Chapter 02 - Policy Standards for a Good Tax

Test Bank for Principles of Taxation for Business and Investment

Planning 16th Edition Jones Catanach 0078025486 9780078025488

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Chapter 02
Policy Standards for a Good Tax

True / False Questions

1. A tax meets the standard of sufficiency if it is easy for people to pay the tax.
True False

2. The federal government is not required to pay interest on the national debt.
True False

3. A static forecast of the revenue effect of a tax rate change assumes that the tax base does
not change.
True False

4. A dynamic forecast of the revenue effect of a tax rate change assumes that the tax base does
not change.
True False

5. The federal Social Security tax burden on employees has not increased since 1990 because
the tax rate has not increased since that year.
True False

6. If State H increases its sales tax rate by 1 percent, its sales tax revenue must also increase by
1 percent.
True False

2-1
Chapter 02 - Policy Standards for a Good Tax

7. The city of Berne recently enacted a 10% tax on the price of a subway ticket. Consequently,
Mrs. Lane now walks to work instead of taking the subway. Her behavior illustrates the
substitution effect of a tax increase.
True False

8. Jurisdiction P recently increased its income tax rate. A taxpayer who reacts to the increase
by working harder to earn more income is demonstrating the income effect of the rate
increase. True False

9. According to supply-side economic theory, a decrease in tax rates for high-income

individuals could actually cause an increase in tax revenue.
True False

10. Supply-side economic theory holds that people who benefit from a tax rate reduction will
spend their tax windfall on consumption goods.
True False

11. State use taxes are more convenient for individual consumers than state sales taxes.
True False

12. The Internal Revenue Service's cost of collecting $100 of tax revenue is about $3.
True False

13. A convenient tax has low compliance costs for taxpayers and low collection and
enforcement costs for the government.
True False

2-2
Chapter 02 - Policy Standards for a Good Tax

14. According to the classical concept of efficiency, an efficient tax should be neutral in its
effect on free market allocations of economic resources.
True False

15. According to the Keynesian concept of efficiency, an efficient tax should be neutral in its
effect on free market allocations of economic resources.
True False

16. A tax meets the standard of efficiency if it generates enough revenue to pay for the public
goods and services provided by the government.
True False

17. A provision in the tax law designed to encourage a specific economic behavior is a tax
preference.
True False

18. A good tax should result in either horizontal or vertical equity across taxpayers.
True False

19. Changes in the tax law intended to make the measurement of taxable income more
precise usually make the tax law less complex.
True False

20. Vertical equity focuses on measurement of the tax base, and horizontal equity focuses on
the tax rate structure.
True False

2-3
Chapter 02 - Policy Standards for a Good Tax

21. Tax systems with regressive rate structures result in a proportionally heavier tax burden on
persons with smaller tax bases.
True False

22. A progressive rate structure and a proportionate rate structure both result in vertical equity
across taxpayers.
True False

23. The U.S. individual income tax has always used a progressive rate structure.
True False

24. The declining marginal utility of income across individuals can be measured empirically.
True False

25. Tax liability divided by taxable income equals marginal tax rate.
True False

26. If a tax has a proportionate rate structure, a taxpayer's marginal rate and average rate are
equal.
True False

27. If a tax has a progressive rate structure, a taxpayer's average rate is greater than her
marginal rate.
True False

28. The theory of distributional justice is a rationale for a progressive income tax system.
True False

2-4
Chapter 02 - Policy Standards for a Good Tax

29. Individuals who believe that a tax system is fair are less likely to cheat on their taxes than
individuals who believe that the system is unfair.
True False

30. Many taxpayers believe the income tax system is unfair because it is so complicated.
True False

Multiple Choice Questions

31. Government officials of Country Z estimate that next year's public programs will cost $19
million but that tax revenues will be only $15 million. The officials could avoid a deficit next
year by adopting which of the following fiscal strategies?
A. Reduce the cost of public programs by $4 million.
B. Increase taxes by $4 million.
C. Borrow $4 million by issuing new government bonds.
D. All of these strategies will avoid a deficit.

32. Government officials of Country Z estimate that next year's public programs will cost $19
million but that tax revenues will be only $15 million. Which of the following statements is
false?
A. Country Z's tax system is sufficient.
B. Country Z's government is engaging in deficit spending.
C. If Country Z must borrow $4 million to pay for its public programs, its national debt will
increase by $4 million.
D. Country Z's government could balance its budget by eliminating a program that costs $4
million.

2-5
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those with a superadded ལ (namely: the surds and sonants of the first four
classes, the guttural nasal, and ཧ), which latter is often softly heard in
WT, but entirely dropped elsewhere, except in the case of , which is
spoken = ལ in WT, but with a distinct aspiration = hla or lha in ET. 8. ས is
superadded to the gutturals, dentals and labials with exception of the
aspiratae, then ཉ་ and ཙ་. It is, in many cases, distinctly pronounced in
Ladak, but dropped elsewhere 3. 9. ག་ ད་ བ་ ཇ་ ཛ་ with any superadded letter
lose the aspiration mentioned in § 2. 6 and sound = g, d, b, ȷ̀, ds. 10. ་ ་
་ often lose even the inherent t-sound in pronunciation and are spoken
like ȷ̀, s, z.

1 A very clear exposition of the ramification of Indian alphabets by Dr. H a a s is to be found in

the Publications of the Palaeographical Society Oriental Series IV, pl. XLIV. ↑
2 This is the form in which the word, chosen by the missionaries to express the Christian “God”
(cf. dict.), has found its way into several popular works. ↑
3 This will be indicated in the following examples by including the s in parentheses, as
(s)kom. ↑

[Contents]
[Contents]

EXAMPLES.

