Thai food is some of the best you’ll find anywhere in the world.  Thailand often tops lists of “best street food in the world” such as this one by CNN.  So it’s hardly surprising that Thai people are passionate about their food.  If you’ve ever spent much time with Thai people, you’ll find that the conversation can often quickly turn to the subject of food.

In fact, food is so important within Thai culture that one of the most common ways to say hello in Thai language is by asking if the person you are greeting has eaten yet:

• กินข้าวรึยัง (gin khaao ru yang) – Have you eaten yet? (*Literally: eat rice or not yet?)
  • กิน – (kin) to eat
  • ข้าว (khaao) rice
  • รึ (ru) – or
  • ยัง – not yet; still

So if there’s one word that you should learn for your trip to Thailand, it’s “delicious” – you’re going to need it!

The Word for Delicious in Thai for Every Situation

Luckily, this very useful Thai word does not require any pronunciation acrobatics so you should be able to say it correctly without too much effort. 

Whether it’s dinner and a few drinks with your Thai friends or a formal business lunch – the word for delicious that you need to use is:

• อร่อย (ah-roi) – delicious

This can be used in both formal and informal situations but for formal situations just remember to add the polite particle ครับ (khrap) for male speakers OR ค่ะ (kha) for female speakers like this:

• อร่อย ครับ(ah-roi khrap) – It/this is delicious; It tastes good (polite, male speaker)
• อร่อย ค่ะ (ah-roi kha) – It/this is delicious; It/this tastes good (polite, female speaker)

It’s important to note that Thai people use their word for delicious far more often than most native English speakers do.  This is likely based partially on the high quality of the food in Thailand, but it’s also in important cultural difference.

In English, we reserve the word for food that is ESPECIALLY tasty, while in Thai, it’s more of a question of “tastes great” or “doesn’t taste good.”

How to Say REALLY Delicious in Thai

If you’re very impressed with the food you’ve just eaten (which there’s a good chance you will be) – you can add มาก (maak) – very.

• อร่อยมาก (aroi maak) – It’s so delicious!
  • อร่อย มาก ครับ – It/this is delicious;tastes good (polite, male speaker)
  • อร่อย มาก ค่ะ – It/this is delicious/tastes good (polite, female speaker)

Basic Thai Grammar Point

In Thai language, nouns and adjective position is opposite to English.  It will feel weird at first, but you’ll get used to it so don’t try to memorize this rule.  Just remember one phrase like the one below.  

For example, where we would say “red ball” or “delicious food,” in Thai, you are need to say “food delicious” or “ball red.”

• อาหารอร่อย (aahaan aroi) – delicious food
  • อาหาร (aahaan) – food (noun)
  • อร่อย (aroi) – delicious (adjective)

Here’s another simple example phrase:

• บ้านสวย (baan suay) – a beautiful house
  • บ้าน (baan) – house (noun)
  • สวย (suay) – beautiful (adjective)

How to Ask if the Food is Delicious in Thai?

Now that we know that aroi ( อร่อย)  means “delicious,” the next thing we need to know is how to ask – “is the food good?”  The structure for this is very simple:

• Adjective + ไหม (mai)

• • ไหม (mai) – is a question word used at the end of a sentence to turn a sentence in to a yes or no question.  Like both the words for “smells nice” and “smells bad,” it takes a RISING tone.

Example:

• อร่อยไหม (aroi mai) – Is it delicious? / Is it good?

In Thai you can answer this kind of yes or no question by answering with the verb or adjective that was used in the question.  While there are words for yes and no in Thai, in most cases, “yes” does not work like it does in English.

So two simple and common answers to this question are:

• อร่อย (aroi) – (It’s) delicious
• ไม่อร่อย  (mai aroi) – (It’s) not delicious

Seven Degrees of Thai Deliciousness

The taste of food is very important in Thailand.  This by no by means covers all possible ways to express your pleasure (or displeasure!) with a Thai dish, but it will give you a range of phrases to come back and learn.

