In Tibet, most people can't speak English but sometimes you may need to strike up a simple conversation with the locals such as a decent greeting during your trip. Learning some simple Tibetan words and numbers before your arrival will enable you to become more confident, closer to the Tibetan people, and have a deeper understanding of the local culture.
Here are some simple Tibetan numbers:
Numbers | Tibetan Pronunciation | Tibetan Number |
1 | chig | ༡ |
2 | nyi | ༢ |
3 | sum | ༣ |
4 | shi | ༤ |
5 | nga | ༥ |
6 | thru' | ༦ |
7 | tun | ༧ |
8 | kyä | ༨ |
9 | ku | ༩ |
10 | chu | ༡༠ |
11 | cuci | ༡༡ |
12 | cunyi | ༡༢ |
13 | cuksum | ༡༣ |
14 | cupshi | ༡༤ |
15 | conga | ༡༥ |
16 | cutru | ༡༦ |
17 | cuptun | ༡༧ |
18 | copkya | ༡༨ |
19 | curku | ༡༩ |
20 | nyishu | ༢༠ |