Photography

1. པར་བཏབ་ཆོག་གམ།

   Par tab chog-gam

   May I take a photo?

   Usage

   Always used before photographing temples, religious sites, or people to ask permission

   Grammar Note

   Many religious sites in Bhutan prohibit photography. Always ask permission before taking photos

2. ང་དང་གཅིག་ཁར་པར་བཏབ་གནང་།

   Nga dang chig-khar par tab nang

   Could you take a photo with me?

   Usage

   Used to ask someone to pose for a photo together

   Grammar Note

   "Nang" is a polite honorific imperative, essential for making respectful requests like photo-taking

3. ལྷ་ཁང་ནང་པར་བཏབ་མི་ཆོག།

   Lha-kang nang par tab mi-chog

   Photography is not allowed inside the temple

   Usage

   Used to explain photography restrictions inside temples or sacred spaces

   Grammar Note

   "Mi-chog" is the negative of "chog" (allowed): "not allowed". "Mi" is the negation marker placed before the verb

4. གནམ་གཤིས་ཤིན་ཏུ་བཟང་སྟབས་པར་གི་ཡིན།

   Nam-shi shin-tu zang-tab par-gi yin

   The weather is so nice I will take photos

   Usage

   Used to express enthusiasm for photographing because of great weather or scenery

   Grammar Note

   "Tab" functions as a causal connector meaning "because" or "since" in Dzongkha

5. འདི་ཁར་ཅུང་ཟད་བལྟ་གནང་།

   Di-khar chung-ze ta nang

   Please face this way a little more

   Usage

   Used when directing someone to adjust their position or angle for a photo

   Grammar Note

   "Ta-nang" is the honorific request form "please look". "Chung-ze" means "a little"

6. པར་ཆས་འདི་གསལ་ཏོག་ཏོ་མེན།

   Par-che di sel-tok-to men

   This camera is not clear

   Usage

   Used when a camera or lens is producing unclear images

   Grammar Note

   "Men" is the negative copula, the negation of "yin" ("is not"). "Par-che" means camera

7. རི་བོའི་པར་ཅིག་བཏབ་ཚུགས།

   Ri-wo-i par chig tab tsug

   I can take one photo of the mountain

   Usage

   Used when photographing the Himalayan mountains of Bhutan

   Grammar Note

   "Chig" means "a / one" and follows the noun. "Tsug" expresses ability ("can")

8. ནཱ་ལུ་པར་ཅིག་བཏབ་གནང་།

   Na-lu par chig tab nang

   Please take a photo here

   Usage

   Used to ask someone to take your photo at a beautiful spot or tourist attraction

   Grammar Note

   "Nang" is widely used as a polite honorific imperative showing respect to the listener

9. པར་ལེགས་ཤོམ་ཐོན་འདུག།

   Par leg-shom ton-dug

   The photo came out very well

   Usage

   Used to compliment a well-taken photo or express satisfaction with the result

   Grammar Note

   "Dug" is an evidential existential verb implying direct witness. Here it means you can see the result

10. ཕར་བལྟ་གནང་།

    Phar ta nang

    Please look in that direction

    Usage

    Used to direct the subject of a photo to look toward a particular direction

    Grammar Note

    "Pha" is a directional adverb indicating away from the speaker. Combined with "nang" it forms a polite direction

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