Daenerys's Dothraki Phrases in Game of Thrones (With Translation)

Daenerys's Dothraki Phrases in Game of Thrones

Daenerys Targaryen learned Dothraki across one season of television. The actress, Emilia Clarke, learned it phonetically with David J. Peterson's coaching. The result is some of the most quoted conlang dialogue in modern television.

This is a guide to every memorable Dothraki line Daenerys delivers, with literal translation, scene context, and the grammar behind why each sentence works.

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Anha zhilak yera — "I love you"

Scene: Daenerys to Drogo, late Season 1. Word by word:

• Anha — I
• zhilak — love (1st person singular, present tense)
• yera — you (accusative case)

This is the line that launched a thousand fan tattoos. The grammar is SVO (subject-verb-object) like English, but the case marking on yera (accusative) is where Dothraki's complexity hides. The nominative form is yer — "you" as the subject of a sentence — and it changes shape depending on the role.

The expanded version Daenerys uses with Drogo is Anha zhilak yera, jalan atthirari anni — "I love you, moon of my life."

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Jalan atthirari anni — "Moon of my life"

Scene: Daenerys to Drogo, repeated across Season 1. Word by word:

• Jalan — moon
• atthirari — of life (genitive of atthirar, "life")
• anni — my

In Dothraki cosmology, the moon is the wife of the sun. The cultural metaphor matters: by calling Drogo her moon, Daenerys positions herself as the sun and stars — which is exactly what Drogo calls her back.

Drogo's reciprocal pet name: Shekh ma shieraki anni — "my sun and stars."

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Athchomar chomakea — "Respect to those who are respectful"

Scene: Daenerys greeting other Dothraki formally. Word by word:

• Athchomar — respect (noun)
• chomakea — to the respectful (dative plural participle)

This is the standard formal response to the greeting M'athchomaroon ("with respect"). Daenerys uses it whenever she addresses a khalasar she wants to honour rather than dominate.

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Hash yer dothrae chek? — "Are you riding well?"

Scene: Daenerys to her khas and bloodriders. Word by word:

• Hash — question marker (like Spanish ¿)
• yer — you
• dothrae — ride (2nd person singular)
• chek — well

For the Dothraki, "How are you?" literally means "are you riding well?" — because life on horseback is life itself. The reply is Anha dothrak chek ("I ride well"). This phrase appears in nearly every Dothraki scene Daenerys is in.

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Me nem nesa — "It is known"

Scene: Daenerys's handmaidens, repeated throughout Season 1; Daenerys herself adopts it later. Word by word:

• Me — it
• nem — passive marker
• nesa — knows (3rd person singular of nesat, to know)

The literal translation is "it knows itself" — a passive construction Dothraki uses where English would say "it is known." It became a meme phrase among GoT fans and is the most-quoted Dothraki line on the internet.

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Anha vazhak yeraan thirat — "I will let you live"

Scene: Daenerys to enemies after declaring herself khaleesi. Word by word:

• Anha — I
• vazhak — will give (future of azhat, to give)
• yeraan — to you (allative case)
• thirat — to live (infinitive)

Literally: "I will give you to live." Dothraki uses the verb "to give" plus an infinitive where English uses "let" or "allow." This is one of Peterson's grammar quirks that genuinely confuses learners — the AI tutor on Tengwar handles it in two messages.

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Khalakka dothrae — "A prince rides"

Scene: The Dosh Khaleen announcing Daenerys's unborn son. Word by word:

• Khalakka — prince (a khal's son)
• dothrae — rides

The vision phrase the crones use to prophesy the Stallion Who Mounts the World. The full prophecy goes Khalakka dothrae mr'anha — "a prince rides inside me."

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Athdrivar — "Death"

Scene: Used by Daenerys when threatening or pronouncing judgment. Word by word:

• Athdrivar — death (noun derived from drivolat, to die)

Dothraki has a productive ath- prefix that turns verbs into abstract nouns: thirat (to live) → atthirar (life); drivolat (to die) → athdrivar (death). Understanding this prefix unlocks dozens of new vocabulary words at once.

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Anha zalak… — "I want…"

Scene: Daenerys giving orders to her khalasar. Word by word:

• Anha — I
• zalak — want (1st person singular of zalat)

The verb zalat takes an infinitive complement: Anha zalak adakhat ("I want to eat"), Anha zalak nakhat Vaes Dothrak ("I want to leave Vaes Dothrak"). This is one of the most useful sentence frames in the entire language.

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The Vaes Dothrak Speech (Season 6)

When Daenerys burns the temple in Season 6, she delivers a sustained Dothraki monologue addressing the khals. The dialogue was written by David J. Peterson specifically for the scene. Key fragments:

• Anha vos jaqakkak anni — "I am no man's [trophy/possession]" (extrapolated reading)
• Anha vazhak yeraan k'athjilari — "I will give you justice" (extrapolated from Peterson canon)

Some of the Season 6 dialogue uses words and constructions Peterson developed specifically for the show; full transcripts are on his old blog at dothraki.com.

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How to Actually Learn These Lines

Memorising phrases is one path. Learning the grammar that produces them is faster in the long run.

The patterns from Daenerys's dialogue alone teach you:

• SVO word order
• The Hash question marker
• The ath- abstract noun prefix
• The case system (nominative yer vs accusative yera vs allative yeraan)
• Future tense (vazhak)
• Infinitive complements after zalak

That is most of Dothraki grammar in eight phrases. With Tengwar's spaced-repetition system, you can have all eight committed to memory in about two weeks of daily practice.

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Related Reading

• I Love You in Dothraki: Anha Zhilak Yera and Other Romantic Phrases
• Khal Drogo Quotes in Dothraki With Translation
• Dothraki Greetings: M'athchomaroon and Beyond
• The Dothraki Wedding Ceremony Explained (With Dothraki Phrases)

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