Money & Exchange

1. འདི་གི་གོང་ག་ཚམ་ཡིན།

   Di gi gong ga-tsham yin

   How much is this?

   Usage

   The most common price inquiry at Bhutanese markets and souvenir shops

   Grammar Note

   "Ga-tsham yin" is the standard price inquiry. "Gong" can mean both price and value

2. དྲག་ལུགས་བརྗེ་ས་ག་ཏེ་ཡོད།

   Drak-lug rje-sa ga-te yoe

   Where is the currency exchange?

   Usage

   Used to find currency exchange for Bhutanese Ngultrum. Available at airports and banks

   Grammar Note

   The location question word "ga-te" (where) asks where something is. Bhutanese Ngultrum is pegged to the Indian Rupee

3. ཕྱི་རྒྱལ་གྱི་དངུལ་སྤྱོད་ཆོག་གི་ཡོདཔ།

   Phyi-gyel gi ngul choe-chog gi yoe-pa

   Can I use foreign currency?

   Usage

   Used to check if foreign currency like USD or EUR is accepted. Local currency is generally required in Bhutan

   Grammar Note

   "Choe-chog gi yoepa" means "can use / is permitted." Indian Rupees are also accepted in Bhutan

4. ཀར་ཌི་གིས་གོང་བཞེས་ཆོག་གི་ཡོདཔ།

   Kar-di gi gong-zhe chog gi yoe-pa

   Can I pay by credit card?

   Usage

   Credit card acceptance is limited in Bhutan. Confirming in advance is important

   Grammar Note

   "Zhey" is an honorific verb meaning "pay/receive." "Kar-di" is borrowed from English "card"

5. འབྱོར་རྟགས་ཅིག་ཐོབ་ཆོག་གི་ཡོདཔ།

   Jor-tag chig tob-chog gi yoe-pa

   Can I get a receipt?

   Usage

   Used to request a receipt after a purchase. Needed for expense reports or returns

   Grammar Note

   "Tob-chog gi yoepa" is the standard pattern for "can I get/receive" requests

6. གོང་ཉམས་གཅིག་ཞུ་ཆོག་གི་ཡོདཔ།

   Gong-nyam chig zhu-chog gi yoe-pa

   Can I get a slight discount?

   Usage

   Used for price negotiation at markets and souvenir shops. Some Bhutanese markets allow bargaining

   Grammar Note

   "Zhu" is a humble request verb meaning "to ask/beseech." "Chig" indicates an indefinite single item

7. དངུལ་ཁང་ག་ཏེ་ཡོད།

   Ngul-khang ga-te yoe

   Where is the bank?

   Usage

   Used to locate a bank such as Bank of Bhutan for currency exchange or transfers

   Grammar Note

   "Ngul-khang" literally means "money house." Dzongkha and Tibetan often form new concepts through compound words

8. ཨེ་ཊི་ཨེམ་ག་ཏེ་ཡོད།

   E ti em ga-te yoe?

   Where is the ATM?

   Usage

   Used to locate an ATM when needing cash. ATMs in Bhutan are concentrated in urban areas

   Grammar Note

   ATM is transliterated into Dzongkha script as e-ti-em, matching the Banking & ATM category and the Convenience Store category. "Ga-te yoe" is the universal location question

9. དངུལ་ཀྲམ་གཅིག་ལུ་ཨ་མི་རི་ཀའི་དངུལ་ག་ཚམ་འགྱུར།

   Ngul-tram chig lu Ah-mi-ri-ka ngul ga-tsham gyur

   How many US dollars is one Ngultrum?

   Usage

   Used to check the exchange rate between Bhutanese Ngultrum and US dollars

   Grammar Note

   "Ga-tsham gyur" asks "how much does it become/equal." Used for currency conversion inquiries

10. འདི་ཚང་མར་གོང་ག་ཚམ་ཡིན།

    Di tsang-mar gong ga-tsham yin

    How much is the total for all of this?

    Usage

    Used to check the total price when purchasing multiple items together

    Grammar Note

    "Tsang-mar" is an adverb meaning "all/everything." "Di tsang-mar" means "all of this" for total price inquiries

11. དངུལ་རྐྱང་།

    Ngul kyang

    Cash

    Usage

    Point at it to show you will pay cash when asking whether cards are accepted

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