<\/p>\n
In English there is really only one word to refer to yourself, \u2018I\u2019. Thai, however, has as many words for \u2018I\u2019 as the Eskimos have words for snow. I will list them in order, starting from the beginner level, and working up to more intermediate words.<\/p>\n
\u0e1c\u0e21<\/strong><\/p>\n The first and most common is the word \u0e1c\u0e21<\/strong>, which sounds like \u2018pom\u2019 with a rising tone. This is the default way for guys to refer to themselves, and it\u2019s fairly polite too. Also, just like the word \u2018krap\u2019 \u0e04\u0e23\u0e31\u0e1a<\/strong>, women occasionally use this word to refer to themselves.<\/p>\n \u0e09\u0e31\u0e19, \u0e14\u0e34\u0e09\u0e31\u0e19<\/strong><\/p>\n The next most common is \u0e09\u0e31\u0e19<\/strong>, which sounds like \u2018chan\u2019 with a rising tone. This is the default way for women to refer to themselves, and it\u2019s also fairly polite. This is similar to \u0e14\u0e34\u0e09\u0e31\u0e19<\/strong> (de chan), which is much more polite.<\/p>\n \u0e40\u0e23\u0e32<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2018row\u2019 is an interesting word. It actually means \u2018we\u2019, but it\u2019s always used as \u2018I\u2019. Picture the British queen saying \u2018We are not amused!\u2019, where she uses \u2018we\u2019 to refer to herself. Only women use this word.<\/p>\n \u0e01\u0e39<\/strong><\/p>\n \u0e01\u0e39<\/strong> , pronounced goo, is a very rude way of referring to yourself. If you\u2019ve seen the movie Tom Yum Goong starring Tony Jaa, then you\u2019ve heard this word. Towards the end of the movie, when he is trying to find his beloved elephant, he repeatedly yells out \u0e0a\u0e49\u0e32\u0e07\u0e01\u0e39\u0e2d\u0e22\u0e39\u0e48\u0e44\u0e2b\u0e19<\/strong>, which roughly translates to \u2018where the f&%$ is my elephant?\u2019<\/p>\n \u0e40\u0e02\u0e32 \u0e40\u0e04\u0e49\u0e32<\/strong><\/p>\n You probably are familiar with these two words to me \u2018he\u2019, and sometimes \u2018they\u2019. It can also mean \u2018I\u2019. It\u2019s very rare to hear the word used as \u2018I\u2019, but when it is, it can be very confusing.<\/p>\n \u0e2b\u0e19\u0e39<\/strong><\/p>\n This word technically means \u2018mouse\u2019. But it\u2019s also a word that Thai girls like to use to refer to themselves when trying to sound a little cute, such as when talking to their mother\/father or boyfriend.<\/p>\n \u0e02\u0e49\u0e2d\u0e22<\/strong><\/p>\n Koy (falling tone) means \u2018I\u2019 in the regional dialect of Isaan. It\u2019s fairly common, and not rude or too polite.<\/p>\n \u0e44\u0e2d<\/strong><\/p>\n \u0e44\u0e2d, pronounced \u2018I\u2019, is tapsap, meaning it was taken directly from English. In Thailand, it\u2019s used by people who are trying to sound fancy by using English words mixed with Thai. They don\u2019t actually speak English, but they like to pretend they do. Using this word in Thailand will annoy most people. In the US, the word \u0e44\u0e2d is much more common. I\u2019d say a good 20% of all Thais here use it. I often use it, although it\u2019s less polite than \u0e1c\u0e21<\/strong>. I even know a monk in the US who uses it to refer to himself.<\/p>\n \u0e2d\u0e15\u0e21\u0e32<\/strong><\/p>\n Adtama, meaning \u2018I\u2019, is only used by monks. If you are a monk, you just use this word.<\/p>\n [your name here]<\/strong><\/p>\n Thai women often like to use their name instead of I. For example, Lek says, \u2018Lek wants to go eat.\u2019<\/p>\n \u0e02\u0e49\u0e32\u0e1e\u0e40\u0e08\u0e49\u0e32, \u0e02\u0e49\u0e32<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2018Kaa pa jao\u2019 isn\u2019t used very often. It\u2019s a fancy polite old-fashioned way of referring to yourself. You\u2019ll also sometimes just hear \u0e02\u0e49\u0e32<\/strong>. In the old days \u0e02\u0e49\u0e32 <\/strong>was a polite way to refer to yourself, so you\u2019ll hear it often in the Thai historical movies – but spoken today it\u2019s actually quite rude. The meaning changed over time.<\/p>\n \u0e40\u0e14\u0e35\u0e4a\u0e22\u0e19<\/strong><\/p>\n In terms of politeness, it fits in between \u0e09\u0e31\u0e19 and \u0e14\u0e34\u0e09\u0e31\u0e19<\/strong>. It\u2019s rarely used, as the speaker who says it is trying to sound posh.<\/p>\n \u0e40\u0e2d\u0e07<\/strong><\/p>\n This word, \u2018eang\u2019, is rarely used, as it\u2019s both rude and marks you as very uneducated. I\u2019ve only seen it a few times in children\u2019s story books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Learn how to refer to yourself in Thai.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[10208,3,10341],"tags":[12988],"class_list":["post-240","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-beginner","category-culture","category-intermediate","tag-i-pom-chan"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1952,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions\/1952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}