ཁྱེད་རང་སྐུ་གཟུགས་བདེ་པོ་ཡིན་པས།
khyed rang sku gzugs bde po yin pas?
In Tibetan, "how are you?" is ཁྱེད་རང་སྐུ་གཟུགས་བདེ་པོ་ཡིན་པས། (khyed rang sku gzugs bde po yin pas?).
This phrase is a polite greeting used to ask someone about their health and general well-being.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase begins with khyed rang, which means "you". The term sku gzugs literally means "body" or "physical form" and is used here as a respectful way to refer to the person's physical state. Finally, bde po means "well", "happy" or "peaceful".
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
The form ཁྱེད་རང་སྐུ་གཟུགས་བདེ་པོ་ཡིན་པས། is a polite and respectful way to ask how someone is doing.
How do you pronounce it?
khyed rang sku gzugs bde po yin pas?
When do people say it?
A common response to this greeting is བདེ་པོ་ཡིན།, which means "I am well".
Did you know?
- The word sku used in this greeting is a special honorific term for 'body' that is reserved for respected people and deities, rather than the common word for a physical body.
- Depending on the region, a greeting may be accompanied by a slight bow or by placing the palms together in a prayer-like gesture called anjali.
- In many Tibetan social contexts, the response བདེ་པོ་ཡིན། is given even if the person is struggling, as maintaining social harmony is often more important than literal accuracy.
Example conversation
Two friends meet on the street.
- རིནཅེན། Rinchenལྷ་མོ། ཁྱེད་རང་སྐུ་གཟུགས་བདེ་པོ་ཡིན་པས།Lhamo, khyed rang sku gzugs bde po yin pasLhamo, how are you?
- ལྷ་མོ། Lhamoང་བདེ་པོ་ཡིན། རིནཅེན་ཁྱེད་རང་ག་འདྲ་ཡོད།nga bde po yin. Rinchen khyed rang ga 'dra yodI am well. Rinchen, how are you?
- རིནཅེན། Rinchenང་ཡང་བདེ་པོ་ཡིན། ཐུགས་ cheer ཆེ།nga yang bde po yin. thugs cheer cheI am also well. Thank you.
- ལྷ་མོ། Lhamoལགས་སོ།lags soAlright.
