Abstract
The aim of this paper is to describe the meaning of duu of Tibetan Lhasa dialect This is of great importance to understanding the system of Tibetan. Tibetan has, as auxiliary verbs of existence (so I named), 'yoo-ree, duu and yöö, of which meaning are like English ‘there is’, or ‘there are’.
Then, yöö means possession of first person, and I want to explicit the difference between duu and 'yoo-ree.
When Mr. A takes Mr. B to a shop, he can say-cookan 'dee 'teb 'yago 'yoo-ree.‘there is a good book in this shop’, but not duu. Entering the shop and showing the book, he can say 'dee 'teb 'yago duu.‘here is a good book’. Namely, we use 'yoo-ree when the thing is out of sight, and duu when we see it. Not only seeing it, but also touching, smelling, hearing and so on, we can use duu.
Then, duu and 'yoo-ree are used like the English copula ‘be’, as well as ree, which is only used as copula. We can say, when we mean that she is beautiful, -kon ‘zeebo’ yoo-ree. -Kon 'zeebo duu and -kon 'zeebo ree. The first implies that she is not in sight but the speaker knows that she is beautiful, the second emphasizes the speaker's feeling that she is beautiful, and the third is an objective statement. Then, duu is often used as follows.
'terin 'taηηo duu.‘Today it is cold’ i. e.‘Today I feel cold’.
'di 'šiimbo duu ‘This is tasty’.
Conclusion:
Duu means existence known through a sense and manner of existence based on a subjective judgement through a sense.
