Burmese phrasebook

Ooaj Travel Guide, tourism, hotel reservation, residence, plane, cheap pension for you

Free Travel guide Ooaj.com A free travel guide for holidays. Easy phrasebook to learn burmese Bed and Breakfast!

Burmese (bama zaga) is the official and primary language of Myanmar. It is closely related to Chinese and Tibetan. The government uses the term "Myanmar" to describe the language, although most continue to refer to the language as "Burmese".

Pronunciation guide

Read English signs properly

Burmese, similar to French, rarely has consanant endings, because most become aspirated (become 'h' sounds) or silent. Burmese names spelt in English include these endings to denote the fact that the endings are written. These endings include:

such as in Kyaiktiyo (a Buddhist pilgrimage site), which is pronounched chaih-TEE-ou.

'ng'

such as in Sagaing (a city in Myanmar), which is pronounced za-gainh.

such as in Myanmar, which is pronounced myan-MA.

such as in Thatbyinnyu (a temple in Bagan), which is pronounced thah-BYIN-nyu.

Burmese is a tonal language, consisting of four tones (low, high, creaky, checked). All dialects of Burmese in Myanmar adhere to this rule, although vocabulary usage varies from region to region.

Burmese is written using the Burmese script, which is based on an ancient Sri Lankan script called Pali. Its alphabet contains 34 letters, which look like circles or semi-circles. The Burmese script also contains many tone marks and sound modifying marks.

Burmese uses an English-based romanisation system.

Vowels

Burmese has a complicated set of vowels, containing 12 vowels.

Diphthongs

ai: like the 'i' in site
au: like the 'ou' in out; always used with a consanant ending
ei: like the 'a' in ache
ou: like the 'oa' in moat

Monophthongs

a: like the 'a' in mama
e: like the 'e' in she
i: like the 'ea' in meat
o: like the 'o' in tote
u: like the 'ew' in lewd
ih: like the 'i' in trip

Consonants

Burmese consanants are aspirated (contains an 'h' sound) and unaspirated (does not contain an 'h' sound).

Aspirated and unaspirated consanants are romanised irregularly, because a uniform system does not yet exist.

b: like the 'b' in bat
d: like the 'd' in dagger
g: like the 'g' in gap
h: like the 'h' in house
k: like the 'k' in tanker
kh: like the 'c' in cat
l: like the 'l' in love
m: like the 'm' in mad
n: like the 'n' in nut
ng: like the 'ng' in dancing
ny: like the 'ni' in onion
p: like the 'p' in
ph: like the 'p' in pig
r: becomes a 'y', or is silent
s: like a 's' in sing, or becomes a 'th' sound
hs: like a 's' in sound
t: like a 't' in that
th: like a 't' in tongue
w: like a 'w' in win
y: like a 'y' in young
z: like a 'z' in zoo

Phrase list

Negations

Burmese, when negating verbs, uses two of the following structures:

ma + ____ + bu

used to mean that the verb was not accomplished. Example: Nei ma kaing bu, which means "You did not touch it".

ma + ____ + neh

used to mean that the verb must not be accomplished. Example: Nei ma kaing neh, which means "You do not touch it."

Basics

Hello.: . (Min-ga-la-ba)
Hello. (informal): . (Nei kaung la?)
How are you?: ? (Nei kaun la?)
Fine, thank you.: . (Kya-naw ga kaung dhe)
What is your name?: ? (Ka-mya yhe nan-bhe ga ba-lhe?)
My name is ______ .: ______ . (Kya-naw yhe nan-bhe ga _____.)
Nice to meet you.: . (')
Please.: . ( )
Thank you.: . (Kyei-zu-thin ba-dhe.)
You're welcome.: . (Ya ba-dhe.)
Yes.: . (Ho dhe.)
No.: . (Ma ho bu.)
Excuse me. (getting attention): . (Ka-mya?)
Excuse me. (begging pardon): . ( )
I'm sorry.: . ( )
Goodbye: . (Thaw daw-mhe)
Goodbye (informal): . (Thaw daw-mhe)
I can't speak name of language well.: . ( Kya-naw ga ba-ma-za-ga go kaung-kaung ma tha bu.)
Do you speak English?: ? ( Ka-mya ga in-glei-za-ga go that la?)
Is there someone here who speaks English?: ? (In-glei-za-ga that dhe lu di-ma she la?)
Help!: ! (A-ku-nyi lo dhe!)
Look out!: ! ( !)
Good morning.: . ( )
Good evening.: . ( )
Good night.: . ( )
Good night (to sleep): . ( )
I don't understand.: . (Kya-naw ma thi bu)
Where is the toilet?: ? (Ka-mya yei, ein-da ga bhe ma lhe?)

Problems

Numbers

Burmese numbers follow the Arabic system of numerals.

0: (thoun-nya)
1: (thih)
2: (hnih)
3: (thoun)
4: (lei)
5: (nga)
6: (chauk)
7: (kuun-hni)
8: (shih)
9: (ko)
10: (seh)
11: (seh-thih)
12: (seh-hnih)
13: (seh-thoun)
14: (seh-lei)
15: (seh-nga)
16: (seh-chauk)
17: (seh-kuun)
18: (seh-shih)
19: (seh-ko)
20: (hna-seh)
21: (hna-seh-thih)
22: (hna-seh-hnih)
23: (hna-seh-thoun)
30: (thoun-zeh)
40: (lei-zeh)
50: (nga-zeh)
60: (chauk-seh)
70: (kue-na-seh)
80: (shih-seh)
90: (ko-zeh)
100: (thih-ya)
200: (hni-ya)
300: (thoun-ya)
500: (nga-ya)
1000: (thah-taung)
2000: (hna-taung)
10,000: (thah-thaung)
number _____ (train, bus, etc.): Burmese uses several measure words. As a general rule, use ku for items, and yau for persons.

Time

now: a-gu
later: nao-ma
before: a-shei
morning: ma-neh
afternoon
night: nya

Clock time

What time is it?: Beh na-nai to bi leh?
It is nine in the morning.: Ko nai to bi.
Three-thirty PM.: Thoun nai kwe.

Duration

_____ minute(s): min-hnih
_____ hour(s): nai
_____ day(s): yeh
_____ week(s): bah
_____ month(s): la
_____ year(s): hnih

Days

today: di-nei
yesterday: ma-nei
tomorrow: ma-neh-pyan

this week: di-bah
last week: a-yin-bah
next week: nauk-bah

Months

Writing time and date

Colors

black: a-meh-yaun
white: a-pyu-yaun
gray: a-
red: a-ni-yaun
blue: a-
yellow: a-wa-yaun
green: a-sein-yaun
orange: a-
purple: a-
brown: a-
Do you have it in another color?: Di-ha go nau-a-yaun deh she la?

Transportation

Bus and train

Directions

Taxi

Lodging

Money

Eating

Bars

Shopping

Driving

Authority

Learning more

Biggest country to travel:	Biggest cities to travel:	Islands in the top travel 40:	World Travel guide	Random travel link:
Indonesia France USA Australia	London in England Los Angeles in USA Karachi in Pakistan Sydney in Australia	Belize Hawaii Maldives Lanai New_Zealand	Israel Ecuador Botswana Somalia Montserrat	Belgium Portugal California Paris in France United_States_of_America

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0

Url Rewriting et referencement made by Atuvu
Photographe aix en provence Daniel Weiss
Ooaj Travel Guide Home Page

Ooaj Travel Guide, tourism, hotel reservation, residence, plane, cheap pension for you

Free Travel guide Ooaj.com A free travel guide for holidays. Easy phrasebook to learn burmese Bed and Breakfast!