Basic Nouns

1. ཆུ།

   Chu

   Water

   Usage

   The basic word for drinking water; works with a gesture

2. ཁ་ལག

   Kha lag

   Food

   Usage

   The general word to use when you are looking for something to eat

3. དངུལ།

   Ngul

   Money

   Usage

   The basic word when talking about paying or changing money

4. གསང་སྤྱོད།

   Sang chod

   Toilet

   Usage

   This single word is usually enough for someone to point the way

5. ཤོག་བུ།

   Shog bu

   Tissue

   Usage

   For asking for paper at an eatery or a public toilet

   Grammar Note

   Paper; also used for tissue

6. སྨན།

   Men

   Medicine

   Usage

   The general word to lead with at a pharmacy

7. ཅ་ལག

   Cha lag

   Luggage

   Usage

   For storing, carrying, or collecting your bags

8. ལྡེ་མིག

   De mig

   Key

   Usage

   At a hotel front desk when handing over or collecting a key

9. ཀར་ཏ།

   Kar ta

   Ticket

   Usage

   Covers both travel tickets and entry tickets

10. ཕྱི་སྐྱོད་ལག་འཁྱེར།

    Chi kyod lag khyer

    Passport

    Usage

    Comes up at check-in, money changers, and immigration

11. ཁ་པར།

    Kha par

    Phone

    Usage

    Used both for the device and for making a call

12. གློག་འཇུག་ཆས།

    Log jug che

    Charger

    Usage

    When you want to borrow one at a hotel or café, or buy one

13. འབབ་ཚུགས།

    Bab tshug

    Station

    Usage

    The most common landmark word when asking for directions

14. སྨན་ཁང་།

    Men khang

    Hospital

    Usage

    The first word to say when you feel seriously unwell

    Grammar Note

    men (medicine) + khang (house) = hospital

15. ཉེན་རྟོག་པ།

    Nyen tog pa

    Police

    Usage

    Who to ask for after a theft or an accident

16. ཚོང་ཁང་།

    Tshong khang

    Shop

    Usage

    The general word when asking where you can buy something

17. ཁང་མིག

    Khang mig

    Room

    Usage

    For booking, changing, or checking availability at a hotel

18. ལམ།

    Lam

    Road

    Usage

    For asking the way, usually while showing a map

19. ནང་མི།

    Nang mi

    Family

    Usage

    Comes up constantly in introductions and small talk

20. མིང་།

    Ming

    Name

    Usage

    For confirming a booking or introducing yourself

21. མགོ་བོ།

    Go wo

    Head

    Usage

    Point at the body part card to show where it hurts

22. མིག

    Mik

    Eye

    Usage

    Point at the body part card to show where it hurts

23. སོ།

    So

    Tooth

    Usage

    Use at a dentist or pharmacy to show where it hurts

24. མགྲིན་པ།

    Drin pa

    Throat

    Usage

    Point at the body part card to show where it hurts

25. གྲོད་པ།

    Trö pa

    Stomach / Belly

    Usage

    Point at the body part card to show where it hurts

26. རྒྱབ།

    Gyab

    Back

    Usage

    Point at the body part card to show where it hurts

27. རྐེད་པ།

    Ke pa

    Lower back / Waist

    Usage

    Use for lower-back pain, as distinct from the upper back

28. རྐང་པ།

    Kang pa

    Leg / Foot

    Usage

    Point at your own leg or foot to narrow down which part you mean

29. ལག་པ།

    Lag pa

    Hand

    Usage

    Point at your own hand while showing the card

30. བྲང་ཁོག

    Drang khog

    Chest

    Usage

    Use for chest pain or tightness (the chest, anatomically)

31. རྣ་བ།

    Na wa

    Ear

    Usage

    Point at the body part card to show where it hurts

32. སྐེ།

    Ke

    Neck

    Usage

    Point at the body part card to show where it hurts

33. དཔུང་པ།

    Pung pa

    Shoulder

    Usage

    Point at the body part card to show where it hurts

34. པུས་མོ།

    Pü mo

    Knee

    Usage

    Point at the body part card to show where it hurts

35. མཛུབ་མོ།

    Dzub mo

    Finger

    Usage

    Point at the injured or painful finger while showing the card

36. པགས་པ།

    Pag pa

    Skin

    Usage

    Use when reporting a rash, itching, or sunburn

37. སྣ།

    Na

    Nose

    Usage

    Use when reporting a blocked or running nose

38. མགྲོན་ཁང་།

    Drön khang

    Hotel

    Usage

    Point at it as your destination when asking for directions

39. གནམ་ཐང་།

    Nam thang

    Airport

    Usage

    Point at it as your destination in a taxi

40. གཞུང་ཚབ་ཁང་།

    Zhung tshab khang

    Embassy

    Usage

    Point at it as your destination if you lose your passport

Browse all TravelPhrases languages