ིར་ ིར་ kyir-kyir, round, ར་བ་ (s)gyúr-wa, to alter, turn.

circular. ིན་ W: (s)pin, C: c̀ʽin, glue.
ི་ kʽyi, dog. ེ ་ ṭe-u, Ld: s̀re-u, monkey.
ེན་ལ་ gyen-la, upwards. ན་ W: (s)man, C: män, medicine.
 གས་ c̀ʽug(s), Ü: c̀ʽū, cattle. ེ་མ་ W: bé-ma, C: ȷ̀ʽe-ma, sand.
་ kyu, hook. ར་ ་ ñur-du, quickly.
ོད་ kʽyod, C: kʽyöʼ, you. ལ་ ṭʽal, tax.
ག་པོ་ c̀ʽug-po, rich. ི་ W: ḍi, ḍʽi (Pur: gri), knife.
ེད་ W: pʽed, C: c̀ʽĕʼ, half. ང་པོ་ W: ḍaṅ-po, C: ḍʽ°, straight.
[10] ག་ ḍag, ḍʽag (brag), rock.
་མོ་ W: ȷ̀á-mo, C: ȷ̀ʽa-mo, ལ་པོ་ s̀rul-po, ragged.
hen.
་མ་ lá-ma, priest.
་ངན་ W: ña-ṅán, C: -ṅän,
་མོ་ lá-mo, easy.
misery.
ང་པ་ kaṅ-pa, foot.
མ་ ṭam, cabbage.
ན་ W: zun, C: dsṳn, lie, untruth.
ིམས་ ṭʽim(s), judgment.
ད་མོ་ tad-mo (Ld. lt°), C: täʼ-mo,
ང་མོ་ W: ḍaṅ-mo, C: ḍʽ°-,
spectacle.
cold.
་ W: s̀ra 1, C: ṭa, hair.
ག་ ་ ṭʽug-gu, child.
་ ḍa (vulg.: ra), sound, voice.
ན་མ་ s̀ran-ma, srän-ma,
pea. ་ (s)pu, small hair.
་ la, wages. ོད་པ་ W: (s)c̀od-pa, C: c̀öʼ-pa, to

ང་(པོ་) luṅ(-po), wind. behave.

ལ་ W: (sb)rul, C: ḍul, snake.
་བ་ da-wa (s. § 11 note),
moon. ོན་པ་ W: ñon-pa, C: ño̤n-pa, mad.

ོན་པོ་ nón-po, C: no̤m-po,

sharp.
ང་ ་ jaṅ-kʽu (Ld. lj°),
green.
ོམ་ (s)kom, thirst.
ོ་ (s)go, door.
[11]

8. Prefixed letters. 1. The five letters ག་ ད་ བ་ མ་ འ་ frequently occur before

the real, radical initials of other words, but are seldom pronounced,
except in similar cases as § 7. 6. ག་ occurs before ཅ་ ཉ་ ཏ་ ད་ ན་ ཙ་ ཞ་ ཟ་ ཡ་ ཤ་ ས་;
ད before the gutturals and labials with exception of the aspiratae; བ་
before ཀ་ ག་, the palatals, dentals and palatal sibilants with the same
exception as under ད, then ཞ་ ཟ་ ར་ ཤ་ ས་; མ་ before the gutturals, palatals,
dentals and palatal sibilants, except the surds; འ before the aspiratae and
sonants of the five classes. In CT, to pronounce them in any case, is
considered vulgar. 2. The ambiguity which would arise in case of the
prefix standing before one of the 10 final consonants, as single radical,
the vowel being the unwritten a,—e.g. in the syllable དག་, which, if ད is
radical, has to be pronounced dag, if prefixed gā,—is avoided by adding
an འ་ in the latter case: thus, དགའ་. Other examples are: གད་ gad (gʽäʼ) and
གདའ་ dā; བས་ bas (bā̤, bʽā̤) and བསའ་ sā; མད་ mad (mäʼ) and མདའ་ dā; འགའ་ gā.
This འ་ is added, though the radical be not one of the mentioned letters;
as, བཀའ་ kā. 3. ད་ as a prefix and བ་ as first radical annul each other, so that
only the following sound is heard, as will be seen in the [12]following
examples (དབང་ etc.). 4. Another irregularity is the n a s a l pronunciation
of the prefixed འ་ in compounds after a vowel, which is often heard e.g.
དགེ་འ ན་ pronounced gen-dún, gen-dṳ́n, but eleg.: ge-dṳ́n, ‘clergy’; བཀའ་འ མ་
kam-bum, eleg. ka-búm, ‘the 100 000 precepts’ (title of a book).—Note.
With regard to the aspiration of the soft consonants in ET the prefixed
letters have the same influence as the superadded ones § 7. 9.
[Contents]

EXAMPLES.

གཡག་ yag, bos grunniens. དཀར་པོ་ kár-po, white.

དཔེ་ཆ་ pé-c̀ʽa (Ld.: spe-c̀ʽa), ད ་བོ་ ḍá-wo, enemy.
book. མངར་མོ་ ṅár-mo, sweet.
བཟང་པོ་ záṅ-po, good. བ ་བཞི་ c̀ub-z̀i, eleg. c̀u-z̀i,
འབབ་པ་ bab-pa, to descend. fourteen.
དབང་ waṅ, vulg. C: aṅ, power. ད ་ u, resp. head.
ད ས་ Ṳ̄, name of the Lhasa ད གས་ ug(s), C: ug, ū, breath.
district. ད ར་ཀ་ yar-ka, summer.
དབེན་པ་ en-pa, solitude. ད ེ་བ་ ye-wa, e-wa, difference.
ད ིབས་ yib(s), ib, figure.