1. อร่อยมากๆ (aroi maak-maak) That’s very-very delicious!
2. อร่อยมาก (aroi maad) That’s very delicious!
3. อร่อย (aroi) That’s tasty; That’s good
4. กินได้ (gin daai) I can eat that.
5. เฉยๆ (cheuy cheuy) It’s fine.
6. ไม่อร่อย (mai aroi) It’s not good.
7. ไม่อร่อยเลย (mai aroi leuy) It’s awful / It’s terrible (literally: it’s not good at all)

How to Say That Looks Delicious in Thai

Thailand has some of the best markets in the world – from the floating markets of Bangkok to the vast, bustling Walking Street Night Markets of Chiang Mai.  There are countless food stalls selling everything from fried rice to fried crickets. If you’re walking around the market with your Thai friends – you will at some point hear or want to say “that looks delicious.” The way to say “that looks delicious” in Thai is:

• น่ากิน (naa gin) – worthy of eating (appears like it would be nice to eat)

*In English, we might say “That looks good.”   In Thai, you add น่า (naa) in front of a number of verbs to show that doing that ACTION would be pleasant/fun/nice or worthy of doing.

• • • น่าไป (naa ppai) – worthy of going (Appears/sounds like it would be good/fun to go there)
    • น่านั่ง (naa nang) worthy of sitting (appears like it would be nice/comfortable to sit/chill there)
    • น่าดู (naa doo) worth of seeing (appears like it would be worth watching)
    • น่าอ่าน (naa aahn) worthy of reading (appears like it would be worth reading)

If you remember the Thai word for delicious mentioned above, you can also add this น่า (naa) in front of it as a different way of saying “looks like it would be good/pleasant to eat.”

• น่าอร่อย (naa aroi) – Which means something like:  This appears/smells like if I tasted it, it would taste good.

Useful Thai Phrases with น่า (naa):

Another way to think about this pattern is that it’s comparable to adding “-able” in English so in the example below, the the meaning is literally: “loveable” or “worthy of love” although น่ารัก (naa rak) is always used as way to describe something or someone as “cute.”  If you’d like to see more examples of this very common pattern, check out our full post on “How to Say Cute (and beautiful) in Thai.”

• น่ารัก (naa rak) – cute
  • น่า (naa) – prefix
  • รัก (rak) – love

For example:

• เชียงใหม่น่าเที่ยว (naa tiiao) – Chiang Mai looks like a great place to visit
  • เชียงใหม่ (Chiang Mai) – Chiang Mai
  • น่า (naa) – prefix
  • เที่ยว (tiiao) – to go on a trip; to go somewhere to do something for fun (as opposed to work)

In this case น่าเที่ยว (naa tiiao) roughly translates as “a great place to visit” or “worth visiting”

• กระบี่น่าอยู่ (gra-bii naa yoo) – Krabi looks like a great place to live
  • กระบี่ (gra-bii) – Krabi
  • น่า (naa) – prefix
  • อยู่ (yoo) – to live; to be located at

In this sentence น่าอยู่ (naa yoo) translates as “looks like it’d be a great place to live”.

Thai Grammar Note:

Thai is a very contextual language.  This means that we will often omit any information that is obvious.   In the phrases above, we will know what is good to watch/eat/read based on who we are talking to and what we are looking at and/or talking about.  If the speaker and listener know what we are talking about, you often don’t need to say it.

 

How to Say Food Smells Good in Thai

The food culture in Thailand is going to stimulate all of your senses, from all the vibrant colors of the food, the taste and of course the smell.  If you walk around any food market in Thailand, there will be all kinds of food simmering, barbecuing and or being stir fried up. Your mouth will be watering from all the amazing smells.  So another phrase you’ll need is “that smells good.”

• หอม (hom) – (It/something) smells nice.
  • *Not just limited to food.

How to Say Something Stinks or Smells Bad in Thai

On your walk around a Thai market at some point you are going to walk past a stall that’s selling durian.   The first time you smell durian or ทุเรียน (thu-rian) in Thai you’ll be able to decide whether it’s a good smell or not.  It’s powerful enough that many hotels try to ban people from bringing durian into the rooms by threatening a fine.

