Art & Museums

1. འདིར་པར་བཏབ་ཆོག་གམ།

   Dir par tab chog-gam

   Is photography allowed here?

   Usage

   Used to ask whether photography is permitted in a museum or temple

   Grammar Note

   Dzongkha is the national language of Bhutan, using Tibetan script and closely related to Tibetan

2. སྒྱུ་རྩལ་མཁནམ་འདི་སུ་ཨིན་ན།

   Gyu tsel khenm di su in na?

   Who is the artist?

   Usage

   Used to ask about the creator of an artwork

   Grammar Note

   "Su" means "who" in Dzongkha; "in" is the copula meaning "is"

3. ལག་རྩལ་འདི་གི་མིང་ག་ཅི་ཨིན་ན།

   Lag tsel di gi ming gaci in na?

   What is this work called?

   Usage

   Used to ask for the title of an artwork

   Grammar Note

   "Gaci" is the Dzongkha interrogative pronoun meaning "what"; "lag tsel" means craft / work of art

4. འགྲེམས་སྟོན་ཁང་འདི་ནམ་བཟོ་ཡི།

   Drem ton khang di nam zo yi?

   When was this museum built?

   Usage

   Used to ask about the construction date of a museum

   Grammar Note

   "Drem ton khang" (museum/gallery) is "exhibit" + "building"; "nam" asks "when" ("ga dem chi" means "how many", not "when"), and "yi" marks the completed action

5. ཐོས་སྒྲའི་ལམ་སྟོན་ཡོད་དམ།

   Thoe drai lam ton yoe dam?

   Do you have an audio guide?

   Usage

   Used to ask about audio guide availability

   Grammar Note

   The suffix "dam" marks polite questions in Dzongkha

6. དྲན་རྟེན་ཚོང་ཁང་ག་ཏེ་ཡོད།

   Dren ten tshong khang ga te yoe?

   Where is the gift shop?

   Usage

   Used to locate the gift shop

   Grammar Note

   "Ga te yoe?" asks "Where is it?" in Dzongkha; "dren ten" means souvenir

7. ལག་རྩལ་འདི་གི་པར་མ་ཅིག་ཉོ་ནི་འདོད་ཡོད།

   Lag tsel di gi par ma chi nyo ni doe yoe.

   I'd like to buy a print of this artwork.

   Usage

   Used when wanting to purchase a print of an artwork

   Grammar Note

   "Par ma" means "print"; "doe yoe" expresses desire or wish in Dzongkha

8. ལམ་སྟོན་གྱི་ལྟ་སྐོར་ཡོད་དམ།

   Lam ton gyi ta kor yoe dam?

   Is there a guided tour?

   Usage

   Used to ask if a guided tour is available

   Grammar Note

   The suffix "dam" marks respectful questions in Dzongkha

9. འགྲེམས་སྟོན་ཁང་ཆུ་ཚོད་ག་དེམ་ཅིག་ལུ་ཁ་ཕྱེ་ནི་ཨིན་ན།

   Drem ton khang chu tshoe ga dem chi lu kha che ni in na?

   What are the museum's opening hours?

   Usage

   Used to ask about the museum's operating hours

   Grammar Note

   "Chu tshoe ga dem chi lu ... ni in" asks "at what time does it ...?"; the closing counterpart uses "go gyab"

10. རི་མོ་འདི་ཧ་ལས་སྦེ་མཛེས་ཏོག་ཏོ་འདུག།

    Ri mo di ha la be dze tog to du.

    This painting is beautiful.

    Usage

    Used to express admiration for a painting or artwork

    Grammar Note

    "Ha la be" is an intensifier meaning "extremely" or "astonishingly" in Dzongkha

Browse all TravelPhrases languages