Tibetan Grammar - Formation of the

Tibetan Syllable
WORK IN PROGRESS: the grammar articles are being edited for wiki publication. During editing, the content
might be incomplete, out of sequence or even misleading.

by Stefan J. Gueffroy[1] [fka Eckel]

Articles on Tibetan Grammar

1. Introduction

Contents 2. Formation of the Tibetan

Syllable
Formation of the Tibetan syllable
Overview 3. Formation of the Tibetan
The Tibetan alphabet Word
Tibetan names of the components of a syllable 4. First case: ming tsam
Letters that are used for the different components of a syllable
Examples 5. agentive particle
Combinations of letter forming a syllable 6. Connective Particle
Vowels
7. La don particles
Subscribed letters
Subscribed letters, འདོགས་ཡིག་: ཡ་ ར་ ལ་ ཝ་ 8. La don particles—Notes
Changes in tone, aspiration and pronunciation with
subscribed letters 9. Originative case
Subscribed ཡ་, ཡ་བཏགས་ 10. Verbs
Subscribed ར་, ར་བཏགས་
11. Verbs—Notes
Subscribed ལ་, ལ་བཏགས་
Subscribed ཝ་, ཝ་zuར་ 12. Syntactic particles

Superscribed letters
Superscribed letters, མག0་ཡ1ག་: ར་ ལ་ ས་
Changes in tone, aspiration and pronunciation with
superscribed letters
Superscribed ར་, ར་མགོ་
Superscribed ལ་, ལ་མགོ་
Superscribed ས་, ས་མགོ་

Prefix letters
Prefix letters, sŋོན་འjuག་: ག་ ད་ བ་ མ་ འ་
Changes in tone, aspiration and pronunciation with prefix
letters
Third column root letters
Nasals, fourth column root letters
Exception, prefix ད་

Postfix letters
Postfix letters, rjེས་འjuག་: ག་ ང་ ད་ ན་ བ་ མ་ འ་ ར་ ལ་ ས་
Changes in tone, aspiration and pronunciation with postfix
letters
ད་ ན་ ལ་ ས་
 ག་
བ་
ར་
ང་ མ་
འ་

Second postfix letters

Second postfix letters, ཡང་འjuག་: ས་ ད་
Changes in tone, aspiration and pronunciation with postfix
letters
Pronunciation table for letter combinations
Root letters and syllables with superscribed letters or prefix
Syllables with subscript and prefix
Subscript ཡ
Subscript ར

Changes in pronunciations between connected syllables

བ་ or བོ་
Postfix, prefix or superscript "between" syllables
Superscript of the second syllable pronounced with the first
syllable
Loss of third column's aspiration

Finding the root letter

Transliteration system
Wylie
Wylie transliteration examples
Other transliteration systems
Punctuation and special characters
Wylie transliteration on computers
Sanskrit characters
Sanskrit stacking
Numbers
Spelling Tibetan in Tibetan
Prefix and postfix
Superscript and subscript
Tibetan dictionary order
Endnotes

Formation of the Tibetan syllable

Overview

The Tibetan alphabet

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Tibetan script.

unaspirated, high- aspirated, high- aspirated, low-

nasal
tone, unvoiced tone, unvoiced tone, unvoiced[2]

1. column 2. column 3. column 4. column

1 ཀ་ ka ཁ་ kha ག་ kha (ga) ང་ nga

2 ཅ་ ca ཆ་ cha ཇ་ cha (ja) ཉ་ nya

3 ཏ་ ta ཐ་ tha ད་ tha (da) ན་ na

4 པ་ pa ཕ་ pha བ་ pha (ba) མ་ ma

5 ཙ་ tsa ཚ་ tsha ཛ་ dza [3] ཝ་ wa [4]

6 ཞ་ zha ཟ་ za འ་ a ཡ་ ya

7 ར་ ra ལ་ la ཤ་ sha ས་ sa

8 ཧ་ ha ཨ་ a

Important: The column rules in regard to the pronunciation (unaspirated, aspirated etc.) only apply to the first to
fifth row.
Tibetan names of the components of a syllable

དbyངས་༼ཨི་ཨེ་ཨོ་༽
vowel (i, e, o)

མག0་ཡ1ག་
superscribed letter

sŋོན་འjuག་ མིང་གཞི་ rjེས་འjuག་ ཡང་འjuག་ ཚLག་

prefix letter root letter postfix letter second postfix letter dot

འདོགས་ཡིག་
subscribed letter

དbyངས་༼u་༽
vowel (u)

Letters that are used for the different components of a syllable

Position Letter

the whole alphabet except for the vowels i, u, e, o which need ཨ་ or འ་ as a

root letter, མིང་གཞི་
"vowel-carrier"

prefix letters, sŋོན་འjuག་ ག་ ད་ བ་ མ་ འ་

superscribed letters, མག0་ཡ1ག་ ར་ ལ་ ས་

subscribed letters, འདོགས་ཡིག་ ཡ་ ར་ ལ་ ཝ་

postfix letters, rjེས་འjuག་ ག་ ང་ ད་ ན་ བ་ མ་ འ་ ར་ ལ་ ས་

second postfix letters, ཡང་འjuག་ ས་ ད་

Examples

བདག་

བ ད ག ་
sŋོན་འjuག་ མིང་གཞི་ rjེས་འjuག་ ཚLག་
prefix letter root letter postfix letter dot
 kyང་

