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Greetings: Tashi Delek and beyond
More than one way to say hello. When to use which greeting, and why it matters.
Tashi delek is the greeting every guidebook teaches — and it genuinely is the right place to start. But a real conversation needs a few more moves: how to ask after someone, how to answer, and how to take your leave warmly.
Hello / greetings (also “good luck”).
བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས།
tashi delek.
Welcome.
ཕྱག་ཕེབས་གནང་།
chaa-phe wang.
How are you?
ཁྱེད་རང་སྐུ་གཟུགས་བདེ་པོ་ཡིན་པས།
khye-rang ku-sug de-po yin-pey?
Very well, thank you — and you?
བདེ་པོ་ཡིན། ཁྱེད་རང་ག་འདྲས་ཡོད།
de-po yin, khye-rang ga-day yo?
Pleased to meet you.
ཁྱེད་རང་མཇལ་ནས་དགའ་པོ་བྱུང་།
khye-rang jel-ney ga-po joong.
Thank you very much.
ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ།
thu-je-chhe.
Safe travels / goodbye (to someone leaving).
ག་ལེ་ཕེབས།
ga-le pheb.
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