Useful Thai Phrases
Here are some basic but useful Thai phrases to get you some interaction verbally whilst in Thailand. However in Chiang Rai, we have many different dialects and languages due to the amount of hill tribes here. Thai is the official language and is taught in schools. Chinese here in the north is also spoken by many.
We’ve written this in our CRE phonetic version, the English translation and in Thai.
Note: males say krub and females say kaa after most phrases as usually thanks,please and yes and is very polite to say so. Ladies in the north will also say ‘jow’ instead of kaa.
NUMBERS
1- nung - ๑
2 - song - ๒
3 - sam - ๓
4 - see - ๔
5 - ha - ๕
555 - ha ha ha - ๕ ๕ ๕ (funny as we foreigners message with here)
6 - hoch - ๖
7 - jet - ๗
8 - baird - ๘
9 - gow - ๙
10 - sip - ๑๐
11 - sip et - ๑๑
12 - sip song - ๑๒
13 - sip sam - ๑๓
20 -yeesip - ๒๐
30 - samsip - ๓๐
50 - hasip - ๕๐
100 - nung loi - ๑๐๐ (should be roi but slang used often)
200 - song loi - ๒๐๐
500 ha loi - ๕๐๐
1,000 - nung pan - ๑๐๐๐
2,000 - song pan - ๒๐๐๐
10,000 - nung sen - ๑๐๐๐๐
Add bhat ฿ to each number and you have prices.
PHRASES
sawadee krub/kaa - hello - สวัสดี ครับ/ค่ะ
sabaidee mai - how are you - สบายคีไหม
pom - I - ผม
khun - you - คุณ
rau - we - เรา
kao - they - เขา
mai - No - ไม่
chai - yes - ใช่
nam - water - น้ำ
nam prao - bottled water - น้ำขวด
lan aharn - restaurant - ร้านอาหาร
kin kao - eat a meal (rice) - กิน ข้าว
pet - spicy - เผ้ด
moo - pork - หมู (yes really pronounced ‘moo’ for pork!)
gai - chicken - ไก่
dta geeab - chopsticks - ตะเกียบ
chorn - spoon - ช้อน
derm - drink - ดื่ม
bier - beer - เบียร์ (so I’m told!)
bei nai - where are you going? - ไปไหน
glab bhan - going home - กลับบ้าน
ja bei - will go to - จะไป
mak tau rai - how much? - มาก เท่าไหร่
peng - expensive - แพง
tuk - cheap - ถูก
mak - much, many - มาก
farang - foreigner - ฝรั่ง
tee rak - darling -ที่รัก