Shopping

1. འདི་ག་དེམ་ཅིག་རེ་ཨིན།

   Di ga-dem-chig re in?

   How much is this?

   Usage

   The most basic phrase for asking the price of an item

   Grammar Note

   Dzongkha questions are formed by adding "ཨིན་ན" (in-na) or "ཡོད་པས" (yoe-pa) at the end of a sentence.

2. གོང་ཕབ་བྱིན།

   Gong phab jin

   Please lower the price

   Usage

   Used when negotiating a lower price

   Grammar Note

   Price negotiation is possible at some markets and souvenir shops. Government-run shops have fixed prices.

3. གཞན་ཁ་དོག་ཅིག་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་ནམ།

   Zhen kha-dog chig yoe-pa yin-nam

   Are there other colors?

   Usage

   Used to ask about available color options

   Grammar Note

   Traditional Bhutanese crafts are known for vibrant colors. Textiles especially feature rich and varied colors.

4. རང་ལུས་ལུ་བཟོས་ཡོད་པའི་ཤམ་ཐབས་གདམ་ཀ་ཡོད་པས།

   Rang-lu-lu zoe-yoe-pai sham-thab gadam-ka yoe-pa?

   Are there handmade textile products?

   Usage

   Used to look for traditional hand-woven Bhutanese textiles

   Grammar Note

   Bhutan's hand-woven textiles are world-renowned. Fabrics for "kira" and "gho" woven on hand looms make valuable souvenirs.

5. ལེགས་བཤད་གདམ་ཀ་ཡོད་པས།

   Leg-shed gadam-ka yoe-pa?

   Are there jewelry and accessories?

   Usage

   Used to look for traditional Bhutanese accessories and jewelry

   Grammar Note

   Traditional Bhutanese accessories feature silverwork, coral, and turquoise from Himalayan traditions.

6. ཡིག་ཐོག་གིས་གཏང་ཚུགས་ག།

   Yig-tog gi tang tsug-ga

   Can this be sent by mail?

   Usage

   Used when wanting to mail large souvenirs internationally

   Grammar Note

   Bhutanese stamps are popular with collectors. Commemorative stamps can be purchased at Bhutan Post offices.

7. ཞལ་ལག་གདམ་ཀ་ཡོད་པས།

   Zhal-lag gadam-ka yoe-pa?

   Are there souvenirs?

   Usage

   The simplest phrase to use when looking for souvenirs

   Grammar Note

   Popular Bhutanese souvenirs include wooden bowls, masks, embroidered items, herbal teas, and postage stamps.

8. དངུལ་བཏོན་ཤོག་བྱང་གི་ཐོག་ལས་སྤྲོད་ཆོག་གམ།

   Ngul-ton shog-jang gi thog le troe chog-gam

   Can I use a debit card?

   Usage

   Used to check if card payment is accepted

   Grammar Note

   "དངུལ་བཏོན་ཤོག་བྱང" means "debit card"; the sentence asks whether payment by that card is possible.

9. ང་ལུ་སྟོན་གནང་།

   Nga-lu ton nang

   Please show me

   Usage

   Polite request used when wanting to see merchandise

   Grammar Note

   "གནང" (nang) is an honorific imperative suffix, more polite than "བྱིན" (jin) for making requests.

10. འདི་ལེན་གྱི་ཨིན།

    Di len-gyi in

    I will take this

    Usage

    Used when deciding to purchase an item

    Grammar Note

    "ལེན" (len) means to take or receive, and in a shopping context conveys the meaning of buying.

11. རྩིས་ཐོ་མི་དགོ།

    Tsi-tho mi go

    I don't need a receipt

    Usage

    Declining a receipt when it is offered at the till

    Grammar Note

    The negative prefix of "go" (to need) is "mi-". Compare "tsi-tho go-ga?" (do you need a receipt?): "go" becomes "mi go".

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