Directory:      

The New Train

Altitude Sickness

Train Video NEW

Beijing to Lhasa

Zhongdian to Lhasa

Chendgu to Lhasa

Golmud to Lhasa

Xian to Lhasa

Shanghai to Lhasa

Guangzhou to Lhasa

Special tour train

Skype Voucher

ChungKing Mansion



Around Tibet

Everest_Basecamp Tour

Everest_Basecamp Itinerary

Nam Tso Lake

Scenery Platform

Railway Scenery

Overland to Lhasa



About Tibet

Tibet Facts

Tibet Geography

Tibet Climate

Tibet History

Tibetan People

Tibet Language

Tibet Festivals

Tibet Language

Tibetans have their own language, which is known as “bod-yig” in the Tibetan-inhabited areas with the meaning of “Tibetan language”. Tibetan language belongs to the Tibetan-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. According to geographical divisions, it has three major local dialects: Weizang, Kang and Amdo. The first two dialects have their own tones in pronunciation while the latter don’t. Created in the early 7th century, the Tibetan language, a phonetic system of writing, was based on the writing system of the ancient Sanskrit language of India. Tibetan language consists of thirty consonant, four vowels, five inverted letters (for the renting of foreign words) and the punctuations. Sentences are written from right to the left. With two major written scripts namely the regular script and the cursive hand, Tibetan language is widely used in all areas inhabited by Tibetans. In 641 AD, Songtsen Gampo, a king in southern Tibet, married Wen chen Konjo of the Tang dynasty, which gave a boost to the development of the Tibetan culture. From the 10th century to the 16th century, the Tibetan culture developed dramatically. Throughout the centuries, the Tibetans bring to us not only the two well-known Buddhist master pieces, the Bka-gyur, and the Bstan-gyur, but also other great works on cadences, literature, philosophy, history, geography, arithmetic, calendar, medicine and so on.

Tibetans express themselves grammatically with the help of function words and different order of the words. Certain auxiliary words originating from verbs are playing an important role similar to that of the function words. Generally speaking, Tibetan words can be divided into nine types including nouns, verbs, numerals, adjectives, pronouns, conjunctions, adverbs, auxiliary words and exclamations. Verbs, adjectives, numerals and auxiliary words are to be discussed in the following part.

 

Verbs

Tibetan verbs can be divided into transitive verbs and intransitive verbs. Transitive verbs can be used to construct simple Tibetan sentences and it is required that an auxiliary word should be used after the subject so that the verbs can be in accordance with the subject. A typical Tibetan sentence is in the “subject-object-verb” order. This is one of the features of Tibetan transitive verbs. Tibetan verbs can also be classified as active verbs and passive verbs according to the restriction of the subject to the verb. This is another feature of Tibetans. The active verbs may have the imperative form，while the passive verbs may not.

Tibetan verbs are composed of two parts: the root, which carries the meaning of the verb, and the ending, which indicates the tense. There are eight uses of the verbs in Tibetans expressing different tense and voice. Basically, there are the present, past, future tense, the perfect tense, the progressive tense and the subjective mood. For example, the simplest and most common verb form, consisting of the root plus certain ending, can be used for the present and future tense; in order to form the past tense, substitute the ending or add the auxiliary word.

Adjective

There are two major functions of Tibetan adjectives: to modify a noun or to be predicative. When it is used in an indicative mood, it functions as an intransitive verb, which can only be followed by auxiliary word, not the object.

Numerals

Tibetan numerals are of the decimal system. The cardinal numbers consist of only one syllable. Different words are used to indicate the high-order number like hundred, thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand, ten million, and so on. Tens digit can be used together with number of ones place with slight difference in the pronunciation.

Auxiliary word

Auxiliary word can be added at the end of the verbs to indicate tense; it can be added between words or phrases to indicate different relationship between components of the sentence; it can also be added at the end of the sentence to indicate the mood.

Throughout the centuries, Tibetans have been using different types of writing styles. Two of those styles, U-chen and U-me are the most commonly used.

 

U-chen style is also called the “cristated script”. This is because when each letter is drawn, a horizontal stroke is used on the top and it is required that these entire horizontal strokes should be parallel to the first top line; therefore, it looks like a flat cap. Some people consider U-chen to be the printing font because it is often used for the printing of books, but it is not really the case. In fact, U-chen is also used in people’s handwriting when they are taking notes, writing compositions and so on.

U-me is known as the “non-cristated script” as no horizontal line is necessary on the top of the letters.
The most distinct difference between the U-chen and the U-me is that the former “has a flat cap” while the latter does not.

So far, the style of the Jongs is considered to be the sample of U-chen script, with distinctive features of being solemn and elegant. This scrip includes the stroke of horizontal line, vertical line, oblique line, and curved line. The same kind of stroke should be written with the same height, length, pitch and curve. The writings should be plump and uniform, with regular gap between letters. Dotted lines must be avoided. Therefore the entire written text would be orderly and formal, like a parade of honored guards.

It would be interesting to learn some basic words and sayings in Tibetan. The following are some of the words and expressions for your reference.

Greetings

Hello: tashi deleg

How are you? : keh-rang ku-su de-bo yin-peh?

Good-bye: kah-leh phe

See you later: jay-la shong

I'm Sorry : gong-dhaa

You're Welcome : kay-nang-gi-ma-ray

What is your name?: Ming la kay-rey?

My name is …. : Ngah…… yin.

Pronouns and relations

I : ngah

You : keh-rahng

he/she: khong-rahng

Directions and transportation

left : yong-qang

right : yehang-qang

go straight ahead : ke-er-duom

bus: mozha

bus station: mozha-pazhuo

Places

hotel: zhun-kangha

gas station: nong-lu-sah

bank : wha-khang

monastery: kuong-bah

hospital: men-khang

Shopping

price: ni-kong-zha

expensive : kong-zha-chang-po

cheap : kong-zha-chung-po

money : bei-xiha

What is this? : Dee kah-ray?

How much: kah-tsay

I will take it: nhi-geying

I will leave it : nhi-gemei

Time and days

daytime: ni-ma-kuang

night : china-kuang

yesterday : keh-sah

today : thi-ring

tomorrow : sahng-nyi

morning: shiao-gai

noon : ning-guh

Daily dialogues

Hello : tashi-deleg

Nice to meet you : khye ran jel-ne ga-po joong

Is there a vacancy : shiongsha-dugu-er

Are there any tourist guide : nixian-ba-yhou-bo