ཀ ང ་
མིང་གཞི་ rjེས་འjuག་ ཚLག་
root letter postfix letter dot

ྱ
འདོགས་ཡིག་
subscribed letter

བsgruབས་

ས
མག0་ཡ1ག་
superscribed letter

བ ག བ ས ་
sŋོན་འjuག་ མིང་གཞི་ rjེས་འjuག་ ཡང་འjuག་ ཚLག་
prefix letter root letter postfix letter second postfix letter dot

ྲ
འདོགས་ཡིག་
subscribed letter

ུ
དbyངས་༼u་༽
vowel (u)
 དbyིངས་

ི
དbyངས་༼ཨི་ཨེ་ཨོ་༽
vowel (i, e, o)

ད བ ང ས ་
sŋོན་འjuག་ མིང་གཞི་ rjེས་འjuག་ ཡང་འjuག་ ཚLག་
prefix letter root letter postfix letter second postfix letter dot

ྱ
འདོགས་ཡིག་
subscribed letter

Combinations of letter forming a syllable

Vowels

i ི e ེ o ོ are written above the root letter.

u ུ is written below the root letter.

E.g.:

ལ་ + ི = ལི་

ང་ + ུ = ŋu་

མ་ + ེ = མེ་

ཁ་ + ོ = ཁོ་

Subscribed letters
Subscribed letters, འདོགས་ཡིག་: ཡ་ ར་ ལ་ ཝ་

Position Letter/Stack

ཡ་ is used under ཀ་ ཁ་ ག་ པ་ ཕ་ བ་ མ་ rk་ rg་ rm་ sk་ sg་ sp་ sb་ sm་
and becomes ྱ ky་ y་ gy་ py་ y་ by་ my་ rky་ rgy་ rmy་ sky་ sgy་ spy་ sby་ smy་

ར་ is used under ཀ་ ཁ་ ག་ ཏ་ ཐ་ ད་ པ་ ཕ་ བ་ མ་ ཤ་ ས་ ཧ་ sk་ sg་ sp་ sbr་ sm་ sn་

and becomes ྲ kr་ r་ gr་ tr་ r་ dr་ pr་ r་ br་ mr་ r་ sr་ hr་ skr་ sgr་ spr་ sbr་ smr་ snr་ *

ལ་ is used under ཀ་ ག་ བ་ ཟ་ ར་ ས་
and does not change kl་ gl་ bl་ zl་ rl་ sl་

ཝ་ is used under ཀ་ ཁ་ ག་ ཅ་ ཉ་ ཏ་ ད་ ཙ་ ཚ་ ཞ་ ཟ་ ར་ ལ་ ཤ་ ས་ ཧ་ gr་ dr་ y་ rg་ rʦ་

and becomes ྭ kw་ w་ gw་ cw་ w་ tw་ dw་ ʦw་ w་ w་ zw་ rw་ lw་ w་ sw་ hw་ grw་ drw་ yw་ rgw་ rʦw་ **

* Some of them are rare, for example, in the Great Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary, བོད་rgy་ཚšག་
མཛ›ད་ཆེན་མོ་ there are only three syllables with snr.
** All of them are rare, many of them very rare.

Changes in tone, aspiration and pronunciation with subscribed letters

Subscribed letters don’t cause any changes in tone and / or aspiration.

Subscribed ཡ་, ཡ་བཏགས་

ky་, rky་, sky་, are pronounced /kya/, high tone

y་, is pronounced /khya/, high tone
gy་, is pronounced /khya/, low tone

py་ spy་ are pronounced same as ཅ་, high tone

y་ is pronounced same as ཆ་, high tone
by་ is pronounced same as ཇ་, low tone
my་ is pronounced same as ཉ་, low tone
Which means that the pronunciation for the labial letters becomes the same as that of the palatal letters of their
respective column with the corresponding tone, voicing and aspiration.

rgy་ rmy་ sgy་ sby་ smy་ are pronounced like gy་ my་ by་ respectively, but with changes in voicing, tone and aspiration
according to the changes caused by superscript letter. The consonants of the third column become voiced and
non-aspirated, staying low tone. The nasals become high tone. (see below)
Subscribed ར་, ར་བཏགས་

kr་ tr་ pr་ skr་ spr་ The consonants of the first column are pronounced as a retroflex /tra/, high tone.
r་ r་ r་ The consonants of the second column are pronounced as a retroflex /thra/, high tone.
gr་ dr་ br་ The consonants of the third column are pronounced as a retroflex /thra/, low tone.
Which means that they all become a retroflex t-r-sound with the corresponding tone, voicing and aspiration of their
respective column.

sgr་ sbr་ smr་ are pronounced like gr་ br་ mr་ respectively, but with changes in voicing, tone and aspiration according to
the changes caused by superscript letter. The consonants of the third column become voiced and non-aspirated,
staying low tone. The nasals become high tone. (see below)

mr་ sr་ no changes in pronunciation

hr་ pronounced /hra/, high tone, unvoiced
r་* pronounced shra

* The Great Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary, བོད་rgy་ཚšག་མཛ›ད་ཆེན་མོ་ gives r་ rི་ raི་, and

they are all exclusively used for Sanskrit phonemes.

snr་ pronounced same as sn་ (high tone)

Subscribed ལ་, ལ་བཏགས་

kl་ gl་ bl་ rl་ sl་ are pronounced as a high tone /la/.
The exception:

zl་ is pronounced /da/, low tone, non-aspirated, voiced;

zl་བ་, /da wa/, the moon;

zluག་པ་, /dug pa/, to pour, to ask about

Subscribed ཝ་, ཝ་zuར་

kw་ w་ gw་ cw་ w་ tw་ dw་ ʦw་ w་ w་ zw་ rw་ lw་ w་ sw་ hw་ grw་ drw་ yw་ rgw་ rʦw, the ཝ་zuར་ causes no changes in pronunciation.

