ག་ལེ་ཕེབས
ga le phebs
In Tibetan, goodbye is said as ག་ལེ་ཕེབས (ga le phebs). Wiktionary also lists ག་ལེ་ཞུགས (ga le zhugs).
Meaning: farewell (intj)
Ways to say it
| Tibetan | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| ག་ལེ་ཕེབས | ga le phebs |
| ག་ལེ་ཞུགས | ga le zhugs |
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase ག་ལེ་ཕེབས literally means 'go safely'.
Which one should you use?
While both forms are used for farewells, ག་ལེ་ཕེབས uses the honorific verb for 'to go', whereas ག་ལེ་ཞུགས is a highly respectful honorific form used when addressing elders or respected individuals.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
Both ག་ལེ་ཕེབས and ག་ལེ་ཞུགས are honorific forms. Use ག་ལེ་ཕེབས when addressing someone of higher status or showing respect, and use ག་ལེ་ཞུགས when addressing elders or respected individuals.
How does it change in a sentence?
The form ག་ལེ་ཕེབས uses the honorific verb for 'to go'.
How do you pronounce it?
ga le phebs
Did you know?
- Because Tibetan Buddhism emphasizes impermanence, some traditional farewells may include wishes for the person to achieve enlightenment or avoid suffering.
- The word ག་ལེ་ in these phrases also functions as a standalone command meaning 'slowly' or 'take it easy'.
- Because both forms are honorific, using them with a close friend or a child can actually sound unintentionally stiff or mockingly formal.
Example sentences for Tibetan are not verified yet.
Example conversation
Tsering is leaving Lhamo's house.
- ཚེ་རིང་། Tseringང་ད་ལྟ་འགྲོ་དགོས།nga da lta dro gosI have to go now.
- ལྷ་མོ། Lhamoག་ལེ་ཕེབས།ga le phebsGoodbye (go safely).
- ཚེ་རིང་། Tseringཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ།thugs rje cheThank you.
- ལྷ་མོ། Lhamoལྷ་མོའི་ནང་ལ་ åter-འོང་།lha mo'i nang la ater ongCome back to Lhamo's house again.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “goodbye” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
