Beginner Archives - Learn Thai from a White Guy

How to Say Handsome in Thai

January 24, 2021 by

Want to know how to tell someone they are handsome in Thai?  Just like in English, the word handsome is used when referring to a man and a different word is used to call a woman beautiful (the Thai word for cute is a bit more versatile and can be used for both sexes, animals and more).

In today’s lesson we’re going to teach you how to say handsome in Thai.

How to Say Handsome in Thai

หล่อจัง

 

Handsome in Thai – LAWH ( หล่อ)

If you’re looking for the quick answer.  The Thai word for handsome is

This is a handy word to know in Thailand as it’s common to comment on whether a man is handsome or a woman is beautiful.

Thai Culture Tip: When you speak with Thai people you might find that they speak more directly about physical appearance than Westerners are used to – or comfortable with.  For example, it’s not uncommon for a Thai person to tell a friend that they look like they’ve put on weight.  It’s usually not meant, or taken as an insult.

How To Say “You’re Handsome” in Thai

If you search Google or look in your Thai language phrasebook, it’s likely that you will see “you’re handsome” translated as:

  • คุณหล่อ (khun lawh)
    • คุณ (khun) – this can be translated as “you” however, in Thai, using this is generally too formal for most situations and has a feeling of “Mr” or “Mrs.”  While saying this isn’t “wrong”, it’s unnatural and we don’t recommend adding the “you.”

Thai people will often refer to each other based on how old the person they are talking to is in relation to them.  The Thai language has a built-in friendliness and/or respect so Thais will address family, friends, colleagues and strangers as auntie, older brother, little sister etc based on your relationship with them.  The most common pronouns that you will probably hear are พี่ (pii) and น้อง (nawg).

พี่ (pii) – older brother/sister

  • You can use this with people who are older than you up to around the age of your parents.

น้อง (nawg) – little brother/sister

  • You can use this with anybody who is younger than you although.

So if you want to tell someone who is older than you that they are handsome you can say:

Thai Grammar Tip: 

In the English sentence “he is handsome” or “you are handsome” we need to conjugate the verb “to be”.  However, in the Thai version of this sentence the verb “to be” is not used so we just say “he handsome” or  when talking directly to someone, you’d just say “ handsome”.

Here are some other sentences where the verb “to be” is not used:

How To Say “He’s Handsome”

If you’re talking with your Thai friend and you’re telling them about the handsome guy from work, you might want to say the phrase “he’s handsome” in Thai.  In order to say this, you need to use the word เขา (khao) – “he” (also used for “she”).  The official spelling of this word would give it a rising tone but when spoken in everyday Thai sentences it is usually pronounced with a high tone เค้า (khao).  Because of this, you’ll often see the colloquial spelling when you encounter this word on the internet, chat and social media.

Or if you see a handsome guy while you’re at the bar you can point to him and tell your friend:

Very Handsome! in Thai

If you’ve seen a really attractive guy and you want to add emphasis then you can add one of these words to your sentence:

Example Handsome Sentences

 

Bonus: Impress Your Boyfriend

You can show your love for your significant other by referring to them with this very sweet phrase:

Conclusion – Go Tell People They are Handsome

Now that you know how to say handsome in Thai, you can run out and start telling every guy you see that they are หล่อ (lawh).

Looking for more content like this?  Try some of these other basic Thai posts:

Filed Under: Beginner Tagged With:

How to Say How Are You in Thai

December 22, 2020 by

“How are you?” is one of those core Thai phrases you need to know right away.  As with English there are a few different ways to ask this question in Thai language.

We’ll also go over a few different answers to these questions so that you have more than just one expression up your sleeve.

how are you in thai

เป็นยังไงบ้าง

Sabai Dee Mai ? ( สบายดีไหม) = How are you?

This is the most basic way to ask “how are you?” in Thai and the main answer you will find on the internet.  If you haven’t seen someone in a while, this is a great phrase to use, but Thai people don’t really use it as often as we say “How are you doing?” in English.

However, it is also not the BEST way to ask this question in most cases.  Thai people use a number of much more colloquial phrases when asking their friends, acquaintances and colleagues how they are doing.

Spoken Thai Tones Tip:

Thai is a tonal language and mastering the Thai tones is an important part of learning Thai.

