Martial Arts

1. ཉིན་གཅིག་སྦྱོང་བརྡར་ལ་ཞུགས་ན་འགྲིག་གི་རེད་པས།

   Nyin-chig jong-dar la zhug-na drig-gi re-pae?

   May I join the training for just one day?

   Usage

   The basic way to ask about dropping in. Tibet has no traditional martial arts schools; what exists are gyms in Lhasa and Shigatse teaching sanda or taekwondo, mostly run by Han Chinese and taught in Chinese

   Grammar Note

   The frame "verb + na + drig-gi re-pae" asks permission, literally "if I do this, is it acceptable?". "Na" is the conditional particle and "drig" means to be acceptable.

2. ཐོག་མར་སྦྱོང་བརྡར་ལ་བལྟས་ན་འགྲིག་གི་རེད་པས།

   Thog-mar jong-dar la tae-na drig-gi re-pae?

   May I watch the training first?

   Usage

   For sizing a place up before committing. Foreign visitors to the Tibet Autonomous Region need a permit and must travel with a guide, which makes turning up alone at a local gym difficult in practice — though a visit to watch can usually be arranged through your guide

   Grammar Note

   Tibetan verbs inflect for present, past, future and imperative; "ta" (to look) has the past stem "tae". A conditional clause normally takes the past stem.

3. ལག་ཤུབས་གཡར་རྒྱུ་ཡོད་པས།

   Lag-shub gyar-gyu yoe-pae?

   Are there gloves to borrow?

   Usage

   Gyms in Lhasa usually keep club gloves and will lend a pair free on a trial day, but wraps are not lent for hygiene reasons and shops carrying sports equipment are few, so bring your own if you can

   Grammar Note

   The particle "gyu" nominalises a verb into "the thing to be done", so "gyar-gyu" is "something for lending". "Lag-shub" compounds "lag" (hand) with "shub" (sheath, cover).

4. ང་གསར་སློབ་པ་ཡིན། ཉམས་མྱོང་མེད།

   Nga sar-lob-pa yin. Nyam-nyong me.

   I am a beginner. I have no experience.

   Usage

   Saying it up front gets you a lighter session. Lhasa sits at 3,650 metres, where moving as you would at sea level leaves you gasping within minutes. Keep the intensity down for your first few days and stop at once if headache or nausea appears

   Grammar Note

   The existential verb is suppletive: "yoe" in the affirmative, "me" in the negative. The copula "yin" is used when speaking of oneself, while "re" serves for statements about others.

5. ཞི་འཇམ་ཙམ་བྱས་རོགས།

   Zhi-jam tsam je-rok.

   Please take it gently.

   Usage

   The shortest way to ask for lower intensity in pad work or paired drills. At altitude you recover slowly, and pushing at sea-level intensity leaves you flattened the next day — so do not hesitate to say it

   Grammar Note

   The particle "rok" makes a polite request and attaches to the past stem of the verb. For extra deference, append the honorific particle "la" at the end.

6. ངའི་པུས་མོ་ན་གི་འདུག རྡོག་རྫིས་རྒྱག་ཐུབ་ཀྱི་མ་རེད།

   Ngae pü-mo na-gi-du. Dog-dzi gyag-thub-kyi ma-re.

   My knee hurts, so I cannot kick.

   Usage

   Say this before you start. Swap "pü-mo" (knee) for "pung-pa" (shoulder), "gyab" (back) or "lag-pa" (arm). The dry air and fierce ultraviolet at altitude drain you faster than you expect, so err on the side of caution

   Grammar Note

   Tibetan distinguishes the auxiliary of ability, "thub", from that of permission, "chog". The negative "ma-re" combines with it, so "thub-kyi ma-re" means "cannot".

7. ཟླ་བ་གཅིག་ལ་གོང་ག་ཚོད་རེད།

   Da-wa chig la gong ga-tshoe re?

   How much is it for one month?

   Usage

   For asking a monthly rate. The currency in the Tibet Autonomous Region is the yuan, called "gormo" in Tibetan. Payment overwhelmingly goes through WeChat Pay and Alipay QR codes, and offering cash may be met with "we have no change"

   Grammar Note

   The question word "ga-tshoe" follows whatever is being asked about, leaving the word order otherwise unchanged. The final copula "re" suffices; a wh-question needs no additional "pae" particle.

8. ཐེངས་གཅིག་ལ་གོང་ག་ཚོད་རེད།

   Theng-chig la gong ga-tshoe re?

   How much is it for a single session?

   Usage

   The standard way to ask a drop-in rate. Visitors are on short itineraries, so paying by the session usually makes more sense than by the month. If you are visiting with a guide, they will handle both the negotiation and the interpreting

   Grammar Note

   Numerals follow the noun: "theng-chig" is one occasion. The particle "la" is a workhorse covering "to", "at" and "per", marking object, location and unit alike.

9. བུད་མེད་ཁོ་ནའི་སློབ་ཚན་ཡོད་པས།

   Bü-me kho-nae lob-tshen yoe-pae?

   Is there a women-only class?

   Usage

   Fitness and dance classes for women have multiplied in urban Lhasa, but women-only combat sports sessions remain uncommon. Asking in advance saves an awkward arrival

   Grammar Note

   "Kho-na" follows the noun to mean "only that group". The word for man is "kyepa", so "kyepa kho-na" is "men only".

