A collection of useful phrases in Dzongkha (རྫོང་ཁ), a South Tibetic language spoken in Bhutan.
See these phrases in any combination of two languages in the Phrase Finder. If you can provide recordings, corrections or additional translations, please contact me.
Key to abbreviations: frm = formal, inf = informal, sg = singular (said to one person), pl = plural (said to more than one person).
| Phrase | རྫོང་ཁ (Dzongkha) |
|---|---|
| Welcome | Chamba lekso |
| Hello (General greeting) | སྐུ་གཟུགས་བཟང་པོ་ལགས། (Kuzu zangpo la) - frm སྐུ་གཟུགས་བཟང་པོ། (Kuzu zangpo) - inf སྐུ་གཟུགས། (Kuzu) - inf |
| Hello (on phone) | |
| How are you? | ཁྱོད་ག་དེ་སྦེ་ཡོད། (Choe gadey bey yoe?) |
| Reply to 'How are you?' | ང་ལེགས་ཤོམ་སྦེ་ཡོད། ཁྱོད? (Nga lekshom bey yoe. Choe?) |
| Long time no see | |
| What's your name? | ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་མིང་ག་ཅི་སྨོ? (Chhoegi ming gachi mo?) |
| My name is ... | ང་གི་མིང་ ... ཨིན། (Ngagi ming ... inn) ང་བསོད་ ... ཨིན། (Nga ... inn) |
| Where are you from? | ཁྱོད་ག་ཏེ་ལས་སྨོ? (Chhoe gatey lay mo?) |
| I'm from ... | ང་ ... ལས་ཨིན (Nga ... lay inn) |
| Pleased to meet you | ང་ཁྱོད་དང་མཇལ་དེ་སེམས་དགའ་ཨི་། (Nga chhoe da chhedi sem gaa yi) ཁྱོད་དང་གཅིག་ཁར་འཕྱད་དེ་སེམས་དགའ་ཡི། (Chhoe dang chikar chhedi sem gaa yi) ཁྱོད་དང་གཅིག་ཁར་འཕྱད་དེ་ང་ཡང་སེམས་དགའ་ཡི། (Chhoe dang chikar chhedi nga yang sem gaa yi) - reply |
| Good morning (Morning greeting) |
ངྲོ་པདེ་ལེགས། (Dobro delek) |
| Good afternoon (Afternoon greeting) |
Nima dele |
| Good evening (Evening greeting) |
ཕྱི་རུ་བདེེ་ལེགས། (Chiru delek) |
| Good night | Simcha dele |
| Goodbye (Parting phrases) |
ལོག་ཤུལ་ལས་འབྱལ་གེ། (Lok shu ley jel gey) - See you later ཡ་ཡ། ཡར་སི་མས། (Yaya. Yasi mey) - Okay. Bye |
| Good luck! | Tashi delek! |
| Cheers! Good Health! (Toasts used when drinking) |
|
| Have a nice day | |
| Bon appetit / Have a nice meal |
|
| Bon voyage / Have a good journey |
|
| Yes | ཨིན། (ing) |
| No | མེན། (men) |
| Maybe | |
| I don't know | |
| I understand | |
| I don't understand | ང་གིས་ ཧ་མི་གོ་བས། (Nga gi ha migo wai) |
| Please speak more slowly | ཨ་ཙི་ འགྲོས་ཀྱིས་སྦེ་གསུང་གནང། (Ah tsi due ki bay sung nang) |
| Please say that again | ཡང་བསྐྱར་གསུང་གནང་པ་ཅིན་ ལགས? (Yang char sung nang pa chin la?) |
| Please write it down | |
| Do you speak English? | |
| Do you speak Dzongkha? | |
| Yes, a little (reply to 'Do you speak ...?') |
|
| Speak to me in Dzongkha | |
| How do you say ... in Dzongkha? | |
| Excuse me | Atsi zur nang |
| How much is this? | འདི་ག་དེམ་ཅིག་ཨིན་ན? (Di gadem chi enna?) Gadem chi mo? Ga day chi mo? Teru ga they chi mo? |
| Sorry | ཙིགཔ་མ་ཟ། (Tsip maza) Gom mathrae |
| Please | ང་ལུ་གནང་། (Nga lu nang) |
| Thank you | བཀའ་དྲིན་ཆེ། (Kadrin chhe) གནམ་མེད་ས་མེད་བཀའ་དྲིན་ཆེ་ལགས། (Nami sami kadrinchhe la) |
| Reply to thank you | ཡ་ཡ། (yaya) Jembalaekso |
| Where's the toilet / bathroom? | ཆབ་གསང་ག་ཏེ་ཡོད་ག? (Chhab sang gatey yue ga?) |
| This gentleman will pay for everything | |
| This lady will pay for everything | |
| Would you like to dance with me? | |
| Do you come here often? | |
| I miss you | |
| I love you | |
| Get well soon | |
| Go away! | |
| Leave me alone! | |
| Help! | |
| Fire! | |
| Stop! | |
| Call the police! | |
| Christmas greetings | |
| New Year greetings | |
| Easter greetings | |
| Birthday greetings | |
| One language is never enough | |
| My hovercraft is full of eels |
Hear some Dzongkha phrases
If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, or if you can provide recordings, please contact me.
Information about Dzongkha | Phrases | Numbers
Dzongkha language resources on Amazon
Other collections of Dzongkha phrases
https://wikitravel.org/en/Dzongkha_phrasebook
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Dzongkha_phrasebook
https://www.gesar-travel.com/dzongkha-for-beginners/?lang=en
http://wandertours.com/helpful-phrases-in-dzongkha-for-travelers/
https://www.memrise.com/course/333372/dzongkha-basic-phrases/
Burmese, Dzongkha, Manipuri, Newar, Tibetan
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