| Helpful
Thai words and phrases
|
|
English |
Phonetic
Thai |
Thaiscript |
| HELLO |
Sawat Dee |
ÊÇÑÊ´Õ |
|
| THANK YOU |
Korp Khun |
¢Íº¤Ø³ |
|
| EXCUSE ME |
Kor Tort |
¢Íâ·É |
|
| I (MALE) |
Phohm |
¼Á |
|
| HOW ARE YOU? |
Sabaai Dii Mai |
ʺÒ´ÕäËÁ |
|
| FINE |
Sabai Dii |
ʺÒÂ´Õ |
|
| UNWELL |
Mai Sabai |
äÁèʺÒ |
|
| WHAT'S YOUR NAME? |
Khun Cheu Arai |
¤Ø³ª×èÍÍÐäà |
|
| MY (MALE) |
Korng Phom |
¢Í§¼Á |
|
| I (FEMALE) |
Chan |
©Ñ¹ |
|
|
|
| Additional
things to remember |
| 'khrap' and 'kha' |
Most of the phrases added to the site can (and should) be made more polite by adding a particle to the end. Male speakers should add 'khrap' while women should add 'kha' to the end of statements and questions.
You can further soften requests or aggresive statements by also adding 'na' before you say 'khrap' or 'kha' (ladies, remember to use 'na kha' to make your questions more polite). If you listen to broadcast talk shows in Thailand, you may hear a male speaker ending every single sentence with na khrap' - since they won't know who may be listening, they endeavor to be most polite. |
| Added speech complications |
the letters 'R' and 'L' can often be swapped. for instance, you may hear one person say 'rian', and another say 'lian', but they both said the word 'learn'.
thai's do not have the dipthong 'th' in their language, so they find it difficult to say such words as, 'those', 'this', etc. you will see many signs which use the 'th' combination when written in the thai transliterated script, but the 'h' is silent. e.g. you will read 'thai' everywhere, but it's pronounced 'tai'.
the letter 'v' is also not in the thai language. |
| Gender |
Male speakers use 'Phohm' for 'I', and 'me'. 'Kaawng phohm' for 'my' and 'mine' (belonging to...).
Female speakers use 'Chaan' for 'I', and 'me'. 'Kaawng chaan' for 'my' and 'mine' (belonging to...).
Remember to use 'khrap' and 'kha' as appropriate as well. |
| An excellent resource for beginners |
thai-language.com is a great website, with a wealth of information for someone wishing to learn the rudimentaries (and more) of the Thai language. |