Superscribed letters

Superscribed letters, མག0་ཡ1ག་: ར་ ལ་ ས་

 Position Letter/Stack

ར་ is used above ཀ་ ག་ ང་ ཇ་ ཉ་ ཏ་ ད་ ན་ བ་ མ་ ཙ་ ཛ་[5] ky་ gy་ my་

and becomes* rk་ rg་ rŋ་ rj་ r་ rt་ rd་ rn་ rb་ rm་ rʦ་ rdz་ rky་ rgy་ rmy་

ལ་ is used above ཀ་ ག་ ང་ ཅ་ ཇ་ ཏ་ ད་ པ་ བ་ ཧ་
and doesn’t change lk་ lg་ lŋ་ lc་ lj་ lt་ ld་ lp་ lb་ lh་

ས་ is used above ཀ་ ག་ ང་ ཉ་ ཏ་ ད་ ན་ པ་ བ་ མ་ ཙ་ ky་ gy་ py་ by་ my་ kr་ gr་ pr་ mr་ nr་
and doesn’t change sk་ sg་ sŋ་ s་ st་ sd་ sn་ sp་ sb་ sm་ sʦ་ sky་ sgy་ spy་ sby་ smy་ skr་ sgr་ spr་ smr་ snr་**

* r་ being the exception with a 'full' ར་.

** snr་ only come in this combination (not as nr་).

Changes in tone, aspiration and pronunciation with superscribed letters

All superscribed letter cause the same change in pronunciation to the same group of consonants. The consonants
of the first column have no changes in pronunciation. There are no consonants of the second column with
superscribed letter.

The consonants of the third column become voiced and non-aspirated, staying low tone.

gu་, /khu/, inside; extent — rgu་, /gu/, many, several

དོ་, /tho/, a pair, match — rdོ་, /do/, stone; core, main point
The nasals, the fourth column root letters, become high tone.

ང་, /nga/ (low tone), I, me — lŋ་, /nga/ (high tone), five — rŋ་, /nga/ (high tone), drum

Superscribed ར་, ར་མགོ་

rk་ rt་ rʦ་ rky་ no changes in pronunciation.

rg་ rj་ rd་ rb་ rdz་ rgy་ become voiced and non-aspirated, staying low tone.
rŋ་ r་ rn་ rm་ rmy་ become high tone.

Superscribed ལ་, ལ་མགོ་

lk་ lc་ lt་ lp་ no changes in pronunciation.

lg་ lj་ ld་ lb་ become voiced and non-aspirated, staying low tone.
 lŋ་ becomes high tone.

The exception:

lh་ is pronounced as an aspirated /hLa/; lh་ས་ the city of "Lhasa". ལ་མགོ་ is the only superscribed letter for ཧ་.

Superscribed ས་, ས་མགོ་

sk་ st་ sp་ sʦ་ sky་ spy་ skr་ spr་ no changes in pronunciation.
sg་ sd་ sb་ sgy་ sby་ sgr་ become voiced and non-aspirated, staying low tone.
sŋ་ s་ sn་ sm་ smy་ smr་ snr་* becomes high tone.

*concerning snr་, see note above

Prefix letters

Prefix letters, sŋོན་འjuག་: ག་ ད་ བ་ མ་ འ་

Position Letter/Stack

ག་ is used before ཅ་ ཉ་ ཏ་ ད་ ན་ ཙ་ ཞ་ ཟ་ ཡ་ ཤ་ ས་

ད་ is used before ཀ་ ག་ ང་ པ་ བ་ མ་ ky་ gy་ py་ by་ my་ kr་ gr་ pr་ br་

ཀ་ ག་ ཅ་ ཏ་ ད་ ཙ་ ཞ་ ཟ་ ཤ་ ས་ ky་ gy་ kr་ gr་ rl་ sl་ rk་ rg་ rŋ་ rj་ r་ rt་ rd་ rn་ rʦ་
བ་ is used before
rdz་ lt་ ld་ st་ sk་ sg་ sŋ་ s་ st་ sd་ sn་ sʦ་ rky་ rgy་ sky་ sgy་ skr་ sgr་

མ་ is used before ཁ་ ག་ ང་ ཆ་ ཇ་ ཉ་ ཐ་ ད་ ན་ ཚ་ ཛ་ y་ gy་ r་ gr་

འ་ is used before ཁ་ ག་ ཆ་ ཇ་ ཐ་ ད་ ཕ་ བ་ ཚ་ ཛ་ y་ gy་ y་ by་ r་ gr་ dr་ r་ br་

Changes in tone, aspiration and pronunciation with prefix letters

Changes in pronunciation are the same as with superscribed letters.

The consonants of the first column have no changes in pronunciation.

The consonants of the the second column have no changes in pronunciation.
The consonants of the third column become voiced and non-aspirated, staying low tone.
 The nasals, the fourth column root, letters become high tone.

