Grammar Bits › Building words and phrases › VERB + མཁན་

VERB + མཁན་

THE PERSON WHO… (-ER)
Verb + མཁན་ + རེད། / ཡིན། / ཡོད། / འདུག
Not doing : Verb with མ་ + མཁན་ or Verb + མཁན་ + མི་འདུག / མ་རེད
  • མཁན་ turns a verb into “the one who does it” (the doer). The verb before it always stays in the present form, whether you talk about the past, the present or the future.
  • Use it like a noun: put རེད། / ཡིན། after it to say who someone is, འདུག / ཡོད། after it to say that such a person exists, and སུ་ to ask “who”.
  • It also covers “the one who does not do” (ཤ་མ་ཟ་མཁན་ “vegetarian”) and “the one who has” (ཡོད་མཁན་ ; མེད་མཁན་ “the one who has not”). With ཐུབ་ the modal itself is negated : མ་ཐུབ་མཁན་ “the one who is unable to”.
Who is the one…?
འདི་བྱེད་མཁན་སུ་རེད། Who did this?
(The one who does this, who is it?)
ཐ་མག་འཐེན་མཁན་འདི་སུ་རེད། Who's the person who's smoking?
(The one who smokes, who is this?)
འཛིན་གྲྭ་འདིའི་ནང་ལ་དབྱིན་ཇིའི་སྐད་ཤེས་མཁན་སུ་སུ་ཡོད། Who knows English in this class?
(In this class, the ones who know English, who are there?)
Is there anyone who…?
འདིའི་བརྒྱུད་ལ་སྐྲ་བཞར་མཁན་འདུག་གས། Is there a barber around here?
(Around here, is there someone who shaves hair?)
ཁང་པ་འདིའི་ནང་ལ་སྡོད་མཁན་ཡོག་རེད་པས། Is anyone living in this house?
(In this house, is there someone who lives?)
ཁ་པར་ལེན་མཁན་མི་འདུག There is nobody answering the phone.
(The one who answers the phone, there isn't.)
སྔ་མ་ནས་ཁང་པ་འདིའི་ནང་ལ་སྡོད་མཁན་སུ་གང་ཡོག་མ་རེད། Nobody has lived in this house for a long time.
(For a long time, anyone who lives in this house, there has been none.)
He is the one who… / a person who…
ཧིན་རྡུ་མང་ཆེ་བ་ཤ་མ་ཟ་མཁན་རེད། Most Hindus are vegetarians.
(Most Hindus are ones who don't eat meat.)
ང་རང་ཚོའི་གྲོགས་པོ་རྒྱ་མི་དེ་གློག་བརྙན་བཟོ་མཁན་རེད། Our Chinese friend is a film-maker.
(Our Chinese friend is a film-making one.)
མོ་ཊ་གཏོང་མཁན་ཁ་ལོ་བ་རེད། The person who drives a car is a driver.
(The car-driving one is a driver.)
ཅ་ལག་རྐུ་མཁན་རྐུན་མ་རེད། The person who steals things is the robber.
(The things-stealing one is the robber.)
མོ་ཊ་ནག་པོ་ཡོད་མཁན་དེ་རྫོང་དཔོན་གཅིག་རེད། The person who has the black car is the mayor of a district.
(The black-car-having one is a district mayor.)
I am the one who is going to…
ཁོང་དང་ང་འགྲོ་མཁན་ཡིན། He and I are going.
(He and I are the ones who go.)
འདིར(འི)་ཉིན་མ་ཁ་ཤས་སྡོད་མཁན་ཡིན། I'll stay here for a few days.
(Here for a few days, I am the one who will stay.)