Basic Words

1. ཨིན།

   In

   Yes

   Usage

   The basic affirmative reply; also works when someone checks something with you

   Grammar Note

   Add ལགས (la) for politeness: in la

2. མེན།

   Men

   No

   Usage

   The basic negative reply; say it gently to stay polite

3. གནང་རོགས།

   Nang rog

   Please

   Usage

   Add it when asking for something; it also works on its own

   Grammar Note

   Attach it after a verb to make a polite request

4. བཀའ་དྲིན་ཆེ་ལགས།

   Ka drin che la

   Thank you

   Usage

   The basic thank-you when you receive something or get help

5. དགོངསམ་མ་ཁྲེལ།

   Gongm ma throe

   Excuse me

   Usage

   Use to get a stranger's attention or to squeeze past someone

   Grammar Note

   The "excuse me" for getting attention or apologizing lightly

6. དགོངས་པ་བཞེས་གནང་།

   Gong pa zhe nang

   Sorry

   Usage

   An apology when you are at fault — bumping into someone, making a mistake

7. འགྲིགས་ཅི།

   Drig chi

   It's OK / I'm fine

   Usage

   Both to wave off an apology and to decline help or concern

8. ང་གིས་ཧ་མ་གོ།

   Nga gi ha ma go

   I don't understand

   Usage

   Say this first when the language is not getting through; people will rephrase

9. ང་གིས་ཧ་གོ་ཡི།

   Nga gi ha go yi

   I understand

   Usage

   The reply when you have understood; it also signals agreement

10. ཚར་ཡི།

    Tshar yi

    I'm finished / Done

    Usage

    Tell staff you are done with a meal, a payment, or a procedure

11. སྒུག་གནང་།

    Guk nang

    Please wait

    Usage

    A polite way to ask someone to hold on

12. ཨ་ཙི་སྒུག།

    A tsi guk

    Just a moment

    Usage

    For just a few seconds — while you find your wallet or your bag

13. མི་ཆེན་གཅིག།

    Mi chen chi

    One adult, please

    Usage

    At a ticket window or entrance, to state how many people

14. སྔོན་བཀོད་མིན་འདུག།

    Ngon kod min du

    I don't have a reservation

    Usage

    Say this first when walking into a restaurant or hotel without booking

15. སྔོན་བཀོད་འབད་ཡི།

    Ngon kod be yi

    I have a reservation

    Usage

    At the front desk; follow it with your name

16. གྲོགས་རམ་འབད་གནང་།

    Drog ram be nang

    Please help me

    Usage

    Call for help in an emergency — it is fine to shout this

17. ལོག་སྟེ་གསུང་གནང་།

    Log te sung nang

    Once more, please

    Usage

    Ask someone to repeat what they just said

18. ལྷོད་ལྷོད་གསུང་གནང་།

    Lhoe lhoe sung nang

    Please speak slowly

    Usage

    When someone speaks too fast; people almost always slow down

19. ང་གིས་ཨ་ཙི་སླབ་ཚུགས།

    Nga gi a tsi lap tshug

    I speak a little

    Usage

    Keeps the conversation going while lowering expectations

20. ཁྱོད་ཀྱིས་དབྱིན་སྐད་སླབ་ཚུགས་ག།

    Choe gi yin ke lap tshug ga?

    Do you speak English?

    Usage

    Check for a shared language when you need to discuss something complicated

21. འདི།

    Di

    This

    Usage

    Show it while pointing at something in front of you

22. ང་།

    Nga

    I / Me

    Usage

    Show it while pointing at yourself

23. ཁྱོད།

    Choe

    You

    Usage

    Show it while pointing at the other person

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