Useful Phrases

1. ང་གིས་འདིའི་རྒྱུད་ཐིག་བཟོས་པ་ཡིན།

   Ngas di'i gyü thig zöpa yin

   I made this app

   Usage

   Introduce the app in Tibetan

   Grammar Note

   Tibetan is ergative-absolutive. Transitive agents take the ergative marker "gis"

2. འདི་རིན་མེད་རྒྱུད་ཐིག་ཡིན།

   Di rinmé gyü thig yin

   This app is free

   Usage

   Explain the app is free

   Grammar Note

   "Rin" (price) + "mé" (without/no) = "rinmé" (free of charge)

3. ལེན་ཐབས་བྱེད་ཀྱི་རེད།

   Len thap jé kyi ré

   Please try downloading it

   Usage

   Encourage someone to download the app

   Grammar Note

   Tibetan verbs come at the end (SOV). "Jé kyi ré" is not honorific; it is the ordinary future/habitual form ("will do"). The sentence itself states that one will try to download, so it is a statement rather than a direct request

4. ང་ཉི་ཧོང་པ་ཡིན།

   Nga Nihong-pa yin

   I'm Japanese

   Usage

   Introduce your nationality in Tibetan

   Grammar Note

   "Nihong" is the Tibetan rendering of "Japan". The person suffix "pa" added to a country name gives "Japanese person" (formed like "rgya-gar-pa" = Indian). "Mi yin" would sound like the negation "is not", so the "mi" form is avoided

5. ང་ལྟ་སྐོར་བ་ཡིན།

   Nga ta-kor-wa yin

   I'm a traveler

   Usage

   Identify yourself as a traveler in Tibetan

   Grammar Note

   "Ta-kor-wa" is a person who goes sightseeing (ta-kor), that is, a traveler or tourist. The person suffix "wa" is added. "Yin" means "is"

6. ང་གཅིག་པུས་འགྲིམས་འགྲུལ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཡོད།

   Nga chigpü drim drul jé kyi yö

   I'm traveling alone

   Usage

   Tell others you are traveling solo

   Grammar Note

   "Chig" (one) + "pu" (emphatic suffix) = "chigpu" = alone/by oneself

7. ད་ལྟ་ང་ཐེངས་དང་པོ་འདིར་ཡིན།

   Danta nga theng dangpo dir yin

   It's my first time here

   Usage

   Express that this is your first visit

   Grammar Note

   "Theng" (occurrence/time) + "dangpo" (first) = "first time"

8. ང་གིས་པར་བ་རྒྱག་ཆོག་གམ།

   Ngas parwa gyag chog gam?

   May I take a photo?

   Usage

   Ask for permission to take a photo

   Grammar Note

   "Chog" is a modal expressing permission. "Gam" is a question particle at the end

9. ང་ཚོ་མཉམ་དུ་པར་རྒྱག་ཆོག་གམ།

   Ngatso nyamdu par gyag chog gam?

   Shall we take a photo together?

   Usage

   Suggest taking a photo together

   Grammar Note

   "Nyam" (together) + "du" (case particle) = "together with"

10. QR code སྐྱེལ་གཏང་རོགས་གནང་།

    QR code kyel tang rog nang

    Please scan the QR code

    Usage

    Ask someone to scan the QR code

    Grammar Note

    "Rog nang" is a polite request formula in Tibetan. "Gnang" is an honorific verb

11. ང་ལ་རྐུན་མ་རྒྱག་མ་རོགས།

    Nga la kun ma gyag ma rog

    Don't cheat me / Stop ripping me off

    Usage

    Used to protest against cheating or unfair pricing in Tibetan

    Grammar Note

    "Ma" is a Tibetan negative prefix for prohibitions. "Rog" softens the request

12. ང་ལ་དམའ་འབེབས་མ་རོགས།

    Nga la dma bep ma rog

    Don't underestimate me / Don't look down on me

    Usage

    Used when you feel disrespected or underestimated in Tibetan

    Grammar Note

    "Dma" (low) + "bep" (bring down) = "look down on". "Ma rog" forms a polite prohibition

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