Useful Phrases

1. ངས་འགྲུལ་འཕྲིན་རིམ་ལུགས་འདི་བཟོས།

   Ngas drul thrin rim lug di zo

   I made this app

   Usage

   Introduce the app in Dzongkha

   Grammar Note

   Dzongkha (Bhutan's national language) is closely related to Tibetan; ergative, SOV. "App" is called འགྲུལ་འཕྲིན་རིམ་ལུགས (mobile phone + program), and རིམ་ལུགས means "system"

2. འགྲུལ་འཕྲིན་རིམ་ལུགས་འདི་རིན་མེད་ཨིན།

   Drul thrin rim lug di rinme in

   This app is free

   Usage

   Explain the app is free

   Grammar Note

   "In" is the Dzongkha copula, corresponding to Tibetan "yin"

3. འགྲུལ་འཕྲིན་རིམ་ལུགས་འདི་ཕབ་ལེན་བཀྱེད་རོགས།

   Drul thrin rim lug di phablen kye rog

   Please try downloading it

   Usage

   Encourage someone to download the app

   Grammar Note

   "Rog" is a polite request particle in Dzongkha meaning "please do"

4. ང་ཇཱ་པཱན་གི་མི་ཨིན།

   Nga Japan gi mi in

   I'm Japanese

   Usage

   Introduce your nationality

   Grammar Note

   "Japan gi" (Japan's) + "mi" (person) = Japanese person

5. ང་ལམ་འགྲུལཔ་ཨིན།

   Nga lam-drulp in

   I'm a traveler

   Usage

   Identify yourself as a traveler

   Grammar Note

   "Traveler" in Dzongkha is a compound meaning "one who travels"

6. ང་གཅིག་པུར་འགྲུལ་བཞུད་འབད་དོ།

   Nga chig-pur drul-zhue be do

   I'm traveling alone

   Usage

   Tell others you are traveling solo

   Grammar Note

   "Chig-pur" expresses "alone" in Dzongkha

7. ང་འདི་ནང་ཐེངས་དང་པ་འོང་ཡི།

   Nga di nang theng dangpa ong yi

   It's my first time here

   Usage

   Express that this is your first visit

   Grammar Note

   "Theng" (occasion) + "dangpa" (first) = "first time"

8. པར་བཏབ་ཆོག་ག།

   Par tab chog ga?

   May I take a photo?

   Usage

   Ask for permission to take a photo

   Grammar Note

   "Chogpa" is a modal expressing permission in Dzongkha

9. གཅིག་ཁར་པར་བཏབ་ཆོག་ག།

   Chig-khar par tab chog ga?

   Shall we take a photo together?

   Usage

   Suggest taking a photo together

   Grammar Note

   "Chig-khar" means "together" in Dzongkha

10. ཀིའུ་ཨར་ཀློག་རོགས།

    Kiu ar log rog

    Please scan the QR code

    Usage

    Ask someone to scan the QR code

    Grammar Note

    QR codes are "read" (log) in Dzongkha; "rog" adds a polite request. The English letters "QR" are understood in Bhutan, but in Dzongkha script they are transliterated ཀིའུ་ཨར (the same spelling used in the Convenience Store category)

11. ང་ལུ་རྐུན་མ་རྒྱབ་མི་ཆོག།

    Nga lu kun ma gyap mi chog

    Don't cheat me / Stop ripping me off

    Usage

    Used to protest against cheating or unfair pricing in Dzongkha

    Grammar Note

    "Mi chog" is the Dzongkha expression for "must not / not allowed to"

12. ང་ལུ་དམའ་འབེབས་མི་ཆོག།

    Nga lu ma bep mi chog

    Don't underestimate me / Don't look down on me

    Usage

    Used when feeling disrespected or looked down upon in Dzongkha

    Grammar Note

    "Dma bep" (belittle) shared with Tibetan, combined with "mi chog" (prohibition)

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