Third column root letters

ག་ gy་ gr་ ཇ་ ད་ dr་ བ་ by་ br་ཛ་[6] with prefix become voiced and non-aspirated, staying low tone.

gr་, /thra/, fence — དgr་, /dra/, enemy

rg་ rgy་ sg་ sgy་ sgr་ rj་ rd་ sd་ rdz་ with prefix, they are already voiced and non-aspirated (having superscribed letters)*
and stay that way. E.g.,

sgrིབ་, /drib/, to cover, veil, obscure (present tense), same pronunciation as བsgrིབ་, /drib/, to cover, veil,
obscure (future tense)

* Merely because the superscribed letters are covered before the prefix letters
in here. If the prefix letters would be first it would the other way around. E.g.
བདོ་, /do/, to increase, spread, same pronunciation as བsdོ་, /do/, to risk (future
tense).

Nasals, fourth column root letters

ང་ ཉ་ ན་ མ་ my་, the nasals with prefix become high tone.

མག་, /mag/, low tone, short for མག་གི་muག་གི་, fuzzy obscured — དམག་, /mag/, troops, high tone

ཡ་ after ག་ becomes high tone ཡ་.

ཡབ་, /yab/, low tone, father (h.) — གཡབ་, /yab/, high tone, shelter

rŋ་ r་ sŋ་ s་ with prefix, they are already* high tone (having superscribed letters)

sŋགས་པ་, /ngag pa/, tantric practitioner — བsŋགས་པ་ /ngag pa/, praise; to praise

* and stay that way.

Exception, prefix ད་

Prefix ད་ with བ་: དབ་, དby་, དbr་. The prefix ད་ changes the བ་ into /wa/ or makes it silent so that only the vowel
and the subscribed consonant is pronounced.

The silent བ་ with only the vowel "a" is also commonly pronounced as /wa/.
 དབང་, /wang/, empowerment, might also be pronounced as /ang/.

With other vowel or subscript ཡ་

དbu་, /u/ as in དbu་མ་, /u-ma/, Madhyamaka

དbyིངས་, /ying/, expanse, space, dhatu

With subscript ར་ either /dra/ or /ra/

དbrེ་པོ་, /dre po/ or /re po/, filthy, disgusting

Postfix letters

Postfix letters, rjེས་འjuག་: ག་ ང་ ད་ ན་ བ་ མ་ འ་ ར་ ལ་ ས་

Position Letter/Stack

The ten postfix letters: ག་ ང་ ད་ ན་ བ་ མ་ འ་ ར་ ལ་ ས་

Changes in tone, aspiration and pronunciation with postfix letters

Postfix letters don’t cause any changes in tone and / or aspiration.

ད་ ན་ ལ་ ས་

ད་ ན་ ལ་ ས་ changing "a" "o" "u" into umlauts[7] ä, ö, ü. Vowels become short before ད་ ན་ and long before ལ་ ས་.

ན་ ལ་ change a, o, u into the umlauts ä, ö, ü, and are softly or fully pronounced or might be swallowed.

smན་, /mä/ or /män/, medicine, yuལ་skད་, /yü kä / or /yül kä/, dialect

ད་ ས་ change a, o, u into the umlauts ä, ö, ü, and are not pronounced themselves.

luས་ /lü/, body, མད་པ་, /mä pa/, true

ག་

ག་ might be pronounced very softly or "swallowed" and shortens the vowel , if the word continues with second
syllable ག་ is often clearly pronounced.

duག་, /thu(k)/, poison, བདག་པོ་, /dak po/, owner

བ་

བ་ is very softly pronounced as the end of the syllable and shortens the vowel.

འབབ་པ་, /bap pa/, to fall, move downward

ར་

ར་ is pronounced or sometimes silent.

དཀར་པོ་, /kar po/, white

ང་ མ་

ང་ མ་ is pronounced as clear nasals at the end of the syllable.

buམ་པ་, /phum pa/, vase, མང་པོ་, /mang po/, many

འ་

འ་ does not change pronunciation. It is used to mark the second of two letters as root letter, when there is no
other vowel then "a" and the first or second letter can be pre or postfix (see below).

Second postfix letters

Second postfix letters, ཡང་འjuག་: ས་ ད་

There are two second postfix letters: ས་ ད་

ས་ is used after ག་ ང་ བ་ མ་.

ཁམས་པ་, /kham pa/, kham pa

 ད་ was used after ན་ར་ལ་ in old orthography and is called ད་drག་ ("forceful da") (short drག་). Even though it is not
written anymore it changes the spelling of particles as if it still would be there (see: Introduction to the Tibetan
Particles).

kuན་ old kuནད་ goes with ལ་དོན་ particle tu་ and not with du་ after ན་.
kuན་tu་, /kun tu/, completely, from kuནད་tu་

Changes in tone, aspiration and pronunciation with postfix letters

The second postfix letters cause no changes in pronunciation.