9. Word; Accent; Quantity. 1. The peculiarity of the Tibetan mode of

writing in distinctly marking the word-syllables, but not the words (cf. §
4) composed of two or more of these, sometimes renders it doubtful what
is to be regarded as o n e w o r d . 2. There exist a great number of
[13]small monosyllables, which serve to denote different shades of
notions, grammatical relations etc., and are postponed to the word in
question; but never alter its original shape, though their own initials are
not seldom influenced by its final consonant (cf. § 15). 3. Such
monosyllables may conveniently be regarded as t e r m i n a t i o n s ,
forming o n e w o r d together with the preceding nominal or verbal
root. 4. The accent is, in such cases, most naturally given to the root, or,
in compounds, generally to the latter part of the composition, as: མིག་ mig,
‘eye’, མིག་གི་ míg-gi, ‘of the eye’; ལག་ lag, ‘hand’, ལག་ བས་ lag-s̀ub(s), ‘hand-
covering, glove’.—5. Equally natural is, in WT, the q u a n t i t y of the
vowels: accentuated vowels, when closing the syllable, are
comparatively long (though never so long as in the English words bee,
stay, or Hindi ‫ راﺟﺎ‬etc.), otherwise short, as མི་ mī ‘man’, མི་ལ་ mī-lă ‘to the
man’, but མར་ măr, ‘butter’.—In CT, however, even accentuated and
closing vowels are uttered very shortly: mĭ, mĭ-lă etc., and long ones
occur there only in the case of § 5, 4. 5. and 8, 2., as ལས་ lā̤ ‘work’; ཆོས་ c̀ʽō̤
‘religion’; མདའ་ dā ‘arrow’; གཟའ་ zā ‘planet’; and in Lhasa especially: ནགས་
nā ‘forest’; ལེགས་པ་ lē-pa ‘good’; རིགས་ rī ‘class, sort’; ལོགས་ lō ‘side’; གས་ lū
‘manner’.—In Sanscrit words the long vowels are marked by an འ་
beneath the consonant, as: ་མ་ (नाम) ‘called’, ་ལ་ (मूल) ‘root’ (s. § 3). [14]

10. Punctuation. For separating the members of a longer period, a

vertical stroke: །, called ཤད་ s̀ad (s̀äʼ), is used, which corresponds at once
to our comma, semicolon and colon; after the closing of a sentence the
same is doubled; after a longer piece, e.g. a chapter, four s̀ads are put. No
marks of interrogation or exclamation exist in punctuation.—2. In
metrical compositions, the double s̀ad is used for separating the single
verses; in that case the logical partition of the sentence is not marked (cf.
§ 4).

[Contents]

A LIST OF A FEW USEFUL WORDS.

ཀ་ར་ or ཁ་ར་ ká-ra, kʽá-ra, sugar. ད་པ་ dud-pa, dʽüʼ-pa, smoke.

ཁང་པ་ kʽaṅ-pa, house. ནད་ nad, näʼ, disease.
གང་ W: gaṅ, C: gʽaṅ, which? པར་མ་ pár-ma, a printed book.
 ར་ W: gur, C: gʽur, tent. ག་རོན་ pʽug-rón, -ró̤n, dove.
ངལ་ ṅal, fatigue. བལ་ bal, bʽal, wool.
ཅི་ c̀i, what? ་མོ་ bu-mo, bʽ°, daughter.
ཆད་པ་ W: c̀ʽad-pa, C: c̀ʽăʼ-pa, མིང་ miṅ, name.
punishment. ཙམ་ tsam, how much?
ང་བ་ c̀ʽuṅ-wa, little. ཞག་ z̀ag, C: s̀ag, day.
ཇ་ W: ȷ̀a, C: ȷ̀ʽa, tea. འོ་མ་ o-ma, wo-ma, milk.
ཉི་མ་ ñí-ma, sun; day. ཡང་ yaṅ, also.
ང་མ་ ñúṅ-ma, turnip. ཡིན་ yin, am, is, are (cf. § 39).
ཏིབ་རིལ་ tíb-ril, tea-pot, kettle. ར་མ་ ra-ma, goat.
ན་ W: kun, C: kün, all. རིན་ rin, price.
ང་ kʽuṅ, hole. ལམ་ lam, road.
ག་ ་ or གར་ W: ga-ru, gar, C: ཤ་ s̀a, flesh, meat. [16]
gʽ°, where?
ཤིང་ s̀iṅ, tree, wood.
ངན་པ་ ṅan-pa, C: ṅam-pa, bad.
་ su, who?
ཆང་, c̀ʽaṅ, beer.
ཨ་ཕ་ a-pʽa, (vulg.) father.
ཆར་པ་ c̀ʽár-pa, rain.
རས་ (Ld: ras) rā̤, cotton cloth.
ཆེན་པོ་ c̀ʽen-po, great.
གོས་ (Ld: gos) gō̤, gʽō̤, clothing.
ཉ་ ña, fish.
སེམས་ sem, soul.
ང་བ་ ñuṅ-wa, little, few.
ག་ ṭʽag, blood.
ཉེ་མོ་ ñe-mo, near.
ེབ་པ་ leb-pa, to arrive.
ཏོག་ཙ་ tóg-tse (W), hoe. [15]
་ W: sa, C: tsa, grass.
ཐག་པ་ tʽag-pa, rope.
ོན་པོ་ ṅon-po, ṅo̤m-po, blue.
ཐོད་པ་ W: tʽód-pa, C: tʽöʼ-pa,
ག ་ z̀u, bow (for shooting).
skull.
ད ན་ཀ་ gun-ka, gṳn-ka, winter.
དང་ daṅ, dʽaṅ, and; with.
 ནག་པོ nag-po, black. མཚ་ tʽso, lake.
ནོར་ nor, wealth, property. འ ི་བ་ ḍi-wa, to ask.
ཕན་པ་ pʽan-pa, pʽäm-pa, use, ས་ sa, earth.
benefit. སོ་མ་ só-ma, new.
བ་ ba, bʽa, cow. ཨ་མ་ a-ma, (vulg.) mother.
་ bu, bʽu, son. ས་ (Ld.: dus) dṳ̄, dʽṳ̄, time.
མེ་ me, fire. ཐབས་ tʽab(s), means.
མེད་ med, mĕʼ, there is not. བག་ ེ་ W: bag-pʽe, C: bʽag-c̀ʽe,
ཚང་མ་ tʽsaṅ-ma, whole. flour.
ཞོ་ z̀o, s̀ŏ, curdled milk. ོ་ ḍo, ḍʽŏ, wheat.
འོད་ od, wöʼ, light, shine. ད་པོ་ gad-po, gʽäʼ-po, old.
ཡི་གེ་ yí-ge, letter. ེ་བ་ (s)kye-wa, to be born, grow.
ཡོད་ yod, yöʼ, am, is, are. ིང་ ñiṅ, heart.
རི་ ri, hill, mountain. གཟིག་ zig, leopard.
ལ་ la, mountain-pass. མ ོགས་པ་ gyog(s)-pa (Ü: gyō-pa),
ག་ lug, sheep. fast, quick.
ཐང་ tʽáṅ, the plain. འ ི་བ་ ḍi-wa (bri-wa), to write.