So if you smell a durian, you might not be using the word หอม (hom).  If you don’t like the smell (and many people don’t!) you’ll want to know the following Thai word which is used for things that stink or smell bad.   Rotten food, farts and smelly armpits (and sometimes durian!) all fall under the following Thai word:

• • เหม็น (men) – smelly, bad smell
    • เหม็นน่า (men)

Thai Tone Tip:

Both of these smell words in Thai have a rising tone.  The rising tone in Thai is very similar to the way we make the word “Really?” rise up in English when we are looking to confirm if something is real.  Click on each word a few times to try to get a feel for what a rising tone should sound like.

• หอม (hom) – to smell nice (RISING tone)
• เหม็น (men) – to smell bad (RISING tone)

Learning the tones in languages like Thai takes some getting used to.  You won’t always be able to hear a tone the first couple of times, but with a bit of practice and exposure, I promise your brain will get used to it.  Thai has a set of tone rules that you can learn eventually be able to instantly know the tone of a word as soon as you see how it is spelled, but it does require a bit of practice.  If you want to be able to speak Thai one day, it’s totally worth the time investment.

The Five Thai Flavors

When you are just starting to learn Thai, you might find that the topic of food is a great conversation starter since eating is something that you do every day and it’s something that most Thai people have passionate opinions on.  So it’s worth having a few more food-related words up your sleeve when the conversation advances past อร่อย (aroi).  If you are not used to eating Thai food, you might find that some of the flavours – รส (rot) – can be intense at first as it often involves a complex combination of flavors.

There are five main flavors which make up Thai cuisine. They are:

1 – Spicy

• เผ็ด (ped) – spicy

Spicy flavors come from chili พริก (prik) chili (fresh, dried whole or dried powdered) and พริกไทย (prik thai) pepper.  Many Thai dishes will contain some level of spiciness to varying degrees depending on the dish.

One example of a spicy Thai dish is:

• ผัดกะเพรา (pad kra pao) – stir fried holy basil

This dish uses fresh chilis, stir fried with holy basil usually served with rice.

2 – Sweet:

• หวาน (waan) – sweet

Sweet flavors will usually come from palm sugar, coconut sugar or regular refined white sugar.

An example of a dish that has sweet flavors is:

• ส้มตำ (som ttam) – spicy salad

This dish uses น้ำตาลปี๊บ (nam ttaan biib) – palm sugar to balance out the spicy and sour flavors from the chili and fresh lemon.

3 – Bitter:

• ขม (kom) – bitter

In Thai cuisine bitter flavors often come from a variety of fresh leaves or vegetables such as:

• มะระ (ma ra) – bitter melon

มะระ (ma ra) has a very bitter taste when which when boiled in a soup or stir fried reduces in intensity and adds a mild bitterness to the overall dish.

4 – Sour:

• เปรี้ยว (ppriao) – sour

Sour flavors in Thai cuisine can come from มะนาว (ma naaw) lemon, น้ำส้มสายชู (nam som saai chuu) vinegar, มะขาม (ma kaam) tamarind or sour fruits.

A popular sour Thai dish is:

• แกงส้ม (gaeng som) – literally: curry orange

This is a sour and spicy soup.  The ส้ม (som) which happens to also be the word for “orange” (color + fruit) in this case is just another word meaning “sour.”  There are no oranges in แกงส้ม

The sourness in this dish comes from the juice or pulp of มะขาม (ma kaam) – tamarind.

5 – Salty:

• เค็ม (kem) – salty

Salty flavors often come from น้ำปลา (nam pplaa) fish sauce or ซีอิ๊ว (sii ew) soy sauce.

One example of a salty dish made with soy sauce is:

• ผัดซีอิ๊ว (not found)
  (pad sii ew) – Literally: stir fried with soy sauce

This is a dish of large flat or fat noodles often made with Chinese broccoli stir fried in a thick starchy sauce.

