Tibetan (བོད་སྐད་)

travel phpto to inspire Tibetan language study
View of Yarlung Tsangpo river. Photo by Boqiang Liao, CC BY-SA 2.0

ALPHABET MATCHING GAME VOCABULARY FLASHCARDS

Why learn Tibetan?

Communication skills developed while learning Tibetan can improve your interpersonal skills in your native langauge as well. Your marketable skills in the global economy are improved when you master Tibetan. Aquiring a second language can improve your skills and grades in math and English. it fosters an understanding of the interrelation of language and human nature.

How Long Does it Take to Learn Tibetan?

Tibetan is rated as a category 3 language by the Foreign Service Institute. It is considered moderately difficult for English speakers to learn and takes an average of 44 weeks (or 1100 class hours) to gain professional working proficiency.

Tibetan Alphabet & Pronunciation


[ka]

[tʃa]

[ta]

[pa]

[tsa]

[ʒa*]

[ra]

[ha]

[kʰa]

[tʃʰa]

[tʰa]

[pʰa]

[tsʰa]

[za*]

[la]

[a]

[ɡa*]

[dʒa*]

[da*]

[ba*]

[dza*]

[a]

[ʃa]

[ŋa]

[ɲa]

[na]

[ma]

[wa]

[ja]

[sa]

Basic Phrases in Tibetan

Helloབཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལགས།། (Tashi Delek)
Goodbye (Shug Dan ja)
Yes
No
Excuse me (Gong-pa Ma-sum)
Please
Thank youཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ་། (thuk-je-che)
You are welcome
Do you speak english (khye-rang yin-ji-kay gyab thub gi yo pe?)
Do you understand
I understand
I do not understand
How are youཁྱེད་རང་སྐུ་གཇུགས་བདེ་པོ་ཡིན་པས། (kayrang kusu debo-yimbay?)
Fine thanks
What is your name (Khedrand ming Gangyin?)
My name is (Ngai ming ___ yin)
Pleased to meet you

Tibetan Grammar

Tibetan Nouns

Man
Woman
Boy
Girl
Cat
Dog
Fish
Water (Cu)
Milk
Egg
House
Flower
Tree
Shirt
Pants

Tibetan Adjectives

Colors in Tibetan

Black
White
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Purple
Pink
Gray
Brown

Numbers in Tibetan

Zero
One (Cheek)
Two (Nyee)
Three (Soom)
Four (Zhee)
Five (Nga)
Six (Drook)
Seven (Dün)
Eight (Gyay)
Nine (G00)
Ten (Choo)
Eleven (Choo Cheek)
Twelve (Choo Nyee)
Twenty (Nyee-Choo)
Thirty (Soom Choo)
Forty (Shi Choo)
Fifty (Nga Choo)
Sixty (Drook Choo)
Seventy (Dün Choo)
Eighty (Gyay Choo)
Ninety (Goo Choo)
Hundred (Gya)
Thousand (Chik Thong)

Tibetan Verbs

To be
To have
To want
To need
To help
To go
To come
To eat
To drink
To speak

Building Simple Sentences

More Complex Tibetan Sentences

And
Or
But
Because
With
Also
However
Neither
Nor
If
Then

Useful Tibetan Vocabulary

Tibetan Questions

Who
What
When
Where
Why
How
How many
How much

Days of the Week in Tibetan

Mondayགཟའ་ཟླ་བ་ (dawa)
Tuesdayགཟའ་མིག་དམར་ (Mikmar)
Wednesday
Thursdayགཟའ་ཕུར་བུ། (Purbu)
FridayLhakpa (Pasang)
Saturdayགཟའ་སྤེན་པ་ (Penba)
Sundayགཟའ་ཉི་མ་ (nyima)
Yesterday
Today
Tomorrow

Months in Tibetan

January (ཟླ་དང་པོ)
February (ཟླ་གཉིས་པ།)
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Seasons in Tibetan

Winter
Spring
Summer
Autumn

Telling Time in Tibetan

What time is it
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
O clock
Half
Quarter past
Before
After