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In this first lesson, we will teach you how to greet people and also give you some useful phrases in order to make you sound polite.
Before you start to learn Thai, you should be aware that there are some special words which are only used by females and other words only used by males.
  To be polite, men should add krup to end of sentences and women should add kaa.
You don't have to use these words for every sentence.
To say "hello"....
You will hear the word sawatdee a lot while in Thailand. It means "hello". There are proper words for "good morning" and "good afternoon" but you will hear sawatdee far more often. There is also a proper word for "goodbye", but again, most Thai people will just say sawatdee!
To say "goodbye"....
To say "how are you?"....
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Men say sa-bai-dee mai (krup) |
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Women say sa-bai-dee mai (kaa) |
The word mai is like our question mark. It has a rising tone. When answering questions in Thai, you don't usually reply with a "yes" or "no". In this case, if you are well, you just say sa-bai-dee.
To say "thank you"....
Really, Thai people don't say "thank you" as often as people using Western languages. It would sound a little strange if you thank the Thai shop assistant for your change!
To say "never mind"....
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Men say mai ben rai (krup) |
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Women say mai ben rai (kaa) |
Mai ben rai is another phrase you will hear often. It is the Australian version of "no worries". It should be your automatic response to a "thank you".
To say "excuse me"....
You can say kor tod when you have made a mistake and are asking for forgiveness or if you need to push through a crowd.
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