English
Further, when the subject is obviously the agent or instrument, as, for example, when the postposition 'll' is exprt-asly used with the objective, then it is not necessary, though quite allow¬ able, for the subject to be put in the agentive case , in other words, it may appear in the nominative case. Examples :— The father ioveth the son, or. The son is loved by the father. The governor ordered the soldiers to attack. / am not rich. This book i s nearly finished. 1 am going to court. I can do nothing . But what is a Passive Verb in Tibetan ? How does the construc¬ tion of the Passive Voice differ from that of the Active \ oice * In a sense every Tibetan sentence, even when the verb ib what \\e call Active, is permeated with the Passive idea. I*or, even such a sentence as | The father Ioveth the son , may be rendered equally correctly The son is loved by the father ; for, literally translated, it is By the father , to, or as regards the son , a loving is. It practically therefore comes to this, that, when the subject is in the agentive case, the Active Voice is intended ; but, when the subject of a transitive rgoycf | (for j cr![*5\*ic*g^’Irsfir£Fi| 300 TIBETAN GRAMMAR. verb ie in the nominative or objective case^ the Passive Voice is in¬ tended, unless some other structural peculiarity in the sentence indicates otherwise. The same remarks hold as regards the Colloquial. The subject in the agentive case indicates the Active Voice ; the subject in the objective (with or without ft|') indicates the Passive Voice. As a matter of fact, the Tibetan language strongly favours the agentive construction ; and therefore the Passive Voice, or what passes as such, should be avoided as much as possible. The Infinitive of the Passive Voice is, in Literary Tibetan, the same as the Participle Future of the Active Verb, i.e. the Future Root with the particle, e.g To be done. In the Colloquial it is the Root with or ^fj’ added. These, however, may also be used in Literary Tibetan*. VII.—Compound Verbs. In Literary Tibetan these are of several kinds. (®) A Substantive combined with an Active Verb. Example 9*™g*Yr To make a mistake , or commit a fault, i.e. to err. In such cases the Substantive remains constant, and gv*' is con- jugated regularly as an Active 4-Rooted verb ; Present Root Perfect Future Imperative (6) An Adjective in the Terminative case with combined with an Active Verb. Example:— To whiten. In such cases the Adjective in the Terminative case remains constant, and the Active Verb is con¬ jugated regularly, or according to its nature with reference to the Roots it possesses. TIBETAN GRAMMAR 301 (c) A Principal Verb in the Terminative case of the Infinitive with combined with an Active Auxiliary Verb. Examples : To permit to send. To awake ; To rouge In such cases the Principal Verb so formed remains constant, and the auxiliary is conjugated according to its nature. (d) The Root of a Principal Verb put in the Terminative case with *■ M r* or ^ agreeably to the final letter of the Root, cora- ■o ^ bined with a Causative Verb. Example: To bid to do. In such cases the Principal Verb so formed remains constant, and the Causative is conjugated according to its nature. (e) The Present, Perfect, or Future Infinitive of a Principal Verb put in the Instrumental case and followed by the Root of an auxiliary. gwwr* i Examples: Or, Present Infinitive of declining the auxiliary regularly I am allowed to send. I teas allmved to send. / shall be allowed to send. Principal Verb in Instrumental in case, Examples :— ^■^-q^r^-q^'ag)^* or gT] / am allowed to send. 1 was ,, ,. > > / shall be ,, ,, > > Here the auxiliary alone is conjugated. 302 TIBETAN GRAMMAR. (/) A Principal Verb (itself consisting of the Root of one verb added to the Root of another) combined with an Active Verb. Example_ not very idiomatic, but merely adduced by way of illustration :— i To stroll about. 'O Here the two Roots remain constant, and the Aotive Verb is conjugated according to its nature. ([/) A Principal V erb (itself consisting of two Roots as above, com¬ bined with the Root of an Active Verb in the Terminative case with S’ etc.), combined with a Causative Verb, Example;— To cause to stroll about. Here all except the Causative remains constant, and the Causative is conjugated according to its nature. In the Colloquial the Infinitive and the Root of a verb are never put in the Terminative case as they are in Literary Tibetan. Moreover, the Infinitive may represent the Substantive or Noun as well as the Verb. Hence, when the Infinitive, in form, is combined with an auxiliary verb, it may be regarded either as a Substantive or as a Verb. Thus may mean either A mistake or To make a mistake ; and hence the Colloquial phrase yWgSpT may be rendered either To make a mistake or To mistake , To err . However regarded, the tendency of Colloquial Tibetan, when a Substantive or a Verb is combined with an auxiliary verb, is to drop the Infinitive form of the verb, or the full form of the Substantive, and to use only the Root, though this is not always done. F or instance the Literary To arrange or prepart (literally To place in rous) is used Colloquially with gr thus : — ^or (or even When, however. D^*cr To have , is the auxiliary, what looks like TIBETAN GRAMMAR. 