ད་ W: da, C: dʽa, now.

[17]

1
The concurrence of superadded ས་ with a consonant already [11]compound produces in WT
some irregularities, which cannot all be specified here (see the diction.). The custom of CT,
according to which the ས་ is entirely neglected is in this instance easier to be followed. ↑
PART II.
 ETYMOLOGY.

[Contents]
CHAPTER I.
 THE ARTICLE.
11. Peculiarities of the Tibetan article. 1. What have been called
A r t i c l e s by Csoma and Schmidt, are a number of little affixes: པ་ བ་ མ་
པོ་ བོ་ མོ་, and some similar ones, which might perhaps be more adequately
termed d e n o m i n a t o r s , since their principal object is undoubtedly to
represent a given root as a n o u n , substantive or adjective, as is most
clearly perceptible in the instance of the roots of verbs, to which པ་ or བ་
impart the notion of the Infinitive and Participle, or the nearest abstract
and nearest concrete nouns that can possibly be formed from the idea of
a verb. These affixes are not, however,—except in this case—essential to
a noun, as many substantives and adjectives and most of the pronouns
are never accompanied by them, and even those which usually appear
connected with them, will drop them upon the slightest occasion. 2.
Almost the only case in which a syntactical use of them, like that of the
English definite Article, is perceptible, is that mentioned § 20. 3; a
formal one, that of distinguishing the Gender, occurs in a limited number
of words, where མོ་ denotes the female, པོ་ the masculine. Thus: ལ་པོ་ gyál-
po ‘king’, ལ་མོ་ gyál-mo ‘queen’. Or, [18]if the word in the masculine (or
rather common) gender has no article, མོ་ is added: སེང་གེ་ séṅ-ge ‘lion’, སེང་གེ་
མོ་ ‘lioness’. 3. In most instances, by far, their only use is to distinguish
different meanings of homonymous roots, e.g. ོན་པ་ (s)tón-pa (tó̤n-pa),
‘teacher’; ོན་མོ་ (s)tón-mo (tó̤n-mo) ‘feast’; ོན་ཁ་ (s)tón-kʽa (tó̤n-kʽa)
‘autumn’. Even this advantage, however, is given up, as soon as a
composition takes place, and then the meaning can only be inferred from
the context, or known from usage: མིང་ ོན་ (from ོན་མོ་) ‘name feast’ (given
on the occasion of naming or christening an infant); ོན་ ་ (from ོན་ཁ་)
‘autumnal month’. In some instances the putting or omitting of these
articles is optional; more frequently the usage varies in different
provinces. 4. The peculiar nature of these affixes is most clearly shown
by the manner in which they are connected with the indefinite article §
13.

Note. The affixes བ་ བོ་ are after vowels and after the consonants ང་ ར་ ལ་
always pronounced wa and wo, instead of ba and bo; thus, དཀའ་བ་ ka-wa
‘difficult’; རེ་བ་ re-wa ‘hope’; གང་བ་ gaṅ-wa (gh°) ‘full’; ཟེར་བ་ zer-wa (ser-
wa) ‘to say’; ལ་བ་ nyal-wa ‘hell’; ཇོ་བོ་ jo-wo (jho-wo) ‘lord, master’.

12. Difference of the Articles among each other. 1. The usage of པ་ བ་ མ་

is the most general and widest of all, [19]as they occur with all sorts of
substantives and other nouns. པ་ is particularly used for denoting a man
who is in a certain way connected with a certain thing (something like
‫ واﻻ‬and ‫ دار‬in Hindustāni and Persian): ་ ḍa ‘school’, ་པ་ (literally:
scholar) ‘disciple, novice’; ་ c̀ʽu ‘water’, ་པ་ ‘water-carrier’ (‫ ;)ﭘﺎﻧﻰ واﻻ‬་
‘horse’, ་པ་ ‘horseman’; ད ས་ ‘the province of Ṳ̄’, ད ས་པ་ ‘a man from Ṳ̄’,
ེ ་ kʽyëu ‘boy’, ལོ་ lo ‘year’, གཉིས་ ñi(s) ‘two’, hence: ེ ་ལོ་གཉིས་པ་ ‘a two
years’ boy’. If the feminine is required མ་ is either added to, or—more
commonly—used instead of, the former: ད ས་མ་ ‘a woman from Ṳ̄’; ་མོ་ལོ་
གཉིས་མ་ ‘a two years’ girl’. The performer of an action is more frequently
denoted by པོ་ (or, in more solemn language, པ་པོ་), though, in conversation
at least, མཁན་ kʽan (kʽe̱n), is preferred; ེད་པ་ ȷ̀ed-pa ‘to do, make; doing,
making’: ེད་པོ་, ེད་པ་པོ་, ེད་མཁན་ ‘the doer, maker’. 2. The appendices ཀ་ ཁ་ ག་
occur with a limited number of nouns only, especially the names of the
seasons, with numerals, and some pronouns. (ཀོ་ seems to be a vulgar
form of pronunciation for ཀ་).
13. The indefinite Article. This is the numeral o n e (§ 13), only
deprived of its prefix, viz.: ཅིག་, which form it retains, if the preceding
word ends with ག་ ད་ བ་, as: ཁབ་ཅིག་ [20]kʽab-c̀ig, a needle; it is changed to ཤིག་
after ས་, རས་ཤིག་ ras-s̀ig, rä-s̀ig, a cloth; to ཞིག་ z̀ig (s̀ig) in all other cases.
Some authors use ཅིག་ after any termination indiscriminately. It is, of
course, always without accent. The articles པ་ བ་ etc. are not superseded
by the indefinite article e.g. ོན་པ་ ‘teacher, the teacher’, ོན་པ་ཞིག་ ‘a teacher’.
It is used even after a plurality: thus, ་མིག་བཞི་ཞིག་དེ་ ་ཡོད་ ‘there were some
four wells’, and even: མང་ཞིག་གདའ་ ེ་ ‘there being a multitude of them’ (from
Mil.). Very often it is placed after the interrogative pronouns (v. 27), and
sometimes its original meaning is obscured so much that it occurs even
after known and definite subjects, where one would expect the
demonstrative (see f.i. Dzl. 25, 1. 28, 6. 128, 14).

