In Tibetan there’s two verbs that I often mix up, as it usually happens one is used when we want to imply intention and the other one without, but also one, has an extra different grammar usage.

to be decided

གཏན་འཁེལ་བ (ཐ་མི་དད་པ་, བྱེད་མེ་ལས་ཚིག)

  • You have not been in control of the decision.
  • Often used with the ཡིན་མིན་ construction
  • Often uses with a noun, not necessarily a verb

ད་ང་ད་ལོ་ལོ་སར་གཏང་ཡག་ཡིན་མིན་གཏན་འཁེལ་མ་སོང་།
So, this year, whether I will celebrate losar or not it hasn’t been decided.

དུ་ཚོད་གཏན་འཁེལ་མ་སོང་།
The time hasn’t been decided

to decide

ཐག་ཆོད་བྱེད་ (ཐ་དད་པ་, བྱེད་འབྲེལ་ལས་ཚིག)

  • You are in control of the decision.

བོད་སྨན་ཟ་ཡག་ཐག་ཆོད་བྱེད་པ་ཡིན།
I decided to take Tibetan medicine.

གཏན་འཁེལ་ as intentional

Not often, but some cases Franziska has heard people saying གཏན་འཁེལ་མེད།