Basic Words

1. ལགས་རེད།

   La red

   Yes

   Usage

   The basic affirmative reply; also works when someone checks something with you

   Grammar Note

   lags adds politeness; use this form with anyone you should respect

2. མ་རེད།

   Ma red

   No

   Usage

   The basic negative reply; say it gently to stay polite

3. རོགས་གནང་།

   Rogs gnang

   Please

   Usage

   Add it when asking for something; it also works on its own

   Grammar Note

   Attach it after a verb to make a polite request

4. ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ།

   Tuk je che

   Thank you

   Usage

   The basic thank-you when you receive something or get help

5. སྐུ་མཁྱེན།

   Ku khyen

   Excuse me

   Usage

   Use to get a stranger's attention or to squeeze past someone

   Grammar Note

   The "excuse me" used to get someone's attention

6. དགོངས་དག

   Gong dag

   Sorry

   Usage

   An apology when you are at fault — bumping into someone, making a mistake

7. འགྲིག་གི་རེད།

   Drig gi red

   It's OK / I'm fine

   Usage

   Both to wave off an apology and to decline help or concern

8. ཧ་གོ་མ་སོང་།

   Ha go ma song

   I don't understand

   Usage

   Say this first when the language is not getting through; people will rephrase

9. ཧ་གོ་སོང་།

   Ha go song

   I understand

   Usage

   The reply when you have understood; it also signals agreement

10. ཚར་སོང་།

    Tshar song

    I'm finished / Done

    Usage

    Tell staff you are done with a meal, a payment, or a procedure

11. སྒུག་རོགས་གནང་།

    Gug rogs gnang

    Please wait

    Usage

    A polite way to ask someone to hold on

12. ཏོག་ཙམ་སྒུག

    Tog tsam gug

    Just a moment

    Usage

    For just a few seconds — while you find your wallet or your bag

13. མི་ཆེན་པོ་གཅིག

    Mi chen po chig

    One adult, please

    Usage

    At a ticket window or entrance, to state how many people

14. སྔོན་འགོད་མེད།

    Ngon god med

    I don't have a reservation

    Usage

    Say this first when walking into a restaurant or hotel without booking

15. སྔོན་འགོད་ཡོད།

    Ngon god yod

    I have a reservation

    Usage

    At the front desk; follow it with your name

16. རོགས་རམ་གནང་རོགས།

    Rogs ram gnang rogs

    Please help me

    Usage

    Call for help in an emergency — it is fine to shout this

17. ཡང་བསྐྱར་གསུང་རོགས་གནང་།

    Yang kyar sung rogs gnang

    Once more, please

    Usage

    Ask someone to repeat what they just said

18. དལ་མོ་གསུང་རོགས་གནང་།

    Dal mo sung rogs gnang

    Please speak slowly

    Usage

    When someone speaks too fast; people almost always slow down

19. ངས་ཏོག་ཙམ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཡོད།

    Nge tog tsam she gi yod

    I speak a little

    Usage

    Keeps the conversation going while lowering expectations

20. ཁྱེད་རང་དབྱིན་ཇི་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཡོད་པས།

    Khye rang yin ji she gi yod pe?

    Do you speak English?

    Usage

    Check for a shared language when you need to discuss something complicated

21. འདི།

    Di

    This

    Usage

    Show it while pointing at something in front of you

22. དེ།

    De

    That

    Usage

    Tibetan has a two-way contrast, so this one covers both "that" and "that over there"

23. འདིར།

    Dir

    Here

    Usage

    Show it while pointing at a place

24. དེར།

    Der

    There

    Usage

    Show it while pointing at a place

25. ང་།

    Nga

    I / Me

    Usage

    Show it while pointing at yourself

26. ཁྱེད་རང་།

    Khye rang

    You

    Usage

    Show it while pointing at the other person

27. མཉམ་དུ།

    Nyam du

    Together

    Usage

    Use to say you want to go along with someone

28. མི་གཅིག

    Mi chig

    One person

    Usage

    Point at it to give the size of your party

29. མི་གཉིས།

    Mi nyi

    Two people

    Usage

    Point at it to give the size of your party

30. མི་གསུམ།

    Mi sum

    Three people

    Usage

    Point at it to give the size of your party

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