Pronunciation table for letter combinations

Root letters and syllables with superscribed letters or prefix

unaspirated, high- aspirated, high- aspirated, low- non-aspirated, nasal nasal

tone, unvoiced tone, unvoiced tone, unvoiced low-tone, voiced low tone high tone

3. column 4. column
1. column 2. column 3. column with prefix 4. column with prefix
or superscript or superscript

1 ཀ་ /ka/ ཁ་ /kha/ ག་ /kha/ sg་ /ga/ ང་ /nga/ lŋ་ /nga/

2 ཅ་ /ca/ ཆ་ /cha/ ཇ་ /cha/ འཇ་ /ja/ ཉ་ /nya/ s་ /nya/

3 ཏ་ /ta/ ཐ་ /tha/ ད་ /tha/ rd་ /da/ ན་ /na/ sn་ /na/

4 པ་ /pa/ ཕ་ /pha/ བ་ /pha/ rb་ /ba/ མ་ /ma/ sm་ /ma/

5 ཙ་ /tsa/ ཚ་ /tsha/ ཛ་ /dza/ /tsha/[8] rdz་ /dza/

Syllables with subscript and prefix

Subscript ཡ

unaspirated, high- aspirated, high- aspirated, low- non-aspirated, nasal nasal

tone, unvoiced tone, unvoiced tone, unvoiced low-tone, voiced low tone high tone

3. column 4. column
1. column 2. column 3. column with prefix 4. column with prefix
or superscript or superscript

1 ky་ /kya/ y་ /khya/ gy་ /khya/ rgy་ /gya/

4
py་ /ca/=/ y་ /cha/=/ by་ /cha/=/ འby་ /ja/=/ my་ /nya/=/ rmy་ /nya/=/
ཅ་/ ཆ་/ ཇ་/ འཇ་/ ཉ/ r་/

Subscript ར

unaspirated, high- aspirated, high- aspirated, low- non-aspirated, nasal nasal

tone, unvoiced tone, unvoiced tone, unvoiced low-tone, voiced low tone high tone

3. column 4. column
1. column 2. column 3. column with prefix 4. column with prefix
or superscript or superscript

1 kr་ /tra/ r་ /thra/ gr་ /thra/ དgr་ /dra/

3 tr་ /tra/ r་ /thra/ dr་ /thra/ འdr་ /dra/

4 pr་ /tra/ r་ /thra/ br་ /thra/ དbr་ /dra/

Changes in pronunciations between connected syllables

བ་ or བོ་

If a word has as a final syllable a བ་ or བོ་ then they are not pronounced /pha/ /pho/, but pronounced /wa/
and /wo/.
 rgyལ་བ་ /gyal wa/, conqueror; ང0་བ½་, /ngo wo/, essence, nature

Postfix, prefix or superscript "between" syllables

If a word consist of two or more syllables then the postfix, prefix or superscript "between" them might be
pronounced.

The prefix འ་ and མ་ of the second syllable are often pronounced as a nasal at the end of the first syllable.

དགེ་འduན་ /gen dün/, sangha; མཁའ་འgrོ་, /khan dro/, khandro, rgy་མཚ›་, /gyam tsho/, ocean

Also བ་ can also be pronouced.

བཅོ་བrgyད་, /cob gyä/; ས་བཅད་, /sab cä/

Superscript of the second syllable pronounced with the first syllable

In some cases the superscript of the second syllable is pronounced as the end of the first.

rd0་rj¾་, /dorje/, vajra; u་rgyན་, /ur gyän/, Uddiyana; མཆོད་rtེན་, /chör ten/, stupa

ད་lt་, /than ta/, now; here the superscript ལ་ becomes a nasal.

Loss of third column's aspiration

In word consisting of more than one syllable usually only the first syllable is stressed. Due to that the consonants
of the third column (ག་ ཇ་ ད་ བ་, if they are the root letter of a following syllable) can lose their aspiration.

ཡི་དམ་, /yi dam/, yidam; དོན་gruབ་, /dhön drub/, Siddhartha

Finding the root letter

1. If there is one letter? Good guess. That is the root letter.

2. If there is more than one letter and any of the consonants of the first or second column i.e. ཀ་ ཁ་, ཅ་ ཆ་, ཏ་ ཐ་, པ་
ཕ་, ཙ་ ཚ་ are part of the syllable, then they are always the root letter, since they can not be a prefix or postfix
letter.
 The same applies to ཇ་, ཉ་, ཛ་, ཝ་, ཞ་, ཟ་, ཡ་, ཤ་, ཧ་, ཨ་.[9]

3.
If one of the vowels ཨི་u་ཨེ་ཨོ་ is written above or below a letter then this is the root letter. E.g. དགེ་ root letter

ག་.
Notice: not to be mistaken with འི་ or འོ་ like in མདའི་ and མདའོ་, where འི་ is the connective case marking

particle and འོ་ is the completion particle with the word མདའ་.

4. If there is a super- or subscript on a letter then this is the root letter. E.g. gyད་ root letter ག་.

5. If there are two letters, but the first one can not be a prefix letter in that combination, then it is the root letter.
E.g. གམ་ root letter ག་, as ག་ is not a prefix for མ་.

6. If there are two letters and both can be either prefix or postfix letter respectively, then the first is the root
letter. E.g. དམ་ root letter ད་. A ཝ་zuར་ might be added in order to mark the root letter.

Also an additional འ་ postfix might be added in order to make the second letter into the root letter, making it
into a word with three letters, the middle one being the root letter. E.g. དམའ་ root letter མ་.

7.
If there are three letters and the third one is not a ས་ then the second one is the root letter, because only ས་

can be a second postfix letter. Leaving out ད་, because at this point in time practically only ས་ is used, the

second postfix letter ད་ only occurs in old manuscripts and grammar books.

E.g. བདག་ root letter ད་.

A ཝ་zuར་ might be added in order to change the first letter into the root letter.
E.g. དགས་ root letter ག་ versus dwགས་ root letter ད་.

8.a
If there are three letters and the third one is a ས་ but the first one can not be prefix, then the first one is the

root letter, with second one being one of ག་ ང་ བ་ མ་, because ས་ comes only after ག་ ང་ བ་ མ་ as second
postfix.

