Wine & Spirits

1. ཆང་གི་ཐོ་ཡིག་ལྟ་ཆོག་གམ།

   Chang gi tho-yig ta chog-gam

   May I see the wine list?

   Usage

   Used at restaurants or bars to request the wine list

   Grammar Note

   "Chang" refers broadly to alcoholic beverages in Bhutan, including wine

2. ས་གནས་ཀྱི་ཆང་གཅིག་གནང་ཞུ།

   Sa-ne kyi chang chig nang-zhu

   Could I have a glass of local liquor, please?

   Usage

   Used to order local Bhutanese spirits such as Ara or Chang

   Grammar Note

   "Zhu" is a humble verb for making polite requests

3. ཝའིན་དམརཔོ་ཕོརཔ་གང་གནང་ཞུ།

   Wain mar-po phor-pa gang nang-zhu

   I'd like a glass of red wine please

   Usage

   Used to order red wine

   Grammar Note

   In Dzongkha the adjective follows the noun (wain + mar-po = red wine). Wain is the transliteration of English "wine", distinct from chang, the general term for local alcohol

4. ཤེལ་ཕོར་གཅིག་དང་ཤེལ་དམ་གཅིག་གནང་ཞུ།

   Shel-phor chig dang shel-dam chig nang-zhu

   I'd like a glass and a bottle please

   Usage

   Used to order wine by the glass or bottle

   Grammar Note

   "Dang" is a coordinating conjunction "and." Used to list items

5. བཞེས་སྒོ་འདི་དང་ཆང་ག་ཅི་མཐུན་ནི་ཨིན་ན།

   Zhe-go di dang chang ga-chi thun ni in-na

   What pairs well with this dish?

   Usage

   Used when consulting about food and wine pairings

   Grammar Note

   "Dang" marks the item compared with; "thun ni in-na" asks which one suits it

6. ཆང་འདི་ནང་ཨ་རག་ག་དེམ་ཅིག་ཡོད།

   Chang di nang a-ra ga-dem-chig yoe

   What is the alcohol content?

   Usage

   Used to check the alcohol content before drinking

   Grammar Note

   Dzongkha has no term for "alcohol content", so this asks how much alcohol is in the drink. "Nang" means "inside"

7. ཆང་འདི་མངརམོ་མེད།

   Chang di ngar-mo me

   This is dry / not sweet (tasting note)

   Usage

   Used during wine tasting to describe a dry wine

   Grammar Note

   Dzongkha has no word for "dry" in the wine sense, so this says "not sweet" (ngar-mo me). "Me" is the negative existential

8. ས་གནས་ཀྱི་བི་ཡར་དང་ཨ་རག་གི་ཐོ་ཡིག་ལྟ་ཆོག་གམ།

   Sa-ne kyi bi-yar dang a-ra gi tho-yig ta chog-gam

   May I see the list of local beers and spirits?

   Usage

   Used to ask about local beers and spirits in Bhutan

   Grammar Note

   Bi-yar is the transliteration of English "beer". Bhutanese local alcohol divides into distilled a-ra and brewed chang

9. ང་ཆང་གི་བྲོཝ་བལྟ་ནི་ཨིན།

   Nga chang gi dro-wa ta ni in

   I'd like to do a wine tasting

   Usage

   Used at wineries or bars to request a wine tasting

   Grammar Note

   "Dro-wa ta ni" is the phrase for tasting. The final ni in marks intention

10. ཟ་ཁང་རང་གི་ཆང་ག་ཅི་ཨིན་ན།

    Za-khang rang gi chang ga-chi in-na

    What's the house wine?

    Usage

    Used to ask about the house wine at a restaurant

    Grammar Note

    Dzongkha has no term for "house wine", so this says "the restaurant's own drink". "Rang gi" means "its own"

11. ཆང་འདི་ལུང་ཕྱོགས་ག་ཏེ་ལས་ཨིན་ན།

    Chang di lung-chog ga te le in-na

    What region is this wine from?

    Usage

    Used to ask about the origin region of a wine

    Grammar Note

    "Le" is an ablative case marker meaning "from"

12. ཆང་བསིལ་ཏོང་ཏོ་སྦེ་གནང་ཞུ།

    Chang sil-tong-to be nang-zhu

    Please serve it chilled

    Usage

    Used to request wine served cold

    Grammar Note

    Sil-tong-to is the adjective "cold"; be turns it into a manner phrase "in a chilled state"

13. ཆང་མེད་པའི་འཐུང་རྒྱུ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་ན།

    Chang me pai thung-gyu yoe-pa in-na

    Do you have non-alcoholic options?

    Usage

    Used when looking for non-alcoholic beverages

    Grammar Note

    Chang me pai "without alcohol" is the gloss for the "alcohol-free" sense of dry

14. ས་འོག་ཁང་མིག་ནང་ལྟ་སྐོར་འབད་ཆོག་གམ།

    Sa-og khang-mig nang ta-kor be chog-gam

    Can I visit the wine cellar?

    Usage

    Used to request a visit to a wine cellar or brewery

    Grammar Note

    "Chog-gam" is a permission-seeking question "may I?"

15. སྨོན་ཆང་ཕུལ།

    Moen-chang phul

    Cheers! / Let's toast!

    Usage

    Basic toast expression used at gatherings in Bhutan

    Grammar Note

    Moen-chang phul ni is the expression for "to toast": moen "auspicious wish" + chang "drink", carrying a blessing sense

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