Photography

1. པར་རྒྱབ་ཆོག་གམ།

   Par-gyab chog-gam?

   May I take a photo?

   Usage

   Used to ask permission before photographing a person or location. Essential in temples.

   Grammar Note

   "Chog" is the permissive modal meaning "may/is allowed." "Gam" is the question particle. Many Tibetan temples have photography restrictions — always ask first.

2. ཁྱེད་རང་གི་པར་རྒྱབ་ཆོག་གམ།

   Khe-rang-gi par gyab chog-gam?

   May I take your photo?

   Usage

   Polite request for permission to photograph someone.

   Grammar Note

   "Khe-rang" is the respectful second-person pronoun. Photographing Tibetan people requires cultural sensitivity — always request permission.

3. གནམ་གྲུ་ཐང་ལ་པར་རྒྱབ་ཆོག་གི་མིན།

   Nam-dru-thang la par gyab chog-gi min

   Photography is not allowed at the airport.

   Usage

   Used to inform someone that photography is prohibited in an area.

   Grammar Note

   "Chog-gi min" negates "chog" (allowed) to mean "not allowed/prohibited." Military and government facilities in Tibet strictly prohibit photography.

4. འདི་ལ་པར་རྒྱབ་རོགས།

   Di la par gyab rok

   Please take a photo of this.

   Usage

   Used when asking someone to photograph you or something for you.

   Grammar Note

   "Rok" is a polite request particle placed after the verb. This is the standard form for polite requests in Tibetan.

5. འདི་ལ་པར་རྒྱག་རིན་ཡོད་དམ།

   Di la par gyag-rin yod dam?

   Is there a photography fee?

   Usage

   Used to ask whether there is a fee for taking photos at a temple or tourist site.

   Grammar Note

   "Rin" means "fee/price" and often appears in compound words. Iconic sites like the Potala Palace may charge separate photography fees for certain areas.

6. འདི་ལ་ཡུལ་ལྗོངས་མཛེས་པོ་ཡོད།

   Di la yül-jong dze-po yö

   There are beautiful views here.

   Usage

   Used to point out a scenic photography spot.

   Grammar Note

   "Yül-jong" means scenery or landscape. "Dze-po" means "beautiful" and is also used in other cards of this language.

7. བཀྲ་ཤིས་རྟགས་བརྒྱད་ལ་པར་རྒྱག་གི་ཡོད།

   Ta-shi tag-gye la par gyag-gi yö

   I am photographing the auspicious symbols.

   Usage

   Used when photographing Tibetan Buddhist auspicious symbols (Eight Auspicious Signs).

   Grammar Note

   The Eight Auspicious Signs (Tashi Tagye) are: dharma wheel, conch, umbrella, fish, vase, lotus, victory banner, and endless knot — frequently depicted in Tibetan art.

8. དྲི་མ་མེད་པའི་པར་ལོན་སོང་།

   Dri-ma me-pe par lon-song

   I got a beautiful clear photo.

   Usage

   Used to express satisfaction after taking a good photo.

   Grammar Note

   "Lon-song" is the completive form of "to get/obtain." "Dri-ma me-pa" literally means "without blemish/stain," used for clarity or purity.

9. པར་ང་ལ་བསྐུར་ཐུབ་བམ།

   Par nga la kur thub bam?

   Can you share the photos?

   Usage

   Used when requesting to share photos taken together.

   Grammar Note

   "Kur" means "to send". This asks the person to send the photos to you ("nga la" = "to me") so they are shared.

10. གར་སར་པར་ཆས་ཡོད།

    Gar-sar par-ché yö

    There are cameras everywhere.

    Usage

    Used to describe the presence of cameras or surveillance equipment in tourist areas.

    Grammar Note

    "Par-ché" means "photo equipment", i.e. a camera. "Yö" is the existential verb "there is".

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