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Essential Beginner Thai Phrases: What Is This Guide?
Essential Beginner Thai Phrases: What Is This Guide?
However, from everything I learned, I found certain words and phrases cropping up again and
again in conversation. These words and phrases seemed disproportionally useful, either because
they were very common words (e.g. food, shop), or because they helped me express myself easily
(e.g. and then, I think that…)
I decided to put together all this vocabulary into the comprehensive collection you see in this
document. If you spend time learning and memorising the contents, I guarantee they will be
immediately useful for speaking Thai.
This is not intended to be a Thai course, or anything else that suggests a “complete” programme of
learning. Indeed, there may well be omissions that others would consider essential. It is based
solely on my personal experience learning Thai. If you are learning Thai, please supplement this
list with one of the many recommended resources in the original blog post:
http://iwillteachyoualanguage.com/learn-to-speak-thai
The contents of this document have been organised into topics that hopefully help to classify
according to how you’re likely to want to use it. At the end of every section you will find the name of
the relevant audio file, so you can hear the vocabulary pronounced by a native Thai speaker.
To see the entire 14-day video series I made documenting my progress in Bangkok, please visit:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQJscr8iS4eEA0CRSgEhNJ6sM0p-Y2Im2
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Table of Contents
Key Grammar Notes 3
Must-Know Particles 4
Verbs 5
Adjectives 7
Adverbials 8
Connectors 9
Question Words 9
Sequencers 10
Talking About Things 11
Talking About Language & Nationality 11
Talking About People 14
Talking About Places 14
Talking About Food 15
Talking About Time 16
Useful Miscellaneous Nouns 17
Power Words 17
Conversation 18
(!) - Denotes an over-generalised definition. Use with caution and look up in a good dictionary
before using
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Key Grammar Notes
Word order
There are five tones in Thai, roughly depicted by the following symbols.
1. คา /kaa/ [mid]
5. ขา /kăa/ [rising]
Thai has a small number of unique sounds which may be initially hard to pronounce for native
English speakers. There is also an important distinction between long and short vowels which is
not found in English. Unlike Mandarin Chinese or Vietnamese, however, there is no standardised
romanisation system to represent phonetics in Thai. Therefore, it is important to learn to read and
write the Thai alphabet at an early stage (where all these sounds and tones are represented), and
to listen to clear recordings of words you want to say.
The following English letter combinations have no distinction in Thai and are pronounced the
same:
T and D
G and K
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The distinction between word classes is often blurred in Thai. Adjectives can often be used as
adverbs, and vice versa. There is no distinction between singular and plural nouns, although nouns
will often take a classifier/counter.
Verbs are not conjugated, and there are no verb tenses in the traditional sense. You can specify
when an action takes place by using time words (yesterday, at 4pm, next year). Actions in
progress, past habits, and other concepts are marked with specific words.
Must-Know Particles
Particles are tiny words common to Asian languages that can dramatically alter the meaning of a
sentence. There are many to learn, but these are the real essentials to get started:
ครับ /kráp/ - used by male speakers at the end of sentences to convey politeness
ค$ะ /kâ/ - used by female speakers at the end of sentences to convey politeness
…ไหม /mái/ – putting this little word at the end of a sentence turns it into a question
ใช$ไหม /châi măi/ – similar to /mái/ above, but is used to check understanding or solicit a yes/no
response.
Example: คุณเป<นคนอังกฤษใช$ไหมครับ /kun bpen kon ang-grìt châi măi kráp/ – You’re
English, right/aren’t you?
