Health & Hospital

1. སྨན་ཁང་ག་པར་ཡོད།

   Men-khang ga-par yö

   Where is the hospital?

   Usage

   Essential phrase for locating the nearest medical facility in an emergency or illness

   Grammar Note

   "Men-khang" is a compound meaning "medicine house." Tibetan location questions use "ga-par" (where)

2. ང་ལ་མགོ་ན་གི་འདུག

   Nga-la go na-gi-dug

   I have a headache

   Usage

   Headaches from altitude sickness are common in Tibet. Used to describe symptoms to doctors or pharmacists

   Grammar Note

   "Dug" is an evidential verb indicating direct experience. Tibetan verbs change according to the source of information

3. གངས་རི་གནས་ན་ལུ་ཡི་ཆག་གི་འདུག

   Gang-ri ne-na lu yi-chag-gi-dug

   I am suffering from altitude sickness

   Usage

   A critical phrase for communicating altitude sickness to doctors or guides in Tibet

   Grammar Note

   "Gi-dug" indicates "is in the state of/is experiencing." Altitude sickness is the primary risk of Tibet travel

4. ང་ལ་དྲོད་གཏོང་གི་འདུག

   Nga-la drö-tong-gi-dug

   I have a fever

   Usage

   Used to describe fever to a doctor. "Drö" means heat or warmth

   Grammar Note

   "Tong" means "to send out." "Drö-tong" means "to emit heat" — to have a fever

5. སྨན་ཅིག་དགོས་གི་ཡོད།

   Men chig go-gi-yö

   I need medicine

   Usage

   The most basic expression for requesting medicine. Suitable at pharmacies or hospitals

   Grammar Note

   "Go-gi-yö" means "have a need." "Men" refers to both traditional Tibetan and modern medicine

6. སྨན་པ་གཅིག་ལ་མཇལ་དགོས།

   Men-pa chig la jal-go

   I need to see a doctor

   Usage

   Used when medical consultation is needed. Tibet also has traditional medicine doctors (Amchi)

   Grammar Note

   "Jal" is the honorific form of "meet," showing respect to the doctor. "Go" expresses necessity

7. ང་ལ་ཟས་ལ་འགོག་རྐྱེན་ཡོད།

   Nga la ze la gok-kyen yo

   I have a food allergy

   Usage

   Important phrase for communicating food allergies to doctors or restaurants. Must-know before traveling

   Grammar Note

   "Nga la … yo" = "I have ~". "Allergy" is འགོག་རྐྱེན; ཐག་གཅོད means "to decide" and cannot be used here

8. ནད་པ་འདྲེན་འཁོར་གཏོང་རོགས་གནང་།

   Ne-pa dren-khor tong rok-nang

   Please call an ambulance

   Usage

   Critical phrase for requesting an ambulance in a life-threatening emergency

   Grammar Note

   The compound "ne-pa" (patient) + "dren" (to convey) + "khor" (vehicle) means "ambulance". "Tong" is a verb meaning "to let go, to send"; the same "tong rok" (please send / please call) is also used elsewhere. "Rok" (with the honorific "nang") marks a request. The "call" wording is "bö rok-nang". Tibet's emergency numbers are 120 (ambulance), 119 (fire) and 110 (police)

9. ལུས་ཀྱི་གནད་ག་པར་ན་གི་འདུག

   Lü-kyi ne ga-par na-gi-dug

   Where does it hurt in your body?

   Usage

   A doctor asks where it hurts. Useful to understand when a Tibetan doctor examines you

   Grammar Note

   "Lü" means "body." "Na-gi-dug" expresses the ongoing state of "is hurting/aching"

10. གསང་སྤྱོད་རྙེད་མ་སོང་།

    Sang-chö nye-ma-song

    I cannot find a restroom

    Usage

    Used when looking for a restroom. Toilets can be limited at Tibetan tourist sites

    Grammar Note

    "Sang-chö" is the word for toilet/restroom (used in other cards of this language). "Nye-ma-song" means "could not find," which is different from "mi-she" (don't know).

