Content Partners

Travel Guides

Thailand Tourism: Language

Home > Travel Guides > Asia > Southeast Asia > Thailand > In Depth > Language

Language

hide display ads

Thailand Travel & Vacation Deals

Sponsored Links

Private Guided Thailand

Bangkok Chiang Mai & Rai from $1501 Nat'l Geo Adventure, Top Outfitter.
www.KensingtonTours.com

Deals Thailand

Great Deals on Deals Thailand A Limited Time Offer.
Vacations.TravelSearch.com

Luxury Thailand Tours

Hike at Chiang Mai and experience Bangkok in utmost luxury and style
www.coxandkingsusa.com

Thai is derived principally from Mon, Khmer, Chinese, Pali, Sanskrit, and, increasingly, English. It is a tonal language, with distinctions based on inflection -- low, mid, high, rising, or falling tones -- rather than stress, which can elude most speakers of Western languages. Among students of Thai, there's a well-known sentence that can be composed of the word mai repeated with four variations of tone to say, "Doesn't the green wood burn?" but which, to most, sounds like "Mai mai mai mai."

The grammar of Thai, however, is easily mastered, as there are no verb conjugations; one word says it for everyone. Verb tense indicators are easily learned, or you can stick with the present tense. One interesting aspect of the language that can be confusing to first-time visitors is that the polite words roughly corresponding to our sir and ma'am are not determined by the gender of the person addressed but by the gender of the speaker; females say ka, and males say krup as an honorific ending to every sentence.

The writing system is derived from Mon and Khmer, from southern Indian models, and is composed of 44 consonants (with only 21 distinct sounds) and 32 vowels (with 48 simple and diphthong possibilities). It reads from left to right, often without breaks between words. For the casual visitor it is best to just pick up a few phrases and go from there (save the ABC's until after the "How are you? I am fine.").

Unfortunately there is no universal transliteration system -- so that you will see the usual Thai greeting written in Roman letters as sawatdee, sawaddi, sawasdee, sawusdi, and so on. Don't be afraid of getting lost in the different spellings. Derivations of most city names are close enough for anyone to figure out. The model most often used is more like French than English: th usually represents our t (as in Thailand); t represents our d; ph represents our p; p sounds more like our b; kh represents our k; k sounds like g; r often sounds like l or is not pronounced at all. (While, contrary to popular belief, there is an r in the alphabet, many Thais are lazy about pronouncing it, and you will hear the river called Chao Phya instead of Chao Phraya, especially by taxi drivers, who are mostly not from Bangkok.) Sometimes r is used merely to lengthen a vowel sound (Udon is often written Udorn), and l or r at the end of a word is pronounced more like our n (Ubon is often written Ubol). There is no v sound in Thai, and when you see it written, as in Sukhumvit, it should actually sound like our w -- just the opposite of German. There is also an ng, which sounds like those letters in our word sing, used as an initial consonant and difficult for English speakers to hear and pronounce -- though the distinction can be important: noo means rat or kid (informal for child), but ngoo means snake.

Most of the vowel sounds, however, will be familiar to those acquainted with the Romance languages -- though the vowel sound in our word see may be written ee or i, that in our word "moon" may be oo or u, and that in our word "now" may be written ow or even aew, as well as the usual ao. Doubled vowels most often signify a simple lengthening of the sound, but i is usually pronounced as in "hit," and ii as in "meet."

Central Thai is the official written and spoken language of the country, and most Thais understand it, but there are three other major dialects: Northeastern Thai, spoken in Isan, and closely related to Lao; Northern Thai, spoken in the northwest, from Tak Province to the Burmese border; and Southern Thai, spoken from Chumphon Province south to the Malaysian border. Each of these dialects also has several variations. The hilltribes in the North have their own distinct languages, most related to Burmese or Tibetan.

Just as in English, there are various degrees of formality, and words that are acceptable in certain contexts are impolite in others. The most common word for eat is kin (also written gin), usually kin khao ("eat rice"); thaan is more polite; raprathaan is reserved for royalty.

A Little Bit of Thai to Help You Get By

Thai is a tonal language, with distinctions based on inflection -- low, mid, high, rising, or falling tone -- rather than stress. There are five tonal markings.

Basic Phrases & Vocabulary

Hello (male) Sawadee-krup

Hello (female) Sawadee-ka

How are you? Sabai-dee rêu?

I am fine Sabai-dee

My name is (male)...Pôm chê...

My name is (female)...Deè-chân chê...

I come from...Pôm/Deè-chân ma jàk...

Do you speak English? Khun pût pasâ angkrìt dâi mâi?

I do not understand. Pôm/Deè-chân mâi khâo jai.

Excuse me. Khôr tôd. (-krup, -ka)

Thank you. Khòp khun. (-krup, -ka)

No; I do not want...May âo...

Where is the toilet? Hông sûam yù têe nâi?

I need to see a doctor. Pôm/Deè-chân tôngkan mâw.

Please call the police. Chwây riâk tam-rùat dûay.

Never mind. No problem. Mâi pen rai.

Getting Around

I want to go to...Pôm/Deè-chân yàk pai...

Where is the...Yù têe nâi...

taxi stand têe jòt rót téksêe

bus terminal satânee rót may

train station satânee rót fai

airport sanâm bin

boat jetty tâ rua

bank tanakan

TAT office tông tiâw pràtêt tai

hospital rong payaban

How much to...? Pai...tâo rai?

What time does it depart? Kèe mong jà àwk jàk têe nêe?

In a Restaurant

coffee ca-fae

tea naam-châ;

juice nám-kuá-la-mâi

bottled water nam kwât

water naam

wine wine

bread ká-nom-pâng

rice kâo

chicken kài

beef núa

pork môo

fish pla

shrimp goông

fruit kuá-la-mâi

dessert kong-wan

I am a vegetarian. Pôm/Deè-chân kin jay.

I don't like it spicy. Mâi chôp pèt.

I like it spicy. Chôp pèt.

Delicious! Ah-lòy!

check chek-bin

Shopping

How much? Taô rai?

Expensive Paeng

Any discount? Lót eèk dâi mâi?

What is your best price? Raka tàm sùt tâo rai?

Do you have a (smaller/larger) size? Mee (lék kuà/yài kùa) née mâi?

Do you have another color? Mee sêe ùn mâi?

Numbers

1 neung

2 song

3 sam

4 see

5 hah

6 hok

7 jed

8 pad

9 gao

10 sip

11 sip-et

12 sip-song

13 sip-sam

20 yee-sip

21 yee-sip-et

100 neung-roi

1,000 neung-pân

100,000 neung-sân

1,000,000 neung-lân

hide display ads

Country Guide

Thailand Tourism: Language

Language

Thailand Travel & Vacation Deals

Thailand Travel Deals