Verbs are possibly the most complicated part of Tibetan grammar in terms of morphology.
Natural gender may be conveyed through the lexicon, e.g. གཡག་
Tibetan does not mark definiteness, and such a meaning would be left to be deduced from the context.
Tibetan nouns are marked for six cases: absolutive, agentive, genitive, ablative, associative and oblique.
དེབ་debbookནང་ལ་nang-lainside-OBLཡོད་པའི་yod-pa'iis-GENཔར་parphotoདེབ་ ནང་ལ་ ཡོད་པའི་ པར་deb nang-la yod-pa'i parbook inside-OBL is-GEN photo"the photo that is in the book"Formally the agentive (or ergative) case is built upon the genitive by adding ས་ <-s> to the latter; consequently: The agentive is used for ergative and instrumental functions.
When speaking, after the associative suffix is used, a pause is inserted, for example: པཱ་ལགས་དང་།paa-lags-dang,father-ASSཨ་ཁུ་དང་།a-khu-dang,uncle-ASSཨ་ནེ།a-neauntཔཱ་ལགས་དང་། ཨ་ཁུ་དང་། ཨ་ནེ།paa-lags-dang, a-khu-dang, a-nefather-ASS uncle-ASS aunt"father and uncle and aunt..."The associative suffix cannot combine with other case or plural markers on the same noun or noun phrase: ཨ་མ་དང་a-ma-dangmother-ASSསྤུ་གུ་ཚོ།spu-gu-tshochildrenཨ་མ་དང་ སྤུ་གུ་ཚོ།a-ma-dang spu-gu-tshomother-ASS children"mother and children"བུ་དང་bu-dangboy-ASSབུ་མོ་ཚོར་bu-mo-tsho-rboy-FEM-PL-DATལག་རྟགས་lag-rtagspresentསྦྲུས་པ་ཡོད།sbrus-pa-yodgive-PAST-be:EX-EGOབུ་དང་ བུ་མོ་ཚོར་ ལག་རྟགས་ སྦྲུས་པ་ཡོད།bu-dang bu-mo-tsho-r lag-rtags sbrus-pa-yodboy-ASS boy-FEM-PL-DAT present give-PAST-be:EX-EGO"(they) gave presents to the boys and girls"The oblique suffix fulfills the functions of both the dative and locative cases.
The <-r> form is rarely used to mark the dative with monosyllabic words except the personal pronouns and demonstrative and interrogative adjectives.
Both adjectival and pronominal demonstratives are capable of receiving both case and number suffixes.
There is an important division of verbs into two main classes: volitional and non-volitional.
This is the basis for the classification of the Tibetan language as having ergative–absolutive alignment, although the ergative case can also have rhetorical uses.
Many verbs, however, only have one stem when spoken, remaining distinct only in writing, meaning that inflection is based mainly on the use of verbal auxiliaries.
Copulas in the second class are existential, meaning that they express the existence of a phenomenon or a characteristic and suggests an evaluation by the speaker.
The difference between essential and existential copulas is similar to that of the verbs ser and estar in the Spanish language.
Outlined below is a classification from the Tibetan and Himalayan Library website, principally based on the work of Nicolas Tournadre.
It translates as "to be" and represents an objective assertion or affirmation regarding the subject of the sentence.
"རེད་བཞག་
"ཡིན་
"There are three existential copulas: assertive ཡོད་རེད་
This copula is used with the second and third person pronouns and implies a definite assertion by the speaker.
(I know because I have seen them)"It can also, like ཡོད་རེད
"ཇ་jateaའདི་'dithisཞིམ་པོ་zhim-potastyཡོད།yodbe:EX-EGOཇ་ འདི་ ཞིམ་པོ་ ཡོད།ja 'di zhim-po yodtea this tasty be:EX-EGO"This tea is good (in my opinion).
[2] The study of these copulas has contributed substantially to the understanding of evidentiality cross-linguistically.
[4][5] The table below shows the paradigm of Lhasa Tibetan verb endings that express tense/aspect and evidentiality/egophoricity:[6] The egophoric typically appears in first-person declaratives and second-person questions; the assertive may be used in the other contexts.