Martial Arts

1. ང་ཉིནམ་གཅིག་རྐྱངམ་ཅིག་སྦྱོང་བརྡར་འབད་ཚུགས་ག།

   Nga nyim chig kyangm-chi jong-dar bay tshug-ga?

   May I train for just one day?

   Usage

   The basic way to ask about dropping in. Bhutan's national sport is archery and there are no traditional martial arts schools, but Thimphu has taekwondo, karate and boxing clubs that train in school halls and public facilities

   Grammar Note

   Dzongkha expresses ability with "tshug" after the verb and turns it into a question with the final particle "ga". The verb "bay" (to do) is the workhorse that combines with nouns to form countless actions

2. ང་གིས་ཧེ་མ་སྦྱོང་བརྡར་ལུ་བལྟ་ཚུགས་ག།

   Nga-gi hema jong-dar lu ta tshug-ga?

   May I watch the training first?

   Usage

   For sizing a place up before committing. Bhutanese hosts are generous with visitors and will hardly ever refuse an onlooker. Sessions run mainly after dusk, and since Thimphu sits at 2,300 metres it is wise to avoid hard exercise in your first days

   Grammar Note

   The Dzongkha particle "lu" corresponds to Tibetan "la" and marks object, place and time alike. The subject of a transitive verb takes the ergative marker "gi"

3. ལགཔ་ཤུབས་གཡར་ནི་ཡོད་ག།

   Lagp-shub yar-ni yoe-ga?

   Are there gloves to borrow?

   Usage

   Most sports equipment in Bhutan is imported from India, so both variety and quantity are limited. Borrowing the club's shared gloves is the practical route and the first session is usually free. Bring your own wraps and mouthguard

   Grammar Note

   The particle "ni" nominalises a verb, so "yar-ni" means "lending" or "something to lend". Dzongkha nouns often carry a final "-m" or "-p", and "lag-pa" (hand) is written "lagp" in the colloquial standard

4. ང་གསར་སློབ་མི་ཨིན། ཉམས་མྱོང་མིན་འདུག།

   Nga sar-lob-mi in. Nyam-nyong min-du.

   I am a beginner. I have no experience.

   Usage

   Saying it up front gets you a lighter session. Bhutanese clubs revolve around members who started as children and post no skill grades, so unless you speak up you will be grouped with experienced people

   Grammar Note

   The suffix "mi" derives "the one who does X". The negative existential "min-du" is the form used when the speaker reports something they have observed directly

5. ཞི་འཇམ་སྦེ་འབད་གནང་།

   Zhi-jam be bay nang.

   Please take it gently.

   Usage

   The shortest way to ask for lower intensity. The thin air in Thimphu has you gasping quickly, and a visitor moving at sea-level pace runs out of breath fast — so do not hesitate to say it

   Grammar Note

   The particle "be" turns an adjective into an adverb, a distinctly Dzongkha form where Tibetan uses other markers. "Nang" is the honorific "to do for someone" and lifts a request into polite register

6. ངེ་གི་པུས་མོ་ན་མས། རྡོག་རྫི་རྐྱབ་མི་ཚུགས།

   Nge-gi pue-mo na-me. Dog-dzi kyab mi-tshug.

   My knee hurts and I cannot kick.

   Usage

   Say this before you start. Swap "pue-mo" (knee) for "pung-pa" (shoulder), "gyab" (back) or "lagp" (arm). Medical facilities are limited in Bhutan and specialist care means the national hospital in Thimphu or a trip to India, so caution is not optional

   Grammar Note

   Dzongkha uses "kyab" for the act of striking where Tibetan has "gyag". Negation puts "mi" before the verb, giving "mi-tshug" for "cannot"

7. ཟླཝ་གཅིག་གི་གོང་ག་དེམ་ཅིག་ཨིན་ན།

   Dawm chig gi gong ga-dem-chig in-na?

   How much is the monthly fee?

   Usage

   For asking a monthly rate. Bhutan's currency is the ngultrum, circulating at par with the Indian rupee. Club fees are modest, and mobile payment apps have spread widely in the towns

   Grammar Note

   "Ga-dem-chig" asks about quantity or amount, the Dzongkha counterpart to Tibetan "ga-tshoe". The final "in-na" is the copula "in" plus the interrogative "na"

8. ཐེངས་གཅིག་གི་གོང་ག་དེམ་ཅིག་ཨིན་ན།

   Theng chig gi gong ga-dem-chig in-na?

   How much is a single session?

   Usage

   The standard way to ask a drop-in rate. Visitors to Bhutan pay a Sustainable Development Fee for each night of their stay, which tends to keep trips short — so paying by the session usually beats a monthly rate

   Grammar Note

   The genitive particle alternates in shape — "gi", "kyi", "gyi", "-i" — according to the final letter of the preceding word. Numerals follow the noun, so "theng chig" is one occasion

9. ཨམ་སྲུ་ཚུ་གི་དོན་ལུ་སློབ་སྦྱོང་ཡོད་ག།

   Am-tsu tshu gi doen-lu lob-jong yoe-ga?

   Is there training for women?

