Looking for practical Tumbuka to Dzongkha phrases? This free guide lists 100 essential sentences for travel, study, work, and everyday conversation. Each line shows the Tumbuka 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: read the Dzongkha line out loud three times, then cover the Tumbuka side and try to recall the meaning — repetition builds memory faster than silent reading.
Bookmark this page for offline review, share it with a travel buddy, or open the Tumbuka to Dzongkha translator to paste your own messages and get an instant translation.
Greetings and pleasantries
Hello, goodbye, please, thank you, and polite introductions for meeting new people.
Moni
བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལག་(Kuzuzangpo)
Zikomo
ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ་(Thukje che)
Muli bwanji
དགོངས་མོང་བདེ་ལག་(Gongmor)
Muli bwanji
དགོངས་མོང་དགོངས་བདེ་ལག་(Gongmor)
Muli bwanji
དགོངས་མོང་དགོངས་བདེ་ལག་(Gongmor)
Usiku wabwino
ཉིན་ལྷག་བདེ་ལག་(Nyeinlhak)
Tiwonana
དེ་ལྟར་ལྷོད་(De tar lhod)
Tsalani bwino
བཞེས་བདེ་ལག་(Zheyde)
Dzina lanu ndi ndani?
ཁྱེད་རང་ག་རེ་མེད་རེད་(Khyedrang ga re med re)
Dzina langa ndi John
ངའི་མིང་ཡིན་ཇོན་(Ngei ming yin John)
Muli bwanji?
ཁྱེད་རང་ག་རེ་བཟང་(Khyedrang ga re zhang)
Ndine wokondwa kukumana nanu
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.
Muli ndi Chingerezi?
ཁྱེད་རང་དབྱེད་དང་བཤད་གི་ཡོད་པས།(khyed rang dbye'd dang bshad gi yod pas?)
Sikuyankhula Hindi bwino
ང་ཧིན་དབྱེད་དང་བཤད་མི་འདུག།(nga hin dbye'd dang bshad mi 'dug)
Sindikumva
ང་གཏོད་མ་བྱུང་བའི་ཡོད།(nga gtod ma byung ba'i yod)
Chonde yankhulani pang'ono
ཁྱེད་རང་ས་སྒྲིག་བཤད་རོགས།(khyed rang sa sgrig bshad rogs)
Mungandiyankhulepo?
ཁྱེད་རང་དེ་འདི་དགོངས་སོང་གས།(khyed rang de 'di dgongs song gs)
Kuti ndi kuti?
ཁྱེད་རང་གསོལ་འདེབས་ག在哪里།(khyed rang gsol 'deb gna'i)