Slang

1. ལགས།

   La

   "La" — the politeness particle

   Usage

   The single most useful word in spoken Bhutanese. Adding it to the end of a sentence or a reply makes it polite. Always use it with elders, monks, officials and strangers; friends may drop it, but there is nobody it would offend. It is the ending of ཀུཟུ་ཟང་པོ་ལགས and བཀའ་དྲིན་ཆེ་ལགས

   Grammar Note

   An interjection; on its own it can mean "yes", "excuse me" or "pardon?"

2. ལྟོ་ཚང་།

   To tshang

   Buddy

   Usage

   Literally "one you share meals with". A casual word for a close friend of your own age — do not use it of an elder or someone you have just met; say ཆ་རོགས instead

   Grammar Note

   ལྟོ (cooked rice, food) + ཚང (household)

3. ཆ་རོགས།

   Cha rog

   Friend

   Usage

   Safe with anyone regardless of age or rank; also used of a colleague

   Grammar Note

   Someone you get on with, or a partner in the same work

4. ཨ་ཞེམོ།

   A zhe-mo

   "Big sister" — addressing an older woman

   Usage

   Literally "elder sister", also used as a warm form of address to a woman a little older than you — friendly with shop or guesthouse staff. With someone clearly senior, or in an official setting, drop it and use a polite form with ལགས

   Grammar Note

   Do not confuse it with ཨ་ཞེ, a title for a royal or noble lady

5. ཨ་ཞང་།

   A zhang

   "Uncle" — mother's brother

   Usage

   The kinship term for a maternal uncle. It is sometimes extended warmly to an older man outside the family, but with someone clearly senior or in an official setting use a polite form with ལགས instead

   Grammar Note

   A paternal aunt is ཨ་ནེ; Dzongkha keeps paternal and maternal kin terms apart

6. ཨ་ལུ།

   A lu

   Kid

   Usage

   The everyday casual word for a child — fine to use with children and their parents. Do not use it of an adult; it comes across as belittling

   Grammar Note

   A noun covering everything from a baby to a school-age child

7. ལེགས་སོ།

   Leg so

   Well done / congratulations

   Usage

   A word of congratulation or praise, safe with anyone; with an elder, add the particle for ལེགས་སོ་ལགས

   Grammar Note

   From ལེགས (good); it means ovation and congratulation

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