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← Phrase guide ☏
Phrase guide

Dzongkha phrases for your Bhutan trip

Written by The Trip Keeper team Content updated 30 Oct 2026 Facts last checked 30 Oct 2026
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The short answer

Here is the good news first: English is the medium of instruction in Bhutan and is spoken in hotels, restaurants and by every licensed guide, and Hindi is widely understood in Phuentsholing and across the tourism trade. You can do the whole trip in English. Even so, Bhutanese light up at a kuzuzangpo la and kadrin chhe in their own tongue - and the phrases below carry you through markets, eateries and dzong mornings. Dzongkha is written in the Tibetan script; we give native script where reliable sources publish it, with easy romanization everywhere.

The five phrases that matter most

ཀུཌུ་ཛང་པོ་ལགས
ku-zu zang-po-la
Hello
नमस्ते
ཀ་དྲིན་ཆེ
ka-drin-che
Thank you
धन्यवाद
ང་ཤ་ཟ་མི།
nga sha za-mi
I do not eat meat
मैं मांस नहीं खाता/खाती
འདི་གོང་ག་དེམ་ཅིག་མོ?
di gong ga-dem-chig-mo
How much does it cost?
यह कितने का है?
སྤྱི་གསང་གང་ཨིན་ན?
chi-sang gang-in-na
Where is the toilet?
टॉयलेट कहाँ है?

All the phrases

Greetings and thanks

EnglishLocal scriptHow to say itहिन्दी
Hello ཀུཌུ་ཛང་པོ་ལགས ku-zu zang-po-la नमस्ते
How are you? (polite) Gadaybay zhu yi ga? ga-day-bay zhu yi ga आप कैसे हैं?
I am fine Legshom leg-shom मैं ठीक हूं
Thank you ཀ་དྲིན་ཆེ ka-drin-che धन्यवाद
See you later (formal) Shoo lay log jay gay shoo lay log jay gay फिर मिलेंगे

Getting help

EnglishLocal scriptHow to say itहिन्दी
Do you speak English? ཨིང་ལིཤ་སླབ་ཚུགས་ག? ing-lish lab-tsug-ga क्या आप अंग्रेज़ी बोलते हैं?
I do not understand ག་གོ་མ་ཤེས ga-go ma-shay मैं नहीं समझा/समझी
Can you help me? ང་ལུ་རོགས་རམ་འབད་གནང་? nga-lu rog-ram bay-nang क्या आप मेरी मदद कर सकते हैं?
I am lost ང་ལམ་འཁྱམས་ཡི nga lam khyam-yi मैं रास्ता भूल गया/गई

Food (vegetarian, Jain, allergies)

EnglishLocal scriptHow to say itहिन्दी
I do not eat meat ང་ཤ་ཟ་མི། nga sha za-mi मैं मांस नहीं खाता/खाती
Does this contain meat? འདི་ནང་ཤ་ཡོད་ག? di-nang sha yo-ga क्या इसमें मांस है?
I have a food allergy ང་ལུ་ཟས་སྒོ་གི་ཨེལ་ལར་ཇི་ཡོད nga-lu ze-go-gi al-lar-ji yo मुझे खाने से एलर्जी है
I am allergic to dairy. Does this contain milk or dairy? ང་ལུ་འོ་མའི་ཨེལ་ལར་ཇི་ཡོད། འདི་ནང་འོ་མ་ཡོད་ག? nga-lu o-ma-gi el-lar-ji yo. di-nang o-ma yo-ga मुझे डेयरी से एलर्जी है। क्या इसमें दूध या डेयरी है?
It is delicious zhim bay zhim bay बहुत स्वादिष्ट है
May I please have _____? Nga lu _____ nang mey la nga lu _____ nang mey la कृपया मुझे _____ दीजिए

Directions and transport

EnglishLocal scriptHow to say itहिन्दी
Where is _____? _____ gatey? _____ gatey _____ कहाँ है?
Where is the toilet? སྤྱི་གསང་གང་ཨིན་ན? chi-sang gang-in-na टॉयलेट कहाँ है?
Let us go jogay jo-gay चलें

Shopping and numbers

EnglishLocal scriptHow to say itहिन्दी
How much does it cost? འདི་གོང་ག་དེམ་ཅིག་མོ? di gong ga-dem-chig-mo यह कितने का है?
A discount, please gong phab nang mey la gong phab nang mey la कुछ कम कीजिए

Emergency

EnglishLocal scriptHow to say itहिन्दी
Where is the hospital? སྨན་ཁང་གང་ཨིན་ན? men-khang gang-in-na अस्पताल कहाँ है?
Help! I need a doctor! རོགས་རམ! སྨན་པ་དགོས། rog-ram men-pa go मदद! मुझे डॉक्टर चाहिए!

Save or print

Save the top phrases as a picture to send to your parents, or print the whole sheet.

The five phrases that matter most
Hello / नमस्ते
ཀུཌུ་ཛང་པོ་ལགས (ku-zu zang-po-la)
Thank you / धन्यवाद
ཀ་དྲིན་ཆེ (ka-drin-che)
I do not eat meat / मैं मांस नहीं खाता/खाती
ང་ཤ་ཟ་མི། (nga sha za-mi)
How much does it cost? / यह कितने का है?
འདི་གོང་ག་དེམ་ཅིག་མོ? (di gong ga-dem-chig-mo)
Where is the toilet? / टॉयलेट कहाँ है?
སྤྱི་གསང་གང་ཨིན་ན? (chi-sang gang-in-na)

Trips to Bhutan

We have no open trip to Bhutan right now. Tell us your dates and we will help you find one.

Quick questions

Do I need Dzongkha for a Bhutan trip?

Not at all for survival: English is Bhutan's medium of instruction and is spoken in hotels, restaurants, shops and by every licensed guide - you can do the entire trip in English. Hindi is widely understood in Phuentsholing and across the tourism trade. But a kuzuzangpo la and kadrin chhe in Dzongkha noticeably warm every interaction, and in remote villages Dzongkha is the working language.

Is Dzongkha written like Hindi?

No - Dzongkha uses the Tibetan script (Uchen), not Devanagari, so you will not be able to sound out signboards the way you can in Nepal. In practice it does not matter: road signs, menus and tourist information are in English, and every phrase above carries an easy romanization.

Will Hindi get us by in Bhutan?

In Phuentsholing and Indian-run businesses, yes - border trade means Hindi is widely understood there. In Thimphu, Paro and the valleys, English is the bridge; many in tourism also follow some Hindi thanks to Indian films and visitors. When in doubt, simple English works.

Which five phrases should I learn first?

Kuzuzangpo la (hello), kadrin chhe (thank you), nga sha za-mi (I do not eat meat), di gong ga-dem-chig-mo (how much does it cost?) and chi-sang gang-in-na (where is the toilet?). These five are starred above.

What other languages will we hear in Bhutan?

Dzongkha is the national language, but you will also hear Sharchop in the east and Nepali (Lhotshamkha) in the south, plus regional languages like Bumthang. English and Dzongkha cover every tourist need.

Sources

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