Convenience Store

1. ཁུག་མ་དགོ་ག།

   Khug-ma go-ga?

   Do you need a bag?

   Usage

   Said by staff. Bhutan has no convenience-store chains; you shop at a small family-run "tshongkhang". Plastic bags have been banned since 1999, so what you get is paper or cloth

   Grammar Note

   Dzongkha turns a statement into a yes/no question simply by adding "ga" at the end. Answer "go" (yes, I need it) or "mi go" (no).

2. ཁུག་མ་ཅིག་གནང་།

   Khug-ma chig nang

   One bag, please

   Usage

   Use it when staff do not offer a bag. Bhutanese shops often hand goods over loose, and locals tuck small purchases into the fold of their gho or kira

   Grammar Note

   "Nang" is the honorific verb "to give", the polite counterpart of "jin". Dzongkha swaps the verb itself between honorific and plain registers, so use the honorific with shopkeepers and elders.

3. ཏི་རུ་ཆུང་ཀུ་ཡོད་ག།

   Ti-ru chung-ku yoe-ga?

   Do you have small change?

   Usage

   Said by staff. Bhutan's ngultrum (Nu.) is pegged one-to-one to the Indian rupee, and rupee notes circulate freely. Small shops often lack change, so carry 10, 20 and 50 ngultrum notes

   Grammar Note

   "Ti-ru" is the everyday Dzongkha word for money; the written register uses "ngü" (silver, money). Dzongkha adjectives follow the noun, hence the order "ti-ru chung-ku".

4. ཀིའུ་ཨར་གྱིས་སྤྲོད་ཚུགས་ག།

   Kiu ar gi troe tshug-ga?

   Can I pay by QR code?

   Usage

   Bhutan QR, an interbank standard, has spread fast, and shops in Thimphu and Paro display a QR plate at the counter. Using it requires a Bhutanese bank account, so foreign visitors generally pay cash

   Grammar Note

   "Verb + tshug" expresses ability. "Gi" is the instrumental particle meaning "by means of"; its shape alternates between gis, gyis and kyis depending on the final letter of the preceding word.

5. རྩིས་ཐོ་དགོ་ག།

   Tsi-tho go-ga?

   Do you need a receipt?

   Usage

   Said by staff. Small Bhutanese shops add things up mentally without a till, so a receipt often does not exist. If you need one they will usually write it by hand

   Grammar Note

   A compound of "tsi" (calculation) and "tho" (record). Tibetan script separates syllables with the mark "tsheg", which is not a word boundary — an important distinction when reading.

6. འདི་གནང་།

   Di nang

   This one, please

   Usage

   The simplest phrase, used while pointing. In Bhutanese shops the stock usually sits on shelves behind the counter out of reach, so pointing is how you order

   Grammar Note

   Dzongkha has a two-way deictic contrast: "di" (this) and "de" (that). For quantity, place the numeral after the noun: "di nyi nang" (two of these, please).

7. ཆུ་ག་ཏེ་ཡོད།

   Chu ga-te yoe?

   Where is the water?

   Usage

   Tap water is not drunk in Bhutan, so bottled water is standard, with local brands such as Bhutan Natural and Sonfy on the shelves. The altitude and dry air mean you should stock up before any trek

   Grammar Note

   When a question word such as "ga-te" is present, the final particle "ga" is unnecessary and "yoe" alone carries the question. Swap in any product — "o-ma" (milk), "bag-leb" (bread).

8. ཆུ་ཚ་ཏོག་ཏོ་ཡོད་ག།

   Chu tsha-tog-to yoe-ga?

   Do you have hot water?

   Usage

   Useful when buying instant noodles. Bhutanese shops almost never have a microwave, but the owner will often share hot water from a thermos out back — and some will offer you butter tea (suja)

   Grammar Note

   Dzongkha adjectives frequently take a reduplicated ending, as in "tsha-tog-to" and "chung-ku". Cold water is "chu drang-tog-to".

9. ཐུར་མ་ཅིག་གནང་།

   Thur-ma chig nang

   A spoon, please

   Usage

   Ask for one when buying instant noodles or prepared food. Bhutanese traditionally eat with the right hand, mixing red rice with ema datshi (chilli and cheese stew). Spoons are an import and a shop may simply not have one

   Grammar Note

   The core request pattern is "noun + chig + nang". To be more deferential, append the polite particle "la": "Thur-ma chig nang la".

10. ཐ་མག་ཡོད་ག།

    Tha-mag yoe-ga?

