How to Say “Be careful” in Thai
ระวังด้วย
ra-wang dûay
Be careful
นะ (ná) turns this into a gentle request rather than an order — and after นะ (ná), women say คะ (khá) (high tone), not the plain ค่ะ (khâ).
Word by word
When to use it
It is a general way to say "be careful," and its exact meaning depends on the context of the situation. However, if you need to shout "Watch out!" for an immediate danger happening right in front of you, simply say ระวัง (ra-wang)! You can add ครับ/ค่ะ (khráp/khâ) to make it polite, but in urgent or emergency situations, just shouting ระวัง (ra-wang)! is perfectly acceptable, and no one will consider it impolite.
Why you've seen it spelled differently
You may have seen ระวังด้วย written as: rawang duay, ra-wang duay, la-wang duay.
There is no single standard for writing Thai in the Roman alphabet — phrasebooks, road signs, and tourist guides each follow a different system, and many just invent their own spellings. The romanization on this page uses a consistent IPA-based system that marks all five tones and distinguishes short from long vowels. The same word always gets the same spelling. Paste any Thai to see it romanized →
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