Thai Seasonings

(the Mysterious 4 Glass Jars at Every Thai Noodle Restaurant)

If you go to any ร้านก๋วยเตี๋ยว (raan guay-ttiao) – noodle restaurant – in Thailand, you will notice that every table has a set of (usually four) condiments or เครื่องปรุง (kreuang pprung) in little glass jars on a metal tray.

This will include:

• น้ำปลา (nam pplaa) – fish sauce
  • (used to add a salty, savoury flavour)
• น้ำส้มสายชู(nam som sai chu) – vinegar
  • (often with sliced chili in it)
• พริกป่น(prik bon) – dried chili powder
• น้ำตาล (nam ttaan) – sugar

The bowl of noodle soup that arrives at the table is just the base – Thai people will usually taste the soup first to see what additional flavours it needs and then use the condiments to ปรุงรส (pprung) or “add flavor” to their dish according to their own taste.

How to Say I’m Hungry in Thai

After remarking on some food that smells HOM ( หอม) it’s pretty common to let everyone around you know that you are feeling hungry.  And just like the word for smelling nice in Thai, to say “I’m hungry” is just one word.

• หิว (hiw) – (I’m) hungry

If you want to ask someone else if they are hungry, you just add the yes/no question marker particle ไหม (mai?) after the word.  This turns the statement of “I’m hungry” into “Are  (you) hungry?”

• หิว ไหม – (Are you) hungry ?

Thai Language Grammar Note:

As Thai is a very contextual language, you will very often drop off words like pronouns when it’s already clear from the situation on who is saying/doing what.  While in English, we need to say “I AM hungry,” in Thai we just say HIW ( หิว) and it is 100% clear from context that the person saying this word is also the person who is feeling hungry.  This may feel strange at first, but it is completely normal in Thai and forcing in pronouns like in English will feel weird in Thai, respectively.

Another Common Way to Say “I’m Hungry” in Thai

Rice, being the main staple in Thailand is often thought of as interchangeable with the concept of “food.” So, you’ll often hear Thai people say “I’m hungry for rice,” to mean “I’m hungry.”  Since rice is included in most meals this will match up most of the time, but it doesn’t have to specifically mean that they want to eat rice.  It’s just a variation on “I’m hungry.”

• หิว ข้าว (hiw kaao) – I’m hungry!
  • หิว (hiw) – to be hungry
  • ข้าว (kaao) – rice – this is commonly used to refer to all food generally, with or without rice. 

How to Say I’m Starving (to Death) in Thai

Another fun phrase you may want to try out is “I’m starving!” if you want to be a little dramatic.  Don’t use this one except with close friends though as it can come across a little rude if you don’t know someone well.

หิว จะ ตาย (hiw ja taai) – I’m starving *literally “hungry+ will die”

How to Say I’m Thirsty in Thai

Interestingly, there is not a separate word for “thirsty” in Thai so what we say is that we are “hungry + water.”

• หิว น้ำ (hiw naam) – (I’m) thirsty
  • หิว – hungry
  • น้ำ – water

Again, there is no need or a pronoun here and it’s completely clear that the speaker of this word is the person who is thirsty.

How to Say I’m Full in Thai

After all this smelling, eating and drinking, you are going to get full.  In Thai language, expressing that you are full is also just 1 word.  While Thai doesn’t use spaces, we have separated the words into their parts in case you want to try to see how the Thai script works.

• อิ่ม (im) – to be full; (I’m) full
  • *This is only when you are full from food or drink.  A different word is used when talking about filling a glass or petrol.
• อิ่ม แล้ว – (im laew) – (I’m) full
  • *แล้ว translates to something like “already,” but it’s really just used to show a change of state in Thai so trying to translate that sentence into  “I’m full already” sound weird in English, but it’s normal in Thai.
• อิ่ม มาก – (im maak) – (I’m) very full.
  • *Maak ( มาก works just like “very” in English and can be added to the same type of words like very hot, very cold, very expensive, etc.