8.b If there are three letters and the third one is a ས་ and the second one is not ག་ ང་ བ་ མ་ then the second one
is the root letter, because ས་ can not be a second postfix letter in this case.

8.c If there are three letters and the third one is a ས་ and the second one is ག་ ང་ བ་ མ་ and the first one can be
a prefix, then "good luck"; that means, that you need to consult a dictionary as there is no fixed rule for this
case.
There are only nine possible combinations that have this potential of ambiguity. Not all all of them exist and
non of them occurs with both options as main entry in the Great Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary, བོད་rgy་ཚšག་མཛ›ད་
ཆེན་མོ་.
With second as root letter: དགས་, /gä/; འགས་, /gä/; དབས་ /bä/; དམས་, /mä/
With first as root letter: བགས་, /bag/; མངས་, /mang/
མངས་, /mang/ is not a main entry itself but comes in combinations. From the place it comes in the dictionary
within a subcategory of the main entry the root letter is clearly defined.
གzuགས་མངས་ comes right after གzuགས་མང་ in the hard copy of the Great Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary, བོད་rgy་
ཚšག་མཛ›ད་ཆེན་མོ་, but is due to a typo misplaced in one of the electronic versions, having ང་ as the root letter.
 9. If there are four letters then the second one is the root letter. Because a root letter can only have two postfix
letters. E.g. གདགས་ root letter ད་.

Transliteration system
Transliterate: from Latin trans, across and littera, letter, character.

Transliteration is a mapping from one system of writing into another letter by letter. It ought be exact to the point,
that an informed reader should able to reconstruct the original spelling of transliterated words.
Transliteration is opposed to transcription, which describes the sound of the words of one language with the best
matching combination of letters of another language.

Wylie

"What, then, should be the criterion for a standard system of Tibetan transcription, It
should be of minimal complexity and capable of reproduction on a standard typewriter,
i.e., one lacking special keys for diacritical marks"

Turrell Wylie, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol.

22, Dec., 1959

The following table contains the Wylie-transliteration for the characters of the Tibetan alphabet:
 1. column 2. column 3. column 4. column

1 ཀ ka ཁ kha ག ga ང nga

2 ཅ ca ཆ cha ཇ ja ཉ nya

3 ཏ ta ཐ tha ད da ན na

4 པ pa ཕ pha བ ba མ ma

5 ཙ tsa ཚ tsha ཛ dza ཝ wa

6 ཞ zha ཟ za འ 'a ཡ ya

7 ར ra ལ la ཤ sha ས sa

8 ཧ ha ཨ a

7 ཨི i u u ཨེ e ཨོ o

The spelling goes from left to right and top to bottom. The vowel is written after the root letter or root letter with
subscript.
 The transliteration sequence within a Tibetan
syllable

Wylie transliteration examples

ཁེ་ = khe, མདོ་ = mdo, དོགས་ = dogs, ཨོ་ = o, འོད་ = 'od, འི་ = 'i, མད0འ1་ = mdo'i, དཀར་ = dkar,
བཀའ་ = bka', བཀའོ་ = bka'o, འདགས་ = 'dags, rt་ = rta, བrgལ་ = brgal, gru་ = gru, gruག་ = grug,
rgyu་ = rgyu, rgyuད་ = rgyud, དbyིངས་ = dbyings
There is a period "." between prefix ག་ and root letter ཡ་ to distinguish it from root letter ག་ with subscript ཡ་:

གཡག་ = g.yag versus gyག་ = gyag

gyོ་ = gyo, གཡོ་ = g.yo, གyuར་ = g.yur
The postfix letters -གས་ abbreviation ཊ is transliterated "T", see Sanskrit characters below.

Other transliteration systems

Beside Wylie’s there are other systems with for example, ཁ་: k’a; ང་: ña, -ng, ṅa; ཅ་: cha ca ̀
̀ ǰa; ཉ་: ña; ཐ་: t’a; ཕ་: p’a; ཚ་: ts’ha, t’sa, ts’a; ཛ་: dsa,
ča; ཆ་: chha, c’̀ a, ch’a, čha, c’a; ཇ་: ja,
dz'a; ཝ་: va; ཞ་: za
̀ , sha, źhya, ža, za ̀ ; ཟ་: źa; འ་: <a, ḥ, ạ; ཤ་: sà , ça, śa; ཨ་: ’a .

The "-" used by the THDL Extended Wylie Transliteration Scheme for the ཨྀ་, is also still
used by some between prefix ག་ and root letter ཡ་ . (An indeed very useful exercise if the
aim is to get further away from an universally agreed Tibetan transliteration system.)

"...A survey of publications by a dozen Tibetan scholars selected at random reveals a

dozen varying systems of transcription—a profusion of apostrophes, diacritical marks,
Greek gammas, capital and italic letters."

Turrell Wylie

Punctuation and special characters

Note: The Extended Wylie system, defined by the University of Virginia, extends the scope of the Wylie
transliteration for Sanskrit, punctuation and many special characters found in Tibetan texts. A reference-manual for
Extended Wylie can be downloaded from Virginia University (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&v
ed=0CBgQFjAA&url=https%3A%2F%2F1.800.gay%3A443%2Fhttp%2Fwww.thlib.org%2Freference%2Ftransliteration%2Fteachingewts.pdf&ei=dU2
MTYThNMuJrAeF48DqDQ&usg=AFQjCNG-uN5gPgI90moGWjJCaaY21eODgQ&sig2=8XZFEuzhmvF3Pw2QYlUTpQ
)

Wylie transliteration on computers

Unfortunately the Extended Wylie standard is not yet accepted everywhere, and especially the different Wylie
keyboards used with different computer operating systems differ slightly regarding Wylie-extensions. See Digital
Tibetan (http://www.digitaltibetan.org/index.php/Tibetan_Input_Method) for more information on how the use
computers with Wylie transliteration.

