Learn Thai, Lesson 6: Restaurant Phrases

In this lesson, we'll learn some basic phrases for ordering food at a restaurant in Thailand. But you can also practice these phrases at a Thai restaurant in your own country. I'm sure the staff will be surprised!

First, if the restaurant is very busy, maybe the staff didn't notice you yet, and you didn't get a menu. So you can ask for one:

ขอเมนูหน่อย ครับ / ค่ะ khǎw menu nòi khráp/khâ = Can I have a menu?

Then, in many restaurants the waiter or waitress will stand and wait to take your order right away after they hand you the menu, so if you want to take your time looking, you should say:

ขอดูก่อนนะ ครับ / ค่ะ khǎw duu gàwn ná khráp/khá = Can I take a look first?

When you're ready to order something, the formula to use is:

ผม / ดิฉัน เอา...  phǒm / dì-chǎn ao... =  I will take…

Names of Thai Dishes

The names of Thai dishes are often made up of 3 parts:

(Style of cooking) + (Description) + (Type of meat)

For example: แกงเขียวหวานไก่ gaeng-khǐao-wǎan gài = green curry with chicken

Here you can see the three parts:

(แกง gaeng = curry) + (เขียวหวาน khǐao-wǎan = green-sweet) + (ไก่ gài = chicken)

Some common types of cooking are:

ผัด phàt = stir fried
แกง gaeng = curry
ต้ม dtôm = boiled (used for soups)
ยำ yam = spicy and sour salad

And the 3 most common types of meat are:

หมู mǔu = pork
ไก่ gài = chicken
ทะเล thá-lee = seafood

Let's combine the sentence for ordering food with a popular Thai dish:

ผม/ดิฉัน เอาผัดกะเพราหมู phǒm/dì-chǎn ao phàt-gà-phrao mǔu = I'll have stir fried spicy basil leaf with pork.

Rice

Of course, you can't forget the most important part of a Thai meal:

ข้าว khâo = rice

An easy and quick meal is fried rice. You can say different types of fried rice just by changing the last word, for the type of meat:

ข้าวผัด khâo-phàt = fried-rice
ข้าวผัดไก่ khâo-phàt gài = chicken fried-rice
ข้าวผัดทะเล khâo-phàt thá-lee = seafood fried-rice

Paying for Your Meal at a Thai Restaurant

Finally, you'll need to pay for your meal. Thai people heard English speakers from different countries saying either "check" or "bill," so we just combined both words together in one easy phrase:

เช็คบิล chék-bin = Bill please!/Check please!

Or you can ask to pay another way:

เก็บตังค์ ครับ/ค่ะ gèp dtang khráp/khâ = I'll pay now.

Did you get hungry for some Thai food by reading this lesson? I hope you have fun trying out these phrases on your trip to Thailand, or at any Thai restaurant in your own city.

By the way, don't forget to "like" my Facebook page. :)

Father's Day.

Father's Day!

5 December is one of the most important days in Thailand.

It's Father's Day (วันพ่อแห่งชาติ "wan phâw hàeng châat"). 

The reason why we picked this day is because it's the birthday of His Majesty the King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX).

One phrase you will hear on Father's Day is ทรงพระเจริญ (Song phrá Jà-roen), which means "Long live the King".

On Father's Day, Thai schoolchildren invite their fathers to school and have a ceremony to wai (ไหว้ means "to pay respect") their fathers and offer flower garlands. 

People will decorate their homes and shops with the Thai flags and display pictures of the King. And many people wear yellow because it the color of Monday, which is the day of the week that the King was born on.

In the evening, people will gather in a public space such as Sanam Luang in Bangkok to light candles to honor the King and say ทรงพระเจริญ 3 times. There will also be other events such as outdoor concerts and performances.

 

Loi Krathong Festival

Loi Krathong Festival  (ลอยกระทง)

Loi Krathong is a Thai tradition for people to show respect to the water that we use in everyday life.

Loi "ลอย" is a verb meaning "to float"

Krathong "กระทง" is a floating bowl made from banana leaves

Loi Krathong is on the full moon night in November. In the evening of Loi Krathong day, people go to the river and float a krathong. A krathong contains candles, incense, flowers and sometimes money as an offering to the river goddess (Phra Mae Khong Ka) who is named after the Ganges River in India. This shows that Loi Krathong festival has some possible origin from India.