How to Say the Food Wasn’t Delicious in Thai

Obviously, you’ll want to be careful here because the following sentences can hurt people’s feelings.  If someone just cooked for you or you are at a restaurant and you didn’t like the food, you might want to use these expressions with your Thai friends to tell you how you really feel about the food.  However, it’s worth noting that Thai culture is not generally confrontational and many Thai people are more likely to not tell the 100% truth to the face of the person who has made or served them food that is not delicious.

• ไม่ อร่อย (mai aroi) – (It’s) not delicious
  • *This has a stronger negative connotation in Thai than it does in English.  To say something is not aroi, is say it is pretty bad.
    • ไม่ (mai) – Not, no
    • อร่อย (aroi) – delicious

You can use this phrase in general discussions with your Thai friends about food where you want to express your opinion. For example if you are talking about durian and you don’t like durians, you can say:

Example:

• ทุเรียน ไม่ อร่อย (tu-rian mai aroi) –  Durian does not taste good.
  • ทุเรียน (tu-rian) – durian
  • ไม่ อร่อย (mai aroi) – not delicious (It’s not good)

So the structure is:

• Food item + ไม่ อร่อย (mai aroi) – Food + not + delicious

Thai Grammar Note:

Remember, in Thai you don’t need to to use the verb “to be” (is / are) between the noun and adjective as you would in English.

Or maybe the food wasn’t really bad, it was just kind of tasteless and bland.  This is also seen as pretty negative in Thai.  The following word means “bland” or “has no flavor,” which is considered pretty negative in Thai so use with caution.

In this case you can use the following word:

• จืด (jeud) – bland; without (pleasant) taste/flavor

If you’ve just eaten at a restaurant and you didn’t like the food, remember to be careful not to offend the owner by saying ไม่อร่อย (mai aroi).  This is very blunt for Thai culture which tends to be less direct and confrontational as Western cultures so it would be impolite to say this directly to the owner or loud enough so that the owner heard you say it to your friend.  If you didn’t like the food because, for example, it was too spicy you can say:

• กิน เผ็ด ไม่ เป็น (gin ped mai ppen) – I can’t eat spicy food.
  • กิน (gin) – to eat
  • เผ็ด (ped) – spicy
  • ไม่ (mai) – not, no
  • เป็น (ppen) – can, able (usually used with skills / ability)

Thai people will sometimes assume that foreigners can’t eat spicy food so they might reduce the amount of spice for you anyways regardless of what you ask for.  This is especially true in tourist areas where the restaurants will be catered more towards the western palette.  To be on the safe side, when ordering your food you can tell the waiter or waitress:

• ไม่ เผ็ด ครับ / ค่ะ (mai ped khrap / kha) – not spicy, please.
  • ไม่ (mai) not
  • เผ็ด (phet) spicy
  • ครับ (khrap) male polite particle
  • ค่ะ (kha) female polite particle

Ordering food and drinks in Thai is fairly straightforward (check out our posts on how to order a coffee and a beer).  The structure is this

• เอา (ao) + menu item + polite particle
  • เอา (ao) – I want, I’d like

Example sentence:

• เอา แกง เขียว หวาน  ครับ / ค่ะ (ao gaeng kiiao waan gai khrap / kha)
  • I’d like the Thai green curry + polite particle

Now if you want to order the Thai green curry and you don’t want it to be spicy, all you need to do is add ไม่ เผ็ด (mai ped) to the end. So it would look like:

• เอา
• แกงเขียวหวาน ไม่ เผ็ด   ครับ / ค่ะ (ao gaeng kiiao waan gai mai ped khrap / kha)
  • I’d like the Thai green curry with no spice + polite particle

In this post we’re going to learn how to say good night in Thai.  There are a number of ways to say good night depending on who you are speaking to and in what context.

Below, we’ve covered all the most common ways to say good night.  If you are looking to also learn how to say good morning Thai, check out this post.

Before we get into all the possible phrases, in case you are just looking for a quick answer, this is the best way to say “good night” in Thai in most situations, both formal and informal.  It might sound familiar.  Read on to find out why.

กู๊ดไนท์ (guut nai) – good night

Thai language borrows many words from English and other languages and a large number of words are used all the time in daily conversation among Thai native speakers.

