Dzongkha grammar describes the morphology and syntax of Dzongkha, a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Bhutan. This article uses Roman Dzongkha to indicate pronunciation.
Nouns[edit]
Number[edit]
Dzongkha nouns distinguish between singular (unmarked) and plural, with the plural either unmarked or suffixed with ཚུ་ -tshu. The use of the plural suffix is not obligatory and is used mainly for emphasis.[1][2]
Case[edit]
Dzongkha nouns are marked for 5 cases: genitive, locative, ablative, dative and ergative.[3]
- genitive case: marks possession and is often translated as "of". There are 4 genitive suffixes in written Dzongkha:
- གྱི་ -g°i - after words ending in མ་, ན་, ར་, ལ་.
- གི་ -g°i - after words ending in ག་, ང་ and certain words ending a vowel.
- ཀྱི་ -g°i - ater words ending in བ་, ད་, ས་.
- འི་ -i after certain words ending in a vowel.
- locative case - marks location or destination and is often translated as "in", "at" or "on". It's indicated by the suffix ནང་ -na.
- ablative case - marks direction away from the noun and is often translated as "from". It's indicated by the suffix ལས་ -lä.
- dative case - marks the goal or where an activity takes place and is often translated as "to", "for" or "at". It's indicated by the suffix ལུ་ -lu.
- ergative case - used for ergative and instrumental functions. There are 3 ergative suffixes in written Dzongkha:
- གྱིས་ -g°i - after words ending in མ་, ན་, ར་, ལ་.
- གིས་ -g°i - after words ending in ག་, ང་ or a vowel.
- ཀྱིས་ -g°i - ater words ending in བ་, ད་, ས་.
Derivation[edit]
As in other Tibetic languages, compounding is the most common method for deriving new nouns in Dzongkha. A compound usually consists of two (or, less commonly, more) monossyllabic roots, which can be either free or bound.[4]
| Root 1 | Root 2 | Compound noun | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| བསྟོད་ tö (praise) | ར་ ra | བསྟོད་ར་ töra (praise) | ར་ ra is a bound morpheme with no meaning of its own. |
| ཁབ་ khap (cover) | ཏོག་ to (top) | ཁབ་ཏོག་ khapto (lid) | ཏོག་ to is a bound morpheme and means something like "top" in most (though not all) compounds. |
| རྡོ་ do (stone) | གནག་ nak (black) | རྡོ་གནག་ donak (graphite) |
Pronouns[edit]
Personal pronouns[edit]
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | ང༌ nga (I) | ང་བཅས༌ ngace (we) |
| 2nd | ཁྱོད༌ chö (you) | ཁྱེད༌ chä (you all) |
| 3rd (m) | ཁོ༌ kho (he) | ཁོང་ khong (they) |
| 3rd (f) | མོ༌ mo (she) | |
| honorific | ནཱ༌ nâ (he; she; you) | ནཱ་བུ་ nâb°u (they; you all) |
- The honorific pronoun ནཱ༌ nâ and its plural form are used when one wants to show respect to the person being addressed or to a 3rd person of either gender.
Verbs[edit]
Copula[edit]
In Dzongkha, there are 5 copular verbs that can be translated as "to be" in English: ཨིན་ 'ing, ཨིན་པས་ 'immä, ཡོད་ yö, འདུག་ du and སྨོ་ 'mo.
Adjectives[edit]
Comparison[edit]
The comparative is indicated by the suffix བ་ -wa ("than") while the superlative is indicated by the suffix ཤོས་ -sho ("the most", "-est").[5]
Numerals[edit]
| Hindu-Arabic numerals | Dzongkha numerals | Spelling | Roman Dzongkha |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ༡ | གཅིག་ | ci |
| 2 | ༢ | གཉིས་ | ’nyî |
| 3 | ༣ | གསུམ་ | sum |
| 4 | ༤ | བཞི་ | zhi |
| 5 | ༥ | ལྔ་ | 'nga |
| 6 | ༦ | དྲུག་ | dr°u |
| 7 | ༧ | བདུན་ | dün |
| 8 | ༨ | བརྒྱད་ | gä |
| 9 | ༩ | དགུ་ | gu |
| 10 | ༡༠ | བཅུ་ཐམ | cuthâm |
Notes[edit]
- ^ Driem 1992, p. 106.
- ^ Watters 2018, p. 163.
- ^ Driem 1992, p. 107-109.
- ^ Watters 2018, p. 174-188.
- ^ Driem 1992, p. 134-136.
References[edit]
- Driem, George van (1992). The Grammar of Dzongkha. Thimphu, Bhutan: Dzongkha Development Commission of the Royal Government of Bhutan.
- Watters, Stephen A. (2018). A grammar of Dzongkha (dzo): phonology, words, and simple clauses (Thesis). Rice University.
- English-Dzongkha Dictionary 2023 (PDF). Thimphu, Bhutan: Department of Culture and Dzongkha Development. 2023. ISBN 978-99936-765-8-4.
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