Looking for practical Shona to Dzongkha phrases? This free guide lists 100 essential sentences for travel, study, work, and everyday conversation. Each line shows the Shona phrase first, then the Dzongkha translation (Dzongkha) — so you can scan quickly before a trip, class, or video call.
The phrases are grouped into eight topics: greetings and pleasantries, useful phrases for travellers, everyday conversation, directions and getting around, shopping and dining, emergencies and health, work and business, and time, days and numbers. Use the table of contents to jump straight to greetings, directions, dining, emergencies, or numbers. You do not need perfect grammar to start — short, clear sentences often work better than silence when you are learning Dzongkha.
Tip: when a Dzongkha phrase looks unfamiliar, compare it with the Shona wording — noticing word order differences helps you understand grammar naturally.
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Greetings and pleasantries
Hello, goodbye, please, thank you, and polite introductions for meeting new people.
Mhoro
བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལག་(Kuzuzangpo)
Ndatenda
ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ་(Thukje che)
Mangwanani akanaka
དགོངས་མོང་བདེ་ལག་(Gongmor)
Masikati akanaka
དགོངས་མོང་དགོངས་བདེ་ལག་(Gongmor)
Manheru akanaka
དགོངས་མོང་དགོངས་བདེ་ལག་(Gongmor)
Usiku hwakanaka
ཉིན་ལྷག་བདེ་ལག་(Nyeinlhak)
Tichasangana gare gare
དེ་ལྟར་ལྷོད་(De tar lhod)
Sara zvakanaka
བཞེས་བདེ་ལག་(Zheyde)
Zita rako ndiani?
ཁྱེད་རང་ག་རེ་མེད་རེད་(Khyedrang ga re med re)
Zita rangu ndiri John
ངའི་མིང་ཡིན་ཇོན་(Ngei ming yin John)
Uri sei?
ཁྱེད་རང་ག་རེ་བཟང་(Khyedrang ga re zhang)
Ndinofara kukuziva
ཁྱེད་རང་དང་བཞེས་བདེ་ལག་(Khyedrang dang zheyde)
Useful phrases for travellers
Airport, hotel, tickets, and transport phrases for getting around on a trip.
Unotaura Chirungu here?
ཁྱེད་རང་དབྱེད་དང་བཤད་གི་ཡོད་པས།(khyed rang dbye'd dang bshad gi yod pas?)
Handitauri Hindi zvakanaka
ང་ཧིན་དབྱེད་དང་བཤད་མི་འདུག།(nga hin dbye'd dang bshad mi 'dug)
Handinzwisisi
ང་གཏོད་མ་བྱུང་བའི་ཡོད།(nga gtod ma byung ba'i yod)
Ndokumbirawo utaure zvishoma
ཁྱེད་རང་ས་སྒྲིག་བཤད་རོགས།(khyed rang sa sgrig bshad rogs)
Ungazvitaura zvakare here?
ཁྱེད་རང་དེ་འདི་དགོངས་སོང་གས།(khyed rang de 'di dgongs song gs)
Chimbuzi chiripi?
ཁྱེད་རང་གསོལ་འདེབས་ག在哪里།(khyed rang gsol 'deb gna'i)