Formal:  Good Night in Thai

If you ask a Thai friend how to say “good night” in Thai, they are probably going to tell you this phrase so we need to get it out of the way.  However, the truth is that this is very rarely used in real conversation between Thai people so we don’t recommend using it unless you are trying to be silly.

Because being silly and making people laugh can do great things for helping you remember new words, and it might be worth a couple minutes of your time to learn.  Just keep in mind it’s not really a phrase that will occur naturally.

• ราตรีสวัสดิ์ (raa-ttrii-sa-wat) Good Night

It’s considered formal, but even that isn’t really completely accurate.  A Thai person isn’t likely to use this with their boss or an official.  Phrases like this (and sawatdee!)  were created from Sanskrit words in the 30s and 40s in an attempt to internationalize Thailand.  Some of them caught on (due to government promotion) while others primarily show up in Thai dramas and when translating foreign media.

It’s much more common (even in formal situations) to just use this phrase borrowed from English.  They will be pronounced using the Thai sound system so they may sound strange at first until you get accustomed to Thai pronunciation.

• กู๊ดไนท์(guut nai) – good night
  • This borrowed phrase is used very frequently by Thais to say good night in both formal and informal situations.  However, in a formal situation, you should add the appropriate polite gender particle.
    • Male Speaker: กู๊ดไนท์ครับ(guut nai khrap)
    • Female Speaker:  กู๊ดไนท์ค่ะ(guut nai kha)

*Pronunciation Notes:

Ir you haven’t yet mastered the Thai script and sound system then it may be a bit tricky to get the pronunciation right.

• กู๊ด (goot) – good (high tone)
  • To get the ending sound correct here, you can pretend the word ends with a T, but when you get to the T sound, your tongue has to stay in place until the sound dies off
• ไนท์ (nai) – night (high tone)
  • When saying this “nai” the back of your tongue will rise up a bit constricting the airflow in your throat, but it doesn’t cut the air off completely.

Informal Good Night in Thai (use with friends)

If you really want to be able to speak Thai fluently, then it’s a good idea to get into the habit of copying what native Thai speakers say rather than translating a set phrase from your native language which may sound strange in Thai.

Here are some phrases for “good night” that Thai people actually use with their friends and family.

And remember, if this seems too complicated, you can always just go with: กู๊ดไนท์(guut nai) – good night

• ฝันดีนะ (fan dii na) – Sweet dreams
  • ฝัน (fan) – dreams
  • ดี (dii) – good
  • นะ (na) – a particle that can be added to the end of a sentence to as a softener.

ฝันดีนะ (fan dii na) is a widely used way to say “good night” in Thai and can be used amongst family members, couples and friends alike (although it’s not very common amongst straight male friends as it sounds a bit on the sweet side).

There are also some common ways to say “good night” in Thai which have come from English including the . Let’s have a look.

• กู๊ดไนท์ (guud nai) – good night
• ไนท์ (nai) –  night (short for “good night” just like in English)
• ไนท์ๆ (nai nai) – night night
  • ไนท์ๆ feels more intimate than กู๊ดไนท์ and can be used with children or a partner.

Thai Vocabulary Related to Sleeping:

Here’s a few additional Thai words you might want to know.

to sleep; to lay down	nawn (mid tone)	นอน
to fall asleep	nawn lap (mid + low tone)	นอนหลับ
to be unable to fall asleep	nawn mai lap (mid+falling+low)	นอนไม่หลับ
to dream	fan (rising tone)	ฝัน
good night	guut nai (high + high tones)	กู๊ดไนท์

Enjoyed this post?  Consider checking out our full learn Thai language program which covers all the core skills you need to start speaking and reading Thai.   Sign up below and you’ll receive some free lessons from our online courses.

One of the most important phrases you’ll need to know when you’re meeting new people is asking their name.  Below we will break down everything you need to know about how to say “What’s your name?” in Thai.

How you (should) speak to people in Thai will often depend on a few factors such as your age in relation to theirs, the situation or the person’s status so we’ll cover both the formal/polite and informal sentences you can use when speaking with Thai people.

