Emergency

34 phrases · Tibetan with romanization, English and audio

  1. རོགས་པ།

    Rok-pa!

    Help!

    Usage

    Calling for help in an emergency. Shout loudly.

    Grammar Note

    The most direct way to call for help in Tibetan. Can be made more polite as "rok-pa nang" (please help). At high altitude, altitude sickness (gong-thuk) is a major concern.

  2. ཨེམ་ཆི་གཅིག་དགོས་རེད།

    Em-chi chig go-re

    I need a doctor

    Usage

    When medical help is needed.

    Grammar Note

    "Go-re" expresses necessity ("is needed/must"). Traditional Tibetan medicine (Sowa Rigpa) coexists with modern medicine; large towns have hospitals.

  3. གོང་ཐུག་གིས་མནར་གྱི་འདུག

    Gong-thuk-gis nar-gyi dug

    I have altitude sickness

    Usage

    When experiencing symptoms of altitude sickness. One of the biggest risks when traveling in Tibet.

    Grammar Note

    The Tibetan plateau is 3,500–5,000m. The best treatment for altitude sickness is to descend immediately, even for mild symptoms. Prophylactic acetazolamide (Diamox) is also effective.

  4. ཁོང་སྨན་ཁང་ལ་ཁྲིད་རོགས་གནང་།

    Khong men-khang la thrid rok-nang

    Please take this person to the hospital

    Usage

    Requesting someone be taken to hospital, conscious or unconscious.

    Grammar Note

    Men-khang ("medicine house" = hospital) takes the directional particle la, followed by khrid (to lead/take) and the request ending rok-nang. The same frame appears in "khong men-khang la dro yak yin sa re" (he/she will probably go to the hospital). Major cities in Tibet have hospitals; medical facilities are limited in rural areas. Lhasa has the Tibet Autonomous Region People's Hospital. Travel insurance is strongly recommended.

  5. ང་ལམ་ཤོར་སོང་།

    Nga lam-shor song

    I am lost

    Usage

    Asking for help when lost.

    Grammar Note

    Mobile signal is unavailable in many rural and mountainous areas of Tibet. Pre-loading GPS maps is essential. To ask for directions: "lam-ton rok" (please show me the way).

  6. རྐུན་མ་ཡོང་སོང་།

    Kün-ma yong-song

    Thief! / I was robbed

    Usage

    Shouting when robbed or when a thief is present.

    Grammar Note

    Kün-ma means "one who steals another's property". "Song" is a completive auxiliary ("has happened"). Report theft to the police (nyen-tok lé-khung) immediately. Foreign nationals should report to the PSB and get a police report for insurance.

  7. མེ་འབར་བ་རེད།

    Me-bar-wa re

    Fire!

    Usage

    Warning about a fire. Shout loudly.

    Grammar Note

    "Me-bar" (fire burning) is a compound expression. Traditional Tibetan wooden temples are fire-prone. Jokhang Temple has suffered fires historically; fire awareness is critical.

  8. ལུས་ཀྱི་ནད་ཡོད།

    Lü-kyi ne yö

    I am ill / I have a physical illness

    Usage

    Expressing illness. Add specific symptoms for more detail.

    Grammar Note

    Tibetan distinguishes between "lü-kyi ne" (physical illness) and "sem-kyi ne" (mental illness). At altitude, dehydration, diarrhea, and altitude sickness are common risks.

  9. ནད་པ་འདྲེན་འཁོར་འབོད་རོགས་གནང་།

    Ne-pa dren-khor bö rok-nang

    Please call an ambulance

    Usage

    Calling an ambulance for a seriously injured or ill person.

    Grammar Note

    A compound of "ne-pa" (patient), "dren" (to convey) and "khor" (vehicle), meaning "ambulance"; the request form is "bö rok-nang" (please call). Emergency numbers in Tibet (same as all of China): police 110, fire 119, ambulance 120. Outside Lhasa, communication may be unreliable; confirm emergency contacts before traveling.

  10. ལྷ་སའི་སྨན་ཁང་ཆེ་ཤོས་ག་པར་ཡོད་དམ།

    Lha-sa-i men-khang che-sho ga-par yö-dam?

    Where is the main hospital in Lhasa?

    Usage

    Finding the main hospital when medical care is needed.

    Grammar Note

    The TAR People's Hospital in Lhasa accepts foreign patients. The Tibetan Traditional Medicine Hospital (Mentsikhang) also offers traditional treatments. Carry travel insurance documents.

