Directions

1. ལྷ་ས་ལ་འགྲོ་བར་ལམ་ག་ཅི་ཡིན།

   Lhasa la dro-war lam ga-chi yin

   Which road should I take to get to Lhasa?

   Usage

   Used to ask for the route to Lhasa. Multiple routes exist through the mountainous terrain

   Grammar Note

   "La dro-war" is a purposive clause meaning "in order to go to." The directional particle "la" marks destination

2. གཡས་སུ་འགྲོ།

   Ye-su dro

   Turn right

   Usage

   Basic direction instruction for turning right

   Grammar Note

   The directional particle "su" marks right/left orientation. Tibetan imperative can be expressed with just the verb stem

3. གཡོན་སུ་འགྲོ།

   Yön-su dro

   Turn left

   Usage

   Basic direction instruction for turning left

   Grammar Note

   "Ye" (right) and "yön" (left) are the basic Tibetan directional words. "Su" marks direction

4. མདུན་དུ་ཐད་ཀར་འགྲོ་རོགས།

   Dün-du the-kar dro-rok

   Go straight ahead

   Usage

   The most fundamental directional instruction for going straight

   Grammar Note

   "Dro" means "go" and "rok" makes it a polite request. "The-kar" means "straight", the same word as in the other straight-ahead card

5. འདི་ལས་ག་ཙམ་ཐག་རིང་།

   Di-le ga-tsam thag-ring

   How far is it from here?

   Usage

   Used to check distance to a destination. Distances can be deceptive in Tibet's mountainous terrain

   Grammar Note

   "Le" is a postposition marking comparison or point of departure. "Ga-tsam" is used for "how much/far" questions

6. ས་ཁྲའི་རི་མོ་ཡོད་དམ།

   Sa-tra ri-mo yö-dam

   Is there a map?

   Usage

   Used at tourist offices or hotels to ask for a map

   Grammar Note

   "Dam" forms an existential question at the sentence end. "Sa-tra ri-mo" literally means "ground picture" — a map

7. ཡང་བསྐྱར་གསུང་རོགས།

   Yang-kyur sung-rok

   Could you please repeat that?

   Usage

   A polite way to ask someone to repeat directions when you haven't understood

   Grammar Note

   "Sung" is the honorific form of "say." "Rok" adds politeness. Honorific speech is an important social norm in Tibetan

8. ལམ་འདི་ཡང་དག་པ་ཡིན་ནམ།

   Lam di yang-dag-pa yin-nam

   Is this the right road?

   Usage

   Used to confirm you're on the right road. Easy to get lost in Tibet's mountain terrain

   Grammar Note

   "Yin-nam" forms a yes/no question. Tibetan questions are formed by adding interrogative particles at the sentence end

9. མགྲོན་ཁང་ཉེ་ཤོས་ག་པར་ཡོད།

   Dron-khang nye-sho ga-par yö

   Where is the nearest hotel?

   Usage

   Used to find accommodation. Facilities are limited in Tibet's mountainous areas

   Grammar Note

   "Dron-khang" (lit. "guest house") means hotel or lodging. "Nye-sho" is "nye" (near) plus the superlative "sho", meaning "nearest"

10. ང་ལམ་ཤོར་ཡོད།

    Nga lam shor yö

    I am lost (I have lost my way)

    Usage

    Used to seek help when lost. Essential in Tibet's complex mountain terrain

    Grammar Note

    "Lam-shor" means "lose the way", i.e. get lost. "Yö" marks the resulting state still holding: "I am lost". A similar card in emergency uses "song" for the completed form

11. གཡས།

    Ye

    Right

    Usage

    Point at it inside a taxi; one word is faster than a sentence

12. གཡོན།

    Yön

    Left

    Usage

    Point at it inside a taxi; one word is faster than a sentence

13. ཐད་ཀར།

    The kar

    Straight ahead

    Usage

    Point at it inside a taxi

14. ཕྱིར་ལོག

    Chir log

    Go back

    Usage

    Point at it in a taxi when you have gone too far

15. བྱང་།

    Jang

    North

    Usage

    Use to confirm a compass direction against a map

16. ལྷོ།

    Lho

    South

    Usage

    Use to confirm a compass direction against a map

17. ཤར།

    Shar

    East

    Usage

    Use to confirm a compass direction against a map

18. ནུབ།

    Nub

    West

    Usage

    Use to confirm a compass direction against a map

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