Brothers and Sisters: Thai Family Words

Thai Family Words
In addition to the standard personal pronouns, it's very common when speaking Thai to also use family terms such
as "brother", "sister", "aunt", "uncle", "mother" and "father" as personal pronouns. This applies even to strangers that you
have no blood relation to at all.
Brothers and Sisters

The Thai language has no direct translation for "brother" or "sister"; instead the term used depends on your
relative ages.
พี่ pêe น้อง nóng
Older brother or sister Younger brother or sister
พี่ชาย pêe chaai น้องชาย nóng chaai
Older brother Younger brother
พี่สาว pêe săao
Older sister น้องสาว nóng săao
Younger sister
Of these, the general forms pêe and nóng are used as personal pronouns and are also used as titles before
someone's name, though the way they are used is somewhat different.
pêe is by far the more common, and is used with people who are (very roughly) up to 15-20 years older
than you. It's considered to be a term that shows respect, and so people will often use it even if they're not sure if
the person they're talking to is really older than them or not.
When speaking to, or referring to, older males, both men and women commonly use pêeas a title. So for
instance, a man called ต้ น ( dtôn , usually written as "Ton") would often be called พีต่ ้ น ( pêe dtôn , which would
usually written as "P' Ton") by younger friends, junior office colleagues, a (younger) girlfriend or wife etc. If the
context made clear who was being talked about, this could be shortened to just pêe . Similarly, he may choose to
refer to himself as pêe instead of using a standard personal pronoun. The same rules apply when talking or
referring to older women too, although it's a bit less common.
nóng can be used in a similar way, although it should be used somewhat with caution. Aspêe implies
respect, the opposite nóng could potentially imply inexperience or lack of status, and so be a condescending form
of address to someone who views themselves of equal status. Because of this, it tends to be used when there's a
very clear age difference (5+ years) or when the relationship between the parties is clearly defined, which ensures
there's little danger of a misunderstanding. If used correctly, it's viewed as a friendly and polite form of address
and not uncommonly used a boss and his/her younger employees, or a older man to a younger girlfriend/wife. One
of its other most common other uses is when calling to an obviously younger waiter/waitress in a restaurant.
Aunts and Uncles
ลุง lung ป้ า bpâa
Uncle Aunt
อา aa น้า náa

Uncle / Aunt Uncle / Aunt
"Aunt" and "Uncle" also don't have direct translations in Thai. The closest are lung , which refers to an elder
brother of either your mother or father, and bpâa which refers to an elder sister. aa refers to either a younger
brother or younger sister of your mother, and so can be either "Uncle" or "Aunt". náa is the equivalent on the
father's side. Both lung andbpâa are commonly used as personal pronouns in much the same way as pêe , except
for talking to someone much older than you. The general rule is that if you feel they're in the same generation as you,
use pêe or if you think they're in your parents generation use lungor bpâa instead.
Parents and Children

พ่อ pôr ลูก lôok
Father Child
แม่ mâe ลูกชาย lôok chaai

Mother Son
พ่อแม่ pôr mâe
Parents ลูกสาว lôok săao
Daughter
หนู nŏo
(pronoun used by children)
pôr and mâe are both very commonly used as personal pronouns when parents speak to their children. This is to
such an extent that a married couple with children may start to refer to each other as pôr and mâe , even when their
children aren't about.
Parents will tend to refer to their child as lôok rather than using any of the second-person pronouns, and the child
will refer to themselves as nŏo . nŏo (literally meaning "mouse") is used by both young boys and girls, although boys
stop doing so before they're teenagers and start saying pŏm instead.
Women on the other hand may refer to themselves as nŏo when speaking to their parents or someone much
older for pretty much as long they want to.
If being introduced to a friend or partner's parents, it's quite normal and polite to refer to them as คุณพ่อ kun
pôr and คุณแม่ kun mâe , as if they were your own parents.
Grandparents
ปู่ bpòo ย่า yâa

Grandfather (paternal) Grandmother (paternal)
ตา dtaa ยาย yaai
Grandfather (maternal) Grandmother (maternal)
Any of the above terms for grandparents can also be used as personal pronouns where appropriate. In addition,
they can be used when talking or referring to unrelated people who appear to be of a similar age to your
grandparents, a usage in the same vein as pêe ,lung or bpâa as described above. Clearly, unrelated people are not
going to have any paternal or maternal connection, so either option can be used in that situation.
In-Laws & Step-family

พ่อตา pôr dtaa แม่ยาย mâe yaai
Father-in-law Mother-in-law
ลูกเขย lôok kŏie ลูกสะใภ้ lôok sà-pái

Son-in-law Daughter-in-law
พี่เขย pêe kŏie พี่สะใภ้ pêe sà-pái

(Older) Brother-in-law (Older) Sister-in-law
น้องเขย nóng kŏie น้องสะใภ้ nóng-sà-pái
(Younger) Brother-in-law (Younger) Sister-in-law
พ่อเลี้ยง pôr líang แม่เลี้ยง mâe líang
Step-father Step-mother
ลูกติด lôok-dtìt
Step-son / step-daughter
All of these are pretty much only used as nouns as in English. Step-brothers and sisters will most commonly refer
to each other as pêe and nóng , just like full brothers and sisters.

Brothers and Sisters: Thai Family Words

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Thai Family Words

Brothers and Sisters

อา aa น้า náa

Parents and Children

แม่ mâe ลูกชาย lôok chaai

ปู่ bpòo ย่า yâa

In-Laws & Step-family

ลูกเขย lôok kŏie ลูกสะใภ้ lôok sà-pái

พี่เขย pêe kŏie พี่สะใภ้ pêe sà-pái

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