Thai Language Blog

If someone asks what your nationality is, how would you answer? Most nationalities are easy to say in Thai. You just say ‘person’ followed by the country name.

The word for person in Thai is kon1 คน. The word for China is jeen1 จีน. So for example, to say ‘Chinese’, you’d say kon1 jeen1 คนจีน.

Now, if you wanted to make it a complete sentence, you will need to add ‘I am…’. The word for ‘I’ is pom5 ผม for guys and chan5 ฉัน for women. The word for ‘am’ or ‘to be’ is bpen1 เป็น. So ‘I am’ translates to pom5 bpen1 ผมเป็น.

I am Chinese.

pom5 bpen1 kon1 jeen1

ผมเป็นคนจีน

I am Canadian.

Chan5 bpen1 kon1 caa1naa1daa1

ฉันเป็นคนคานาดา

Test yourself by saying what your nationality is out loud. There are a few optional exceptions to this rule, of which I’ll cover in a later post.

Asking a person’s nationality follows the same basic grammar structure. The word for ‘you’ is khun1 คุณ. The word for nationality is chaat3 ชาติ. The word for ‘which’ is nai5 ไหน, and goes at the end of the sentence to form a question.

What is your nationality?

khun1 bpen1 kon1 chaat3 nai5?

คุณเป็นคนชาติไหน?

Instead of the word ‘nationality’, you can also use the word ‘country’. This is the more common way to ask a person’s nationality.

What is your [birth] country?

khun1 bpen1 kon1 bpra2tet3 nai5?

คุณเป็นคนประเทศไหน?

If you noticed above, I used the word ‘what’ in English but ‘which’ in Thai. You can also use the word ‘what’ (a1rai1 อะไร) if you really wanted to, but it can come off as a little harsh if you aren’t careful.

What is your [birth] country?

khun1 bpen1 kon1 bpra2tet3 a1rai1?

คุณเป็นคนประเทศอะไร?

Instead of directly asking for nationality, you can also use the words ‘come from’, or maa1 jaak2 มาจาก. This isn’t so common, but still occasionally said.

What country did you come from?

khun1 maa1 jaak2 bpra2tet3 a1rai1?

คุณมาจากประเทศอะไร?

A final note . . . if the person asking is looking at you when asking this question, it’s assumed they mean ‘you’. As such with the Thai language, anything assumed can be deleted from the sentence.

What is your nationality?

bpen1 kon1 chaat3 nai5?

เป็นคนชาติไหน?

There are approximately 150 countries in the world. The average person probably couldn’t name more than half from memory, and point to likely even less on a map. This isn’t necessarily to say they are ‘uneducated’, it’s just we only learn what we are exposed to. For example, in Thailand, Thais are exposed to the countries that border it – such as Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and to a lesser extent Malaysia. They are also exposed to cultures from other countries that are important to them – especially Korean, Japanese, and American export culture. They are exposed to culture due to historical influences, such as immigration from China, Buddhism from India and Nepal, and American influences from the Vietnam War era. And more recently, Thailand has been influenced by tourists from around the world that decided to make Thailand their home away from home.

As such, I’m not going to list all 150 countries in Thai. I don’t want you to spend weeks memorizing something you’ll never even use until you’ve long forgotten it. Instead, I’ll list the countries that will most likely come up in conversations while speaking Thai.

Before we start, the Thai word for country is bpra2tet3 ประเทศ. As for the tones, ~80% of all syllables in the country names will use the mid-tone. If you cannot remember the tone while in conversation, just use the mid tone.

As with things found in your room and home in the last post, you also see ‘things’ on your face every day as well . . .

Whether you use the words to gossip about someone, point out medical problems to a doctor, need help from your beautician, or for some other conversation, vocabulary for the head and face is a must-know.  You will use about half of them every single day, giving you plenty of chances to learn them quick.

Now for listening practice . . . I really apologize to the guys out there, but you’re going to have to suffer through this video. She uses about half the words on this list which is why I chose it. How many did you hear?