[Contents]
CHAPTER II.
 THE SUBSTANTIVE.

14. The Number. The Plural is denoted by adding the word མས་ nam, or,
more rarely, དག་ dag (dʽag), ཚ་, or a few other words, which originally
were nouns with the common notion of plurality. But this mark of the
Plural is usually omitted, when the plurality of the thing in question may
be known from other circumstances, e.g. when a numeral is added: thus,
མི་ ‘man’, མི་ མས་ ‘men’, མི་ག མ་ ‘three men’. When a substantive is connected
with an adjective, the plural sign is added only once, viz. after the [21]last
of the connected words: མི་བཟང་པོ་ མས་ ‘the good men’.

Note. The conversational language uses the words མས་ etc. seldom, in
WT scarcely ever (an exception s. 24. Remarks), but adds, when
necessary, such words as: all, many, some; two, three, seven, eight, or
other suitable numerals (cf. § 20, 5.).

15. Declension. The regular addition of the different particles or single

sounds by which the cases are formed is the same for all nouns, whether
substantives or adjectives, pronouns or participles. Only in some cases,
in the Dative and Instrumental, the noun itself is changed, when, ending
in a vowel, it admits of a closer connection with the corrupted case-sign.
We may reckon in Tibetan seven cases, expressive of all the relations, for
which cases are used in other languages, viz: nominative and accusative,
genitive, instrumental, dative, locative, ablative, terminative and
vocative. 1. The unaltered form of the noun has some of the functions of
our Nominative and those of the Accusative and Vocative. 2. The sign of
the Genitive is ི་ after words with the finals ད་ བ་ ས་; ི་ after ན་ མ་ ར་ ལ་, གི་
after ག་ and ང་; after vowels i is simply added by means of an འ་ thus: འི་,
which then will form a diphthong with the vowel of the noun (cf. § 6), or
if, in versification, two syllables are required, i appears supported by an
ཡ་ forming a distinct word. 3. The Instrumental or Agent is expressed by
the particles ིས་, ིས་ or གིས་ after the respective [22]consonants as specified
above; after vowels simply ས་ is added, or, in verse, sometimes ཡིས་.

Note. The instrumental is, in modern pronunciation, except in Northern

Ladak, scarcely discernible from the genitive, and there are but few if
any, even among lamas, who are not liable to confound both cases in
writing.

In the language of common life, i n W T , the different forms of the

particle of the genitive and instrumental, after consonants, ི་ ི་ etc. are
never heard, but everywhere the final consonant is doubled and the
vowel i added to it, thus: ས་, G. lus-si (Ld.), lṳ̄-i; ལམ་, G. lam-mi; གསེར་
(gold), G. ser-ri etc; or, in other words, all nouns ending in consonants
are formed like those ending with ག་ (see the example མིག་). In those
ending with a vowel no irregularity takes place.

4. The Dative adds indiscriminately the postposition ལ་ la, denoting the

relation of space in the widest sense, expressed by the English
prepositions in, into, at, on, to. 5. The Locative is formed by the
postposition ན་ na ‘in’. 6. The Ablative by ནས་ nā̤ or ལས་ lā̤ ‘from’ (the
latter especially with the meaning: from among), all three likewise
without any discriminating regard to the ending of the noun. 7. The
Terminative is expressed by the postpositions ་ or ར་ after vowels; ་ after
final ག་ and བ་ and, in certain words, ད་ ར་ ལ་; ་ after ས་; ་ generally after ན་
ར་ ལ་ and the other final consonants. All these [23]postpositions denote the
motion to or into. 8. The Vocative is not different from the Nominative
(as stated above), if not distinguished by the interjection ེ་ oh!, and can
only be known from the context.
Examples of declension. As example of the declension of consonantal
nouns we may take 1. for those in s (respectively d, b), ས་ lus, lṳ̄, ‘body’;
2. for those in m (n, r, l), ལམ་ lam ‘way’; 3. for those in g (ṅ), མིག་ mig
‘eye’,—of that of vocalic nouns: 4. ཁ་ kʽa or kʽa-wa ‘snow’.

Singular.

1. 2.
N. ས་ lus, lṳ̄ ལམ་ lam
Acc.
Gen. ས་ ི་ lus-kyi, lṳ̄-kyi; lus- ལམ་ ི་ lam-gyi; lam-mi
si, lṳ̄i
Inst. ས་ ིས་ lus-kyis, lṳ̄-kyī; ལམ་ ིས་ lam-gyis, -gyī; lam-mī
lus-sī, lṳ̄ī
Dat. ས་ལ་ lus-la, lṳ̄-la ལམ་ལ་ lam-la
Loc. ས་ན་ lus-na ལམ་ན་ lam-na
Abl. ས་ནས་ lus-nā̤ ལམ་ནས་ lam-nā̤
Term. ས་ ་ lus-su ལམ་ ་ lam-du
3. 4.
N. མིག་ mig ཁ་ kʽa; ཁ་བ་ kʽa-wa
Acc.
Gen. མིག་གི་ mig-gi ཁའི་ kʽai; ཁ་བའི་ kʽa-wai [24]
Inst. མིག་གིས་ mig-gis, -gī ཁས་ kʽā̤; ཁ་བས་ kʽa-wā̤
Dat. མིག་ལ་ mig-la ཁ་ལ་ kʽa-la; ཁ་བ་ལ་ kʽa-wa-la
Loc. མིག་ན་ mig-na ཁ་ན་ kʽa-na; ཁ་བ་ན་ kʽa-wa-na
Abl. མིག་ནས་ mig-nā̤ ཁ་ནས་ kʽa-nā̤; ཁ་བ་ནས་ kʽa-wa-nā̤
 1. 2.
Term. མིག་ ་ mig-tu ཁ་ ་, ཁར་ kʽa-ru, kʽar; ཁ་བ་ ་, ཁ་བར་ kʽa-wa-
ru, kʽa-war.