You can learn the basics of the Thai alphabet and sounds in 10-20 hours study and master it within a couple months of very part-time study.  If you put in an at least an hour a day, you can learn it a lot faster, but finding your own ideal pace is a big part of learning a new skill.

Formal/Polite: How to Say “What is your name?” in Thai

First let’s take a look at the formal way to say ‘what is your name’ in Thai. Thai people might use this in a setting when they are speaking with older people or people who are higher in the social or work hierarchy.  This could be used in the context of a business meeting, for example. 

The structure of ‘what is your name’ in Thai looks like this:

• (Pronoun) + ชื่อ [cheu] + อะไร [ah-rai] + (polite particle)

Example:

• คุณชื่ออะไร (khun cheu ah-rai) – What is your name?
  • คุณ – you (polite)
  • ชื่อ – name
  • อะไร – what

Often when we speak to a person in Thai that we don’t know, someone older or someone who has some level of status, we’ll add on the polite gender based particles:  ครับ Khrap (male) and ค่ะ Kha (females).

• • คุณชื่ออะไร + ครับ (khun cheu ah-rai + khrap) – What is your name? (male speaker)
  • คุณชื่ออะไร + ค่ะ (khun cheu ah-rai + kha) – What is your name? (female speaker)

If you are in a formal setting or a situation where you don’t know who you are speaking with yet, such as on the phone, at the immigration office, at a bank or business meeting, it’s probably best to use this formal version of “what is your name?” in Thai.  But for normal social settings, you can use the informal version of ‘what is your name’ which we cover later in this article.

Formal: How to Say ‘My Name is…’

If you are in a formal setting, it is possible that you will be asked the formal version of ‘what is your name’ so it’s important to learn the formal response of ‘my name is…’

The structure of “my name is…” in Thai looks like this:

Male Speaker:

• ผมชื่อ ____  ครับ – My name is ____
  • ผม (phom) – I; me (male pronoun)
  • ชื่อ (chue) – name
  • ครับ (khrap) – polite male particle

Female Speaker:

• ฉันชื่อ ____  ค่ะ – My name is ____ (female)
  • ฉัน (chan) – I; me (female pronoun)
  • ค่ะ (kha) – polite female particle

Sample Dialogue 1: 

• Thai Female:
  • คุณชื่ออะไรคะ – What is your name?  (polite + female speaker)
• John:
  • ผมชื่อจอห์นครับ – My name is John (polite+ male speaker)

Sample Dialogue 2: 

• Thai Male:
  • คุณชื่ออะไรครับ – What is your name? (polite + male speaker)
• Sarah:
  • ฉันชื่อซาร่าห์ค่ะ (chan cheu Sarah kha) – My name is Sarah (polite + female speaker)

Bonus Tips:

*When we say “formal” or “polite,” it’s hard to define every possible situation you might encounter, but here are a few good ground rules to follow:

1.  You would never use “ คุณ (khun) – you” with children and very rarely with people much younger than you.  This word has a feeling similar to “Mr” or “Mrs” in Thai so while it’s not likely anyone will correct you, it will sound very strange.
2. It’s not IMPOLITE to drop pronouns, so if you aren’t sure which pronoun to use (or if you should use one) it’s always ok to drop them.  Just use the polite gender particle ครับ / ค่ะ (khrap/kha) and you will still be speaking politely.

Thai Vocabulary Flashcards

Now that we’ve looked at a few phrases, why don’t you spend 2 or 3 minutes drilling the key Thai words in this lesson?  It’ll make it easier for you to understand the sentences in the rest of this post.

• คุณ

  คุณ
  คุณ
  you(khun)

  
• พี่

  พี่
  พี่
  older-sibling(pii)

  
• น้อง

  น้อง
  น้อง
  younger-sibling(nawng)

  
• ผม

  ผม
  ผม
  I(phom) *male

  
• ฉัน

  ฉัน
  ฉัน
  I(chan) *female

  
• ถาม

  ถาม
  ถาม
  ask(thaam)

  
• ชื่อ

  ชื่อ
  ชื่อ
  name(chue)

  
• อะไร

  อะไร
  อะไร
  what(ah-rai)

  

• All Done!