The yes/no question marker ไหม (mai) has a RISING tone much like the intonation we use an English when we are a little skeptical of what we are hearing: REALLLY?? 

However, in real daily Thai conversation, this question marker word ends up being pronounced as มั้ย (mai) with a HIGH tone.  To say a high tone correctly, you need to start at the high end of the spectrum of your voice’s comfort zone and then slide up a tiny bit higher.

Try to click back and forth between the 2 variations and see if you can hear any difference.  Don’t be discouraged if they sound the same as your ear will probably require lots of exposure before you can distinguish them with easy.

  • ไหม (mai) with a RISING tone
    • A rising tone starts at the low end of your voice and moves across the spectrum of your voice to the top of YOUR comfort zone.
  • มั้ย (mai) with a HIGH tone
    • A high tone starts at the high end of the comfort spectrum of your voice and pops up a tiny bit higher.

The Best Ways to Ask “How are you?” in Thai (Informal)

While we have broken down the vocabulary in each phrase below, we strongly recommend that you just memorize these set phrases as Thai people use them every single day as “how’s it going?” or “what’s happening?” with their friends.

เป็นยังไงบ้าง (ppen yang-ngai baang?) – How’s it going?

Did you eat rice yet??? A Thai greeting.

You’ll often hear this phrase stacked in with a “how are you?” It literally means “Did you eat rice yet?,” but Thai people use it so often that it functions more like a greeting.  I would mark this as one of the top 5 most useful Thai sentences you will ever learn.  Check out our great post on Thai greetings for more examples of this phrase.

This Thai phrase is also used every single day and is arguably even more important than เป็นยังไงบ้าง (ppen yang-ngai baang?)  It literally means “Eat rice or not yet?”  but Thai people often use it as a show of concern for the well being of people they encounter in their daily life.

You can answer this question with either:

If you have ever spent time speaking to Thai people – you will know how much Thai people love to think and talk about food which is understandable given how delicious the food is in Thailand.  It’s a common topic of conversation and a good conversation starter so it’s often used as a greeting amongst Thais.

It’s worth learning all 3 of these phrases in the table below as you will often encounter 2 or even all 3 of them stacked together within one exchange.

Top 3 Ways to Ask “How are you?” in Thai

EnglishThaiRomanization
How are you doing? เป็นยังไงบ้างppen yang-ngai baang?
Did you eat yet? กินข้าวรึยังkkin khaao rue yang?
How are you? สบายดีมั้ยsabaai dee mai?

4 Ways to Answer “How are you?” in Thai

*Thai Grammar Note:

Even though we’ve translated the phrases below to include “I’m,” in Thai, you usually drop the pronoun so we have not included the Thai pronoun since you it’s a bit unnatural to use it in most situations where you’d say these sentences.

Just like in English, there are a number of commonly used variations that let people know that you are doing just fine (or at least that’s what you’d like them to believe!)

This is the vanilla answer to ” sa-baai dee mai / how are you?” and what you’d learn in a beginner text book or a Thai language class.

This is a soft “I’m good” and feels like when you say “I’m fine” in English and it’s ambiguous whether you mean it or not.

This comes from the “OK” you already know in English.  Sometimes people drop the “K” and just say โอ (Ohh).

While this expression is tricky for beginners to pronounce, it’s also a really great answer.  เรื่อยๆ means something that something is happening continuously so in this context, if someone asks you “How’s it going?” it would be like answer “Yeah, it’s going.”  This phrase isn’t negative, so it’s a neutral way to answer similar to “I’m doing ok.”

Need help learning the tone system or how to pronounce the tricky vowels of Thai?  Check out my online Thai program which has 4 courses to get you started at speaking and reading Thai

 

Other Common Phrases to Answer “How are you?” in Thai

It’s useful to add in a time phrase when you want to say things like “today I’m …..” or “lately I’m ….”

I'm tired today. วันนี้เหนื่อย (wan-nee nueay)
I'm very busy lately ช่วงนี้ยุ่งมาก(chuang-nee yung maak)
Lately, I'm great. ช่วงนี้ดีมาก (chuang-nee dee maak)
So-so; meh เฉยๆ (cheoy-cheoy)

 

Sample Thai Conversations for “How are you?”

Now let’s look at a few short exchanges in Thai so you can see how these phrases might come up in the wild.

Formal / Polite:

We have to include this, but it’s very stiff and we recommend using more fun phrases than these.

