The assertive corresponds to a definite item of information, or else a historical or general truth. In general, the assertive implies that the speaker is letting it be known that while the assertion is certain, he or she has not personally witnessed it. Typically, the information has been obtained second-hand from some other source (reported speech, a book, the radio, etc.) or else forms a part of the speaker’s general knowledge. However, it may happen that even though the speaker can personally testify to the validity of the assertion, he or she may use the assertive in order to present the statement as an objective or well-known fact.

This mood may be used in all the tenses: future གི་རེད་, present གི་ཡོད་རེད་, and past པ་རེད་. Note that the present includes forms similar to the future that denote a habitual state of affairs or a general truth. Also, the assertive mood should not be confused with the marker of reported speech, which may be used in combination with any of the four moods, and implies a measure of uncertainty (“It would seem that…”).

• གངས་བཏང་གི་རེད། “It’s going to snow.”
• གངས་བཏང་པ་རེད། “It’s snowed,” or “It snowed.” (Definite fact)
• ལྷ་སར་གངས་མང་པོ་བཏང་གི་ཡོད་མ་རེད། “In Lhasa, it doesn’t snow much.” (General fact)
• ཁོས་རི་མོ་སྙིང་རྗེ་པོ་ཅིག་བྲིས་པ་རེད། “He drew a pretty picture.” (Definite fact)
• ༡༩༦༩ ལོར་མིས་ཟླ་བའི་སྒང་ལ་གོམ་པ་བརྒྱབ་པ་རེད། “In 1969, man walked on the moon.” (Historical fact)