Cooking & Markets

1. ས་གནས་ཀྱི་ཚོང་ར་གང་ན་ཡོད།

   Sa ne gi tsong ra gang na yoe?

   Where is the local market?

   Usage

   Used when looking for fresh local produce

   Grammar Note

   Dzongkha uses SOV word order and the Tibetan script

2. འདི་གི་ལྟོ་རིགས་ལ་ག་ཅི་ཟེར།

   Di gi to rig la ga chi zer?

   What is this ingredient called?

   Usage

   Used to ask the name of an unfamiliar ingredient

   Grammar Note

   "ga chi zer" means "what is it called" in Dzongkha

3. འདི་གི་ལྟོ་ཤ་ཧ་ཅང་ཚ་བ་ཨིན་ན།

   Di gi to sha ha-cang tsa-wa in na?

   Is this dish very spicy?

   Usage

   Used to check whether a dish is very spicy

   Grammar Note

   Dzongkha questions are marked by final particles

4. ལྟོ་བཟོ་སྦྱོང་ཤེས་ཡོན་ལས་ཁུངས་ཅིག་གི་ལམ་སྟོན་བྱིན་ཐུབ་གི་ཡིན་ནམ།

   To zo yong shey yon le khung chig gi lam ton jin thub gi yin nam?

   Can you recommend a cooking class?

   Usage

   Used when seeking a cooking class recommendation

   Grammar Note

   Honorifics in Dzongkha are expressed through verb changes and specific vocabulary

5. འདི་གི་ལྟོ་ཇི་ལྟར་བཟོ།

   Di gi to ji tar zo?

   How do you prepare this dish?

   Usage

   Used to ask how to prepare a dish

   Grammar Note

   "ji tar" is the Dzongkha interrogative adverb meaning "how"

6. གསར་བ་གི་ཚལ་ཟས་གང་ན་ཉོ་ཐུབ།

   Sar wa gi tshal ze gang na nyo thub?

   Where can I buy fresh vegetables?

   Usage

   Used to find where to buy fresh produce

   Grammar Note

   In Dzongkha, verbs come at the end of the sentence (SOV order)

7. ང་ས་གནས་ཀྱི་ལྟོ་སྦྱིན་བཟོ་སྦྱོང་བྱེད་འདོད་ཡོད།

   Nga sa ne gi to jin zo yong je doe yoe.

   I'd like to learn to cook local food.

   Usage

   Expresses interest in learning local cuisine

   Grammar Note

   "dod yö" expresses desire in Dzongkha

8. ཚལ་ཟས་ཙམ་གྱི་ལྟོ་རིགས་ཡོད་དམ།

   Tshal ze tsam gi to rig yoe dam?

   Do you have vegetarian ingredients?

   Usage

   Used when looking for plant-based ingredients

   Grammar Note

   The suffix "dam" marks a question in Dzongkha

9. འདི་གི་ལྟོ་ལ་ག་ཅི་གི་ཡུན་སྣུམ་བེད་སྤྱད།

   Di gi to la ga chi gi yun num be je?

   What spices are used in this dish?

   Usage

   Used to inquire about spices in a dish

   Grammar Note

   In Dzongkha, interrogatives are usually placed near the end of the sentence

10. ཚོད་ལྟ་འབད་ཆོགཔ་ཨིན་ན།

    Tshoe-ta be chogpa in na?

    Can I try a sample?

    Usage

    Used at markets or food shops to request a taste

    Grammar Note

    "chogpa in na?" is a Dzongkha permission question

Browse all TravelPhrases languages