Weather & Climate

1. ད་རིས་གནམ་གཤིས་ཚ་ཏོག་ཏོ་འདུག།

   Da-ri nam-shi tsha-tog-to du

   It's quite hot today

   Usage

   Weather comment in lowland Bhutan or summer

   Grammar Note

   "Du" is the existential verb for directly observed facts. "Today" is da-ri in Dzongkha, not the Tibetan de-ring

2. ཆརཔ་རྐྱབ་ནི་ཨིན།

   Charp kyab ni in

   It looks like it will rain

   Usage

   Expression before or during Bhutan's monsoon

   Grammar Note

   Rain is charp kyab ("the rain strikes"). The form for rain is charp, not bare char. "Ni in" marks the future

3. རླུང་འཚུབ་སྦོམ་ཅིག་འོང་ནི་ཨིན།

   Lung-tshub bom chig ong ni in

   A big storm seems to be coming

   Usage

   Warning about a big approaching storm

   Grammar Note

   Bhutan is landlocked and mountainous, so "storm" fits better than "typhoon". The correct form is lung-tshub with the prefixed ra, not lung-tshub without it

4. ད་རིས་གནམ་གཤིས་བསིལ་ཏོང་ཏོ་འདུག།

   Da-ri nam-shi sil-tong-to du

   It's cool today

   Usage

   Cool weather is common in Bhutan's highlands

   Grammar Note

   Bhutan is mountainous with cool temperatures year-round in higher areas

5. གནམ་གཤིས་ཀྱི་སྔོན་བཤད་གསུང་གནང་།

   Nam-shi kyi ngon-she sung nang

   Please tell me the weather forecast

   Usage

   Politely asking for the weather forecast

   Grammar Note

   "Gnang" is an honorific verb. Dzongkha has a complex honorific system

6. ཉི་སྨན་དགོཔ་ཨིན་ན།

   Nyi-men gop in na?

   Do I need sunscreen?

   Usage

   Ask about sunscreen in high-altitude sunny areas

   Grammar Note

   "Nyi men" is sunscreen ("sun" + "medicine"). At high altitude, UV is intense and sunscreen is especially important

7. ཉི་གདུགས་འབག་འགྱོ་དགོཔ་ཨིན་ན།

   Nyi-dug bag gyo gop in na?

   Should I bring an umbrella?

   Usage

   Before going out in uncertain weather

   Grammar Note

   Umbrella is nyi-dug. In Tibetan culture, umbrellas are also symbols of honor

8. སྐམ་དུས་ནམ་ཨིན་ན།

   Kam-due nam in na?

   When is the dry season?

   Usage

   Useful for planning travel to Bhutan

   Grammar Note

   Bhutan's dry season: October–May. "Kam" = dry/arid

9. ཆརཔ་གི་དུས་ནམ་ཨིན་ན།

   Charp gi due nam in na?

   When is the rainy season?

   Usage

   Ask about the monsoon season in Bhutan

   Grammar Note

   Bhutan's monsoon: June–September. "Char" = rain

10. ཉིམ་གྱི་ཤུགས་སྦོམ་འདུག།

    Nyim gyi shug bom du

    The sun is really strong

    Usage

    About the strong sun at high altitude in Bhutan

    Grammar Note

    "Shug bom" means "the force is great". Sun is nyim. High altitude makes the sun especially harsh

11. ཆརཔ།

    Charp

    Rain

    Usage

    Show the weather in one word when discussing whether a mountain pass is passable

12. ཁཝ།

    Khaw

    Snow

    Usage

    Show the weather in one word when discussing whether a mountain pass is passable

13. རླུང་མ།

    Lung ma

    Wind

    Usage

    Show the weather in one word when discussing whether a mountain pass is passable

14. ས་སྨུག།

    Sa mug

    Cloud / Cloudy

    Usage

    Show the weather in one word when discussing whether a mountain pass is passable

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