  Reset

Informal: How to Ask “What is your name?” in Thai

Part of crafting the most natural sentence in Thai language is knowing whether to use a pronoun at all and in situations where they are appropriate, deciding which one to use.

As we’ve seen above, even in formal setting you can drop the pronoun คุณ (khun) entirely and just make sure to add the polite gender-based particle ครับ/ ค่ะ (khrap/kha).

In some social settings you can may hear or want to use to use an informal pronoun.

Thai speakers will often use พี่ (pii) ‘older brother/sister’ and น้อง (nong) ‘younger brother/sister’ when speaking with close friends, acquaintances, siblings and strangers alike.  It is even common for Thai speakers to call their spouse or partner พี่ (pii) or น้อง (nong).

Sample Informal Situation:

You eat at a restaurant or a cafe a number of times and start to get to know one or more of the staff at the shop and you’d like to ask their name*.  Since you are a customer, they may use the polite word for “you,” คุณ (khun) + your name to address you.  If they are clearly younger than you, you can refer to them as น้อง (nawng) which means “younger sibling.”

• ขอถามชื่อหน่อย (+ ครับ / ค่ะ) – (khaw thaam chue noi + khrap/kha) – May (I) ask your name (+ polite particle) ?
  • ขอ …. หน่อย (khaw …. noi) – Can I please have ….. ?**
  • ถาม (thaam) – to ask
  • ชื่อ (chue) – name

* In most cases, when you ask a Thai person their name, they will give you their nickname.  Thai names tend to be quite long and are rarely used informally.

**Check out our posts on ordering beer or coffee to learn more about this very important sentence pattern.

Choosing the Right Thai Pronoun:

Thai has a lot of pronouns and I don’t recommend trying to learn them all at once.  The easy answer in all situations is to use คุณ (khun) which is the polite way to say “you” in Thai.  However, it’s rarely the best or most natural answer.   Thai culture has a built-in friendliness/closeness within a status-based hierarchy.

The pronoun you use is at least partially determined by your age in relation to the other person.  So your friend who is 1 week older than you is your พี่ (pii).  If you had a twin brother/sister that was born 5 minutes before you, they are also your พี่ (pii) as they are a bit older.  You can use this word up to approximately the age of your parents.

Although these terms are somewhat informal (a student wouldn’t refer to their teacher as พี่ (pii) for example), it is still perfectly polite and respectful to use these terms in most every day social situations as it displays a level of friendliness and familiarity which is a natural part of Thai culture.

Sample Informal Situation:

You shop at a market, or a food stall you can use these terms if the food seller is considerably older than you.  There isn’t a set age difference, but think in terms of your parent’s age.  If you are 25-35 and the food seller is 50 or 70, you should use the terms for “aunt” or “uncle” in Thai.

In these situations, can just refer to them as “aunt” or “uncle,” and it isn’t necessary or unfriendly to not ask their name.

• ป้า (ppaa) auntie
• ลุง ​(loong) uncle

Go Practice Speaking Thai:

Now that you know how to ask ‘what is your name?’ in Thai for almost every situation you will find yourself in, it’s time to get out there and start making some friends. You will be sure to impress your new found Thai friends and make a great first impression.  Looking for more basic Thai language content?  I’d recommend learning all the different ways to greet people in Thai with this post on saying hello.   Looking for Thai language tutors?  Check out iTalki.

Or maybe you are looking to get conversational or fluent in Thai?  If so, check out my Thai core skills program: the Learn Thai Inner Circle

*While we have added transliteration (and AUDIO!) to the Thai words and phrases in the above Thai lesson, if you would like to be able to speak Thai conversationally (or fluently!) at some point, we strongly recommend that you learn to read the Thai script.   It can appear intimidating, but being able to separate the sounds of Thai from English (and/or your own native language) will make going deep into Thai language much easier.