Example 1:

Example 2:

This is a much more colloquial and often used exchange.  The reply here can have a feeling like “yeah nothing special is happening.”

Example 3:

You aren’t always going to be feeling great and there are times when you want to tell people how you really feel.  So, here’s an example to use when you want to say you are tired in Thai.

Example 4:

In this dialogue, see how you can stack 2 of the main sentence patterns together.  This is very common in Thai greetings.

Example 5:

Remember how we said that we usually drop the pronouns?  Well, if you want to ask someone how someone else is, you’ll need to specify that person.  In this example, one person asks their friend how their mother is.  We know WHOSE mother we are talking about based on the context alone.  It is not necessary (or natural) to clarify that we are talking about their mother.

Conclusion

Now that you know how to say “how are you” in Thai (and how to answer) it’s to get out there and practice!

Enjoyed this lesson?  Sign up to our mailing list and we’ll send you plenty more high quality lessons like this one.

Filed Under: Beginner

How to Say How Much in Thai

December 1, 2020 by

Whether you’re browsing in the street markets of Thailand or want to take a taxi to the airport, if there’s one Thai phrase that you need to know, it’s how to say “How Much” in Thai.

If you are just starting to learn Thai language then this is one of the most useful phrases to learn as you will have plenty of opportunities to practice it in real life situations every day.

Even if you don’t know the Thai numbers yet, a good way to start hearing them is by asking people how much things cost.

How to say How Much in Thai

เท่าไหร่ครับ

 

How To Say “How Much?” In Thai

The Quick Answer:

  • เท่าไร (tao rai) – how much?
    • *You can point at anything in Thailand and say “how much?” with this phrase and all kinds of fun things will start to happen.

*Thai Grammar Note: Polite Particles

Thai language has these little “words” that are called particles.  These particles don’t generally mean anything on their own, but they add the same emotional color/flavor/feeling to sentences that we do with intonation in English.  The most common of these are the gender polite particles.

  • (male speaker): เท่าไรครับ (tao rai khrap)
    • ครับ (khrap) is added to the end of sentences by males to make a sentence more polite/respectful.  In more formal situations, you’ll use it a lot, but when you are talking to people you are very close to, you’ll use it much less or not at all.
  • (female speaker): เท่าไรคะ (tao rai kha)
    • คะ (kha) is the female polite particle.

More Ways to Say How Much in Thai

This is just a longer version of of เท่าไร (tao rai) where you mention the word “price” and sounds slightly more formal.  It’s good to keep in mind that in everyday spoken Thai, phrases are often shortened so it’s not necessary to use this longer version, but ราคา (raa-kaa) is a word you’ll need to know.

If you are browsing the markets in Thailand and want to know how much a specific item costs you can point at the item and say:

You can also use เท่าไร (tao rai) when asking someone’s birthday.  You just need to put add the word อายุ (aayoo) – age – at the front.

Another common way to say “how much” in Thai uses the word กี่ (gii) which is a question word asking for quantity.  With this word, you put it in front of a classifier word to ask how many of that item/thing there are.

Other Useful Phrases with กี่ + classifier:

Again – If you want to ask about a specific item, just as you can say อันนี้เท่าไร (an nii tao rai), you can swap เท่าไร (tao rai) for กี่บาท (gii baht). Like this:

*There is no rule for when it is more appropriate to use เท่าไร (tao rai) vs กี่บาท (gii baht) as both can be used interchangeably in every situation where you want to ask “how much”.

How Much Per…

Another useful phrase that you might need to say when you’re shopping is “how much per…”. The structure for asking “how much per” is:

Or

Examples:

If you want to ask “how much per ___” just add เท่าไร or กี่บาท:

*Depending on what you are asking about, a classifier could be “per hour”, “per person”, “per kilogram” etc.

Example with เท่าไร (tao rai) at the massage shop.   If you’d like to learn more Thai massage phrases, check out How to get a Massage using Thai language.

Example with กี่บาท (gii baht) at the bus station:

How Much To Go To .. (Taking a Taxi, Tuk-Tuk or Other forms of Transportation)

If you’re using a taxi, tuk tuk even motorcycle taxi to get around then you should agree the price with the drive before you sit down.  If you agree the destination with a tuk tuk driver but don’t agree on the price, then when you arrive at your destination you may find that the driver will ask you for (or demand) an inflated price and we can tell you from personal experience that it’s not fun.  It’s always best to agree the price before you start your journey and if the price you are quoted seems like a rip-off, you can try to negotiate the price down or just walk away and find another driver.