  11. འཕྲོག་བཅོམ།

    Throg chom

    Robbery

    Usage

    Show when reporting that you were robbed by force; the robber himself is "jak pa"

  12. བཙན་ཁྲིད།

    Tsen thrid

    Kidnapping

    Usage

    Literally "to lead away by force"; show when reporting an abduction

  13. མི་གསོད་ཁྲག་སྦྱོར།

    Mi sö thrag jor

    Murder

    Usage

    The legal term for homicide; "kok sö" leans toward assassination and is a different word

  14. ཟིང་འཁྲུག

    Zing thrug

    Riot

    Usage

    The word for street unrest; no closing shad because it ends in a bare ga

  15. འབར་མདེལ།

    Bar del

    Bomb

    Usage

    From "bar" (to burn, explode) and "del" (projectile); show to report a suspicious device

  16. མེ་འབར་བ་རེད། བྲོས།

    Me-bar-wa re. Trö!

    Fire! Run!

    Usage

    Show to warn the people around you and get them out when you notice a fire

    Grammar Note

    The first half is "Me-bar-wa re" (there is a fire). "Trö" is the imperative of "brö pa" (to flee), glossed "escape! flee! run away!"; a bare imperative is used the same way in "Tok-tsam guk" (wait a moment).

  17. ཉེན་རྟོག་ལས་ཁུངས་ག་པར་ཡོད།

    Nyen-tok lé-khung ga-par yö

    Where is the police station?

    Usage

    Show to a passer-by when you need to find the police station to report a theft or an accident

    Grammar Note

    The "X ga-par yö" ("where is X?") pattern filled with "nyen-tok lé-khung," the word for the police office itself (nyen-tok, police, plus lé-khung, office).

  18. ཉི་ཧོང་སྐད་ཤེས་མཁན་ཡོད་པས།

    Nihong ké she-khen yö-pe?

    Is there anyone who speaks Japanese?

    Usage

    Show at a police station, hospital or hotel desk when you are looking for someone who can interpret

    Grammar Note

    Uses the same "language + shé" (to know) construction as "Khye-rang yin-ji shé-gi yö-pé?" (do you speak English?); "khen" is the agentive suffix, combined with "Yö-pé?" (is there?).

  19. ཁོང་བརྒྱལ་སོང་།

    Khong gyel song

    This person is unconscious

    Usage

    Point at the collapsed person and show this to bystanders or to the ambulance crew

    Grammar Note

    "Gyel-wa" is the verb meaning to become unconscious, to faint. "Song" marks completion, the same ending as in "Tshar song" (it is finished).

  20. ང་ལ་རྡུང་རྡེག་བཏང་སོང་།

    Nga-la dung-dek tang song

    I was beaten

    Usage

    Show to the police or to a doctor to report that you were assaulted

    Grammar Note

    "Dung-dek tong wa" (to deal blows) is a collocation; this uses its past form with "nga-la" (to me), keeping the sentence active rather than passive.

  21. མི་དེ་ཉེས་ཅན་རེད།

    Mi de nye-chen re

    That person is the culprit

    Usage

    Show to the police while pointing out the offender; make sure you are safe before doing so

    Grammar Note

    "Nye-chen" is a legal term meaning "culprit," one who commits an offence. "X re" is the copular pattern also used in "Di ga-re re?" (what is this?).

  22. ང་ལ་མགོ་སྐོར་བཏང་སོང་།

    Nga-la go-kor tang song

    I was deceived

    Usage

    Show to the police to report that you were scammed or overcharged

    Grammar Note

    The collocation is "zhen la go-kor tang wa" (to deceive another); this applies that same "la + go-kor tang" frame to the first person.

  23. ང་ལ་དངུལ་ཁུག་བརྐུས་སོང་།

    Nga-la ngül-khug kü song

    My wallet was stolen

    Usage

    Show when reporting the theft of your wallet to the police or for an insurance claim

    Grammar Note

    The same "nga-la + verb of stealing" frame as in "Nga-la kün-ma gyag ma-rok" (do not rob me). "Kü" is the past of "ku wa" (to steal), as in "zhen nor ku wa" (to steal another's property).

  24. ཅ་ལག་བརྗེད་སོང་།

    Cha-lak je song

    I left it behind

    Usage

    Show to say that you left your belongings behind in a shop or a vehicle

    Grammar Note

    "Cha-lak" means belongings or things; "je" is "to forget," here with the completive "song," formed like "Tshar song."

  25. ཉེན་ཁ་འདུག

    Nyen-kha dug

    Watch out!

