Table Of ContentThe Grammar of Dzongkha
Dr. George van Driem
'\r.~nr~d\·p;Q~·~~~:.·~t::·r:r~~::r.l;~nr~~·l!:!]~l
....
~
Dzongkha Development Commission
Royal Government of Bhutan
iii
Dzongkha Development Commission
Royal Government of Bhutan
Introductory Letter
ne to press and soon to appear:
This Grammar of Dzongkha is the first attempt at a truly
~ Grammar ofD zongkha (1993, REVISED SECOND EDffiON) comprehensive and authoritative grammar in English of
-mgkhaLanguage Workbook (1993) the national language of the Kingdom of Bhutan. This
~Languages and Linguistic History ofB hutan (1993) work is just one of the results of the Royal Govemment of
~Language Policy ofB hutan (1993) Bhutan's commitment to furthering the cause of scholar
.ide to Official Dzongkha Romanization (1994, REVISED SECOND EDffiON) ship and learning. The book is designed to meet the dual
requirement of providing a reference grammar of the
national language and furnishing a grammar textbook for
serious students of Dzongkha who are not themselves na
tive speakers of the language. This book has been written
both for the linguist and the layman. Linguistic conven
copyright © 1992 Dzongkba Development Commission.
tions incomprehensible to the layman are avoided in this
of the Royal Government of Bhutan. All rights reserved.
book except where they may prove helpful to the intelli
gent reader. The book is a descriptive grammar of modem
Dzongkha, the living language as it is spoken in the King
No part of this book may be reproduced
dom of Bhutan, not a normative grammar emulating Cho
without prior consent in writing from the
ke, the ancient liturgical language.
publisher, except for properly referenced
As a grammar textbook, the Grammar of Dzongkha
quotations in scholarly publications.
is to be used in conjunction with the Dzongkha Language
Workbook, to be made available both in English and Ne
palL The chajJters in the grammar correspond to the num-
iv
V
Contents
bered sections in the workbook. Gr~atical explan~tions
are provided in this book which will enable the student to
complete the exercises in the workbook. The Grammar of
Dzongkha is set up in the classical arrangement, beginning Introductory letter
with the traditional orthography and the phonology and Contents V
finishing up with the more complex syntactic structures of Author's preface ix
the language. The Dzongkha Development Commission is List of abbreviations
XV
very pleased to present the first Dzongkha grammar with
such a wide scope, and the Commission feels indebted to Chapter One: Introduction
the author Geshe Jam'yang Oz0er (George van Driem) for
producing this fine work for the Royal Government of 1. The languages of B-hutan 1
Bhutan. It is our hope that this linguistic study of our na 2. Dzongkha, national language of Bhutan 2
tional language will be of service to linguists, instructors, 3. Other languages of the Dzongkha group 5
students and laymen for many years to come. 4. Languages of the Bumthang group 11
5. Tshangla (Shachop) 17
6. Other Tibeto-Burman languages
ofBhutan 18
7. Indo-Aryan 26
8. Dmngkha and Choke 30
9. Transliteration and transcription 31
10. Language map of Bhutan 33
17 April 1992 'LOnpo Doji Tshering, Chairman
Trashicho Dzong Dzongkha Development Commission Chapter Two: Dzongkha Script
Thirnphu Royal Government of Bhutan
1. The 'Ucen script 35
2. Bhutanese cursive 42
-11111. .1 1111111•••••••
---------!!III!II!-IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIJIIIIIIIIIIII[IIIII-IIIIIII...._,IIIIllllllll. ..