People decorate their doorways with candles, flowers, and lanterns. Children play with firecrackers. Here in the northern part of Thailand, people release floating lanterns into the night sky.

Here is a video of the Loi Krathong song. You can practice following the words. It's not too difficult. The general meaning of the words in English is:

On the full-moon of the 12th month, the water fills the the riverbanks.
All us, men and women, have real fun on Loy Krathong Day.
Float, float the krathong
Float, float the krathong
After floating the krathong, I invite you darling to come out to dance.
Dance on Loi Krathong Day
Dance on Loi Krathong Day
The merit we make will will give us happiness.
The merit we make will will give us happiness.

Mother's Day in Thailand

Mother's Day - August 12

สุขสันต์วันแม่ ค่ะ "Happy Mother's day kâ"

On Mother's Day, most Thai people do something special to show their gratitude and 
appreciation to their mother. August 12 is celebrated as Mother's Day in Thailand because it is the birthday of her Majesty Queen Sirikit. Thai people think of the Queen as the mother of the whole country, so they honor they Queen on the same day that they honor their own mother. 

Here are some useful words for Mother's day:

สุขสันต์ Sùk-sǎn = Happy
วัน Wan = Day
แม่ Mâae = Mother

สุขสันต์วันแม่ 

Sùk-sǎn Wan-Mâae= "Happy Mother's Day"

Learn Thai Tones

Sawat-dii everyone,

I've got a brand new video lesson about the 5 Thai tones.

As you probably know, Thai is a tonal language. So that means when the tone used to say a word changes, the meaning of the entire word changes too. That's why it's very important to learn how to speak the tones correctly.

The 5 tones are: Mid, Low, Falling, High, & Rising

If you try to say a word, but you use a wrong tone, you could accidentally say something very different from what you meant.

For example:

sǔai (rising tone) = beautiful
suai (mid tone) = unlucky

So if you forget the rising tone when you try to tell a girl she is beautiful, you'll really be saying that the's unlucky! Be careful. :)

Please watch the video to practice your tones.

Hope you enjoy the lesson!

Practice Writing the Thai Alphabet

How to write the Thai alphabet

First, I'm going to introduce you to the Middle Class consonants, "อักษรกลาง" "àk-sǎawn glaang". There are 9 letters in this class. They are:

1) ก.ไก่ Gaw Gài

2) จ. จาน Jaw Jaan

3) ฎ. ชฎา Daw chà daa

4) ฏ. ปฏัก Dtaw bpà-dtàk

5) ด. เด็ก Daw dèk

6) ต. เต่า Dtaw dtào

7) บ. ใบไม้ Baw bai-mái

8) ป. ปลา Bpaw bplaa

9) อ. อ่าง Aaw àang

Note: To write the letter, we always start with the head.

Hope everyone enjoys the lesson :)

Learn Thai, Lesson 4: How are you?

In today's lesson we learn how to say "How are you?" in Thai. For someone who is just starting to learn Thai, I think this lesson will be very useful.

In Thai we don't have the direct words "Yes" or "No" to answer a question. So to indicate "yes" we just repeat the main Verb or Adjective used in the question. For example:

สบายดีไหม  sà-baai dii mǎi = How are you?
สบายดี sà-baai dii = I'm fine.

In Thai, we use ไม่ mâi before the Verb or Adjective to make it negative. For example:

ไม่ค่อยสบาย mâi khâwy sà-baai = I'm not so well.

Thai language is a tonal language, if the tone changes the meaning of the word changes too. For example:

ไหม "mǎi" with a rising tone is a question particle.
ไม่ "mâi" with falling tone is a negative particle.
So be careful not change ไหม "mǎi" to be ไม่ "mâi".

Thai Phrases to ask and answer "How are you?"

สบายดีไหม  sà-baai dii mǎi = How are you?

สบายดี sà-baai dii = I'm fine.

ไม่ค่อยสบาย mâi khâwy sà-baai = I'm not so well.

ไม่ mâi = No, Not

ไหม mǎi = (question particle)

เป็นงัย bpen-ngai = How is it going?

Hope you enjoy the lesson. Please leave a comment if you have any question. :)