Plural.

As the plural signs are simply added to the nouns, without affecting their
form, we here only give examples of declension with the two most
frequent plural particles. As example for དག་ the plural of the pron. དེ་
‘that’ has been chosen.

N. Acc. ས་ མས་ lus(lṳ̄-)-nam(s) དེ་དག་ de-dag

Gen. ས་ མས་ ི་ lus-nam(s)-kyi དེ་དག་གི་ de-dag-gi
Inst. ས་ མས་ ིས་ lus-nam(s)-kyis དེ་དག་གིས་ de-dag-gis
Dat. ས་ མས་ལ་ lus-nam(s)-la དེ་དག་ལ་ de-dag-la
Loc. ས་ མས་ན་ lus-nam(s)-na དེ་དག་ན་ de-dag-na
Abl. ས་ མས་ནས་ lus-nam(s)-nā̤ དེ་དག་ནས་ de-dag-nā̤
Term. ས་ མས་ ་ lus-nam(s)-su དེ་དག་ ་ de-dag-tu

[25]

[Contents]
CHAPTER III.
 THE ADJECTIVE.
16. In the Tibetan language the Adjective is not formally distinguished
from the Substantive, so that many nouns may be used one or the other
way just as circumstances require. 1 The declension, likewise, follows the
same rules as that of substantives. Only two remarks may be added here.
1. The particles པ་ མ་ པོ་ མོ་ are not very strictly used for distinguishing the
gender, since even in the case of human beings པ་ and པོ་ are not seldom
found connected with feminines, e.g.: ་མོ་མཛས་པ་ just as well as ་མོ་མཛས་མ་ ‘a
fine girl’. 2. The Adjective stands a f t e r the Substantive to which it
belongs: thus, རི་མཐོན་པོ་ ri-tʽón-po, C: ri-tʽo̤n-po, ‘the high hill’, when, of
course, the case-signs [26]are joined to the Adjective: རི་མཐོན་པོའི་ ‘of the high
hill’, རི་མཐོན་པོ་ མས་ ‘the high hills’ etc.

Or the Adjective may be put in the Gen. b e f o r e the Substantive: མཐོན་པོའི་

རི་, and then the latter only is declined: མཐོན་པོའི་རིའི་, མཐོན་པོའི་རི་ མས་. In the vulgar
speech both of C and WT the adjective sometimes preserves, even in this
position, its simple form (Nominative). A third way of expression, when
both are joined together, without any article, as མ་ས་ instead of ས་ མ་པོ་
‘t h e d r y l a n d ’, is rather a compound substantive, with the same
difference of meaning as ‘highland’ and ‘a high land’ in English.

17. Comparison. 1. Special terminations, expressive of the different

degrees of comparison, as in the Aryan languages, do not exist in
Tibetan. There are two particles, however, corresponding to the English
than: བས་, after the final consonants ང་ ར་ ལ་ and after vowels (པས་, after ག་ ད་
ན་ བ་ མ་ ས་ 2), and ལས་; these particles follow the word with which another is
compared (like the Hind. ‫ )ﺳﮯ‬and this then precedes the compared one,
finally follows the adjective in the positive: ་བས་ (or ལས་) ི་ ང་བ་ཡིན་ ‘horse
—than dog small is’, just as in Hindūstāni: ‫ﮔﮭﻮڑى ﺳﮯ ﻛﺘّﺎ ﭼﮭﻮﭨﺎ ھَﻰ‬. But
also the position usual in [27]our European languages occurs, thus: རབ་ ་
འ ང་བའི་བསོད་ནམས་རི་རབ་ ན་པོ་བས་འཕངས་མཐོའོ་ ‘the merit of becoming a priest is
relatively higher than mount Meru’; བོད་ ི་ ལ་པོ་གཞན་ལས་ཆེ་བ་ཡིན་ནོ་ ‘the king of
Tibet is greater than the other ones’. The particle བས་ (པས་) may be put, in
the same manner, after adverbs. Thus, ར་བས་གསལ་བར་མཐོང་བར་ ར་ཏོ་ ‘(their eyes)
became more keen-sighted than before’. Or, after infinitives, གཞན་སོང་བ་བས་ ་
བོས་སོང་ན་ཕན་ ‘it is better (for him) that his younger brother should go (with
him) than another’. ལས་ for itself has the meaning of ‘more than’, with the
negative: ‘not more than’, ‘only’; thus: ང་ལ་ ང་གཉིས་ལས་ནི་མི་དགོས་ ‘more than two
ounces I do not want’ (cf. vulg. WT: ག མ་མན་ན་མེད་ ‘there are not more than
(only) three’); or ‘nothing but’, ‘only’, རི་ གས་ཤོར་བ་ལས་དགའ་བ་མེད་ ‘there is no
pleasure (for us) but hunting, h. is our only pl.’.

2. An Adverb which augments the notion of the adjective itself, is ག་པར་

‘more’; this can be added ad libitum: ་བས་ ི་ ག་པར་ ང་བ་ཡིན་.

