We are given the task to explore the etymology of the auxiliaries of probability in Tibetan ཡོད་ས་རེད། ཡིན་ས་རེད། ཡོད་པ་འདྲ། ཡོད་གི་རེད།
Why do we have so many different verb auxiliaries to express possibility or probability?
And how come adverbs do not suffice? Why the Tibetan society colour their grammar with such ideas that nothing might be certain?
General Note
It’s very interesting how all of them have a part related to ourselves བདག (it’s our speculation) and a part related to others གཞན (we don’t control it): ཡོད་ས་རེད། ཡོད་གྱི་རེད།, etc.
ཡོད་ས་རེད།
First see ས་ as nominalizers:
- ངའི་བསྡད་ས་ *The place where I live
But ས་ also means: ground, basis, reason.
So ཁོང་ནང་ལ་ཡོང་ས་ Could be understood as *The reason or the basis of her arriving home,
And with རེད། you confirm that basis!
པ་འདྲ།
The པ་ is used for subordinating sentences:
She wrote a letter + The letter is long = The letter that she wrote is long
མོས་བྲིས་པའི་ཡི་གེ་དེ་རིང་པོ་འདུག
So since འདྲ། means “to seem”, “to look like”, and therefore based on perception one would say: ཁོང་མོག་མོག་ཟ་གི་ཡོད་པ་འདྲ། It seems that she is eating momos.
གི་རེད།
The future is inherently uncertain, so stating something in the future tense often carries a strong sense of probability.
It’s a statement about a likely future state, yet it still can be used in past tenses, though ཡོད་གྱི་རེད།
འགྲོའོ
Could have the meaning of It’s going towards…
Almost
In the advanced course we use it to convey “almost”.
ང་ནང་ལ་སླེབས་འགྲོའོ་ཡོད། I’m about to arrive home.
Literary
In literary form, no auxiliaries of probability are used, instead adverbs are. But we could see these forms, which express probability:
- ངེས་པ་མི་འདུག It’s not certain
- སུས་ཤེས། Who knows?
- སྲིད་ If possible (will come )