Hello in Thai is สวัสดี (sa-wàt-dii) — and you make it polite by adding ครับ (khráp) if you're male or ค่ะ (khâ) if you're female. That one word, with the right ending, covers hello, hi, good morning, good afternoon, and even goodbye.
This guide gives you every greeting you actually need, with audio for each one. You'll also learn the polite-particle rule that confuses every beginner, plus a few "textbook greetings" you can safely skip because real Thais don't use them.
Key takeaways
- The universal way to say hello in Thai is สวัสดี (sa-wàt-dii). It works at any time of day, hello or goodbye.
- Men end greetings with khráp, women with khâ. It depends on the speaker's gender, not the listener's.
- "How are you?" is สบายดีไหม (sa-baay-dii máy): สบาย (sa-baay) + ดี (dii) + ไหม (máy).
- Thais rarely use the textbook "อรุณสวัสดิ์ (a-run-sa-wàt) - good morning". สวัสดี (sa-wàt-dii) covers it.
- With friends, the casual หวัดดี (wàt-dii) is more natural than the full form.
The Thai Greetings You'll Actually Use
Tap the speaker icon to hear each one. The romanization marks the tones: mid is unmarked, low is à, falling is â, high is á, rising is ǎ. Our tones guide explains how to hear them.
In practice you will almost never say bare สวัสดี (sa-wàt-dii) to someone you've just met. Thai politeness lives in those little endings, so make the full polite form your default.
A well-aimed สวัสดี (sa-wàt-dii) goes further than you'd think. The moment mine started working, I was greeting the security guard at my condo building in Chiang Mai; he looked up and said, "very good pronunciation — sounded like a local." That one sentence carried me through a month of tone drills. And don't be surprised when locals greet you with a cheerful English "hello!" or a casual หวัดดี (wàt-dii) — everyday greetings in Thailand are far more relaxed than the textbook suggests.
Khráp or Khâ? The Rule Beginners Mix Up
The polite particles follow the speaker, not the listener:
- A man says สวัสดี ครับ (sa-wàt-dii khráp) to everyone, men and women alike.
- A woman says สวัสดี ค่ะ (sa-wàt-dii khâ) to everyone, too.
So if you're a man greeting a woman, it's still khráp. This is the single most common beginner mistake, and the fix is simple: pick your particle once and attach it to almost everything you say. It also softens requests and answers; think of it as the all-purpose politeness switch in Thai.
The Wai: the Gesture That Goes With the Greeting
Thais often greet with a wai (ไหว้ (wâay)): palms together near the chest, with a slight bow of the head. Two practical rules for learners:
- Return a wai when someone wais you (except staff greeting you in shops and restaurants — a smile and nod is fine).
- Don't initiate a wai to children or service staff. The junior person initiates. As a foreigner you'll be forgiven any wai mistake, but getting it roughly right earns real warmth.
Beyond Hello in Thai: "How Are You?"
The natural follow-up to a greeting:
Notice the answer to สบายดี ไหม (sa-baay-dii máy) is just the same phrase without the question particle: สบายดี (sa-baay-dii). Question and answer share the words, a pattern you'll see all over Thai.
Use these with people you already know: friends, family, coworkers, teachers, neighbors you talk to often, or someone you are starting to know socially. They are relationship phrases, not checkout-counter phrases.
Thai people generally do not make small talk with restaurant staff, shopkeepers, or strangers the way English speakers often do. When Thais walk into a restaurant, they usually get straight to business: ordering food, asking for a table, paying the bill. A friendly smile is normal; a casual "How are you?" to the server can feel unnatural.
So here is the learner warning: don't use สบายดี ไหม (sa-baay-dii máy) or กินข้าว หรือยัง (kin-khâaw rɨ́-yang) with service staff or random strangers just because you would say "how are you?" in English. It can sound awkward in Thai culture. That said, most Thai people will not feel very awkward when a foreigner tries it; they usually understand you are being warm and making an effort.
And yes, "have you eaten yet?" is a genuine greeting among people who know each other. Food is a huge part of Thai culture, so the question is a real way to show care and affection: are you well-fed, comfortable, looked after? If you tell a Thai person you have not eaten yet, the Thai reflex is often immediate: they will look for food to give you, or invite you to eat right away.
Saying Goodbye in Thai
Here's a freebie: สวัสดี (sa-wàt-dii) works for goodbye too. Beyond that:
Skip ลาก่อน (laa-kɔ̀ɔn) in daily life. It carries a "we may not meet again" weight that makes everyday goodbyes sound oddly dramatic.
Thai Greetings You Can Skip
Phrasebooks love listing time-of-day greetings. A literal "good morning" exists (อรุณสวัสดิ์ (a-run-sa-wàt)), but in real life Thais just say สวัสดี (sa-wàt-dii) from sunrise to midnight. Learn one greeting well instead of four you'll never hear.
Want to check the tones of any other phrase you pick up? Paste it into our free transliteration tool and you'll get word-by-word romanization with tone marks.
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FAQ
How do you say hello in Thai?
Hello in Thai is sa-wàt-dii. Men add khráp (sa-wàt-dii khráp) and women add khâ (sa-wàt-dii khâ) to make it polite. It works at any time of day, and also as a goodbye.
Do I say khráp or khâ to a guy?
The particle follows your own gender, not the listener's. Male speakers always use khráp and female speakers always use khâ, no matter who they are talking to.
What does sawasdee literally mean?
It comes from the Sanskrit word svasti, meaning well-being or good fortune — so the greeting is roughly a wish of wellness. It was popularized as Thailand's standard greeting in the 1930s.
Do Thai people actually say sawasdee?
Yes, constantly — but among friends it often shortens to the casual wàt-dii, and close friends may skip the greeting word entirely in favor of 'have you eaten yet?' or a simple nod and smile.
That's how to say hello in Thai: one word, two endings, and the confidence to use them. To hear these greetings in a real conversation and practice responding, the first free lesson walks through them line by line with audio.