Essay by Nicolas Tournadre in English (June 10, 2015)
The below tables summarize the main uses of the cases. An asterisk indicates forms that occur only in literature. Italics denote the most common functions in Standard Spoken Tibetan. Some cases are preceded by a particle such as པ་ or ཡག་.
Case Functions
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Agentive གིས་ |
Ablative ནས་ / ལས་ |
Absolutive Ø |
Oblique ལ་ / ར་ / ན་ / དུ་ |
Genitive གི་ |
Associative དང་ |
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agent sensorial experiencer |
spatial or temporal origin ནས་ / *ལས་ |
single participant (subject of an intransitive verb) |
destination, beneficiary, owner ལ་ / ར་ |
noun complement “of” |
prepositional complement “against,” “with” |
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instrument/ cause/ manner |
comparison “more than” ལས་ / *པས་ |
patient (object of a transitive verb) |
goal finality ལ་ / *ར་ / *དུ་ |
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comparison “more than” *པས་ |
selection “among” ནས་ / *ལས་ |
affective experiencer (subject of an affective verb) |
localization ལ་ / ར་ / *དུ་ / *ན་ |
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adverbial suffix གིས་
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adverbial suffix ནས་ |
duration |
*transformation of the object (“into”) ལ་ / ར་ / དུ་ |
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emphasis / focus on the agent |
instrument / manner ནས་ |
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*categorization of an entity (as, inasmuch as) ལ་ / ར་ / དུ་ |
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agent ནས་ |
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adverbial suffix ར་ / དུ་ |
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emphasis / focus on the patient ལ་ |
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Connective Functions
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Agentive གིས་ |
Ablative ནས་ / ལས་ |
Absolutive Ø |
Oblique ལ་ / ར་ / ན་ / དུ་ |
Genitive གི་ |
Associative དང་ |
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*causal subordinate པས་ |
causal subordinate ནས་ |
*coordination (parataxis) |
conditional subordinate ན་ |
relative “who,” “which” པའི་ / གི་ |
coordinating conjunction “and” |
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*subordinate of anteriority * པས་ |
subordinate of anteriority ནས་ |
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purposive subordinate (ཡག་) ལ་ / * དུ་ / * པར་ |
nominal clause “that-clause” |
temporal subordinate “as soon as” |
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*coordination * པས་ |
subordinate of simultaneity ནས་ / * ལས་ |
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*subordinate of simultaneity ལ་ / པར་ / པ་ན་ |
connects the verb and the auxiliary (to the imperfective) |
imperative or injunctive marker |
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coordination ནས་ |
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*coordination ལ་ |
*adversative conjunction “but” |
exclamation |
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“rather than” ལས་ |
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*connects the verb and the auxiliary verb + པར་ + auxiliary |
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exclamation ལ་ |
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