ดีใจด้วยนะมึง
If you ever want to say congratulations or praise a friend in Thai for a job well done, some meaningful event or success in their life, you may want to do it in Thai. These are all the phrases you are going to need.
In Thai, there are 2 main phrases you’ll usually congratulate people with, but as is often the case in this language, you may need to adjust or change the phrase you use depending on who you are speaking with, your relationship to them and what you are congratulating them for.
How to Congratulate your Friends in Thai (Informal)
There are a two main phrases you should use and there are a few variations that are worth noting. While they all mean the same thing, the particles we add at the end can change the feeling behind the sentence. Please note that age does matter here. If someone you are close to is considerably older than you, in most cases, you should add on the polite gender particle at the end of the sentence ครับ/ ค่ะ (khrap/kha).
This can get a little tricky if you are unfamiliar with particles. Particles are usually single words that don’t mean anything by themselves, but add some color or feeling to the sentence they are modifying much in the way intonation works in a non-tonal language.
Best Choice for Congrats
ดีใจด้วย (dee jai doo-ay) – Congrats!
Variations of Congrats:
- ดีใจด้วยนะ (dee jai doo-ay na) – Congrats (soft + nice)
- ดีใจด้วยมากๆ เลย (dii jai doo-ay maak-maak loei) – Congrats! (excited)
- ดีใจด้วยเว้ย (dee jai doo-ay woei) – Congrats yo! (yeah bro, congrats!)
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ยินดีด้วยนะ (yin dee doo-ay na) – Congrats! (soft + nice)
- *Adding the นะ (na) at the end makes it softer. Females will use this often, males will use this with females often. Males can use it with other males, but it’s probably used less often.
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ยินดีด้วยมากๆ เลย (yin dee doo-ay maak-maak loei) – Congrats!!!
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- *You can use this with anyone you are fairly close to. The เลย (loei) acts as an intensifier to whatever it’s attached to.
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Very Close Friends
If you are really close to someone, you may reach a point where you call each other มึง (mung). Be very careful with this word as it will come across as very rude if you aren’t sufficiently close. I’d recommend not using this at all until someone uses it with you. But, keep your ears open as you’ll hear it when Thai friends speak to each other.
- ดีใจด้วยนะมึง (dee jai doo-ay na mung) – Congrats!!
- ยินดีด้วยนะมึง (yin dee doo-ay na mung) – Congrats!!
- ดีใจด้วยนะ (dee jai doo-ay na) – Congrats! (nice + soft)
- ดีใจด้วยมากๆ เลย (dee jai maak-maak loei) – Congrats!! (excited)
How to Congratulate Someone Older/Higher Status in Thai
In most cases, you can use the same 2 phrases, but you’ll want to be sure to always include the polite gender particle. I feel like ยินดีด้วย (yin dee doo-ay) is slightly more appropriate than ดีใจด้วย (dee jai doo-ay) in this situation as the latter feels slightly more informal.
ยินดีด้วย (yin dee doo-ay) + ครับ/ ค่ะ/นะคะ (khrap/kha/na-kha)
- ยินดีด้วยครับ (yin dee doo-ay khrap) – Congratulations (male speaker)
- ยินดีด้วยค่ะ (yin dee doo-ay kha) – Congratulations (female speaker)
- ยินดีด้วยนะคะ (yin dee doo-ay na-kha) – Congratulations (female speaker)
How to Say Congrats for * in Thai?
While often times a discussion will play out with someone telling you about their news or accomplishment and then you congratulate them, there will inevitably be times when you hear thew news second hand and want to indicate what you are congratulating them for. We’ll still use the same phrases above, but we’ll need to add ที่ (thii) + event.
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ยินดีด้วยที่ ….(yin dee doo-ay thii …) – Congrats for ….
- ยินดีด้วยที่สอบผ่าน (yin dee doo-ay thii sawp phaan) – Congrats for passing the exam.
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ดีใจด้วยที่ได้ ..
ลูกสาว/
ลูกชาย (yin dee doo-ay thii dai luuk saao/luuk chaay) – Congrats for having a girl/boy.
- ยินดีด้วยที่มีน้องแล้ว (yin dee doo-ay thee mee nawng laew) – Congrats on the little one
- ยินดีด้วยที่น้องคลอดแล้ว (yin dee doo-ay thee nawng klawd laew) – Congrats on the birth
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