Money & Exchange

1. འདིའི་གོང་ཅི་རེད།

   Di-i gong chi-re

   How much is this?

   Usage

   The most basic price inquiry at Lhasa markets and souvenir shops

   Grammar Note

   "Chi-re" is the standard assertive question form. "Re" is an evidential assertive auxiliary for third-person facts

2. དངུལ་ཁང་ག་པར་ཡོད།

   Ngul-khang ga-par yö

   Where is the bank?

   Usage

   Used to locate a bank in Tibet. Lhasa has several banks including the Bank of China

   Grammar Note

   "Ngul-khang" literally means "silver/money house." Tibetan frequently uses compounds for new concepts

3. ཕྱི་རྒྱལ་གྱི་དངུལ་བསྒྱུར་ག་པར་ཡོད།

   Phyi-gyel gi ngul-gyur ga-par yö

   Where is the currency exchange office?

   Usage

   Used to find currency exchange in Tibet. Exchange available at Lhasa airport and banks

   Grammar Note

   "Gyur" means "to change/exchange." Chinese Yuan is the currency used in Tibet

4. གོང་ཉམས་ཞིག་གནང་རོགས།

   Gong-nyam zhig nang-rok

   Could you give a slight discount?

   Usage

   Used for price negotiation at Tibetan markets. Bargaining is possible at the Barkhor market area

   Grammar Note

   "Nang-rok" is a polite request. "Gong-nyam" refers to the act of "reducing the price"

5. བྱལ་རྟགས་ཀྱིས་འབུལ་ཆོག་གམ།

   Jal-tak kyis bul-chog gam

   Can I pay by credit card?

   Usage

   Used to check credit card acceptance. Cash is the norm in Tibet so confirmation is important

   Grammar Note

   "Bul" means "to submit/pay." "Chog-gam" forms the ability/permission question

6. ཚུར་ལེན་ཤོག་ལེབ་ཅིག་གནང་རོགས།

   Tsur-len shog-leb chig nang-rok

   Could I get a receipt please?

   Usage

   Used to request a receipt after a purchase. Needed for expense reports or returns

   Grammar Note

   "Tsur-len" means "to receive." "Tsur-len shog-leb" means "receiving paper" — receipt

7. འདི་ལས་རིན་ཆུང་བ་ཡོད་དམ།

   Di-le rin chung-wa yö-dam

   Is there a cheaper option?

   Usage

   Used to look for a more affordable alternative when shopping on a budget

   Grammar Note

   "Di-le" marks the standard of comparison, "than this." "Rin chung-wa" is something with a lower price. "Yö-dam" forms the existential question

8. ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་གོང་ཅི་རེད།

   Tham-che kyi gong chi-re

   How much for everything together?

   Usage

   Used to check the total price when purchasing multiple items

   Grammar Note

   "Tham-che" is an adverbial noun meaning "all/everything." Used to check the total price

9. ལག་བཞུར་ག་པར་ཡོད།

   Lag-zhur ga-par yö

   Where is the ATM?

   Usage

   Used to locate an ATM. ATMs are available in central Lhasa

   Grammar Note

   "Lag-zhur" means "hand-receiving machine" — the Tibetan term for ATM. Tibetan also borrows many terms via Chinese

10. འདི་ཉོས་ན་ཆེས་མང་ར་གོང་ཉམས་གནང་རོགས།

    Di nyo-na che-mang-ra gong-nyam nang-rok

    Can I get a bulk discount if I buy multiple?

    Usage

    Used to negotiate a bulk discount at Tibetan markets when buying multiple items

    Grammar Note

    The conditional "nyo-na" means "if you buy." It clearly states the condition for the discount request

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