Sustainability & Eco

1. འདི་ག་ཏེ་ལོག་བཟོ་འབད་ཚུགས་ག།

   Di ga-te log-zo be tshug ga

   Where can I recycle this?

   Usage

   Used when asking where to recycle an item

   Grammar Note

   Recycle is log-zo-ni. Sentence-final "ga" forms the question

2. ལོག་སྟེ་ལག་ལེན་འཐབ་ཚུགས་པའི་ཕད་ཅུང་ཡོད་ག།

   Log te lag-len thab tshug pai phe-chung yoe ga

   Do you have reusable bags?

   Usage

   Used in shops when asking for reusable bags

   Grammar Note

   The words are phe-chung (bag) and lag-len thab-ni (to use); "log te" (again) gives "reusable". Dzongkha follows SOV word order

3. ས་གནས་འདི་ནང་མཐའ་སྐོར་ལུ་ཕན་པའི་སྡོད་གནས་ཡོད་ག།

   Sa-ne di nang tha-kor lu phen pai doe-ne yoe ga

   Is there eco-friendly accommodation in this area?

   Usage

   Used when looking for environmentally friendly lodging

   Grammar Note

   The words are tha-kor (environment) and doe-ne (accommodation); "tha-kor lu phen pai" means "beneficial to the environment". The locative "-lu" corresponds to English in/at

4. ངའི་ཤེལ་དམ་ནང་ཆུ་བླུག་དགོ།

   Ngai shel-dam nang chu lug go

   I need to refill my water bottle.

   Usage

   Used to ask for a water bottle refill to avoid buying single-use plastic

   Grammar Note

   "དགོ་" is a modal expressing necessity. The Dzongkha genitive "-འི་" corresponds to "of/my"

5. ཤ་མེད་པའི་ཁ་ལག་ཡོད་ག།

   Sha me pai kha-lag yoe ga

   Are there vegetarian or plant-based food options?

   Usage

   Used at restaurants to ask about vegetarian options

   Grammar Note

   The word for vegetarian (sha ma za mi) refers to a person, not to food, so this is phrased as "food without meat". There is no equivalent for the plant-based nuance, so it is not expressed

6. [ས་གནས་]ལུ་བཱསི་ནང་འགྱོ་ཚུགས་ག།

   [sa-ne] lu basi nang gyo tshug ga

   Can I use public transport to get to...?

   Usage

   Used to ask about reaching a destination by public transport

   Grammar Note

   There is no dedicated word for public transport, so this uses basi (bus). "[sa-ne]" is the destination placeholder

7. རང་བཞིན་གྱིས་སྨིན་པའི་ཁྲོམ་ཉེ་ཤོས་ག་ཏེ་སྨོ།

   Rang-zhin gyi min pai throm nye-sho ga-te mo

   Where is the nearest organic market around here?

   Usage

   Used when looking for a local organic market

   Grammar Note

   The words are throm (market), rang-zhin gyi min pai (organic) and nye-sho (nearest). "Ga-te mo" asks where is it

8. དོ་སྣོད་ཉུང་སུ་སྦེ་ལག་ལེན་འཐབ་གནང་།

   Do-noe nyung su be lag-len thab nang

   Please use minimal packaging.

   Usage

   Used in shops to request less packaging

   Grammar Note

   "གནང་" is the honorific imperative in Dzongkha, used for polite requests to strangers or staff

9. ས་གནས་འདི་ནང་རང་བཞིན་གྱི་ལྟ་བཤལ་གྱི་ལཱ་ག་ཅི་ར་ཡོད་ག།

   Sa-ne di nang rang-zhin gyi ta-shel gyi la ga-chi ra yoe ga

   What eco-tourism activities are available here?

   Usage

   Used when looking for nature-based or eco-conscious tourism experiences

   Grammar Note

   There is no dedicated word for eco-tourism, so this combines rang-zhin (nature) with ta-shel (tourism). "Ga-chi ra" means what kinds of, and Dzongkha places question words before the verb

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