3. Another adverb, ཇེ་ means: ‘more and more’, ‘gradually more’, e.g. ཇེ་ཉེ་
ཇེ་ཉེ་སོང་ ེ་ ‘going nearer and nearer’. 4. ‘The elder—the younger’ e.g. of
two brothers, is [28]simply expressed by: ‘the great—the little’. 5. The
Superlative is paraphrased by the same means: ན་ལས་ཆེན་པོ་ or ཐམས་ཅད་པས་ཆེན་པོ་
‘greater than all’. Or it is expressed in the following manner: ལ་ ི་ ལ་པོའི་ནང་
ན་ ལ་པོ་གང་ཆེ་ ‘of (among) the kings of the country which one is the greatest
(prop. great)?’. Adverbs for expressing high degrees are: ཤིན་ ་ or རབ་ ་
‘very’, ན་ ་ ‘all’, ཡོངས་ ་ ‘quite’, མཆོག་ ་ ‘exceedingly’ etc.
Note. The colloquial language of WT uses སང་ instead of བས་ or ལས་, and ཱ་
(mā, always with a strong emphasis, perhaps a mutilated form of མངས་
‘much’) or མང་པོ་ instead of ཤིན་ ་, whereas that of CT employs ལས་ in the
former case, but repeats the adjective in the latter, so that ‘very large’ is
expressed in books by ཤིན་ ་ཆེན་པོ་, in speaking, in WT by mā́ c̀ʽén-po, in CT
by c̀ʽem-po c̀ʽem-po.

1 But the vulgar language has a predilection for certain forms of Adjectives 1. those with the
gerundial particle ཏེ་, as: ཚན་ཏེ་ for the more classical ཚན་ ‘warm’; these seem to be particularly in
use in Tsaṅ: མཛའ་ ེ་ ‘friendly’, less so in Ü. 2. compound adjectives either by simple reiteration of
the root: རིལ་རིལ་ for རིལ་པོ་ ‘round’, or changing the vowel at the same time: ག་ ག་ ‘complicate’, གཙང་
གཙང་ ‘awry’ etc. Often they are quadrisyllables after this form: མལ་ལ་ ལ་ལེ་ ‘lukewarm’, ཆག་ག་ཆོག་གེ་
‘medley’. ↑
2
Some Mscr. and wood-prints, however, prefer, even after these consonants, the form བས་. ↑

[Contents]
CHAPTER IV.
 THE NUMERALS.
18. Cardinals:

1༡ གཅིག་ c̀ig
2༢ གཉིས་ ñi(s)
3༣ ག མ་ sum [29]
4༤ བཞི་ z̀i
5༥ ་ ṅa
6༦ ག་ W: ḍug, C: ḍhug
7༧ བ ན་ W: dun, C: dhṳn
8༨ བ ད་ W: gyad, C: gyäʼ
9༩ ད ་ gu
10 ༡༠ བ ་ c̀u, or བ ་ཐམ་པ་ c̀u-tʽam-pa
11 ༡༡ བ ་གཅིག་ c̀u-c̀ig
12 ༡༢ བ ་གཉིས་ c̀u-ñí, vulg: c̀ug-ñí(s)
13 ༡༣ བ ་ག མ་ c̀u-súm, vulg: c̀ug-súm
14 ༡༤ བ ་བཞི་ c̀u-z̀í, vulg: c̀ub-z̀í
15 ༡༥ བཅོ་ ་ c̀o-ṅá
16 ༡༦ བ ་ ག་ c̀u-ḍúg, C: -ḍhúg
17 ༡༧ བ ་བ ན་ c̀u-dún, C: -dṳ́n, vulg: c̀ub-d°
18 ༡༨ བཅོ་བ ད་ c̀o-gyád, C: -gyäʼ, vulg: c̀ob-g°
19 ༡༩ བ ་ད ་ c̀u-gú
 20 ༢༠ ཉི་ ་ ñi-s̀u
21 ༢༡ ཉི་ ་ ་གཅིག་ ñi-s̀u-sa-c̀íg, or ཉེར་གཅིག་ ñer-c̀íg [30]
30 ༣༠ མ་ ་ súm-c̀u
31 ༣༡ མ་ ་ ་གཅིག་ sum-c̀u-sa-c̀íg, སོ་གཅིག་ so-c̀ig
40 ༤༠ བཞི་བ ་ z̀i-c̀u, vulg: z̀ib-c̀u
41 ༤༡ བཞི་བ ་ ་གཅིག་ z̀i-c̀u-sa-c̀íg, ཞེ་གཅིག་ z̀e-c̀íg
50 ༥༠ ་བ ་ ṅa-c̀u, vulg: ṅab-c̀u
51 ༥༡ ་བ ་ ་གཅིག་ ṅa-c̀u-sa-c̀íg, ང་གཅིག་ ṅa-c̀ig
60 ༦༠ ག་ ་ ḍug-c̀u, C: ḍhug-c̀u
61 ༦༡ ག་ ་ ་གཅིག་ ḍug-c̀u-sa-c̀íg, རེ་གཅིག་ re-c̀íg
70 ༧༠ བ ན་ ་ dun-c̀u, C: dṳn-c̀u
71 ༧༡ བ ན་ ་ ་གཅིག་ dun-c̀u-sa-c̀íg, དོན་གཅིག་ don-c̀íg
80 ༨༠ བ ད་ ་ gyád-c̀u, C: gyäʼ-c̀u
81 ༨༡ བ ད་ ་ ་གཅིག་ gyad-c̀u-sa-c̀íg, ་གཅིག་ gya-c̀íg
90 ༩༠ ད ་བ ་ gú-c̀u, vulg: gúb-c̀u
91 ༩༡ ད ་བ ་ ་གཅིག་ gu-c̀u-sa-c̀ig, གོ་གཅིག་ go-c̀íg (C: gʽo-c̀íg)
100 ༡༠༠ བ ་(ཐམ་པ་) gya (tʽám-pa)
101 ༡༠༡ བ ་དང་གཅིག་ or བ ་ ་གཅིག་ gya daṅ (or sa) c̀íg
200 ༢༠༠ ཉི་བ ་ ñi-gya, vulg: ñib-gya
300 ༣༠༠ མ་བ ་ sum-gya [31]
400 ༤༠༠ བཞི་བ ་ z̀i-gya, vulg: z̀ib-gya etc.
1000 ༡༠༠༠ ོང་ (s)toṅ
10 000 ༡༠ ༠༠༠ ི་ ṭʽi
 100 000 ༡༠༠ ༠༠༠ འ མ་ bum
1 000 000 ༡ ༠༠༠ ༠༠༠ ས་ཡ་ sa-ya
10 000 000 ༡༠ ༠༠༠ ༠༠༠ ེ་བ་ ȷ̀e-wa

There are, as in Sanscrit, names for many more powers of 10, but they
are seldom used.

