Bumthangkha phrasebook

Bumthangkha is a regional language of in the Bumthang area of Bhutan.

Pronunciation guide

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
	Unrounded	Rounded
Close	/i/	/y/		/u, o/
Mid	/ɛ/	/ø/	/ə/	/ɔ/
Open			/a/	/ɑ/
Diphthong	/e, ɤ/

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	tenuis	p	t̪		k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	t̪ʰ		kʰ
	voiced	b	d̪		ɡ
Affricate	tenuis		t͡s	t͡ɕ
	aspirated		t͡sʰ	t͡ɕʰ
	voiced			d͡ʑ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ɕ		h
	voiced	v	z	ʑ		ɦ
Lateral			l

Common diphthongs

Coda		Open			Nasal			Glottal stop
Medial		∅	j	w	∅	j	w	∅	j	w
Nucleus	i	i
	y	y
	u	u
	o	o
	e	e		we
	ɤ	ɤ	jɤ
	ɛ	ɛ	jɛ	wɛ	ɪɲ			ɪʔ
	ø	ø	jø	wø	ʏɲ			ʏʔ
	ə				ən		wən	əʔ		wəʔ
	ɔ	ɔ	jɔ		ʊŋ	jʊŋ		ʊʔ	jʊʔ
	a	a	ja	wa	ɐ̃	jɐ̃	wɐ̃	ɐʔ	jɐʔ	wɐʔ
	ɑ				ɑ̃	jɑ̃	wɑ̃

Phrase list

Basics

Hello.

. (Kuzuzangpo la )

Hello. (informal)

. (Kuzu )

How are you?

 ? (ah dar nak ke)

Fine, thank you.

. (laso kadinchey la )

What is your name?

 ? ( weth key meng sha yo?)

My name is ___Nga gey ___ .

meng . ( tzha yo.)

Nice to meet you.

. (domzay gasth )

Please.

. (kuje )

Thank you.

. ( kadin chay)

You're welcome.

. ( tsoro bu si ma sung la )

Yes.

. (phath )

No.

. ( mengo)

Excuse me. (getting attention)

. ( gom ma thay la)

Excuse me. (begging pardon)

. ( gom ma thay la)

I'm sorry.

. ( gom ma thay la)

Goodbye

. (lok sey jay gey )

Goodbye (informal)

. (kachin bu sey gala )

I can't speak Bumthangkha [well].

[ ]. ( [ ])

Do you speak English?

 ? ( philingpa kha khan ya?)

Is there someone here who speaks English?

 ? ( philingba kha khan kan na ya?)

Help!

 ! ( !)

Look out!

 ! (wai !)

Good morning.

. (kuzuzangpo )

Good evening.

. ( kuzuzangpo)

Good night.

. (chiru delek )

Good night (to sleep)

. (ka chin bu si sim la )

I don't understand.

. ( mabran)

Where is the toilet?

 ? ( chabsang ao na?)

Numbers

1 : Thaek 2  ; tson 3  : tsum 4 : blay 5 ;ya nga 6 :rok 7 ; nyith 8 ; jath 9 ; dokgo 10; chey

Time

Clock time

"chu tsud"

Duration

"dutsed"

Days

"ngyan"

Months

"la"

Writing time and date

Date : Date/Month/Year Time : Hour(day or night) and Minutes

Transportation

Taxi

Taxi = "gyerkhor" Fare = "lha " How much =" ak pa thek yo"

Eating

I am hungry : Bru nas

Can I have some? : chi gath tzu gi

Meal  : shay go / zama

Rice  : zama

Curry  : ruk

Soup  : cho tsa

Water  ; kway

Hot  : kep kep

Cold  : nagk sim sim

eggs  ; kha wa tey

Meat  : sha

cheese  : phrum

butter  ; mar

delicious  ; ngam da

not delicious  ; mey ngam da

sweet  ; ngok tom ma

sour  ; thun ma

I am full  : joma rangs

It was prepared very well  : ka chin bu si kher na

oil  : nom

salt  ; tsa

sugar  ; guram

chilly  ; bangala

cilantro  ; yotsey

tea  ; ja

orange juice  : tsa lum khway