This particle is very common in Literary Tibetan, but less so in the spoken language. It is used to emphasize a group of words preceding it, or else it “thematizes” something—that is, it introduces the topic that is about to be developed. In English, when the thematization concerns the object, the marker ནི་ may be rendered by moving the object to the beginning of the sentence and emphasizing it with some expression such as “as for” or “regarding.” Sometimes it may even be left untranslated.

• པང་གདན་ནི་སྐྱེད་དམན་ཚང་མས་གོན་གྱི་རེད། “As for aprons, all women wear them.”
• མེ་ནི་བཏང་(གཏོང་)དགོས་མེད། “As for a fire, we don’t need to light one.”