10. སྦྱོང་བརྡར་ཆུ་ཚོད་ག་ཚོད་ལ་འགོ་འཛུགས་ཀྱི་རེད།

    Jong-dar chu-tshoe ga-tshoe la go-dzug-gi re?

    What time does the training start?

    Usage

    All of China, Tibet included, runs on Beijing time, so the sun rises in Lhasa around eight in the morning and the whole day sits later than the clock suggests. An evening session starting at 19:00 or 20:00 is entirely normal

    Grammar Note

    "Chu-tshoe" literally means "water measure", a relic of the water clock. The phrase "chu-tshoe ga-tshoe la" is the fixed way to ask at what hour something happens.

11. ལག་པར་རས་དཀྲིས་དཀྲི་སྟངས་སློབ་གནང་རོགས།

    Lag-par re-tri tri-tang lob nang-rok.

    Please teach me how to wrap the cloth round my hands.

    Usage

    Gloves without wraps risk your knuckles and wrist. Proper hand wraps are hard to find in Tibet and a strip of cotton often stands in for them. Learn the sequence on your first day while the coach does it for you

    Grammar Note

    The suffix "tang" turns a verb into "the manner of doing it": "tri" (to wrap) yields "tri-tang" (how to wrap). "Nang" is the honorific "to give or to do for someone", and pairing it with the request particle "rok" is the politest way to ask.

12. ནམ་ཞིག་ལ་མི་གཞན་དང་མཉམ་དུ་སྦྱོང་བརྡར་བྱེད་ཆོག་གི་རེད།

    Nam-zhig la mi-zhen dang nyam-du jong-dar je chog-gi re?

    When may I train together with other people?

    Usage

    For asking when you can move into paired work. Your heart rate climbs fast at altitude and sparring is genuinely risky for an unacclimatised visitor. The usual answer is after a few sessions have settled your basics, and waiting is the safer path

    Grammar Note

    "Dang nyam-du" forms the postpositional phrase "together with". Tibetan has no prepositions: every relational word follows its noun.

13. འདིར་ཁྲུས་རྒྱག་ས་ཡོད་པས།

    Dir thrü gyag-sa yoe-pae?

    Is there somewhere to wash here?

    Usage

    Water is precious in Tibet and few places offer a shower on demand. Newer gyms in Lhasa have hot water; smaller halls often have nothing. Bring your own towel and change of clothes

    Grammar Note

    The suffix "sa" derives "a place for doing X": "thrü gyag-sa" (a place to wash), "za-sa" (a place to eat). The noun "thrü" means ablution and also covers ritual purification.

14. འགྲན་སྡུར་ག་པར་འཚོགས་ཀྱི་རེད།

    Dren-dur ga-par tshog-gi re?

    Where are the contests held?

    Usage

    In Tibet you are far likelier to watch than to compete. The summer horse festivals pair racing with wrestling and stone-lifting contests, the biggest gathering at Nagqu, Litang and Yushu in Qinghai. Dates shift from year to year, so check locally

    Grammar Note

    The compound joins "dren" (to compete) and "dur" (to compare), giving "contest". The verb "tshog" covers both people gathering and an event taking place, and serves for religious assemblies too.

15. ལག་པ་ཡར་སློངས། གདོང་པ་སྲུངས།

    Lag-pa yar-long! Dong-pa sung!

    Hands up! Guard your face!

    Usage

    Said by the coach — the most frequent cue during pad work and paired drills. In a Lhasa gym you will more often hear it in Chinese, but a Tibetan-speaking coach puts it like this

    Grammar Note

    Tibetan verbs have a distinct imperative stem, formed by altering the vowel or final consonant: "srung" (to guard) gives the imperative "srungs", with an added final "s". No subject is expressed in a command.

16. ཤུགས་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱོབས། མ་འཇིགས།

    Shug chen-po gyob! Ma-jig!

    Strike hard! Do not be afraid!

    Usage

    Said by the coach holding the pads when he wants full power. A tentative strike is harder on your wrist than a committed one, so take it as permission to let go

    Grammar Note

    A prohibition places "ma" before the verb: "jig" (to fear) becomes "ma-jig" (do not fear). Adjectives follow their noun, hence the order in "shug chen-po".

17. སྐར་མ་ལྔ་ངལ་གསོ་བྱོས། ཆུ་ཐུངས།

    Kar-ma nga ngal-so jö! Chu thung!

    Rest five minutes! Drink water!

    Usage

    Said by the coach. The air in Lhasa at 3,650 metres is desperately dry and you dehydrate during exercise without noticing. Frequent drinking is also part of keeping altitude sickness at bay

    Grammar Note

    The word "kar-ma" also means star, a trace of measuring time by the movement of the heavens. Numerals follow the noun, so "kar-ma nga" is five minutes.

18. དེ་རིང་འདི་ཙམ་རེད། ཡག་པོ་བྱུང་སོང་།

    De-ring di-tsam re. Yag-po jung-song.

    That is it for today. That went well.

    Usage

    The coach's closing line; "thug-je che" (thank you) is all you need in reply. With an elder or someone you have just met, Tibetans add the honorific particle "la" after the name or title to show respect

    Grammar Note

    The auxiliary "song" marks a past event the speaker witnessed directly, taking a different form for hearsay or inference. Tibetan grammaticalises this notion of evidential source in its verb endings.

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