Learn Thai | How to Greet People in Thai

Learn Thai Greetings | Formal and Informal

Sa wat dii ka everyone

I am sure that you know the standard Thai greeting, yes, they are “สวัสดี /sà-wàt-dii/” and “สบายดีไหม /sà-baai-dii mái/”

In this learning Thai blog, I have more greeting words in Thai to help you to speak like a Thai!

1. เป็นยังไงบ้าง**/bpen yang ngai bâang?/
= How are you?/ What’s up?
” เป็นยังไง /bpen yang ngai/” means “how is/are____?”, the word “บ้าง /bâang/” at the end conveys the meaning that the speaker would like to know more than one things that happened.

** The formal writing form is เป็นอย่างไรบ้าง.

For example,

A: วันนี้เป็นยังไงบ้าง /wan-níi bpen yang ngai bâang?/
= How are you today?/ How is your day?

B: ยุ่งมาก /yûng mâak/ = Very busy.
สบายดี /sà-baai-dii kâ/ = I’m fine.

This question can be used when you want to ask about things same as “how is/ are___?”

A: ปาร์ตี้เมื่อคืนเป็นยังไงบ้าง /bpaa-tîi mûa-kuun bpen yang-ngai bâang?/
= How was the party last night?

B: สนุกมาก /sà-nùk mâak/ = Very fun!
เมาสุดๆ /mao sùt-sùt/ = Extremely drunk!

A: หนังเรื่องนั้นเป็นยังไงบ้าง /nǎng rûang nán bpen yang ngai bâang?/
= How was that movie?

B: น่าเบื่อจริงๆ /nâa bùa jing-jing/ = Really boring.
ก็ดี /gɔ̂ dii/ = Not bad.

2. ไปไหน /bpai nǎi?/and ไปไหนมา /bpai nǎi maa?/
= Where do you go? / Where have you been?

This question can be the greeting in Thai too :). When you hear these questions, sometimes it does not mean they really want to know where you go, it is only the greeting.

You can just smile back and say something like “ไปธุระ /bpai tú-rá/” which it means “go to do an errand”.

See? It is very easy, now you can talk more like Thais!

Enjoy learning Thai and see you next time!

Jang
Thai Language Teacher