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Introducing Yourself in Thai

In this lesson, we will expand on the proper Thai greeting by adding just a few new words so you can give your name, ask someone their name, and correct them if they get your name wrong.

About Thai Names

Thais have first and last names, but they do not have middle names. Their names are sometimes long and difficult to pronounce.

Fortunately, they also have nicknames that are usually very short and easy to remember. We won't be using them in our dialog yet, since we are still maintaining a polite form of speech. The two people do not know each other.

The word chûu means to be named, or name, and refers to the first name.

ชื่อ (chûu) first name

The word naam-sà-gune means to be named, or name, and refers to the last name.

นามสกุล (naam-sà-gune) last name

Asking questions in Thai

Just as in other languages, there are many ways to form a question in Thai. However, because Thai is a tonal language you can't form a question by simply changing the pitch of a sentence like you can in English. You need to use one of the question words or the person you are speaking with will not understand. The words who, what, when, where, why, how, and can you all have Thai equivalents and they are quite easy to learn with a little practice.

In the previous lesson you learned that just about any ordinary statement can be changed into a question by adding one of the question particles to the end:

ไหม (mǎi)
หรือ (rǔu)

These are quite handy and useful, but when you want more specific information, you'll need to use a few other words. We'll learn some of these for our dialog in this lesson.

อะไร (à-rai) what?
ได้ไหม (dâi-mǎi)
can you? are you able to?
ใช่ไหม (châi-mǎi)
Isn't that right? Correct?
First: Learn the Vocabulary

As in the previous lesson, try to focus on learning the new words and how to read the letters to form the correct tone and sound. Avoid skipping ahead as much as possible. Spelling words out in your head, on paper, or by typing them with your Thai keyboard will force you to memorize them, and then you will quickly learn the dialog.

Lesson Navigation:

Application Settings:
Gender  (Recordings for your gender)
Transliterations  (Thai words in English)
Interpretations  (What the words mean)

More to come . . .

Active Thai is a work in progress, supported by our users. Please tell your friends!


Click for Info

Lesson Navigation:

Application Settings:
Gender  (Recordings for your gender)
Transliterations  (Thai words in English)
Interpretations  (What the words mean)

More to come . . .

Active Thai is a work in progress, supported by our users. Please tell your friends!


Click for Info