It’s always good to know how to say what you do and don’t like, because it helps others please you! Seriously. Go practice these words at a restaurant and other various situations with your Thai friends.
The Thai word for ‘like’ is ชอบ chawp3. If you don’t like something, add the word ‘no’ ไม่ mai3 in front to get ไม่ชอบ mai3 chawb3.
I like swimming.
Pom5 chawb3 waai3 nam4
ผมชอบว่ายน้ำ
I don’t like spicy food.
Chan5 mai3 chawb3 aa1haan5 ped2
ฉันไม่ชอบอาหารเผ็ด
I like to read.
Pom5 chawb3 aan2
ผมชอบอ่าน
He likes Thailand.
Kow5 chawb3 muang1 tai1
เขาชอบเมืองไทย
Tourists like to travel Thailand.
Nak4 tawng3 tieow3 chawb3 maa1 tieow3 muang1 tai1
นักท่องเที่ยวชอบมาเที่ยวเมืองไทย
I don’t like running.
Mai3 chawb3 gaan1 wing3
ไม่ชอบการวิ่ง
The Thai word for ‘favorite’ kawng5 brood2 ของโปรด doesn’t carry the same meaning as in English. Let me explain . . . I had a Thai friend who would tell me what her favorites are and in English say something like, ‘This food is my very favorite’. One day she’d say pizza was her favorite food, 20 minutes later she’d say it was somtam, then a few hours later declare cake her favorite food. I wasn’t sure if she just couldn’t make up her mind, or there was some language mis-translation going on. Upon getting clarification, I learned that ของโปรด doesn’t actually mean ‘favorite’ – it means ‘one of my favorites’. What she meant to say was simply lost in translation.
Somtam is a favorite food of mine.
Som3dtum1 kue1 aa1haan5 brood2 chan5
ส้มตำคืออาหารโปรดฉัน
Somtam is my most favorite food of mine.
Som3dtum1 kue1 aa1haan5 brood2 tee3 sud2 kawng5 chan5
ส้มตำคืออาหารโปรดที่สุดของฉัน
My favorite song.
Pleng1 brood2 tee3 sud2
เพลงโปรดที่สุด
My favorite hotel.
Rong1raem1 brood2 tee3 sud2
โรงแรมโปรดที่สุด
My favorite dish is somtam with sticky rice.
Aa1haan5 jaan1 brood2 kawng5 chan5 kue1 kaow3 nieow5 som3dtum1
อาหารจานโปรดของฉันคือ ข้าวเหนียวส้มตำ
For further reading, check out our past post on liking food:
https://blogs.transparent.com/thai/the-real-way-to-say-something-tastes-good-in-thai/
Comments:
Andrew:
Thanks for making this blog. It’s great for a thai beginner. I was checking the pronunciation of “ชอบ” using another site (www.forvo.com) and I noticed that you can’t really hear the “p” at the end. Do the last letters in Thai words sort of fall silent?
palmisano:
@Andrew Well . . . it’s hard to describe in words.
Let’s take the English word ‘map’. There is a puff sound your mouth will make with the last letter ‘p’. But in Thai there is no puffy sound. The mouth closes and that’s that.
Or say the English word ‘make’. You will here a puffy ‘k’ sound come out of your mouth. Try to say it without that sound . . . and that will be Thai pronunciation.