vi
vn
Chapter Three: Dzongkha phonology Chapter Five
1. Dzongkha initials and tones 49 1. The ergative case 165
2. Dzongkha vowels 53 2. The steady state present and
3. Phonetic description of Dzongkha vowels 55 the suffix of new knowledge 168
4. Phonetic description of Dzongkha initials 64 3. The progressive 174
5. Dzongkha finals 96 4. The factual present and inflected stems 185
6. Contour tones 100 5. The present continuous 197
6. Experienced perceptions 200
Chapter Four
7. The adhortative and the optative 209
8. The supine 211
1. Dzongkha pronouns 103 9. Modals expressing pennission, ability,
2. Suffixes and postpositions 107 opportunity, exigency and probability 215
3. The verbs 'to be': 'ing and 'imma 110 10. Rhetorical questions 223
4. The verbs 'to be': yo and du 120
5. The comparative -wa and Chapter Six
the superlative -sho 134
6. The verb 'mo 136 L The witnessed past 225
7. Numerals: the decimal system 139 2 The inferred past 228
8. Numerals: the vigesimal system 149 3. Perfective aspect and auxiliaries
9. Telling time 162 expressing Aktionsart 236
4. The present gerund 249
5. The past participle 252
6. The conditional conjunction 'if' 258
7. The concessive conjunction 'although' 263
8. The adversative conjunction 'but' 266
9. The alternative conjunction 'or' 269
10. The causative conjunction 'because' 271
11. The adverbializer 274
,.... ___ __,.....,.....,......,.... ________. .,.....,. .............- -...1 1111111!----liiiiiJ!-I!II!II!I!IIl.!.
!lll!--"-lll!ll.,.~!llll,! Ill., !1!1!,-_-111,~-•----
:;
;;
. viii IX
Author's Preface
Chapter Seven
1, The Infhlitive 280 In 1961 His Late Majesty King Jimi Doji 'Wangchu I'J:~tij·
2, Periphrastic constructions with · S!f11.~.·,r .:~c-;...e .t:~j~..f....J. .J"o'v~~·-e.._ ·"cu::::~tfj· decreed Dzongkha to be the
"'
the infinitive 289 official language of the Kingdom of Bhutan, thereby insti-
3. The potentlal auxiliary 302 tutionalizing the status which spoken Dzongkha had ac
4. The autolalic future and future perfect 309 quired de facto in the course of Bhutanese history. In prac
5. Interrogative and indefinite pronouns 311 tice, however, the depth of tradition was so great that the
6. The Bhutanese calendar 325 from 1961 to 1971 the Classical Tibetan liturgical lan
guage Choke was taught as the written language in the
Chapter Eight schools. His Late Majesty's wise policy led to systematic
efforts to modernize the national language as well as
L Subordinate claus~s. indirect speech providing a firm linguistic foundation for ensuring the
and the hearsay evidential 339 preservation of the kingdom's traditional identity and
2. The subordinator -mi 351 cultural values. From 1971 onward, the living language
3. The imperative 359 Dzongkha has been used as a medium of instruction in the
4. Honorific speech 367 kingdom's educational system, and Dzongkha has since
5. Fixed expressions 373 been undergoing continuous development as a written lan
6. Some Dzongkha proverbs 377 guage.
Previously many inspired individuals have under
Alphabetical order of Roman Dzongkha 384 taken to further the cause of the national language of Bhu-
tan. In 1971 the e~; :~:rz;COl.... r.rr....J....; ~f'll'.t:I"1"'~':P~l~nr~·~c-.:. :.:~f"r::K."J¥I'
Bibliography 385 New Method Dzongkha Hand Book appeare..d. . This book
..,.
was written at the behest of His Majesty by ~Q'"!J~'Xlj~~·
"""" ..., ..,
~"~· 'Lobo 'Niido, m~.t :~'.t:;t.liJ\'!.l~·rar 'Looo Pemala and ~.q·
"i.J~·~~:.~f~~·.q~~·rJ;e!~· 'LObO Sangga Tendzi and contains
a s~udy in Dzongkha of the differences between the liturgi
cal language Choke and written Dzongkha. Also at this
time, upon the instigation of Foreign Minister Dawa Tshe-
xi
X
ring '\S~·~~·~~·i:i·~·!·~·~t The Dzongkha Development
ring ~·~sn.~·~~·i:i·Rj·q·~·~c:::.·, Lieutenant Rinchen Tshering
Commission has developed many excellent school text
~~·~~·~·~· of the Royal Bhutanese Army and Major A.
book..; and learning aids for the instruction of Dzongkha in
Daityar of the Indian Army produced a pamphlet entitled
the kingdom's schools.
