Hello,
In this lesson we will see how to introduce yourself and ask someone’s name in Thai.
Dialogue
A: Stéphane
B: Malee
| A | สวัสดี ครับ |
Transcription
[saLwatLdi~M kʰrapH] [collapse]
|
Hello. |
| B | สวัสดี ค่ะ |
Transcription
[saLwatLdi~M kʰaF] [collapse]
|
Hello. |
| A | ผม ชื่อ สเตฟาน ครับ |
Transcription
[pʰomR chʰɯ~F saLtheLfa~nM kʰrapH] [collapse]
|
My name is Stéphane. |
| A | คุณ ชื่อ อะไร ครับ |
Transcription
[kʰunM chʰɯ~F aLraiM khrapH] [collapse]
|
What is your name? |
| B | ฉัน ชื่อ มาลี ค่ะ |
Transcription
[chʰanR chʰɯ~F ma~Mli~M kʰaF] [collapse]
|
My name is Malee. |
| A | ยินดี ที่ ได้ รู้จัก ครับ |
Transcription
[yinMdi~M thi~F daiF ru~HjakL kʰrapH] [collapse]
|
Nice to meet you. |
| B | ยินดี ที่ ได้ รู้จัก เช่นกัน ค่ะ |
Transcription
[yinMdi~M thi~F daiF ru~HjakL chhenFganM kʰaF] [collapse]
|
Nice to meet you too. |
Vocabulary
| Thai | Transcription | Translation | Comments |
| สวัสดี | [saLwatLdi~M] | Hello, goodbye | Formal Literally: สวัส: good fortune ดี: good |
| ครับ | [kʰrapH] | {polite} | Expresses politeness, used by men only |
| ค่ะ | [kʰaF] | {polite} | Expresses politeness, used by women only |
| ผม | [pʰomR] | I, me, my | Used by men only. |
| ชื่อ | [chʰɯ~F] | name | Can be used for persons, places, things… |
| คุณ | [kʰunM] | you, your | |
| อะไร | [aLraiM] | … what? | When used at the end of a sentence, ortherwise: something, stuff… |
| ฉัน | [chʰanR] | I, me, my | Used mainly by women. |
| ยินดี | [yinMdi~M] | happy, delighted | |
| ที่ | [thi~F] | for, to | |
| ได้ | [daiF] | got to, did, get to | Indicates present or present progressive |
| รู้จัก | [ru~HjakL] | to know | For persons, places or ideas. |
| เช่นกัน | [chhenFganM] | also, likewise, same |
Grammar
Here are a few points to note from this short dialogue:
- Use ค่ะ/ครับ at the end of your sentences when you want to show respect to someone.
- We saw in Lesson 1 how to build some S + V + O sentences, but you can see here that you don’t need a verb to build a sentence:
- ผม ชื่อ สเตฟาน / My/name/Stéphane /
- คุณ ชื่อ อะไร ครับ / You/name/what /
Notes
| 1a | สวัสดี ค่ะ/ครับ | According to whom you are making acquaintance with, you may also have to ไหว้ [waiF] before saying “Hello”. The ไหว้ consists in joining your both hands flat in front of your upper chest, upper arms resting along the body, and to bow your head accordingly to the respect due to the person in front of you. If this person, is a monk for instance, you have to bow your head until your thumbs touch the spot in between your eyebrows. If this is an elder person, you bow your head until your thumbs touch the tip of your nosefor others, you may bow your head until your thumbs touch your chin or keep your head straight. Finally, if the person is younger than you or from a lower status, you generally don’t ไหว้, you may yet not at that person or simply smile.
The ไหว้ is also used when saying สวัสดี ค่ะ/ครับ when departing from someone, while saying thank you when receiveing a gift, or while apologizing if you bumped into someone for instance. |
| 1b | Note also that it is not something common to say greet people you don’t know in the street with a สวัสดี if you don’t intend to discuss with them. Simply smile or nod if someone smiles or nods at you. | |
| 2 | ยินดี ที่ ได้ รู้จัก ครับ | Generally, Thai people are not used to say such thing as “Nice to meet you.” after they made acquaintance with someone, but they will gladly respond “Nice to meet you.” or Nice to meet you too.”. |
Exercices
Let’s discuss together.
In this first dialog, I will be A and you will be B.
| A | สวัสดี ครับ |
transcription
[saLwatLdi~M kʰrapH] [collapse]
|
Hello. |
| B |
Answer
♀: สวัสดี ค่ะ [collapse]
|
transcription
♀: [saLwatLdi~M kʰaF] [collapse]
|
Hello. |
| A | ผม ชื่อ สเตฟาน ครับ |
transcription
[pʰomR chʰɯ~F saLtheLfa~nM kʰrapH] [collapse]
|
My name is Stéphane. |
| A | คุณ ชื่อ อะไร ครับ |
transcription
[kʰunM chʰɯ~F aLraiM khrapH] [collapse]
|
What is your name? |
| B |
Answer
♀: ฉัน ชื่อ ___ ค่ะ [collapse]
|
transcription
♀: [chʰanR chʰɯ~F ___ kʰaF] [collapse]
|
My name is ___. |
And, now let’s reverse the roles: you will be A and you will be talking to Alice:
| A |
Answer
♀: สวัสดี ค่ะ [collapse]
|
transcription
♀: [saLwatLdi~M kʰaF] [collapse]
|
Hello. |
| B | สวัสดี ค่ะ |
transcription
[saLwatLdi~M kʰaF] [collapse]
|
Hello. |
| A |
Answer
♀: ฉัน ชื่อ ___ ค่ะ [collapse]
|
transcription
♀: [chʰanR chʰɯ~F ___ kʰaF] [collapse]
|
My name is ___. |
| A |
Answer
♀: คุณ ชื่อ อะไร ค่ะ [collapse]
|
Transcription
♀: [kʰunM chʰɯ~F aLraiM kʰaF] [collapse]
|
What is your name? |
| B | ฉัน ชื่อ อลิซ ค่ะ |
transcription
[chʰanR chʰɯ~F aLlisH kʰaF] [collapse]
|
My name is Alice. |
| B | ยินดี ที่ ได้ รู้จัก ค่ะ |
Transcription
[yinMdi~M thi~F daiF ru~HjakL kʰaF] [collapse]
|
Nice to meet you. |
| A |
Answer
♀: ยินดี ที่ ได้ รู้จัก เช่นกัน ค่ะ [collapse]
|
Transcription
♀: [yinMdi~M thi~F daiF ru~HjakL chhenFganM kʰaF] [collapse]
|
Nice to meet you too. |
Le mot de la fin
This is the end of this lesson.
สวัสดี ครับ _/\_
Stéphane ^^
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