If you are going to retire in Thailand then you might as well learn basic Thai words and sentences. See the article on this website about learning the Thai language for some more information.
The following words are basic Thai words and sentences which are most commonly used. You simply need to pronounce the words correctly.
| Sawatdee (krub/kah) | Hello |
| Sabai dee mai (krub/kah) | How are you? |
| Sabai dee (krub/kah) | Fine |
| Khob Khun (kup/kaa) | Thank you |
| chai | Yes |
| mai chai | No |
| dai | (you/ I) can |
| mai dai | can not |
| mai pen rai | never mind (handy all-purpose phrase to express the Thai go-with-the-flow attitude) |
| pood Thai mai dai | I cannot speak Thai. |
| kow jai mai | do you understand? |
| mai kow jai | I do not understand |
| nee Tao Rai? | How much? |
| pang | expensive |
| pang mak | very expensive |
| lot noi dai mai | can you give a little discount |
| took | cheap |
| naam | water |
| chok dee | good luck |
| sanaam bin | Airport |
| ron | hot |
| nao | cold |
| hong naam | toilet |
| naam keng | ice |
| nit noi | small – not much – a little bit |
| yai | large |
| bia | beer |
| soopburi | smoke (inhale cigarette smoke) |
| neung | 1 |
| song | 2 |
| sam | 3 |
| see | 4 |
| haa | 5 |
| hok | 6 |
| jet | 7 |
| paed | 8 |
| gow | 9 |
| sip | 10 |
| sip-et | 11 |
| sip-song | 12 |
| yee sip | 20 |
| saam sip | 30 |
| roi/loi | 100 |
If you are male then you will always add the word ‘krub’ after each sentence. If you have read the other page on Thai pronunciation then you would know that you don’t hear the ‘r’ and in this case it simply falls away. It now simply sounds like ’cup’. If you are female it would be ‘kah’. You will learn more common words the longer you live in Thailand. Depending on what you are doing in Thailand the language tends to revolve around this. If you use the taxi everyday then you will learn directions and locations faster than anything else simply because it is needed. The more interaction you have with Thai’s the more you will learn the language and build from there.