A Guide to Dzongkha in Roman Alphabet for the use of
ti)'\"''G~~·q~~· Hap Tsentsen was the first to respond
Indian army training personnel serving in the Kingdom of
to the need of Dzongkha learning materials for speakers of
Bhutan.
., ., ., Nepali. His .;:}· ~·~~·~~elf~~·~·~· ~:1ftry· ~I:.·~·~~ '5'Ul!:: ~"11
In 1977 ruG''\"'~·~~~·CJ.1'\~· 'LobO 'Nado, assisted by ~ ~ ~
Miri Pinsum Integrated Dzongkha Language Book (1986)
5~.+:.J.,~ ·~~C'o·rt. ~c::.5~)-·'\¥·-t.!.· Droasho Rindzi Doji, Boyd Michailov-
was the first book intended to making the national lan
sky and Martine Mazaudon produced the useful ~c:::.·~~·ffiq·
guage of Bhutan accessible to Nepali speakers in the south
~~~ !ntroduction to Dzongkha in Delhi, and in 1986 ~·!·
of the kingdom. In the near future the Dzongkha Deve
a;~·~~· Doji ChOdro wrote the highly useful ~c:::.·~·rl.l~·~ql
lopment Commission hopes to produce a Nepali version of
Dzongkha Handbook. Both booklets contain a brief intro
the Dzongkha Language Workoook.
duction to Dzongkha pronunciation and script in English,
Also in 1986 Boyd Michailovsky, at that time an ex-
vocabulary and example sentences but neither attempts tQ
ternal consultant in the Department of Education of the
provide any explanation of the grammar of the language.
Royal Government of Bhutan, wrote a 'Report on Dzong
Since 1960 the Dzongkha Development Section of
kha Development', which included a useful, first study of
the Royal Department of Education has been systematically
Dzongkha phonology. In 1989 Boyd Michailovsk~ and
producing Dzongkha language materials for the instruction
Martine Mazaudon published the article 'Lost syllables and
of native speakers in primary and secondary schools. The
tone contour in Dzongkha', recapitulating their pioneering
beautiful ~c:::.·~~· £~·CJ.1~'\I Dzongkha Dictionary (1986),
work in Dzongkha phonology and providing diachronic
~tten by ~~·q~c:::.·~~·n.~~· Kiinzang Thrinla and l~·~'\'
explanation for the Dzongkha contour tone.
'\.~.. ·~q· Cho.k.. i D0ondr0u under the direction of the late ffiq·
In 1990 the Dzongkha Development Commission put
'\"~~·~~tlj'CJ.1'\~· 'Lobo 'Nado, stands out amongst the other
out the Dzongkha Rabsel Lamzang ~c:::.·~·, ~~·~~Cl.l'rll.:J.1' G~c:::.·,
valuable works produced by the Royal Department of
which was a modernized and much expanded version of
Education as a work of great scholarship. Since 1986 the
An Introduction to Dzongkha (1977), written in English
work for the advancement of th" national language of Bhu
59'
for foreign learners of Dzongkha. In the same year
tan has been set forth by the Dzongkha Development Com
Ji~·~c:::.~·~~·~·!· Dr asho Sangga Doji of the Dzongkh[:.
0
mission of the Royal Government of Bhutan under the aus ., e.
Development Commission published the excellent !:1:. ·~~·
picious chairmanship of the Minister of Finance Doji Tshe-
xiii
xii
under the auspices of the Dzongkha Development Com
q~r.r~r::.·9~.:!:.'l:JI New Dzongkha Grammar, written in
mission. The Second Survey aims at producing in-depth
Dzongkha for native speaker education and explaining
descriptions of individual Bhutanese languages and topo
many points of Dzongkha grammar and orthography.
nymical studies, whereby the Dzongkha and Romanized
In the second half of 1990, the Japan Overseas Co
spellings of place names throughout the kingdom are
operation Volunteers put out a Manual of Spoken Dzong
standardized and their local etymologies investigated.
