Certain auxiliary verbs are associated only with the first person (singular or plural), irrespective of the function of that person in the sentence (subject, object, indirect object, or complement). The use of an “egophoric” auxiliary expresses the speaker’s knowledge or personal intention, often directly implied in the event that is being described. Whereas this type of auxiliary does not occur in Classical Literary Tibetan, it plays an important role in the spoken language. The final auxiliaries include several kinds of egophorics:

1. Intentional

2. Receptive

3. Habitual

4. Experiential

5. Allocentric

The first three of these will be described in detail in this section; see also the separate discussions of experiential and allocentric.

The egophoric auxiliaries (and copulas) are:

• ཡིན་
• ཡོད་
• བྱུང་
• མྱོང་
• དགོས་

In contrast, all the remaining auxiliaries are neutral with respect to person:

• རེད་
• འདུག་
• ཡོད་རེད་
• སོང་
• བཞག་

Note the following examples:

• ང་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཡིན། “I am Dorjé.”
• ང་དགའ་པོ་བྱུང་། “I was happy.”
• ངར་དེབ་མང་པོ་ཡོད། “I have many books.”
• ང་ནག་ཆུར་འགྲོ་མྱོང་། “I have been to Nakchu.” (Literally: “I have gone....”)
• ཡི་གེ་མང་པོ་བཏང་པ་ཡིན། “(I) sent many letters.”

In all the above sentences, it is possible to dispense with the pronoun ང་ (“I”), in view of the fact that the first person is indicated by the auxiliary (or the copula).

In the following sentences, the egophorics do not agree with the subject but with a complement:

• ལྡེ་མིག་འདི་ངའི་ཡིན། “This key is mine!”
• ཁོང་ངའི་ནང་ལ་ཕེབས་ཀྱི་ཡོད། “He (generally) comes to my place.”
• ངའི་བུ་མོ་སློབ་གྲྭ་ལ་འགྲོ་གི་ཡོད། “My daughter goes to school.” (cf. English: “I’ve got my daughter in school.”)
• ཁོང་གིས་ངར་ཡི་གེ་བཏང་བྱུང་། “He sent me a letter.”
• འདི་ཁྱེད་རང་གི་གསོལ་ཇ་ཡིན། “This is your tea (the tea that I made for you or that I intend you should drink).”

When the first person appears as a peripheral complement (other than as a subject or object), the use of an egophoric auxiliary usually stresses the personal intention or the certainty of the speaker. Where there is no such emphasis, egophoric auxiliaries may always be replaced by neutral auxiliaries. For example, some of the above sentences may be rephrased as follows:

• ལྡེ་མིག་འདི་ངའི་རེད། “This key is mine.”
• ངའི་བུ་མོ་སློབ་གྲྭ་ལ་འགྲོ་གི་ཡོད་རེད། “My daughter goes to school.”
• འདི་ཁྱེད་རང་གི་ཇ་རེད། “This is your tea (this is the tea that’s yours).”

Whereas egophoric auxiliaries need not always be used with the first person, it is incorrect to use egophorics in statements that neither contain the first person nor express the speaker’s personal involvement.

Finally, it should be noted that egophoric forms are used only when an auxiliary verb features in the main clause, but usually not in subordinate clauses.

For the time being, the important thing to remember is that the auxiliary ཡིན་ is used mainly for the first person, whereas the auxiliary རེད་ is used for the second and third persons.