    Usage

    Shout or show this when the other person has not noticed an immediate danger

    Grammar Note

    Uses "Nyen kha" (danger) with the existential "dug" to make the sentence "there is danger." A final bare "ga" takes no shad in Tibetan orthography.

  26. མགྱོགས་པོ་བྱེད་རོགས་གནང་།

    Gyok-po che rok-nang

    Please hurry

    Usage

    Show to an ambulance crew or a driver when you need them to hurry

    Grammar Note

    The "V + rok-nang" polite request frame (as in "Guk rok-nang," please wait) with "gyok-po," meaning quick, rapid, swift.

  27. ད་ལྟ་ཡོང་རོགས་གནང་།

    Danta yong rok-nang

    Please come right away

    Usage

    Show on the phone or at a desk to ask someone to come immediately

    Grammar Note

    "Danta" (now) is the word used in "Danta chu-tsö ga-tsö re?" (what time is it?); "yong" (to come) is the verb of "Kün-ma yong-song" (a thief came), placed in the "V + rok-nang" request frame.

  28. ཛ་དྲག་རེད།

    Dza-drak re

    It is an emergency

    Usage

    Show at a desk or on the phone to say that the matter cannot wait

    Grammar Note

    "Dza-drak" means emergency, urgent, critical, and corresponds to English "urgent." "X re" is the copular pattern of "Me-bar-wa re."

  29. རྐུན་མ། ཟུངས།

    Kün-ma! Zung!

    Thief! Catch him!

    Usage

    Shout or show this to the people around you right after something is snatched from you

    Grammar Note

    "Kün-ma" is the word in "Nga-la kün-ma gyag ma-rok" and means "thief, robber"; "zung" is the imperative of "dzin pa" (to hold, to seize), meaning "hold! grasp!"

  30. མེ་གསོད་རླངས་འཁོར་འབོད་རོགས་གནང་།

    Me-sö lang-khor bö rok-nang

    Please call a fire engine

    Usage

    Show to ask someone to call the fire brigade when there is a fire

    Grammar Note

    A compound of "me-sö" (to extinguish fire) and "lang-khor" (motor vehicle), meaning "fire engine"; the same compound element heads "Me-sö chu-go" (fire hydrant).

  31. ང་ལ་གྲི་བཙུགས་སོང་།

    Nga-la dri tsuk song

    I was stabbed

    Usage

    Show to the ambulance crew or the police to report that you were stabbed with a blade

    Grammar Note

    "Dri" means knife, as in "dri tsuk te sé pa" (to stab and kill); the "nga-la + noun + past + song" frame is the one used for reporting harm.

  32. ཁང་མིག་ནང་ལ་རྐུན་མ་ཡོང་སོང་།

    Khang-mik nang-la kün-ma yong song

    My room was broken into

    Usage

    Show at the hotel desk or to the police to report that your room was entered while you were out

    Grammar Note

    "Kün-ma yong-song" (a thief came) with "khang-mik nang-la" (into the room) added; "khang-mik" is the word in "Nga-la ... khang-mik gö" (I need a room).

  33. ང་ཉེན་རྟོག་ལས་ཁུངས་ལ་སྙན་ཞུ་འབུལ་འདོད།

    Nga nyen-tok lé-khung-la nyen-shu bül-dö

    I want to file a police report

    Usage

    Show at the desk when you want to report a theft or other harm to the police

    Grammar Note

    With "bül-dö", "nyen-tok" (police) and "lé-khung" (office) combine into "nyen-tok lé-khung", marked with "la". "Snyan zhu" means "application; petition, memorial, application, report", and "zhu yig" means "petition; application"; "snyan zhu bul" is used as in "… may submit an application to go …", and "nyen-tok lé-khung" as in "བོད་ལྗོངས་ཉེན་རྟོག་ལས་ཁུངས་ཀྱིས་…". "Gyod gtug" ("sue, file a complaint/ law case") means to bring a lawsuit, not to report harm.

  34. མི་ཞིག་ཆུས་ཁྱེར་སོང་།

    Mi shik chü-khyer song

    Someone is drowning

    Usage

    Shout or show this when you see someone drowning in a river, lake or pool

    Grammar Note

    It uses "mi shik" (a person) and the perfective "song" in the "… song" frame. "Chus khyer" means "drowning", "chus bsnubs" and "chu la gdim" mean "drown", and "byings ba" means "sinking, drowning"; e.g. "thrown into the water and carried away by the water" with "chus khyer".

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