[ Must-know Particles.mp3 ]
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Verbs
อยาก /yàak/ – to want
ขอ /kŏr/ – verb used when ordering food in a restaurant (≈ I’ll have … ) - to ask for, request (polite)
เอา /ao/ – verb used when ordering food on the street (Lit: to take) - to want, take, bring (not as
polite as ขอ)
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มา /maa/ – to come (showing direction toward)
ดู /doo/ – to look
เป<น /bpen/ – to be
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จําได% /jam dâai/ – to remember, to recognise
[ Verbs.mp3 ]
Adjectives
ดี /dee/ – (is) good
Note: When Thais say เก$งมาก or a variant of พูดไทยเก$งมาก to a Westerner it’s a show of
encouragement as well as a sign that the Westerner (ฝรั่ง) can’t speak Thai very well. See
http://www.learnthaiculture.com/thai_language_graduation.shtml
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สวย /sŭay/ – (is) beautiful, pretty (women, a view)
[ Adjectives.mp3 ]
Adverbials
หลายๆ /lăai lăai/ – many, several
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Connectors
ถ%า /tâa/ – if
[ Connectors.mp3 ]
Question Words
ทําไม /tam-mai/ – why
[ Question words.mp3 ]
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Sequencers
ก$อนหน%า(นี)้ /gòn nâa (née)/ – before (this)
[ Sequencers.mp3 ]
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Talking About Things
อันนี้ /an née/ - this one
นั่น /nân/ - that one [noun] (no need for the ‘thing’)
โน$น /nôhn/ over there [noun] (no need for the ‘thing’)
นี้ /née/ this - [adj] (needs to include the ‘thing’ - บ%านนี้ /bâan née/ this house)
นั้น /nán/ - that [adj] (needs to include the ‘thing’ - บ%านนั้น /bâan nán/ that house).
โน%น /nóhn/ that (further away) [adj] (needs to include the ‘thing’ - บ%านโน%น /bâan nóhn/ the house
over there)
Root words:
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ญี่ปุZน /yêe-bpùn/ – Japan
[ Nationality.mp3 ]
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ภาษาจีน /jeen/ – Chinese
[ Languages.mp3 ]
[ Country.mp3 ]
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Talking About People
ผม /pŏm/ - I, me (masculine)
NOTE: see Stu’s video ‘คุณ Khun does NOT mean YOU’ : https://youtu.be/GkpWgQY4yFQ
ครู /kroo/ ; อาจารยW /aa-jaan/ - teacher (important to know as teachers are highly respected in
Thailand - being a teacher is a status symbol)
ที่โน$น /têe nôhn/ - there, the place over there (yonder, further away) [Talking About Places.mp3]
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Talking About Food
อาหาร /aa hăan/ – food
กินข%าว /gin kâao/ - to eat (a common term - rice important in Thai history and culture).
Similar to the English “how are you?”, a common Thai greeting is กินข%าวหรือยัง /gin kâao rĕu yang/
which means “have you eaten (rice) yet?” / “have you eaten (rice) or not?”
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Talking About Time
ปX /bpee/ – year
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Useful Miscellaneous Nouns
อากาศ /aa-gàat/ – weather
ฝน /fŏn/ – rain
Power Words
บาง /baang/ | ครั้ง /kráng/ - (บางครั้ง /baang kráng/) – sometimes
[ Power Words.mp3 ]
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Conversation
สวัสดี ครับ/ค$ะ /sà-wàt-dee kráp/kâ/ - hello, goodbye
(จะ)ไปไหน /(jà) bpai năi/ – where are you going? (standard greeting)
ไปเที่ยว /bpai tîeow/ - going out, wandering around for fun, travelling (a general reply to ไปไหน)
ไปซื้อของ /bpai séu kŏng/ - going shopping (a reply to ไปไหน that is more definite).
ไปกินข%าว /bpai gin kâao/ - going to eat (again, a reply to ไปไหน that is more definite).
กินข%าวหรือยัง /gin kâao rĕu yang/ - have you eaten or not? (common greeting)
ผม/ฉัน พูดภาษาไทยไม$เก$ง /pŏm/chăn pôot paa-săa tai mâi gèng/ – I don’t speak Thai well
พูดอีกครั้งได%ไหม ครับ/คะ /pôot èek kráng dâai măi kráp/ká/ – Can you say that again, please?
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เช$น /chên/ – for example
[ Conversations.mp3 ]
I would like to thank Catherine from womenlearnthai.com for her input on this collection, and Khun
Pairoa for providing the audio recording.
Note: the transliteration for this post comes ‘as is’ from thai2english.com.
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