Which Thai words should I learn first?
The Thai words to learn first are the ones that get you through a day, being polite, yes and no, questions and saying you don't understand, which is where Mooteach starts you too.
A few dozen words and short phrases cover that, and they are all on this page, grouped by what they do, each in a male and a female voice. Thai words don't change form, so every word you learn here works in any sentence straight away.
Numbers come next; Thai numbers covers counting and prices.
How do you say hello and thank you in Thai?
Sà-wàt-dii is hello, and goodbye too. Kòrp-kun is thank you. End both with kráp if you are a man and kâ if you are a woman, which is what makes them polite; kráp and kâ explains how they work.
- สวัสดีครับ
- สวัสดีค่ะ
- ขอบคุณครับ
- ขอบคุณค่ะ
Mâi bpen rai is the answer to thank you and to sorry, and one of the phrases you will hear most in Thailand: it's fine, don't worry about it. Sà-baai dii answers "how are you?".
- ไม่เป็นไร
- สบายดี
- ชื่ออะไร
To get someone's attention or to apologize, say ขอโทษkǒr tôht.
How do you say yes and no in Thai?
Thai has no single word for yes. Châi means "yes, that's right" and mâi châi "no, that's not right", for questions about whether something is so. Mâi on its own means "not" and goes in front of a verb or an adjective to make it negative.
- ใช่
- ไม่ใช่
- ไม่
For most other questions you answer with the question's own verb. Asked whether you can do something, dâi mǎi?, you say dâi for yes and mâi dâi for no. Mâi ao, with kráp or kâ, turns something down politely, at a stall or when someone offers you a ride.
- ได้
- ไม่ได้
- ไม่เอา
What do you say when you don't understand Thai?
These three keep a conversation going when it gets too fast. Add kráp or kâ to the end of each.
- ไม่เข้าใจ
- พูดช้าช้าหน่อย
- พูดอีกทีได้ไหม
What are the question words in Thai?
A Thai question word sits where the answer would go, which is often at the end of the sentence. Chûue à-rai, "what's your name?", is literally "named what?". In casual speech tîi-nǎi is often cut to nǎi.
- อะไร
- ที่ไหน
- ใคร
- เมื่อไหร่
- ทำไม
- ยังไง
- กี่
To ask a yes or no question, put mǎi at the end of a statement, with a rising tone:
- ไหม
How much? is เท่าไหร่tâo-rài, and ordering street food shows it at work.
How do you say I and you in Thai?
Men say pǒm for I, and women say chǎn. Kun is a polite you for anyone, and เขาkǎomeans he, she or they. Thai often leaves the pronoun out once it is clear who you mean, so you will hear these less than you might expect. To give your name, say pǒm chûue or chǎn chûue, then your name.
- ผม
- ฉัน
- คุณ
Which Thai verbs and nouns should I learn first?
A few verbs do a lot of work. With ไปbpai, to go, and มาmaa, to come, these get you through most simple sentences:
- กิน
- เอา
- มี
- ชอบ
- พูด
Ao is how you ask for things: ao náam is "I'll have water". Mii means both "to have" and "there is", so mii náam mǎi? asks "do you have water?" or "is there any water?".
- น้ำ
- ห้องน้ำ
ข้าวkâaois rice, and gin kâao, "eat rice", is the everyday way to say "eat a meal". Where's the toilet? is hôrng-náam yùu tîi-nǎi.
Do Thai words change for tense or plural?
No. Thai has no verb endings, no plurals and no articles. Gin means eat, ate and eating; context and small time words do the work, such as jà before a verb for the future and láeo after it for something already done. So learning Thai vocabulary is mostly learning words and their tones, with no tables of forms to memorize.
How do I learn Thai vocabulary?
- Learn each word with its tone. Play it, say it back, and note the tone mark in the romanization. A Thai word said with the wrong tone can be a different word, so the tone is part of the spelling, not an extra; Thai tones explains the five.
- Learn words inside short phrases. Mâi kâo-jai is easier to remember, and more useful, than kâo-jai on its own. A phrase also shows you where the word goes in a sentence.
- Review on a schedule. Go over a new word the next day, then after a few days, then a week, then a month. Each time you remember it, wait longer before the next review. This is spaced repetition. In Mooteach, the daily review brings back the words you've learned for you.
- Say it out loud. Recalling a word and saying it is better practice than recognizing it on a card, and it trains your mouth for the tones.
- Learn a few words a day, every day. Five to ten new words a day, reviewed, adds up to a few hundred in a couple of months, and holds up far better than a long list crammed once.
- Start with the words you need. Pick the places you go, the food you order and the people you talk to, and learn those words first. You will use them, and using a word is the best review there is.
- Learn to read them. Once you know the Thai alphabet, the Thai spelling shows you a word's tone and vowel length exactly, which romanization only approximates.
How many Thai words do I need?
The words on this page get you through simple exchanges. A few hundred words and phrases let you handle everyday situations like shopping, eating out and getting around, and the most common thousand or so words make up most of what you hear in everyday conversation. Learn those well before you worry about the rest. Mooteach brings back the words you've learned in a daily review, so they stick.
What is the best Thai vocabulary app?
The best Thai vocabulary app is Mooteach, which teaches every word in a lesson, in a male and a female voice, with tone-marked romanization you can switch off as your reading grows, and brings the words back in a daily review.
See how Mooteach compares with other Thai apps.