30 3 a formal Infinitive is obviously a Substantive, e.g- in To have a, or the . wish or desire, i.e. to wish or desire. In short, the tendency to use the Hoot of the Principal Verb, or of the Substantive, holds, whether the auxiliary is an Active or a Causative Verb, though not where it is a verb like To have. The ordinary Colloquial Honorific auxiliary verb is To be pleased, good enough , so kind as. It is combined either with Infinitives. or Hoots followed by 9’ Roots, sr> Examples : — (for q’) * q F ra ??V q R c * 1 To give. To return „ or come or go back. To desire. VIII,_In Literary Tibetan verbs of becoming, growing, chang¬ ing, turning, GETTING, and the like, are often expressed with the aid of the auxiliaries 6MIW To became, etc. or To go, the latter being the more modern. The noun or adjective governed by such auxiliary is put in the Terminative case, e.g. or Oft S' To be¬ come a Lama ; g^efs*a£|*.'q- or P^fsT To get rich. But sometimes the Literary Tibetan has in these cases a special verb, e.g. q^j'=T To grow old. The Colloquial, when it does not have a special verb, uses C^=J] =T and does not put the noun or adjective in the Terminate e ta.t Example :— To get rich ; but SjSW To grow old. IX.— Inception is expressed in Literary Tibetan with the aid of the verb or (Perfect Root or f uture Root Imperative Root §=>]* or ) To btgin It is used 304 TIBETAN GRAMMAR. with or without the prefixed word 51^ When used as an auxiliary the construction is that described under Compound Verbs, No. VII. The Colloquial equivalent is ( spf) To begin , which when used as an auxiliary, may be combined either with the Infinitive or the Root {generally the Root) of the Principal Verb, Inception may also be expressed by the verb next noticed. 4 X.—Imminence is expressed in Literary Tibetan (amongst other ways) by the verb q|asrzq- To be about to, To be on the point of. To be just going to. When used as an auxiliary the Principal Verb is gene¬ rally put in the Terminative case of the Infinitive. Example :— 7 was about to write ; or as 7 was about to write. (Rev. x. 4.) In the Colloquial the same idea is expressed by means of the auxiliary verb *3fq- To go , combined with the Root of the Principal Verb. Examples 7 am just about to write. I was just about to write . Yesterday I was just about to write. XT.—In Literary Tibetan.V erbal Continuatives are expressed with the aid of some adverb like SffY or ?TT Always, Continually, Perpetually , or of a phrase like Without ceasing. Examples :— He hopes on, kee^ys on hoping, hopes continually. Go on rejoicing ; Rejoice alwaus. (1 Thess. v. 17.) Pray on ; keep on praying ; Pray without ceasing . (1 Thess. v. 18 .) (or g-) TIBETAN GRAMMAR. 305 Colloquially they are formed by repeating the Hoot of the verb, *vith ? =TJ ^ or added to each Hoot, and combining the whole with To do, as an auxiliary. Examples :— csr3^j*a%2i^-85c- or I shall go on eating. or §*r Go on reading this book. or 3^|) .^11* Finality or Complete Accomplishment. In earlier Literature this is expressed by putting the verb in the Terminative case of the Infinitive with and adding 3<3T the Root of 3^ CJ To be finished, and then conjugating regularly In later Literature the same construction is adopted, but, in- stead of use is made of Perfect Root of To be completed, terminated, finished, with or without the preceding adverb Sjcsrg* Wholly, Entirely . The Colloquial custom is simply to add to the Root of the verb and then conjugate regularly Examples :— I am reading this book right through. I have read this hook right through. I shall read this book right through. XIII.— DesideraTIVES are expressed, both in Literary Tibetan and in the Colloquial, with the aid of the auxiliary verbs To irish. To desire, and wr*r (the vulgar Colloquial form of which is ) 7’o wish, want, etc. In Literary Tibetan is combined with the Infinitive of the 30C TIBETAN GRAMMAR. Principal Verb put in the Terminative case with e.g. C qTrr 1 ^ j wish to see, but sometimes only the Root of the Principal Verb is used. Thus : or even the Infinitive, When ^cn^l'CT or (which latter is never written) is used, the subject of course is put in the Dative case. Thus : in Literary Tibetan :— I wish to see .