🙏สวัสดีค่ะทุกคน! /sāwàtdīi khâ thúk khɔ̄n!/ [Hello everybody!]
Today, I'd like to share the most common Thai words, greeting, thanking, and the most common final particles.
สวัสดี /sāwàtdīi/ means all goodness. Thais use this word to say hello at any time of the day. Also, when taking leave.
Originally, this word is from Pali-Sanskrit, used since 1934 (Reference). The actual meaning is "A little blessing" is equivalent to all goodness in English. That can be interpreted that in the past, Thais give a blessing to others when greeting someone.
Let's talk about a final particle for greeting.
สวัสดีครับ /sāwàtdīi khráp/ is used by males. As you can see ครับ /khráp/ is a final particle. We put it at the end of the sentence to show politeness.
สวัสดีค่ะ /sāwàtdīi khâ/ is used by females. ค่ะ /khâ/ is also a final particle, used in an affirmative sentence to show politeness.
If you want to say hello to your friends, you can say หวัดดี /wàtdīi (make it shorter by dropping สะ /sà/).
Let's recap!
สวัสดี /sāwàtdīi/ - all goodness
สวัสดีครับ /sāwàtdīi khráp/ - all goodness + a final particle for male
สวัสดีค่ะ /sāwàtdīi khâ/ - all goodness + final particle for females
หวัดดี /wàtdīi/ - all goodness [informal]
Moving to thanking
When you want to say thank you. You could say...
ขอบคุณ /khɔ̀ɔpkhūn/ - thank you (you can say this word to anyone).
ขอบคุณมาก /khɔ̀ɔpkhūn mâak/ - thank you very much/so much
ขอบคุณครับ/ค่ะ /khɔ̀ɔp.khūn.khráp/khâ/ - thank you + a final particle of a speaker.
ขอบใจ /khɔ̀ɔpcay/ - thank you (you can say this word to younger people)
Lastly, let's talk about the final particles.
What are final particles? There are many final particles in Thai such as คะ /khá/ , ค่ะ /khâ/, ครับ /khráp/, นะ /ná/, จ๊ะ /cá/, จ้า /câa/, สิ /sì/, เถอะ /thə̀/ and so on. We put the final particle at the end of the sentence to increase the degree of expression or sentences. Each has its function and meaning. In today's post, I'd love to share the most 3 common of final particles. Other final particles will be shared later.
In Thai, we use the final particle based on the gender of a speaker. The Women will use ค่ะ /khâ/ and คะ /khá/. How are ค่ะ /khâ/ and คะ /khá/ different?
ค่ะ /khâ/ -used by females to show politeness in an affirmative sentence.
For example, สวัสดีค่ะ ฉันชื่อพอลีนค่ะ /sāwàtdīi·khâ chán chɨɨ̂ Paulene khâ/. This sentence is an affirmative, to use the word ค่ะ /khâ/ is correct.
คะ /khá/ - used by females when asking a question.
For example, แล้วคุณล่ะคะ /lɛ́ɛw khūn lâ khá/. It's clearly seen that the phrase is a question. To use คะ /khá/ is right.
What about males? It's easier for males to use only ครับ /khráp/ in both affirmative sentences and questions.
For instance, สวัสดีครับ ผมชื่อตั้ม คุณพอลีนทำงานที่ไหนครับ /sāwàtdīi·khráp phǒm chɨɨ̂ Tum, khun Pualene thām·ɲāan thîi nǎy khráp/.
To sum up, if you reach this part, I assume you could learn some words about greeting, thanking, and final particle in Thai. If you do not understand what International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) which I put in the /slash/ is, you can read from my previous post. It helps you to pronounce Thai words correctly.
ขอบคุณค่ะ
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