Like in English, the Thai language differentiates between ‘to think’ and ‘to know’. However, Thai is a bit more complicated in that both words can be omitted from a context-obvious sentence, and ‘to know’ is divided up into three different words.

The first word we’ll look at is ‘to think’, or kid4 คิด. This word has the exact same meaning as in English, so let’s just jump into examples . . .

think

Kid4

คิด

Have good thoughts.

Kid4 dee1

คิดดี

thought

Kwaam1 kid4

ความคิด

I think that . . .

Pom5 kid4 waa3

ผมคิดว่า . . .

[You] thought wrong.

Kid4 mai3 tuuk2

คิดไม่ถุก

The next word is ruu4 รู้, or ‘to know’ (a fact). Just like kid4 above, it’s a very common word that any beginning Thai language learner should know.

know

Ruu4

รู้

I know that  . . .

Pom5 ruu4 waa3

ผมรู้ว่า . . .

You know good and well that . . .

Kun1 ruu4 dee1 waa3

คุณรู้ดีว่า . . .

[I] know [that] already.

Ruu4 laew4 krap4

รู้แล้วครับ

Unlike in English where you use the same word ‘know’ for both facts and people, in Thai there is a word for each. To know a person, you’d use ruu4jak2 รู้จัก as in the below examples.

To know [someone]

Ruu4 jak2

รู้จัก

I know him.

Pom5 ruu4jak2 kow5

ผมรู้จักเขา

We’ve known each other for a long time.

Row1 ruu4jak2 gan1 naan1

เรารู้จักกันนาน

Back when I was a beginner, I got really confused with the word waa3 ว่า which means ‘that’. People kept saying “I that …” and it took me a bit to figure out it was a contextual abbreviation. You may have already noticed this word in some of the above examples. It turns out in Thai that you can remove the words รู้ and คิด when they come before ว่า in certain instances. But be careful, depending on the instance, it might mean ‘think’ instead of ‘know’.

that

Waa3

ว่า

I know that . . .

Pom5 ruu4 waa3

ผมคิดว่า . . .

I know that . . . <- abbreviated from context

Pom5 waa3

ผมว่า . . .

I knew it! (implying it was dead obvious; said after the truth was revealed, confirming your suspicion)

Waa3 laew4

ว่าแล้ว

In the above sentence, if you don’t abbreviate it as such, it would take 6 words to say the same thing. Thai is a lazy mans dream language!

If you are talking to someone much older, or more important, or higher up than you, you should instead use ทราบ saab3 to be polite. Saab3 means ‘to know’ and can be used in place of ruu4 รู้.

Know (formal)

Saab3

ทราบ

I know that . . .

Pom5 saab3 waa3

ผมทราบว่า . . .

When I teach a new set of beginning learners in my class, the very first lesson I give is on Thai tones. To scare them a bit I present various words that sound the same, but change meaning depending on the tone. While most teachers prefer to give the famous ‘mai’ example, I prefer the ‘kow’ example because it’s even worse (harder?).

What makes ‘kow’ really hard is that there are so many different similarly sounding words (to the English ear) with no easy way to remember which is which. I’m just going to list them out below, and leave it up to you to memorize.

Before we start, I must differentiate between เอา (ow) and อาว (aow). For the English speaking ear these vowels sound almost exactly the same.

The เอา (ow) vowel sounds just like ‘ow’ in English, as in ‘ow that hurts’.

To say the อาว (aow) vowel, start off by making a long ‘aa’ sound. Then follow it off with a ‘w’ at the end.

Ask a Thai to listen and let you know if you’re pronouncing them right.

He ate white rice.

เขากินข้าวขาว

Kow5 gin1 kaow3 kaow5

A bat came and ate his knee.

มีค้างคาวเข้ากินเข่าเค้า

Mee1 kaang4kaow1 kow3 maa1 gin1 kaow2 kow4

The reporter entered Khao San road.

Nak4kaow2 kow3 ta2non5 kaow3 saan5

นักข่าวเข้าถนนข้าวสาร

There are three distinct levels of vocabulary all language learners must pass to become truly natively fluent. A beginner learns basic vocabulary, like ‘snake, cow, horse, pig, fish, and bird’. Branching out, an intermediate learner learns more specific vocabulary, such as ‘rattle snake, side winder, cobra, python, and serpent’. An expert learner would get even more detailed, learning the individual species names of each rattle snake: ‘diamondback rattlesnake, dusky rattlesnake, South American rattlesnake, Timber rattlesnake’, etc. Native speakers rarely learn this last level as its very specialist knowledge.

In the last post we learned the basic body parts. Now that you’ve learned a general list of body parts, let’s go to the intermediate level and get more specific with one of them: the hand (meuu1 มือ).

This article will teach you the parts of a hand, and other related vocabulary.

Let’s start with the finger names:

With reference to the above list, chee4 ชี้ means ‘to point’, glaang1 กลาง means ‘middle’, and tow4 เท้า means ‘foot’.

Sometimes, instead of holding hands, a Thai couple would hold pinky fingers. This is called:

เกี่ยวก้อย

Giew2goy3

to hold pinkies together

ข้อมือ

Kaw3 meuu1

wrist

The Thai word for ‘grab’ or ‘to hold’ is jab2 จับ. To hold hands is:

จับมือ

Jab2 meuu1

Hold hands

The word for ‘raise’ is yok4 ยก. To raise your hand, to ask a question or whatever, is:

ยกมือ

Yok4 meuu1

Raise [your] hand

Practice raising your hand:

In English, an expert can be referred to as an ‘old hand’. You can also say this in Thai, where gow2 เก่า means ‘old’:

มือเก่า

Meuu1 gow2

experienced person, ‘old hand’

But that above expression is uncommon, so it’s better to say:

มืออาชีพ

Meuu1 aa1cheep3

experienced person

A beginner is called a ‘new hand’, where mai2 ใหม่ means ‘new’:

มือใหม่

Meuu1 mai2

novice, beginner

Your right hand is:

มือขวา

Meuu1 kwaa5

And your left is:

มือซ้าย

Meuu1 saai4

A cellphone, referred to as ‘a hand carry’ in Thai, is:

มือถือ

Meuu1 teuu5

A gunman has a gun in his hand, so he is a:

มือปืน

Meuu1 beuun1

Gunman

Someone who is empty handed, or unarmed, or whatever, is:

มือเปล่า

Meuu1 blaow2

empty handed

A second hand item, something already used, is just like in English:

มือสอง

Meuu1 saawng5

second hand

A ‘couple’ is called คู่. A ‘manual’, or instruction booklet, is the ‘couple’ for your hand.

คู่มือ

Kuu3 meuu1

manual

This following political term below has two definitions:

1) a euphemism for the monarchy and those in the inner royal circles

2) outside unknown individuals, not directly connected to any known political groups, but intent on causing political violence for specific political purposes

มือที่สาม

Meuu1 tee3 saam5

the Third Hand