དགའ་ཏོག་ཏོ།
Ga tog to
Happy / cheerful
Usage
The everyday word for glad and pleasant; a good reply when someone has looked after you
Grammar Note
A word describing a glad heart; སྤྲོ་ཏོག་ཏོ is a synonym
སྤྲོ་བ།
Tro wa
Delight / enthusiasm
Usage
The noun for the feeling of looking forward to something; སྤྲོ་བ་ཡོདཔ in the Adjectives category is this word plus "to have"
དཔའ་སི་སི།
Pa si si
Proud
Usage
For pride in an achievement or in someone close to you; hold back where it would read as boasting
Grammar Note
An adjective built on དཔའ (brave) with the ending སི་སི; དཔའ་རྔམ་ཅན carries the same sense
དགའ་ཚོར།
Ga tshor
Gratitude
Usage
Deeper than the everyday "བཀའ་དྲིན་ཆེ་ལགས" in the Basic Words category — for someone who has really helped you
Grammar Note
Holding another's kindness in mind and showing it
བརྩེ་བ།
Tse wa
Love / affection
Usage
Broader than romance — family affection and Buddhist loving-kindness too; never impolite to anyone
Grammar Note
Often appears in the compound བྱམས་བརྩེ
སེམས་སྐྱོ་བ།
Sem kyo wa
Sad
Usage
Literally "the heart (སེམས) sinks"; show it to say you are low
Grammar Note
Treated as a verb; ཡིད་སྐྱོ་བ is near-synonymous
ཁོང་ཁྲོ།
Khong thro
Anger
Usage
A strong word. Showing anger in public is avoided in Bhutan, so explaining the situation lands better
Grammar Note
A noun, close in sense to ཞེ་སྡང, one of the Buddhist three poisons
འདྲོག།
Drog
Afraid
Usage
Say it early on a cliff road or a suspension bridge — do not push through the fear
Grammar Note
A verb; the past form is འདྲོགས. Stronger terror is འཇིགས་སྐྲག
ཚ་གྱང་ཕོགཔ།
Tsha gyang phogp
Worried
Usage
For the weather, a blocked road or your health — when you are anxious about what comes next
Grammar Note
ཕོགཔ means a state has come upon you; for deep grief, མྱ་ངན་ཕོག་ཕོགཔ
ངོ་ཚ།
Ngo tsha
Embarrassed / shy
Usage
Literally "the face burns"; covers both bashfulness and awkwardness
Grammar Note
A noun; knowing this feeling is regarded as a virtue. A synonym is སྐྱེངས
སུན་ཁག་ཁ།
Suen khag kha
Boring / wearisome
Usage
For a dull situation such as a long mountain drive — not something to say in front of a host
Grammar Note
An adjective; སུན་སྦྱིས་སྦྱིས is a synonym
ཐང་ཆད།
Thang che
Tired / exhausted
Usage
For after a trek or a long drive; you tire faster at altitude than you expect
Grammar Note
Having spent all one's strength
གཉིད།
Nyi
Sleep / drowsiness
Usage
Show it when you need to say you are sleepy; "to sleep" is གཉིད་ལོག ("Nyi log")
Grammar Note
A noun; a dream is གཉིད་ལམ ("Nyi lam")
ལྟོཝ་བཀྱེས།
Tow kye
Hungry
Usage
Show it in an eatery or a homestay; ལྟོ means cooked rice and stands for a meal in general in Bhutan
Grammar Note
ལྟོཝ (rice, food) + བཀྱེས (to hunger); having nothing in the stomach
ཁ་སྐོམ།
Kha kom
Thirsty
Usage
The dry mountain air dehydrates fast; show it when asking for water
Grammar Note
ཁ (mouth) + སྐོམ (to be dry); treated as a verb
གཟུགས་མ་བདེཝ།
Zug ma dew
Feeling unwell
Usage
For when you cannot name what is wrong; pair it with a body-part card from the Body Parts category
Grammar Note
གཟུགས (body) + མ (not) + བདེཝ (at ease); a sick person is ནདཔ
More Dzongkha phrases
- Basic Words
- Basic Nouns
- Basic Verbs
- Adjectives
- Question Words
- Greetings
- Food & Drinks
- Transportation
- Shopping
- Numbers
- Hotel
- Emergency
- Sightseeing
- Flirting
- Nightlife
- Massage & Spa
- Compliments
- Contacts & SNS
- Beach & Activities
- Places & Areas
- Useful Phrases
- Airport & Customs
- Weather & Climate
- Pharmacy & Health
- Directions
- Money & Exchange
- Health & Hospital
- Internet & WiFi
- Nature & Outdoors
- Religion & Temples
- Café & Drinks
- Schedule & Booking
- Culture & Etiquette
- Traveling with Kids
- Sports & Activities
- Public Transport
- Accommodation
- Banking & ATM
- Visa & Immigration
- Business & Work
- School & Education
- Cooking & Markets
- Music & Entertainment
- Art & Museums
- Festivals & Events
- Photography
- Laundry
- Post Office
- Language Learning
- Dating & Romance
- Dating Apps
- Volunteering
- Accessibility
- Sustainability & Eco
- Fruits
- Colors
- Dietary & Allergies
- Markets & Souvenirs
- Wine & Spirits
- Car Rental & Driving
- Time & Dates
- Hiking & Trekking
- Diving & Water Sports
- Skiing & Winter Sports
- Hot Springs & Baths
- Yoga & Wellness
- Casino & Gambling
- Beauty & Grooming
- Remote Work
- Fashion & Clothing
- Convenience Store
- Martial Arts
- Signs
- Body Parts
- Animals
- Vehicles
- Electronics
- Slang
- Local Dishes
- Local Drinks
- Indulgences