On Digital Tibetan, there is also a converter between Wylie transliteration and Tibetan script (http://www.digitaltibet
an.org/cgi-bin/wylie.pl).

Sanskrit characters

ཊ Ta ཋ Tha ཌ Da ཎ Na

ཥ Sha ཕ༹ fa བ༹ va

Examples: ka་ = kA, kau་ = kU, kaི་ = kI, kaོ་ = kO, kaེ་ = kE, ཀྀ་ = k-i, kaྀ་ = k-I, ཀཻ་ = kai, ཀཽ་ = kau

Sanskrit stacking
For Sanskrit-stacks that do in appear in Tibetan, a plus-sign indicates stacked letters:

r་ = b+h+ra, kk་ = k+ka, ཀྵ་ = k+Sha, dza་ = dz+nyA

Numbers

༠ = 0, ༡ = 1, ༢ = 2, ༣ = 3, ༤ = 4, ༥ = 5, ༦ = 6, ༧ = 7, ༨ = 8, ༩ = 9,
Spelling Tibetan in Tibetan
Some of the letters get special names when used for the spelling of a syllable.

vowel called prefix called

ཨི་ གི་gu་ ག་ ག་ཨོ་*

u་ ཞབས་kyu་ ད་ ད་ཨོ་

ཨེ་ འgrེང་bu་ བ་ བ་ཨོ་

ཨོ་ ན་རོ་ མ་ མ་ཨོ་

འ་ འ་ཨོ་

* I’ve never seen "gao" etc. in a written form. This spelling

here is just according to the phoneme that is used.

The spelling goes from left to right and top to bottom, same as Wylie. The phoneme resulting in the different stages of
the process are each stated. The postfixes are spelt together.

Prefix and postfix

prefix letter + "o" + root letter + vowel name → phoneme + postfix → phoneme

མདོས་, prefix མ་, /ma-o/ + root letter ད་, /da/ → /ma-o da/ + vowel ཨོ་ /na ro/ → /na-ro do/ + postfix ས་,
/sa/ → /sa dö/, all together: /ma-o da, na-ro do, sa dö/

ལག་ /la ga lag/

འདི་, /a-o da, gi-gu di/

དགེ་, /da-o ga, dreng-bu ge/

མདའ་, /ma-o da, a da/

དིག་, /da gi-gu di, ga dig/

གsuངས་, /ga-o sa, zhab-kyu su, nga sa sung/

ལོགས་, /la na-ro lo, ga sa log

Superscript and subscript

The top-bottom formation is using the "ta" to indicate the stacking order. Pre- and postfix as above.
Superscript + root letter + "ta" → phoneme,
root letter + subscript letter + "ta" → phoneme ,
superscript + root letter + "ta" → phoneme + subscript letter + "ta" → phoneme

rgyོ་, superscript ར་ /ra/ + root letter ག་, /ga/ + /ta/ → /ra ga-ta ga/ + subscript letter ཡ་, /ya/ + /ta/ →
ya-ta gya + vowel ཨོ་ /na ro/ → /na-ro gyo/, all together: ra ga-ta ga ya-ta gya na-ro gyo.

