Food & Drinks

1. ཨེ་མ་དར་ཚི་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་ནམ།

   Ema-datshi yoe-pa-yin-nam

   Do you have ema datshi?

   Usage

   Used to order ema datshi, Bhutan's national dish of chili peppers stewed with local cheese

   Grammar Note

   Existence questions use "yoepa yin-nam." Bhutanese cuisine uniquely uses chili peppers as a vegetable rather than a spice

2. ཕག་ཤ་པགས།

   Phaksha paa

   Phaksha paa (pork with red chilies)

   Usage

   Ordering phaksha paa, a popular Bhutanese pork and chili dish

   Grammar Note

   Bhutanese cuisine uses a lot of pork. Phaksha paa is stir-fried smoked pork with dried red chilies

3. ཤ་མེད་པའི་ཁ་ལག་ཡོད་དམ།

   Sha-med-pay kha-lag yoe-dam

   Do you have vegetarian food?

   Usage

   Useful for vegetarian travelers. Bhutan is Buddhist but meat is common; vegetarian options are available

   Grammar Note

   Negative existence uses "med" (negation of "yoe"). Adjectives follow the noun in Dzongkha

4. འདི་ཤིན་ཏུ་ཞིམ་པ་སྦེ་འདུག།

   Di shin-tu zhim-pa-be dug

   This is very delicious

   Usage

   Used to compliment the food. Bhutanese people are very pleased when their food is praised

   Grammar Note

   "Dug" is an evidential existential verb indicating direct observation. Dzongkha marks evidentiality through verb choice

5. བི་ལ་ས་ཤུགས་མི་འབད་རོགས།

   Bi-la-sa shug mi-be-rog

   Please do not make it spicy

   Usage

   Bhutanese food is notoriously spicy. Visitors sensitive to heat should use this phrase, especially for ema datshi

   Grammar Note

   Negative commands in Dzongkha are formed with "mi-" before the verb. Spiciness is central to Bhutanese cuisine

6. བྱ་ཤ་མ་རུ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་ནམ།

   Jasha maru yoe-pa yin-nam

   Do you have jasha maru (minced chicken)?

   Usage

   Asking about jasha maru, a Bhutanese minced chicken dish

   Grammar Note

   Jasha maru is a popular Bhutanese dish of minced chicken cooked with tomatoes and ginger

7. བཏུང་ཆུ་གཅིག་རོགས་གནང་།

   Tung-chu chig rog-nang

   One glass of water please

   Usage

   Basic phrase at restaurants. It is safer to request bottled water rather than drinking tap water in Bhutan

   Grammar Note

   Dzongkha forms compound nouns like "drinking water" by placing the verb "tung" before "chu" (water)

8. སུ་ཇ་གཅིག་རོགས་གནང་།

   Suja chig rog-nang

   One butter tea please

   Usage

   Ordering suja, the traditional Bhutanese butter tea made with butter, salt, and tea. A staple of hospitality

   Grammar Note

   Suja is common across Tibetan cultural regions and drunk daily in Bhutan. It has a distinctive salty, buttery taste

9. རིན་ཐང་ག་ཅི་རེ་ལགས།

   Rin-tang ga-chi-re-la

   How much does it cost?

   Usage

   Used to ask about the price. Bhutan's currency is the Ngultrum (Nu.). Meals are relatively affordable

   Grammar Note

   The question word for price is "ga-chi-re." Bhutan's Ngultrum is roughly equivalent to the Indian Rupee

10. རྩིས་ཐོ་རོགས་གནང་།

    Tsi-tho rog-nang

    Bill please

    Usage

    Used to ask for the check at a restaurant. Cash payment is standard at Bhutanese eateries

    Grammar Note

    "Rog-nang" is a polite request. "Nang" is the honorific verb equivalent to the ordinary "be"

11. ང་ལུ་འདི་ལུ་འགོག་རྐྱེན་ཡོད།

    Nga-lu di-lu gokkyen yoe

    I am allergic to this

    Usage

    Used to communicate food allergies. Important since Bhutanese food uses lots of nuts and chili peppers

    Grammar Note

    The case particle "lu" marks target or direction. Allergy is a modern concept that may need to be explained in simpler terms

12. ཆུམ།

    Chum

    Rice

    Usage

    Point at the ingredient when ordering or checking a dish

13. ཚྭ།

    Tsha

    Salt

    Usage

    Point at the ingredient when ordering or checking a dish

14. གུ་རམ།

    Gu ram

    Sugar

    Usage

    Point at the ingredient when ordering or checking a dish

15. མར།

    Mar

    Butter

    Usage

    Point at the ingredient when ordering or checking a dish

16. དར་ཚི།

    Dar tshi

    Cheese

    Usage

    Point at the ingredient when ordering or checking a dish

17. ཨེ་མ།

    E ma

    Chilli

    Usage

    Point at the ingredient when ordering or checking a dish

18. སྐྱ་སྒོགཔ།

    Kya gogp

    Garlic

    Usage

    Point at the ingredient when ordering or checking a dish

19. སྒོགཔ།

    Gogp

    Onion

    Usage

    Point at the ingredient when ordering or checking a dish

20. ས་སྒ།

    Sa ga

    Ginger

    Usage

    Point at the ingredient when ordering or checking a dish

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