The use of མཁན་ is much more limited than in the spoken language. It can only modify head nouns that correspond semantically to “agents.” The marker མི་ has a function similar to that of མཁན་, but it is used only in Literary Tibetan.

• ལུས་ནི་ཀུན་བྱེད་རི་མོ་མཁན་དང་འདྲ། “Karma is like a draughtsman who can design anything.”
• རྒྱ་གླིང་གཏོང་མཁན་གྱི་གྲྭ་པ། “The monk who’s playing the shawm…”
• ཨ་རོག་ཟེར་མི་ཕོ་རོག་ཡིན། “The one who calls me an old friend is the crow.”