Essential Nepali Phrases for Travelers and Trekkers

You land in Kathmandu, clear customs, and the first Nepali you hear isn't from a textbook, it's a taxi driver asking कहाँ जाने? (kaha jane?, where are you going?). You don't need fluency for a trip like this. You need about 40 phrases that cover greetings, food, prices, directions, and the occasional emergency, said clearly enough that a teahouse owner in Namche Bazaar or a shopkeeper in Thamel understands you on the first try. That's what this list is for.

Courtesy phrases you'll use within the first hour

नमस्ते (namaste) is the word every guidebook leads with, and it earns the spot. It works as hello, goodbye, and a general greeting at any time of day, said with palms pressed together at chest height in a light bow. You'll hear and use it more than any other Nepali word on this list.

धन्यवाद (dhanyabad, thank you) covers most thanks-giving situations. For something small, like a shopkeeper handing you change, many Nepalis just smile and nod instead of saying it out loud; over-thanking for minor things can actually read as slightly formal or foreign. Save धन्यवाद for genuine help: a guide carrying your bag up a pass, a host cooking you dinner.

माफ गर्नुहोस् (maaf garnuhos, excuse me / sorry) does double duty. Use it to get someone's attention in a crowded market, or to apologize for stepping on someone's foot on a crowded bus. It's polite and safe in nearly any situation, formal or casual.

There's also हजुर (hajur), a small word that isn't quite translatable but shows up everywhere once you start listening for it. Said with rising intonation, it means "pardon me?" or "yes?" when you didn't catch something. Said flatly, it's a respectful way to answer someone older or of higher status, closer to "yes, sir/ma'am" than a plain "yes." You'll hear shopkeepers and guides use it constantly, and dropping it into your own speech, even imperfectly, signals that you're paying attention to Nepali social register, not just vocabulary.

Nepali	Romanization	Meaning
नमस्ते	namaste	hello / goodbye
धन्यवाद	dhanyabad	thank you
माफ गर्नुहोस्	maaf garnuhos	excuse me / sorry
पर्दैन	pardaina	no need, it's fine (declining politely)

Questions you'll ask constantly

Four questions come up so often on a trip to Nepal that they're worth memorizing cold, not just recognizing.

यो कति हो? (yo kati ho?, how much is this?) is the single most useful sentence in the country if you plan to buy anything. Point at the item, ask the question, and the answer comes back as a number, which you can practice separately (Nepali numbers are worth their own session, since most of them don't follow a predictable pattern the way English "twenty-one, twenty-two" does).

शौचालय कहाँ छ? (shauchalaya kaha cha?, where is the toilet?) sounds formal in Roman letters, but शौचालय is the standard word you'll see on signs, so it's the safest bet in an unfamiliar building. On the trail, guides and teahouse owners will understand it instantly.

तपाईंलाई अंग्रेजी आउँछ? (tapailai angreji aaucha?, do you speak English?) is worth asking before you launch into a long explanation in halting Nepali. It's also a good icebreaker: even a "थोरै" (thorai, a little) response usually means you can muddle through together.

कहाँ छ? (kaha cha?, where is it?) is the bare-bones version you can attach to almost any noun. घर कहाँ छ? (ghar kaha cha?, where is the house?), होटल कहाँ छ? (hotel kaha cha?, where is the hotel?). Learn the pattern once and you can ask about anything.

Notice the shared shape across all four questions: the question word (कति, कहाँ) comes early, and छ or हो lands at the end, doing the grammatical work an English question mark does on paper. That's a useful pattern to internalize even before you study Nepali grammar formally, because it means you can build new questions on the fly just by swapping the noun in the middle.

"यो कति हो?" "पाँच सय रुपैयाँ।" "अलि घटाउनुहोस् न!" ("Yo kati ho?" "Paanch saya rupaiyaa." "Ali ghataaunuhos na!") "How much is this?" "Five hundred rupees." "Bring it down a bit!"

On the trail: food, water, lodging, and distance

Trekking phrases split into two groups: what you need right now, and how far you have left to go.

पानी (pani, water) and खाना (khana, food) are the two nouns you'll say most on a multi-day trek. Combine them with दिनुहोस् (dinuhos, please give), a polite request form that works with almost any noun: पानी दिनुहोस् (pani dinuhos, please give me water). तातो पानी दिनुहोस् (taato pani dinuhos, please give me hot water) gets you tea-making water or a hot water bottle at altitude, which matters more than it sounds like it should once you're above 4,000 meters.

बस्ने ठाउँ छ? (basne thau cha?, is there a place to stay?) is your lodging question when you arrive in a village without a booking, which is still normal on many Nepal trekking routes. कोठा खाली छ? (kotha khaali cha?, is a room available?) is the more direct version once you've found a teahouse.

For distance, कति टाढा छ? (kati tadha cha?, how far is it?) gets asked dozens of times a day on the trail. The honest answer from a Nepali guide is often given in hours, not kilometers, because trail time depends more on elevation gain than horizontal distance: दुई घण्टा (dui ghanta, two hours) tells you more than a distance in kilometers would on a steep Himalayan path. If a porter tells you अलि माथि छ (ali maathi cha, it's a little further up), brace yourself; "a little further" on a mountain trail has a way of stretching.

