Dzongkha is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Bhutan. This article uses Roman Dzongkha to indicate pronunciation.
Nouns
Number
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
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
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
Personal pronouns
| 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
Copula
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
Comparison
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
| 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
- ^ Driem 1992, p. 106.
- ^ Watters 2018, p. 163.
- ^ Driem 1992, p. 107-109.
- ^ Watters 2018, p. 174-188.
- ^ Driem 1992, p. 134-136.
References
- 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.