kha by Imaeda Yoshim. This useful booklet contains origi
On 26 September 1991, an official system for the
nal material but also incorporates, both literally and in
renderi~g of Dzongkha in the Roman script was intro
simplified fonn, portions of a preliminary version of the
duced by the Royal Government of Bhutan. This system,
present Grammar of Dzongkha, which was circulated in
known as Roman Dzongkha, is based on the phonology of
Thimphu in good faith in the winter of 1989 to 1990. The
the modem spoken language and serves as a standard for
Dzongkha Development Commission interprets/ this gesture
representing Dzongkha tenns, names and words in the
in the spirit of Japan's ancient cultural tradition where imi
international media and wherever the Roman script is re
tation is held to be a sign of admiration. Imaeda's contri
quired. The system is explained at length in the Guide to
bution distinguishes itself from earlier work by virtue of ""' "" ..,.
Official Dzongkha Romanization ~~i:;.'!'J;Qt'l.f'l::t:.'~· .:!:.'OJ.O\'
its systematic chara~ter and lucid style.
(rJ;e!Jrmc·3~'~1:lJ~'Q~·~~·ii~:t~') rJ;Q'~~~'fl!J-1'~~· and co~
In 1990 the author conducted preliminary linguistic
cisely in the Brief Guide to Roman Dzongkha ~C'rl.Sn!'
survey activities in Bhutan with the assistance of ~~r:::::~q·
~c ·p:r ~· a;;{O\ 'F';Q'~I:Ij~'nJJ.J'~C\· J.J~ .:!:.' L:J~~·, both published by
........ ....... ¥""'
~r;;:~·~·~· 'Yangtsep Singge Doji, clerk at the High Court
the Dzongkha Development Commission of the Royal
at Thimphu, who, in addition to his native Dzalakha, also
Government of Bhutan.
~peaks Dzongkha, Tshangla and Nepali. 5~·..2f~·~t;.~·~~·~·
The author gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness
~· Droasho Sangga Doji of the Dzongkha Development
to his two colleagues at the Dzongkha Development Com
Commission had already independently been conducting
mission, S~:t~'.ll~·~c·~f~~r~·~· Dr0asho Sangga Doji and
linguistic survey and toponymical research in Bhutan for
';~q·.q~O\'L:l~O\' Hap Tsentsen, for their shared expertis·~.
years, and it was with great pleasure and enthusiasm that
The author thanks the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Af
the we pooled our efforts to conduct the First Linguistic
fairs and Tom Derksen in particular for his enthusiastic
Survey of Bhutan on behalf of the Royal Government of
support of this undertaking, and the author also extends his
'Bhutan in May 1991. Som~ of the results of the First
·gratitude to Professor Frederik Kortlandt of Leiden Uni
Survey are presented in· Chapter One of this grammar. The
versity for his valuable counsel.
Second Linguistic Survey of Bhutan was initiated this year
XV
XlV
List of Abbreviations
Finally, the patient instruction and unfailing, devoted
assistance of the author's friend "~r.r ~r::. .tJ·~· ~· ~ · Gasep
When used in interlinear morpheme glosses,
Karma Tshering, former Dzongkha newsreader of the
below abbreviations appear between square brackets.
Bhutan Broadcasting Service, was of inestimable value to
the whole of this grammar. Moreover, the exquisite calli
graphy and beautiful Dzongkha handwriting in Chapter ace rhematic accent particle~· te highlight
ing preceding higher-level order syn
Two of this grammar was also provided by Gasep Karma
tactic constituent, comparable to Nepali
Tshering.
ta.; cf. the abbreviation str.
adh adhortative ending -~· -g0 e
adj
adjectiv~
adv adverb
-... -.. ,..,; ....... ak suffix _KJ.!~rJ-.tl~' -ba/-wa, marking
"~r,q+l~·~e.J.J·"sr::.~·~~·~~
~ ,., .......... -d newly acquired knowledge or informa
~LJnr~~·~~~·1:!J5t.::~r::.·f'l·~c..·l'l.'4!'ll'~~· ~~~
....
tion
~~~·~.;.r~~
~·rii· !)~@~ 11' ~ ~~· !)(l) K.lJ art article
auth particle of authority ~·i_· 'mare
'D
aux the verbs 'to be' G~ll ~· 1ng or ~eod.., )·q~·
'imma used as an auxiliary of the fac·
tual or continuous present.
col the collective ending ®'(5£::1' chachap
for nouns denoting human referents
con the ending -tJri·~c,.· -bigang/-mi-
.