Nepali	Romanization	Meaning
पानी दिनुहोस्	pani dinuhos	please give me water
खाना दिनुहोस्	khana dinuhos	please give me food
कोठा खाली छ?	kotha khaali cha?	is a room available?
कति टाढा छ?	kati tadha cha?	how far is it?
कति समय लाग्छ?	kati samaya laagcha?	how long does it take?

Numbers and bargaining in markets and tea houses

Fixed prices are rare outside of grocery chains in Kathmandu. In markets, souvenir shops, and even some tea houses, the first price you hear is an opening offer, not a final one.

Numbers one through ten are the foundation: एक (ek, one), दुई (dui, two), तीन (tin, three), चार (char, four), पाँच (paanch, five), छ (chha, six), सात (saat, seven), आठ (aath, eight), नौ (nau, nine), दश (dash, ten). Above ten, Nepali numbers stop following an obvious pattern (eleven isn't built from "ten" plus "one" the way it is in some languages), so plan to memorize eleven through twenty as its own small block if you'll be handling cash regularly.

महँगो भयो (mahango bhayo, that became expensive / too expensive) is the standard opening move in a bargaining exchange. Said with a slight smile, not an accusation, it signals you know the item is overpriced without being confrontational. अलि घटाउनुहोस् (ali ghataaunuhos, please reduce it a little) follows naturally after. If the price still doesn't move and you're willing to walk, ठिक छ, पर्दैन (thik cha, pardaina, okay, never mind) works as a polite exit, and it sometimes brings the price down on its own as you turn to leave.

Bargaining in Nepal is expected in tourist markets like Thamel, but it isn't universal. Fixed-price supermarkets, pharmacies, and most restaurant menus mean exactly what they say, and trying to haggle there reads as odd rather than savvy. The general rule locals use: if a price is printed or posted, it's fixed; if a vendor states a price out loud with no sign in sight, there's usually room to move it.

Emergencies and polite ways to decline

सहयोग गर्नुहोस्! (sahayog garnuhos!, help me!) is the phrase to know cold, not just recognize, for any situation that turns serious, whether that's a medical issue on the trail or feeling unsafe in a city. Say it loudly and clearly; it carries urgency the way "help" does in English.

अस्पताल कहाँ छ? (aspatal kaha cha?, where is the hospital?) and डाक्टर चाहियो (daaktar chahiyo, I need a doctor) cover the two most common medical requests a traveler makes. Altitude sickness is a real risk above roughly 3,000 meters on popular routes like the Annapurna Circuit or Everest Base Camp trek, so knowing how to ask for help quickly isn't just phrasebook trivia.

Declining doesn't have to be blunt. पर्दैन, धन्यवाद (pardaina, dhanyabad, no need, thank you) turns down a street vendor or an extra plate of food without sounding rude. It's gentler than a flat "no" (होइन, hoina), which Nepalis tend to reserve for correcting facts rather than declining offers.

Hospitality in Nepal, especially in rural areas and tea houses, often means being offered more food than you asked for, sometimes more than once. पुग्यो, धन्यवाद (pugyo, dhanyabad, that's enough, thank you) is the specific phrase for "I've had plenty," and it's more effective than a simple no at actually stopping a third helping of दाल भात from appearing in front of you.

Pronunciation and romanization: read this before you try to speak

Two sounds in this list will trip up an English speaker faster than anything else. The aspirated consonants, the "h" hiding inside khana, dhanyabad, and ghar, need a real puff of air, not a gentle breath. Say "pot" with your hand near your mouth and you'll feel it; that's the sound ख, घ, and ध are asking for. The romanization in this post spells them with an "h" for exactly that reason: kha is not the same sound as ka.

The second trap is the "t" sounds. तपाईं (tapai) and टोपी (topi) both romanize with a "t," but तपाईं touches the tongue to the teeth while टोपी curls the tongue back toward the roof of the mouth. None of the phrases above happen to need टोपी's retroflex "t," but you'll hear the contrast constantly once you're listening for it. For the fuller picture of Nepali's sound system, including exactly which consonant pairs and vowel lengths change meaning, this pronunciation guide walks through the contrasts with minimal pairs you can drill. And if the Devanagari letterforms themselves still look unfamiliar, the guide to the Devanagari script breaks down every vowel and consonant used in the phrases above.

Using this list on the ground

None of these phrases require perfect grammar to work. Nepalis dealing with travelers are used to broken sentences strung together with the right nouns and a polite tone, and a mispronounced माफ गर्नुहोस् still lands better than silence or English. Say नमस्ते first, always, even before you ask your question; it signals respect and buys you patience while you find the rest of your words.

Print this list, screenshot it, or load it before you lose signal on the trail, because you won't have Wi-Fi in most teahouses above Namche Bazaar. If you'd rather build these phrases into memory before you go, with native-speaker audio for every word here and a full course covering greetings, numbers, and travel situations in more depth, the Brightwood Apps Learn Nepali app walks through all of it lesson by lesson.