   Usage

   Women's participation in sport has advanced in Bhutan, with female athletes competing internationally in taekwondo and archery. Club sizes being small, though, mixed sessions are the norm and a women-only slot may not run permanently

   Grammar Note

   Plurality is marked by "tshu" after the noun. The fixed phrase "gi dön-lu" means "for the sake of", marking purpose or intended beneficiary

10. སྦྱོང་བརྡར་ཆུ་ཚོད་ག་དེམ་ཅིག་ལུ་འགོ་བཙུགསཔ་ཨིན་ན།

    Jong-dar chu-tshoe ga-dem-chig lu go-tsugp in-na?

    What time does the training start?

    Usage

    People gather after schools and offices close at five, so sessions run from early evening into the night. Winter brings early sunsets and a sharp chill, so take a warm layer with you

    Grammar Note

    The same particle "lu" that marks place also marks clock time. "Go-tsugp" is the verb with the nominalising "-p", a form that turns up constantly in statements of fact

11. ལགཔ་ལུ་རས་དཀྲིས་དཀྲི་ཐངས་སློབ་གནང་།

    Lagp lu re-tri tri-thang lob nang.

    Please teach me how to wrap the cloth round my hands.

    Usage

    Gloves without wraps put your knuckles and wrist at risk. Purpose-made wraps are hard to find in Bhutan and a strip of cotton often serves instead. Learn the sequence on your first day while the coach wraps you

    Grammar Note

    The suffix "thang" derives "the manner of doing something": "tri" (to wrap) gives "tri-thang" (how to wrap). The pattern extends freely — "bay-thang" (how to do it), "za-thang" (how to eat it)

12. ནམ་ལས་མི་གཞན་དང་གཅིག་ཁར་སྦྱོང་བརྡར་འབད་ཚུགས་ག།

    Nam-le mi-zhen dang chig-khar jong-dar bay tshug-ga?

    From when can I train together with other people?

    Usage

    For asking when you can move into paired work. It is gated behind the coach's approval because of injury risk, and the usual answer is a few sessions to settle your basics. Recovery is slower at altitude too, so there is no gain in rushing

    Grammar Note

    "Chig-khar" literally means "at one place" and serves as the Dzongkha adverb "together". Origin is marked by the particle "le", so "nam-le" is "from when"

13. ནཱ་ལུ་ཁྲུས་རྐྱབ་ནི་ཡོད་ག།

    Naa lu thrue kyab-ni yoe-ga?

    Is there somewhere to wash here?

    Usage

    Hot showers are found only in a few venues, and clubs borrowing a school hall usually have none at all. Thimphu drops below freezing in winter, so carry a change of clothes rather than stepping outside in a sweat

    Grammar Note

    Dzongkha builds many actions as "noun + kyab": "thrü kyab" (to bathe), "gom-pa kyab" (to walk). "Naa" means here, paired with the form for "there"

14. རྩེད་འགྲན་ཚུ་ག་ཏེ་ལུ་འབད་ནི་ཨིན་ན།

    Tse-dren tshu ga-te lu bay-ni in-na?

    Where are the competitions held?

    Usage

    In Bhutan you are more likely to watch than to compete. Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu is the main venue, and archery tournaments spring up across the country on national holidays. An archery match is a spectacle in itself: every hit brings song and dance, and the teams trade elaborate taunts

    Grammar Note

    "Ga-te" is the Dzongkha question word for "where", combining with the locative "lu" to give "at where". Question words stay in place and leave the word order untouched

15. ལགཔ་ཡར་བཏེག། གདོང་ཁ་བསྲུང་།

    Lagp yar-teg! Dong-kha sung!

    Hands up! Guard your face!

    Usage

    Said by the coach — the most frequent cue during pad work and paired drills. English creeps into the calls at Bhutanese clubs, and since schooling is in English the younger members take instructions in it without blinking

    Grammar Note

    The imperative is formed by altering the verb stem and takes no subject. Directional words — "yar" (up), "mar" (down), "phar" (away), "tshur" (hither) — precede the verb to fix the direction of the movement

16. ཤུགས་སྦེ་རྐྱབ། མ་འཇིགས།

    Shug be kyab! Ma-jig!

    Strike with force! Do not be afraid!

    Usage

    Said by the coach holding the pads when full power is wanted. A tentative strike is harder on your wrist than a committed one, so take it as permission to let go

    Grammar Note

    A prohibition needs only "ma" before the verb. "Shug be" is the adverbial phrase "with force", a textbook case of adding "be" to a noun to express manner

17. སྐར་མ་ལྔ་ངལ་གསོ་འབད། ཆུ་འཐུང་།

    Kar-ma nga ngal-so bay! Chu thung!

    Rest five minutes! Drink water!

    Usage

    Said by the coach. Bhutanese tap water is not drunk untreated, so bring boiled or bottled water. At altitude in dry air you dehydrate without noticing it

    Grammar Note

    Dzongkha builds actions as "noun + bay", as in "ngal-so bay" (to take a rest). Numerals follow the noun, so "kar-ma nga" is five minutes

18. ད་རིས་འདི་ཙམ་ཨིན། ལེགས་ཤོམ་འབད་ཡི།

    Da-ri di-tsam in. Lek-shom bay-yi.

    That is it for today. You did well.

    Usage

    The coach's closing line; "ka-din-che" (thank you) is all you need in reply. Bhutanese keep a strong habit of switching into honorific speech with elders, and courteous language weighs directly on how you are judged

    Grammar Note

    The past is formed by adding "yi" to the verb. "Lek-shom" is the Dzongkha word for good where Tibetan says "yag-po" — a small illustration of the distance between the two languages

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