ^ ^ 1 Lhasa is the most transcendent of ^ cities. £}^c-a,i}£jpr^*r (S) ^1 TIBETAN GRAMMAR. I 33 N.B .—is often abbreviated into K and into | (c) Yet another expression used to indicate the superlative idea is W & G )- Ch‘o\ signifying The best. The most , etc. It is a Literary word, and only rarely comes into the Colloquial. It may be either prefixed or affixed to the word that it qualifies, and when prefixed should be put in the genitive case. Ex. :— The chief noble or lord. The chief mother ; the goddess Dolma. The principal icoman in a family. The best of the best. In Literary Tibetan the substantive is put in the genitive case when is affixed. Ex. :— The best among the good or noble. The holiest • The Chief of Rarities : the rarest Being or Object; the Supreme Being. 6^ajaprcj(^-5|P| | The sublimest t most excellent. i?S;yi<pT] | The best or greatest of men. 8qp*rqS;si3pT|-3f | 'The icisest or most learned. In the Colloquial if used at all, is sometimes prefixed and sometimes affixed, but neither it nor the substantive is put in the genitive case. Ex. 134 TIBETAN GRAMMAR. SJdPT]*|p I ^Tjaj’3^1 I I <^z<jci|srs(£q| | j §^**1* or i The Chief Protector. i Anything excellent of its kind ; also an abbreviation of qS,-5lo| | The highest joy , rapture , bliss. The noblest , sublimes t. The most excellent taste , delicious. The wisest, most learned. The very utmost attention. The ('htef of Beings , Buddha. Thou best of men / 513^ ’ is also used thus in Literary Tibetan : — Nobles and commonalty. The great and the vulgar. Great and small. The very excellent or superior. V.—Other Methods of Comparison. The Tibet an rendering of English phrases constructed with As. .as, may be illustrated thus :— (or Please give me as much (or many) c. <> ^ of that as ]X)ssible. epr, <' q F^'3 n V, or ^C'^ or — TIBETAN GRAMMAR. 135 l5^-0^rc-ar^?r^-£ I |^ c .g £ j. £r ^. T'T^c^cK'^sj'cqap - 1 or :—■ C*QT^*aj^reT|^C'^q*cj*^-t*qr^ c * ^C'T=rj$rcr|<?