11. ང་སྦྲུམ་མ་ཡིན།

    Nga drum ma yin

    I am pregnant

    Usage

    Critical before any medication or X-ray; show it before an examination

12. ལུ་བ།

    Lu wa

    Cough

    Usage

    Use at a pharmacy when asking for cough medicine

13. རྨ།

    Ma

    Wound / Cut

    Usage

    Show the card while pointing at the wound

14. ཁྲག་རིགས།

    Thrag rig

    Blood type

    Usage

    You will be asked this before a transfusion or surgery; show it with your own type written down

15. ཆམས་པ།

    Cham pa

    Common cold

    Usage

    Show at a pharmacy or clinic to name what you have

16. ཨེམ་ཆི་གཅིག་འབོད་རོགས་གནང་།

    Em-chi chig bö rok-nang

    Please call a doctor

    Usage

    Show to ask someone to call a doctor when medical help is needed

    Grammar Note

    "Em-chi chig" means "a doctor"; "bö" is the verb "to call," placed in the "V + rok-nang" request frame.

17. ང་ལ་འདིར་ན་གི་འདུག

    Nga-la dir na-gi-dug

    It hurts here

    Usage

    Point at the spot that hurts and show this to the doctor

    Grammar Note

    The card "Nga-la go na-gi-dug" (my head hurts) with "go" (head) replaced by "dir" (here), the word of the existing card "Dir" (here).

18. ང་བདེ་པོ་མི་འདུག

    Nga de-po mi-dug

    I feel sick

    Usage

    Show to a doctor or to the people around you to say that you are unwell

    Grammar Note

    Negates the existing card "Nga de-po yin" (I am well) with the same negative "mi-dug" used in "shé mi-dug" (I do not know).

19. ང་ཐང་ཆད་བྱུང་།

    Nga thang-che jung

    My body feels sluggish

    Usage

    Show to a doctor or pharmacist to report the heaviness and fatigue that comes with illness

    Grammar Note

    Takes the word of the existing card "Thang che" (fatigue) and puts it in the completive "V + jung" frame.

20. ཐེངས་མང་པོ་སྐྱུགས་སོང་།

    Theng mang-po kyuk song

    I have vomited several times

    Usage

    Show to a doctor to report how many times you have vomited

    Grammar Note

    "Theng" (time, occurrence) plus "mang-po" (many) expresses many times; "kyuk pa" is the verb "to vomit," here in its past form with the completive "song."

21. ངལ་གསོ་དགོས་སམ།

    Ngal-so gö-sam?

    Do I need to rest?

    Usage

    Show to ask the doctor after an examination whether you need to rest

    Grammar Note

    The "X gö-sam?" ("is X needed?") frame of the card "Ngar-kha ten-go-sam?" (do I need a reservation?), filled with "ngal-so" (rest) from the card "Kar-ma nga ngal-so jö" (rest for five minutes).

22. བཤལ་ནད།

    Shel ne

    Diarrhea

    Usage

    The word for diarrhea. Use it to tell a doctor or pharmacist about the symptom

23. བཤང་བཀག

    Shang kak

    Constipation

    Usage

    The word for constipation, built from བཤང་བ (stool) and བཀག (blocked)

24. བཤང་བ།

    Shang wa

    Poop

    Usage

    A neutral word for stool

25. གཅིན་པ།

    Chin pa

    Pee

    Usage

    The neutral word for urine or pee

26. ང་ལ་བཤལ་ནད་འདུག

    Nga la shel ne duk

    I have diarrhea

    Usage

    Show to tell a doctor or pharmacist that you have diarrhea

    Grammar Note

    The same "nga la ... duk" frame as "Nga la go na gi duk" (I have a headache), stating a symptom as a state observed in one's own body. "Shel ne" means diarrhea.

27. ང་ལ་བཤང་བཀག་འདུག

    Nga la shang kak duk

    I'm constipated

    Usage

    Show to tell a doctor or pharmacist that you are constipated

    Grammar Note

    "Nga la shel ne duk" with the noun replaced by "shang kak" (constipation).

28. ང་གཅིན་པ་གཏོང་དགོས།

    Nga chin pa tong gö

    I need to pee

    Usage

    Show to a companion or child to tell them you need to pee

    Grammar Note

    "Chin pa tong wa" (to let out urine) is the phrase meaning to urinate. "Gö" marks necessity and attaches to the verb stem to give "need to ...".

29. ང་བཤང་བ་དོར་དགོས།

    Nga shang wa dor gö

    I need to poop

    Usage

    Show to a companion or child to tell them you need to poop

    Grammar Note

    "Shang wa dor wa" (to discard stool) is the phrase meaning to defecate. It follows the pattern "Nga chin pa tong gö", with the noun and verb swapped.

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