ག་རེ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཡོད།
ga re byed kyi yod
ག་རེ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཡོད། (ga re byed kyi yod) is the Tibetan way to say "what are you doing?"
This phrase is used to ask someone about their current activity.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase breaks down into ག་རེ་ (what), བྱེད་ (do) and ཀྱི་ཡོད། (the continuous aspect marker).
How does it change in a sentence?
This is a neutral way to ask the question. The phrase does not explicitly include a word for "you", as the subject is often implied by the context.
How do you pronounce it?
ga re byed kyi yod
Did you know?
- Because Tibetan is a pro-drop language, adding the word for 'you' can actually make you sound rude or overly confrontational in a social setting.
- If you are speaking to a monk or an elder, you would replace the verb བྱེད་ with a more respectful form like གནང་ to show proper deference.
- Tibetan writing uses a system of stacks, so the letters in བྱེད་ are arranged vertically, which changes how the eye reads the 'doing' part of the phrase.
Examples in context
- ཁྱོད་ག་རེ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཡོད།khyod ga re byed kyi yod?What are you doing?
