Café & Drinks

1. སུའི་ཇ་གཅིག་ཐོབ་ཆོག་གི་ཡོདཔ།

   Su-i ja-chig tob-chog gi yoe-pa

   Can I have a cup of butter tea (su-ja)?

   Usage

   Used to order butter tea, Bhutan's traditional drink made from tea, butter, and salt

   Grammar Note

   "Tob-chog gi yoepa" is a polite request meaning "can I get." "Su-ja" is the staple drink of Bhutan and Tibet

2. ཆང་གཅིག་རོགས་གནང་།

   Chang-chig rog-nang

   Please give me one glass of chang (traditional alcohol)

   Usage

   Used to order chang, a traditional grain-based alcohol. Available at local homes and restaurants

   Grammar Note

   "Rog-nang" is a polite request. "Nang" is an honorific verb

3. ཆུ་ས་ལྟར་གཅིག་ཞུ།

   Chu sa-tar chig-zhu

   One bottle of water please

   Usage

   Staying hydrated is essential in Bhutan's high altitude. A must-know phrase for travelers

   Grammar Note

   "Sa-tar" is a container classifier. In Dzongkha, classifiers tend to follow the noun

4. ཇ་ས་རྒྱས་ཅིག་ཐོབ་ཆོག་གི་ཡོདཔ།

   Ja sa-gye chig tob-chog gi yoe-pa

   Can I have a cup of milk tea?

   Usage

   Milk tea is popular in Bhutan due to Indian influence. Commonly served at cafes and canteens

   Grammar Note

   Dzongkha distinguishes between "su-ja" (butter tea) and "ja sa-gye" (milk tea), both common beverages

5. ཀོ་ཕི་ཅིག་རོགས་གནང་།

   Ko-phi chig rog-nang

   One coffee please

   Usage

   Useful in Thimphu and modern towns where cafes are growing. Uses the loanword "ko-phi"

   Grammar Note

   "Ko-phi" is a loanword from English "coffee." Dzongkha has incorporated many loanwords through modernization

6. བཙོ་མ་འདི་ག་ཅི་ཡིན་ནམ།

   Tso-ma di ga-chi yin-nam

   What is this drink?

   Usage

   Used when offered an unfamiliar drink. Handy when exploring local traditional beverages

   Grammar Note

   "Ga-chi" (what) combined with "yin" (is) forms an identity question. Demonstratives precede the subject

7. ཆང་གི་གོང་ག་ཚམ་ཡིན།

   Chang gi gong ga-tsham yin

   How much does chang cost?

   Usage

   Used to check the price of chang at local taverns and eateries

   Grammar Note

   "Ga-tsham yin" is the standard phrase for "how much is it." The genitive "gi" means "of/belonging to"

8. འཁྱེག་ཇ་གཉིས་ཐོབ་ཆོག་གི་ཡོདཔ།

   Khyeg ja nyi tob-chog gi yoe-pa

   Can I have two glasses of iced tea?

   Usage

   Useful during warmer seasons or in southern Bhutan's lowlands

   Grammar Note

   "Khyeg" is "ice" and "ja" is "tea." The numeral "nyi" (two) follows the noun

9. ལོ་གསར་གྱི་ཆང་འཐུང་།

   Lo-sar gi chang thung

   A toast for Losar (New Year)

   Usage

   A toast used during Losar, Bhutan's New Year celebration. Used at festivals and special occasions

   Grammar Note

   "Thung" (འཐུང) is the verb "to drink" (not ཐུང, "short"). Losar is one of Bhutan's most important festivals, featuring communal drinking

10. ང་ཆང་མི་འཐུང་ལགས།

    Nga chang mi thung la

    I don't drink alcohol (polite refusal)

    Usage

    Politely declines alcohol when offered. Politeness is important even when declining in Bhutanese culture

    Grammar Note

    The negative "mi" is placed immediately before the verb "thung" (to drink). The polite ending "la" makes the refusal more courteous

11. ཇ།

    Ja

    Tea

    Usage

    Point at it when ordering a drink or checking about ice

12. འཁྱེག།

    Khyeg

    Ice

    Usage

    Point at it when ordering a drink or checking about ice

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