rg་, /ra ga-ta ga/

བrd, /ba-o ra da-ta da/

skོ་, /sa ka-ta ka, na-ro ko/

བrduང་, /ba-o ra da-ta da, zhab-kyu du, nga dung/

gy་, /ga ya-ta gya/

དgr་, /da-o ga ra-ta dra/

yི་, /kha ya-ta khya, gi-gu khyi/

byuང་, /ba ya-ta ja, zhab kyu ju, nga jung/

blོ་, ba la-ta la, na-ro lo/

བsrིངས་, /ba-o sa ra-ta sa, gi-gu si, nga sa sing/

spyང་, /sa pa-ta pa, ya ta ca, nga cang/

rgyu་, /ra ga-ta ga, ya-ta gya, zhab kyu gyu/

བrgyuས་, /ba-o ra ga-ta ga, ya ta gya, zhab-kyu gyu, sa gyü/

Tibetan dictionary order

1. The first structure is the alphabetic order (ཀ་ ཁ་ ག་ ང་ ཅ་...) of a word’s first syllable’s root letter, e.g. ཆིག་ before
གསོག་. Second syllables don’t change the first syllables place and come themselves in alphabetic when having
the same first syllable(s), e.g.
ཝ་མོ་ before ཝ་ཚང་ before ཝ་ཞག་;
ཞེན་དོན་ before ཞེན་པ་ before ཞེན་པ་གཏིང་ལོག་ before ཞེན་པ་བཞི་brལ་ before ཞེན་པ་ལོག་པ་ before ཞེན་འཛšན་,
ཡ0་by¾ད་ before ཡ0་by¾ད་མངོན་gyuར་ before ཡ0་by¾ད་ལ་ཆགས་པའི་lhག་མ་གཉིས་ before ཡ0་by¾ད་ལ་དབང་བ་.
2. Then root letter with postfix in alphabetic order ག་ང་ད་ན་བ་མ་འ་ར་ལ་ས་, གག་ གང་...
A postfix with second postfix comes at the end of the section of the first postfix, then comes the next postfix, e.g.
གང་ before གངས་ before གད་ so the order is གག་ གང་ གངས་ གད་ གན་ གབ་ གམ་ གའ་ གར་ གལ་ གས་.
3. Each letter with the vowles ཨི་ u་ ཨེ་ ཨོ་ and the postfixes, going through all the postfixes before the next vowel
གི་ གིང་ གིན་ གིམ་ གིས་ gu་ guག་ guང་... གེ་ གེག་... གོ་... གོམ་ གོམས་...
4. The rootletter with subscript ཝ་ཡ་ར་ལ་ going through the prosses of 2.and 3. finishing all combinations with all the
vowels before going to the next subscript letter gw་ gy་ gyག་ gyང་... gyི་ gyིང་... gyu་ gyuར་... gyེན་... gyོ་ gyོང་... gr་ grག་
grགས་... grི་... gru་ gruག་... gr0་gr½ག་...* gl་ glག་... glི་** glིང་ glིངས་ glu་... glེ་... glོ་ glོགག་... glོས་***
* at this point comes the gr་ with ཝ་zuར་, grw་
** generic
*** at this point there also come Sanskrit charactersགྷི་, uར་

5. The prefix letters ག་ད་ བ་ མ་ འ་ are added to the root letter going through the processes 2.-4., དགག་ དགང་...
དགི་**... དgu་ དguག་... དགེ་... དགོ་ དགོག་... དgy་** ... དgyེ་... དgr་... དgrོ་... བགག་... མགར་... མgrོན་... འགག་...
འgrོས་
6. The superscipt letters ར་ ལ་ ས་ are added, going through all combinations without prefix before going to the next
superscript, within each superscript going through all vowels before the subscripts / next subscript rg་ rgང་ rgད་...

rgu་... rgོ་... rgོལ་... rgy་ rgyག་... rgyu་... rgyོང་ rgyོངས་... lg་.... sg་ sgག་... sgu་... sgེ་... sgོ་... sgyིད་... sgyu... sgr་.... sgrིག་...
sgrིས་
7. The prefix letters are added to the root letters with superscript, going through the same order again, བrgལ་...

བrgy་.... བrgyu་... བsgག་... བsguག་... བsgོམས་... བsgོས་ བsgyིངས་... བsgyར་... བsgrག་.... བsgrིག་... བsgrོན་...
letter + postfix + prefix rkyོང་
ཀ་ དཀག་པ་ lkག་
ཀ་བཀོལ་མ་ དཀན་ lkuགས་
ཀག་ lkོག་
དku་ sk་བ་
ཀང་ དཀོན་མཆོག་ skད་
+ vowels + postfix + subscript sku་
ཀི་ དkyིལ་ skེ་
ཀི་ཀང་ དkyu་ + subscript
kuན་ དkyིར་བ་ sky་
ཀེ་ skyིན་
དkyོར་འbyིན་ skyེར་
ཀེག་ དkrི་ག་ skr་
ཀོ་ དkrིག་པ་ skrི་བ་
ཀོང་ དkruམ་ skrོད་པ་
+ subscripts དkrོལ་བ་ + prefix
kw་ བrkམ་པ་
བཀག་ཆ་ བrkuན་
kyག་ བཀད་ བrkོས་པ་
kyི་ བku་ + subscript
kyu་ བཀོང་བ་ བrkyང་བ་
kyེ་ + subscript བrkyངས་ru་
kyེད་ བkyལ་བ་ བsk་བ་
kyོ་བ་ བskuང་བ་
བkyིག་པ་ བskོས་པ་
kyོག་པོ་ བkyོན་པ་ + subscript
kyོང་ཁ་ བgr་བ་ བsky་བ་
kr་ བkrིས་ བskyམ་པ་
krང་ བkru་དག་ བskyིལ་བ་
krི་ཁ་ བskrད་པ་
བkrོས་པ་ བskrོགས་པ་
kruགས་ བklག་པ་
krེ་ནག་ བkluབ་པ་
krོག་ + superscripts
kl་klོ་ rk་
klད་ rkང་
klu་ rkོས་
klོ་ + subscript
klོག་ rky་
ཀྵ་ rkyེན་

Endnotes
1. recently adopted
2. The consonants of the third column change their pronunciation within a Tibetan syllable according to a set of
rules. They then become unaspirated, voiced. I.e.: /ga/, /ja/, /da/, /ba/.
3. See: The Tibetan Alphabet, debate about the pronunciation of ཛ་ without superscribed letter.
4. <tib>ཝ་</tib> is placed into the fifth row but does not belong the consonants (alveolar affricates) of that row. It is a
letter that was introduced to old Tibetan in order to write Chinese names with /wa/ and was a combination of the
<tib>འ་</tib>writen above a <tib>བ་</tib>.
5. See: The Tibetan Alphabet, debate about the pronunciation of ཛ་ without superscribed letter.
6. see above
7. The "umlaut" can refer to the changed of sound of a vowel (I-mutation) and the diacritic sign, a pair of dots above
a vowel, which is the graphic representation of those sounds.
 8. See: The Tibetan Alphabet, debate about the pronunciation of ཛ་ without superscribed letter.
9. This rule is a part of the prefix and postfix letter rules, but since it is easy to remember this is is added as a
supporting rule.

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This page was last edited on 20 February 2019, at 14:45.