"'
gang or -QI'J;'~r::.· -w1-gang of the
continuous present, used in conjunction
with the auxiliary ve~bs ~~· 'ing and
'imma
~Cl\·K.J~·
----
xvi xvn
ctr' the particle ·j j· bo expressing that the pol polite sentence-fmal particle ~-,~·la
proposition is contrary to I the speaker's postp postpositioil ....
expectations, similar to Nepali po. pot auxiliary of potentiality f'.\~ • ong
dat dative pp past participle in -ii'f-~·t-~· -di
def defmite article-~· -d0i prb modal of probability f'.\s·q~· dra
dpg durative present gerund in -~· .%..' -sara pr the ending -~·-do marking the pro:.
-ma
ep present tense ending ..J.l~· mark gressive tense
ing the present of just experienced per
pro pronoun
ception pt witnessed past tense, marked by the suf-
.,._, .... ...., o·
erg ergative suffiX -~~· H~J~r 1--,~· -g 1 fix-~tl'lt·!. -ylI/ -o....' -CIl
'ma
fe particle of friendly entre...a. ty 21~· Q interrogative particl~s Ill' goa, ~· goo
fp future perfect auxiliary t" nyo na
or~·
gen genitive ending -9·t-~·t-~· -g0i soft soft stem verb; cf. Chapter 5.
hard hard stem verb; cf. Chapter 5. str stress particle ~. ra highlighting pre
fii·Io
he hearsay evidential particle ceding lower-level order syntactic con
hon honorific ... . stituent, comparable to Nepali nai; cf.
inf infmitive, infmitival ending -~ · -Dl the abbreviation ace.
ip inferred past suffiX~~~~· -nu sub subordinator suffix -k -mi
n noun sup supine marked.by the suffiX -.Q.%..' -ba
num numeral or -":1.%..' -wa
part particle u urging suffix -lf~· -sh
pf any of the several markers of the per vi verbum intransitivum, intransitive verb
fective aspect: the intransitive auxiliary vt verbum transitivum, transitive verb
~~·song, the intransitive auxiliary
cJl£~· chi, the transitive auxiliary Qlj~·
ya
da, and the prefiX ~.%..· used to mark
the perfective of 'to go'
pg present gerund in -'\' -d 0 a
pl plural suffix-~· -tshu
1
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
l' 1. The languages of Bhutan
Dzongkha is the national language of the kingdom of
Bhutan. It is the nativ..e. language of eight of the twenty dis-
tricts of Bhutan, vjz. ., .\1~·~~· Thi..'nphu, 2..j. '~'[Q' P.,u nakha, :~.:.:.·
~· ..G. asa, ".cn:::rl.5~f1.4'Qt:.' 'Wanglli Phodr0a, 2j·~· (now spelt
2j'.:l..') Paro, ";"i' (now spelt~·) Ha, ".:l..'""J.:l..'~t:.· D0agana and
~·IQ· Chukha in western Bhutan, but it is spoken as a lingua
franca throughout Bhutan and is siptultaneously the official
language of the kingdom. It is hoped that the present book
will help foreigners to acquire a mastery of Dzongkha and,
in so doing, also help promote the use of the national
language.
In addition to Dzongkha, there are twenty languages
spoken in Bhutan. All of the languages of Bhutan are
Tibeto-Burman languages, with the exception of Lho
tshamkha. The languages of Bhutan can be divided into
eight distinct groups: The Dzongkha group, the Bumthang
group, Tshangla, Lhokpu, Gongduk, 'Olekha, Lepcha and
Indo-Aryan. The Dzongkha group consists of Dzongkha
and its closest relative Cho-ca-nga-ca-kha and of the lan
guages Brokpake, D0akpakha, Brokkat, L;Ucha, Layakha,
Lunanakha and B0okha. The Bumthang group consists of
Bumthangkha, Khengkha, Kurtotkha, Chalikha, Dzalakha
