Emergency

1. རོགས་འདེགས་གནང་།

   Rog-deg nang

   Help!

   Usage

   Basic emergency call for help. Bhutan's emergency numbers: Police 113, Ambulance 112, Fire 110

   Grammar Note

   Imperative is formed by adding "nang" to the verb stem for honorific commands. In emergencies, call out loudly

2. ཉེན་རྟོག་པ་ལུ་ཁ་པར་གྱིས།

   Nyen tog pa lu kha par gyi

   Call the police (113)

   Usage

   Asking someone to contact Bhutanese police. The emergency police number is 113

   Grammar Note

   Bhutan emergency numbers: Police 113, Ambulance 112, Fire 110. In Thimphu, 1010 also reaches any of these

3. ང་ལུ་སྨན་པ་དགོ།

   Nga-lu men-pa go

   I need a doctor

   Usage

   Used when medical care is needed. Bhutan's main hospital is Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital in Thimphu

   Grammar Note

   "Men" means medicine/medical. "Men-khang" is hospital (medical house), "men-pa" is doctor (medical person)

4. མེ་དར་སྐྱེས་འདུག།

   Me-dar kye dug

   Fire!

   Usage

   Alert for fire. Important in Bhutan where many buildings are traditional wood construction

   Grammar Note

   "Me" means "fire." "Me-shi" is the compound meaning "firefighting" (extinguishing fire)

5. ལོག་རྐྱེན་གཅིག་བྱུང་འདུག།

   Log-kyen chig byung dug

   There has been an accident

   Usage

   Reporting a traffic accident or injury. Rockfalls and landslides can cause accidents on Bhutan's mountain roads

   Grammar Note

   "Dug" is an evidential particle marking a directly witnessed fact. Used to report a completed event

6. ང་ལམ་ཀ་ཆད་སོང་།

   Nga lam-ka chad-song

   I am lost

   Usage

   Used when lost on mountain roads. Bhutan's mountain areas have few signposts and it's easy to get lost

   Grammar Note

   "Song" is a completion particle expressing "has happened" - indicating a discovered fact

7. ཨམ་སྒྲོལ་ཀར་རི་གཅིག་གནང་།

   Am-drol ka-ri chig nang

   Please call an ambulance (112)

   Usage

   Requesting an ambulance in a medical emergency. Bhutan's ambulance number is 112

   Grammar Note

   Bhutan emergency contacts: Ambulance 112, Police 113, Fire 110. Urban response is faster than rural areas

8. མི་རྩིས་ཡིན།

   Mi-tsi yin

   I've been robbed

   Usage

   Reporting robbery to police. Bhutan has low crime rates but tourists should still remain cautious

   Grammar Note

   Emergency shouts can use just the noun or add "yin" (is/am) for a quick declaration

9. གཡང་ས་ཐོན་ལྷུང་གི་ནད།

   Yang-sa thon-lhung-gi ne

   I have altitude sickness symptoms

   Usage

   Reporting altitude sickness to medical staff. Bhutan's high elevation means altitude sickness is a real risk

   Grammar Note

   Even Thimphu is at 2,300m elevation. Altitude sickness symptoms (headache, nausea, dizziness) can appear immediately upon arrival

10. སྨན་ཁང་ག་ཏེ་ལགས།

    Men-khang ga-te la

    Where is the hospital?

    Usage

    Asking for the main hospital in Thimphu. Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital is Bhutan's largest medical facility

    Grammar Note

    "Men" means "medicine/medical" and "khang" means "building/place." Together they form "hospital"

11. ང་གཟུགས་མ་བདེཝ།

    Nga zug ma dew

    I feel sick

    Usage

    Used when feeling ill. Altitude sickness is a risk in Bhutan due to its high elevation

    Grammar Note

    "Zug" is "body" and "ma dew" is "not at ease"; together "body not at ease" means "unwell"

12. ཨརཝ།

    Aw

    Thief

    Usage

    Alerts the people around you right after a theft; the act of stealing is said as "aw ku" with the verb added

13. སྨན་ཁང་ལུ་ཁྲིད་གནང་།

    Men-khang lu khri nang

    Please take me to a hospital

    Usage

    Ask a driver or a bystander to take you to a hospital

14. འདི་གློ་བུར་ཉེན་འཚུབ་ཨིན།

    Di lobur nyentshub in.

    It's an emergency

    Usage

    Says that the situation itself is urgent, for example when you need to be seen ahead of a queue

    Grammar Note

    The equational frame "di … in" makes a noun-predicate sentence ("this is …"). "Lobur nyentshub" means "emergency"; "lobur" (sudden) works as an emergency prefix, as in "lobur thön go" (emergency door) and "lobur mencho" (emergency treatment, first aid).

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