Complete Balti Grammar Guide

Word Order: The Foundation

The most important thing to understand about Balti grammar is its word order. Unlike English (Subject-Verb-Object), Balti follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) pattern. This affects how you construct sentences:

Nouns & Cases

Balti nouns don't change form based on case like some languages, but postpositions (particles after nouns) show grammatical relationships:

• Nominative (Subject): The base form: "kho" (he)
• Agentive: Uses postposition "-s" or "-kyis": "khos" (by him)
• Dative (To/For): "-la": "khola" (to him)
• Locative (At/In): "-na": "khona" (at him/there)

Verb Conjugation

Verbs in Balti conjugate based on the subject. Let's use "to go" (dhrug) as an example:

Tenses

Balti expresses tense through verb endings and auxiliary words. The main tenses are:

• Present: "-ngo" or "-no": "thuung-ngo" (I drink)
• Past: "-song" or "-tung": "thuung-song" (I drank)
• Future: "-gi-red" or "-go-red": "thuung-gi-red" (I will drink)
• Habitual: "-du": "thuung-du" (I usually/regularly drink)

Adjectives

Adjectives in Balti precede the noun they modify and don't change form based on gender or number. Example: "chhen-po khang" (big house) - the adjective "chhen-po" stays the same even if referring to multiple houses.

Negation

To negate, use "ma" before the verb: "ngas chho ma-thuung-ngo" (I don't drink tea)

Questions

Form questions by using question particles. "Skad kyid-po yin pe?" (How are you?) - the "pe" at the end makes it a question. You can also simply raise your intonation at the end of a statement to ask a question.

Common Grammatical Patterns

Practice Sentences