    Do you have cigarettes?

    Usage

    Under its 2010 Tobacco Control Act Bhutan was the only country in the world to ban the sale of tobacco outright. The law was amended in 2021 to curb cross-border smuggling, permitting sales through licensed outlets, but duties remain very high and few shops stock it. Smoking in public places, including temple and government grounds, is prohibited

    Grammar Note

    If they have none the answer is "me". The Dzongkha existential verb has suppletive forms: "yoe" in the affirmative and "me" in the negative.

11. ཨ་རག་ཡོད་ག།

    A-ra yoe-ga?

    Do you have alcohol?

    Usage

    Tuesday is a nationwide "dry day" in Bhutan when alcohol may not be sold, as are major Buddhist holidays. A shuttered drinks shelf means the rule is in force. The local spirit "ara", distilled from rice or wheat, is often served in homes instead

    Grammar Note

    "Ara" is shared with Tibetan and is thought to be cognate with Mongolian "arkhi" and Arabic "arak". Beer is the English loanword "biyar".

12. ནཱ་ལུ་ཁ་པར་གློག་བླུགས་ཆོག་ག།

    Na-lu kha-par log lug chog-ga?

    May I charge my phone here?

    Usage

    Bhutan generates abundant hydropower and the supply is reliable, so shopkeepers will usually let you plug in. Outages do occur in remote mountain areas. Buy something first, then ask

    Grammar Note

    "Chog" is the auxiliary of permission, distinct from "tshug" which expresses ability. When asking someone to allow something, "chog-ga" is the natural choice. "Lu" is the case particle for "at / to".

13. ཁ་པར་ནང་ཏི་རུ་བླུགས་ཚུགས་ག།

    Kha-par nang ti-ru lug tshug-ga?

    Can you top up my phone?

    Usage

    Bhutan has two carriers, B-Mobile (Bhutan Telecom) and TashiCell. Shops sell prepaid scratch cards — you scratch off the code and dial it in — and some owners will credit your number directly

    Grammar Note

    "Lug" originally means to pour a liquid, and by extension to load or top up. "Nang" is the postposition "inside", placed after the noun.

14. ཨེ་ཊི་ཨེམ་ཉེ་ས་ལུ་ཡོད་ག།

    E ti em nye-sa lu yoe-ga?

    Is there an ATM nearby?

    Usage

    ATMs stand outside banks such as Bank of Bhutan and BNB in Thimphu, Paro and other towns, and are scarce in the districts. Few accept foreign cards, and machines are often out of order or out of cash, so draw money before heading into the countryside

    Grammar Note

    Loanwords are transcribed syllable by syllable in Tibetan script, so ATM is written A-Ti-Em. The retroflex letter used for "ti" was devised for Sanskrit transliteration and now serves modern loans as well.

15. གསང་སྤྱོད་ག་ཏེ་ཡོད།

    Sang-choe ga-te yoe?

    Where is the toilet?

    Usage

    Bhutanese shops have no customer toilet, and staff will direct you to a restaurant or hotel. Outside the towns paper is often absent, so carry tissues

    Grammar Note

    "Sang-choe" is a euphemism meaning roughly "the place used in private", shared with Tibetan. In towns the English word "toilet" is also understood.

16. ཨོ་མ་ག་ཏེ་ཡོད།

    O-ma ga-te yoe?

    Where is the milk?

    Usage

    Bhutanese shops mostly stock Indian carton milk such as Amul. The signature dairy product is "churpi", a hard cheese made from yak milk that is dried and chewed slowly for hours

    Grammar Note

    "O-ma" is shared with Tibetan and, along with butter ("mar") and cheese ("churpi"), sits at the heart of Himalayan food culture. Butter tea is "suja".

17. ཚོང་ཁང་ཆུ་ཚོད་ག་དེམ་ཅིག་ལུ་སྒོ་བརྒྱབ་ནི་ཨིན།

    Tshong-khang chu-tshoe ga-dem-chig lu go gyab-ni in?

    What time does the shop close?

    Usage

    Nothing opens 24 hours in Bhutan; most shops run from about 9am to 8-9pm and close en masse on Buddhist festivals and national holidays such as the King's birthday. In valley villages, assume they shut at sunset

    Grammar Note

    The suffix "khang" means house or building and forms names of premises: tshong-khang (shop), za-khang (restaurant), nyal-khang (bedroom). To open is "go che", literally to open the door.

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