19. Ordinals. དང་པོ་ W: daṅ-po, C: dʽ° ‘the first’, the rest are simply
formed by adding པ་ to the cardinals, as: གཉིས་པ་, ‘the second’ etc.; the 21st
is ཉི་ ་ ་གཅིག་པ་ ‘the twenty-oneth’, not, as in English, ‘the twenty first’.

20. Remarks. 1. The smaller number postponed indicates, as is seen in §

18, addition, the reverse—multiplication: བ ་ག མ་ 13, མ་ ་ 30; but in the
latter case the three first numerals are changed to ཆིག་, ཉི་, མ་; and བ ་, as
the second part of a compound after consonants, is spelled ་. 2. The
words ཐམ་པ་ (after full tens up to one hundred), ག་ (after hundreds and
thousands 1), [32]ཚ་ (with still greater numbers), are optional but frequent
additions. ་ is common instead of དང་ ‘and’, to connect units with tens (s.
§ 18), but it occurs also with hundreds and thousands, and not seldom
together with དང་, e.g. ོང་དང་ ་གཉིས་, 1002. It is used also instead of ཐམ་པ་, as:
བ ་ ་ ten, ཉི་ ་ ་ twenty; often it is standing alone for ཉི་ ་ ་, as ་གཉིས་, twenty
two. This latter custom may have caused the belief, common even
among educated readers in C and WT, that ་ must mean t w e n t y , even
when connecting a hundred or thousand to a unit, as they will usually
understand the above mentioned number in the sense of 1022 instead of
1002; but the authority of printed books, wherever the exact number can
be verified from other circumstances, does not confirm this, which would
indeed be a sadly ambiguous phraseology. 3. ཀ་ added to a cardinal
number means conjunction: གཉིས་ཀ་, the two together, both; ག མ་ཀ་, the three
together, all three etc. པོ་ means either the same, or represents the definite
article, indicating that the number has been already mentioned, e.g. མི་
༌༌༌༌ བཏང་ངོ༌། །མི་ ་པོ་བ ེབ་ ེ༌༌༌༌, five men were sent.… The five men arriving etc.
4. པ་ is used, besides [33]forming Ordinals, to express the notion of
‘containing’, e.g. ཡི་གེ་ ག་པ་ ‘that containing six letters’, viz. the famous
formula: ཨ་མ་ཎི་པ་ ྨེ་ ཾ་ om maṇi padme hum; མ་ ་པ་ ‘that containing thirty
(letters)’, the Tibetan alphabet. 5. Such combinations as གཉིས་ག མ་ etc. are
frequently used in common life, to denote a number approximately, ‘two
or three or so’ (cf. § 14 Note).

21. Distributive numerals. They are expressed by repetition as in Hind.:

ག་ ག་ each time six, six for each etc. In composed numerals only the last
member is repeated, thus མ་ ་ ་གཉིས་གཉིས་ each time thirty two.

22. Adverbial numerals. 1. Firstly, secondly etc. are formed from the
ordinals as every Adverb is from an Adjective, viz. by adding the letter
ར་, དང་པོར་, གཉིས་པར་ etc. (s. § 41). 2. Multiplicative adverbs, ‘once’, ‘twice’
etc., are expressed by putting ལན་ ‘times’ before the cardinal: ལན་གཅིག་, ལན་
གཉིས་, W: lan-c̀ig, lan-ñi(s), C: län-c̀ig, län-ñī ‘once, twice’ etc.: seldom
ཚར་, ཚར་, ཐེངས་ with the same meaning as ལན་.

23. Fractional numerals are formed by adding ཆ་ ‘part’: thus, བ འི་ཆ་ ‘a

hundredth part’ etc., but also: བང་མཛད་ག མ་ཆ་ཞིག་ ‘one third of the treasury’.
[34]

1
ག་ is used especially if the number counting the hundreds, [32]thousands etc. follows: thus, ོང་
ག་ཉི་ ་ ‘of thousands: twenty, 20 000’; ི་ ག་ ་མ་ ‘many ten-thousands’. ↑
[Contents]
CHAPTER V.
 PRONOUNS.

24. Personal Pronouns. First person: ང་ ṅa; ངེད་ ṅed, ṅĕʼ; ངོས་ ṅos (Ld.); ཁོ་བོ་
kʽo-wo, masc., and ཁོ་མོ་ kʽo-mo, fem.; བདག་ dag ‘self’—‘I’; Second person:
ོད་ kʽyod (kʽyöʼ), ེད་ kʽyed (kʽyĕʼ) ‘thou, you’; Third person: ཁོ་ kʽo, ཁོང་
kʽoṅ—‘he, she, it’.

The plural is formed by adding ཅག་, མས་, ཅག་ མས་ or ཚ་, but very often, if
circumstances show the meaning with sufficient certainty, the sign of the
plural is altogether omitted. The declension is the same as that of the
substantives.

R e m a r k s : ང་ is the most common and can be used by every body; ངེད་

seems to be preferred in elegant speech (s. Note); ངོས་ is very common in
modern letter-writing, at least in WT; བདག་ ‘self’, when speaking to
superior persons occurs very often in books, but has disappeared from
common speech, except in the province of Tsaṅ (Ṭas̀ilhunpo) as also the
following; ཁོ་བོ་, ཁོ་མོ་ in easy conversation with persons of equal rank, or to
inferiors.

2 . p e r s o n . ོད་ is used in books in addressing even t h e h i g h e s t

p e r s o n s , but in modern conversation only among equals or to
inferiors; ེད་ is elegant and respectful, especially in books.— [35]

3 . p e r s o n . ཁོ་ seldom occurs in books, where the demonstr. pron. དེ་ (§

26) is generally used instead; ཁོང་ is common to both the written and the
spoken language, and used, at least in the latter, as respectful. But it must
be remarked that the pronoun of the third person is in most cases entirely