The way to ask “how much to go to” in Thai is:

OR

Example 1 with กี่บาท :

Example 2 with เท่าไร :

How To Say Something Is Cheap Or Expensive in Thai

Although prices have increased in recent years as the Thai Baht has strengthened, there are many things that are still a bargain when compared with Western countries, particularly food and services, such as taxis.

The way to say that something is expensive in Thai is

If you are shopping for something and think that it’s too expensive, you shouldn’t use this word directly with the seller since it would come across as confrontational which is something that Thai people usually try to avoid.

To say that something is cheap in Thai you can just add the word ไม่ (mai) followed by แพง (paeng). Like this:

Useful Thai Grammar:

For example:

Another way to say that something is cheap is:

At any street food stall or local-style restaurant the price of each dish is around $1.50. Given that Thailand has some of the best street food in the world you might consider this to be good value.

How To Ask For The Bill or Check in Thai

There are a couple of different ways to ask to pay for the food you’ve just eaten, depending on the type of place you’ve just eaten at.

If you’ve just eaten at a restaurant and you want to ask the waiter or waitress to bring the bill to your table, you can say:

This sounds more on the polite side and would be used at a restaurant (rather than at a street food stall).

The more informal way to ask for the bill uses the informal word for money – ตังค์ (ttang).  ด้วย (duay) may also be dropped in an informal setting.

If you are eating at a street food stall, you often don’t need to ask for the bill to be brought to the table – you just need to walk up to the owner and pay them directly. Since you’re not asking for the bill, you can just say:

Another way of asking for the bill that you will hear is:

This comes from the English “check bill” but when translated into Thai, the “L” sound at the end of “bill” sound becomes an “N” sound.  Thai does not have an ending L or R sound.

Conclusion

Asking “how much” in Thai is definitely one of the first phrases you are going to need to know as you can use it pretty much every day whether you’re shopping for clothes, eating at a restaurant or having a coffee or a beer.  So it’s time to get out there and practice what we’ve just learned.

 

Filed Under: Beginner Tagged With:

How to Say Happy New Year in Thai

December 1, 2020 by

Did you make a New Year’s resolution to improve your Thai language skills?  Or maybe you are planning on travelling to Thailand for the New Year and want to learn how to say “Happy New Year”? 

In Thailand there are actually two New Year’s Days which are celebrated, Jan 1st as well as Songkran สงกรานต์ (song kkraan), which is the Thai New Year based on the Buddhist calendar.  It’s also the world famous nationwide water-fight that I can say from many years of experience is super fun.

The “Happy New Year” in Thai that we will learn in this lesson is used for both holidays.  

*A Note about the Thai years: The year in Thailand follows the Buddhist Era which is 543 years ahead of the year of the Gregorian Calendar.  So to work out the Thai year, you just add 543 to the year of the Gregorian Calendar.  So if you were born in 2000, your Thai birth year would be 2543.  

happy new year in thai

แฮปปี้นิวเยียร์

3 Ways to Say Happy New Year in Thai

สวัสดีปีใหม่(sawad dee ppee mai)

The most common way to say Happy New Year In Thai is:

You may recognize the first part – สวัสดี (sawad dee) – as this is the standard Thai greeting.

The next part is ปีใหม่ (ppee mai) which just translates as “New Year”.

This can be used universally with family, friends or passing strangers on the street. 

Thai Grammar Tip: Whereas in English, the structure is adjective + noun, in Thai the structure is reversed so it is noun + adjective. So “New Year” in English, is said “Year New” in Thai.  Here are some other examples:

สุขสันต์วันปีใหม่ (suk san wan ppee mai)

Another way to say “Happy New Year” in Thai is:

สุขสันต์ (suk san) can be used for other celebrations where you want to wish someone happiness or send them your blessings.  It works a bit like “happy” or “merry” do in English. 

Examples:

แฮปปี้นิวเยียร์ (haeppee niw yee-ah)

The English version of Happy New Year may also be used amongst friends and family.  Just remember to say it with a Thai accent if you want to sound authentic.

