ང་ཁྱེད་རང་ལ་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད།
nga khyed rang la dga' po yod
The English phrase "I love you" is expressed in Tibetan as ང་ཁྱེད་རང་ལ་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད། (nga khyed rang la dga' po yod).
Depending on the intensity of the relationship and the context, དགའ་པོ་ཡོད། can mean both "to like" and "to love".
Meaning: affirmation of romantic feeling (phrase)
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase literally translates to "I to you like/love have", expressing the sentiment "I have a feeling of liking/loving toward you".
How do you pronounce it?
nga khyed rang la dga' po yod
Did you know?
- Tibetan culture often uses the concept of སྙིང་རྗེ།, a deep compassionate love, which is distinct from the romantic love expressed in ང་ཁྱེད་རང་ལ་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད།.
- In some regions, it is more common to express affection by asking if someone has eaten or reminding them to stay warm than by using a direct phrase for love.
- The word དགའ་ (dga') also relates to the concept of 'joy' or 'happiness', suggesting that loving someone is inextricably linked to the feeling of delight.
Example conversation
A couple is talking while walking in a park.
- ཚེ་རིང་མོ། Tseringmoཚེ་རིང་། ང་ཁྱེད་རང་ལ་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད།Tsering, nga khyed rang la ga po yö.Tsering, I love you.
- ཚེ་རིང་། Tseringང་ཡང་ཁྱེད་རང་ལ་དགའ་པོ་ཡོད།nga yang khyed rang la ga po yö.I love you too.
- ཚེ་རིང་མོ། Tseringmoང་ཚོ་ནམ་ཡང་མཉམ་དུ་སྡོད་པར་ཆོགnga tsho nam yang nyam du dö par chog.We can stay together forever.
- ཚེ་རིང་། Tseringདེ་ནི་གནམ་གཤིས་ལྟ་བུ་རེད།de ni gnam gshis lta bu red.That is like a dream.
