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?)
Problems
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
Colors
Transportation
Bus and train
Directions
Taxi
Taxi = "gyerkhor" Fare = "lha " How much =" ak pa thek yo"
Lodging
Money
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