If you’re a fan of bad jokes (we are) then you can switch the word เยียร์ (yee-ah) for the similar sounding เมีย (mee-ah).  This is the Thai word for “wife”.  So this sentence ends up sounding like “happy new wife” or “congratulations on your new wife”.  It might be fun to use this with your Thai friends (or your girlfriend!) and watch the reactions it gets (probably a combination of groans and face-palms).

Thai people like to use the English version for other kinds of greetings too. 

For example:

Wishing People Happiness in Thai

At important festivals such as New Year, it’s common to offer your blessings – อวยพร (uay porn) – to friends and family.

When you want to wish someone something the structure is:

A very common message people send at weddings, retirement ceremonies, sad goodbyes is:

Thai Grammar Tip: Notice that there are no pronouns in this sentence.  In Thai, it’s common to drop pronouns when it’s obvious from the context who the target of the sentence is.

Thai Script Tip: The Thai symbol ๆ is a repeater signal.  It is placed after a word to signal that the word (and sometimes a phrase) should be repeated.  In Thai saying a word twice has a few different functions such as adding emphasis or changing the grammatical form of a word.

Have a Great New Year!

Hopefully you now know how to say Happy New Year in Thai and wish all of your Thai friends health and happiness for the New Year.  So now it’s time for us to say สวัสดีปีใหม่ (sawad dee ppee mai) Happy New Year and ขอให้เก่งภาษาไทย (kor hai geng phaasaa thai) I wish for you to speak great Thai!

Filed Under: Beginner Tagged With:

How to Say I Miss You in Thai

November 14, 2020 by

Today we’re going to learn how to say “I miss you” in Thai.  While this is the perfect phrase to show that special someone that you’re thinking of them, it’s also used to say that you miss your family, friends, places and times of your life. 

miss you in Thai

คิดถึงจัง

I Miss You in Thai

The main Thai phrase for “I miss you” is คิดถึง (kít tĕung).

The phrase คิดถึง (kít tĕung) literally translates as something like “thinking of you” or “(my) thoughts reach (you)” however it’s used just like we use “I miss you” in English.  

Thai Grammar Note:

Thai is a very contextual language which means we will very often drop any information that is already understood by both speaker and listener.  The most common example of this is dropping the pronouns as in “I miss you.”  We really only need to say the “miss” part.  If I say คิดถึง (kít tĕung)  to you, everybody involved or in earshot knows who misses who.

How to Say I REALLY Miss You in Thai

You can use any of these phrases to when you want to tell someone you miss them a lot.

In case you really want to impress your significant other, use this one.  Be warned that the person you use this on may very well swoon.

I Miss You NA นะ (NA: The Special Softener Particle)

Thai language has a lot of very short words called “particles.”  Particle words often don’t have a a meaning like most words.  Rather they add a bit of emotional color to the sentence that they are modifying.  In non-tonal languages, we do this with intonation.  NA นะ is one of the most common particle words that you will encounter in Thai.

I call it “the softener” because it makes whatever you are saying sound softer/nicer/more pleasant.  The extent of this “softness” is contextual.  So if people in a relationship say it to each other, or someone says it to a small child, it can have a cute feeling to it.

คิดถึง vs คิดถึงนะ – Both of these phrases mean “I miss you,” but the na adds a pinch of niceness.

More Formal/Polite Ways to Say I Miss You in Thai

The main word for you in Thai is คุณ (khun), but it is not used in Thai like we us “you” in English.  The Thai คุณ (khun) has a very formal feel to it which is similar to “mr.” or “mrs.” so we don’t recommend using it very much.  However, you will come across it in texts and in Thai dramas where the dialogue tends to be unrealistically polite so we’ll give you some examples.

It would sound nice on a card, but it would sound a little silly if you said to someone.  Because, generally, if you are close to someone, you would never call them คุณ (khun) – “you.”

More Useful Thai Phrases Related to “I Miss You”

Learn to Speak and Read Thai

Want to learn how to speak and read Thai language?  My full Thai core skills program teaches you everything you need to know about the script, sounds and tones of Thai.  It also contains courses that teach you all the foundational sentence patterns that you’ll need to function in a conversation.   Sign up below and I’ll send you some free lessons from the program to try out.

Filed Under: Beginner, How to speak Thai, Learn Thai Tagged With:
Next Page »