How Dothraki Became a Fully Functional Language
In George R.R. Martin's novels, Dothraki appears as a scattering of words: khal, khaleesi, arakh, khalasar. Roughly 56 words and names in total. When HBO decided to adapt A Song of Ice and Fire, that wasn't nearly enough for actors to perform whole scenes.
So they held a competition. What happened next turned Dothraki into one of the most complete languages ever created for TV.
The Counterintuitive Truth: The Books' Words Were the Hardest Part
You'd think having a few existing words would help. In practice, they were constraints. Every word Martin had already used — with its spelling, sounds, and implied grammar — had to fit into the new system.
Martin, for example, used khaleesi for the khal's wife. Peterson had to design Dothraki so that word still made sense. We call this canon anchoring: building a language around fixed words you can't change, like building a house around existing trees.
Step 1: The Competition (2009)
HBO and producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss worked with the Language Creation Society to run a competition. Conlangers submitted proposals for Dothraki.
David J. Peterson, then a relatively unknown conlanger with a linguistics background from UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, won. His proposal reportedly included more than 1,700 words plus a detailed grammar — a working language before filming began.
Step 2: Designing the Sounds
Peterson analysed Martin's existing words to build a sound system consistent with them. Words like khal and Qotho suggested sounds such as kh and q.
Peterson has said he drew inspiration for Dothraki's sound from a mix of real languages, including Arabic, Russian, Turkish, Estonian, Inuktitut, and Swahili. The goal wasn't to copy any of them, but to create something foreign, consistent, and pronounceable.
Step 3: Building the Grammar
Dothraki's grammar was designed to reflect the culture:
- Mostly SVO word order, like English — which helped actors.
- Adjectives after nouns: khal vezhven, "great khal."
- Animate vs inanimate nouns, reflecting a worldview that separates living things from objects.
- Verb infinitives ending in -lat: dothralat (to ride), zhilat (to love).
We call this culture-first syntax: grammar decisions made to reflect how the speakers see the world, not just to sound exotic.
Step 4: Vocabulary From Culture
A nomadic horse culture needs particular words. Peterson built vocabulary around riding, herding, fighting, and life on the grasslands.
The greeting Hash yer dothrae chek? ("Do you ride well?") is the perfect example: in Dothraki culture, how you ride reflects how you live.
Dothraki also lacks some words on purpose. It famously has no word for "thank you", reflecting a culture where giving and taking are part of daily life.
Step 5: Scripts and Performance
For each episode, Peterson translated dialogue into Dothraki and recorded audio of himself speaking the lines so actors could learn them. Actors like Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo) worked from those recordings.
Momoa's commanding delivery helped make Dothraki feel natural. Viewers who knew nothing about conlangs believed it was a real language.
How Long Did It Take?
- The initial proposal was developed over a short competition period in 2009.
- The language was expanded continuously through the show's run, 2011–2019.
- Peterson published Living Language Dothraki in 2014.
In other words: a working version in months, then years of expansion as new scenes demanded new words.
How Many Words Does Dothraki Have?
- Books: about 56 words and names
- Initial proposal: 1,700+ words
- Later: several thousand words
That's enough to hold conversations, write poetry, and translate fan requests — a huge leap from the handful of words in the novels.
Try your own sentences in the Dothraki Translator.
Dothraki Language Rules That Make It Sound Real
- Consistent sounds. The same sounds recur, so it never feels random.
- Consistent word structure. Verbs, nouns, and adjectives follow patterns.
- Idioms. Phrases like "It is known" (Me nem nesa) give it personality.
- Missing words. Deliberate gaps reflect culture.
- Metaphors. "My sun and stars" feels like a real poetic tradition.
These are the same features linguists look for in natural languages.
What Linguists Said
Linguists and language writers widely praised Dothraki as a sign that TV productions could take invented languages seriously. The Language Creation Society's involvement also helped professionalise conlanging as a career.
Peterson went on to create languages for Defiance, The 100, Thor: The Dark World, and Dune (2021), among others. Learn more in David J. Peterson: The Linguist Behind Game of Thrones.
Where Dothraki Is Heading
Dothraki's success created a new standard: major fantasy productions now often hire professional conlangers from the start. We predict Dothraki will be remembered as the turning point where TV conlanging went from novelty to industry — the way Klingon was for film in the 1980s.