how to say in thai 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:

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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.

 

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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!

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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.

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How to Say Delicious in Thai

October 27, 2020 by

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:

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

how to say delicious in thai - aroi

อร่อยมาก

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:

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:

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.

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.”

Here’s another simple example phrase:

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:

    • 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:

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:

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.”

For example:

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

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:

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.

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

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:

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

2 – 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:

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:

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

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:

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:

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:

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:

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.

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?”

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.”

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.”

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.

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:

So the structure is:

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:

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:

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

Example sentence:

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:

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