How to Say “Good job” in Thai
เก่งมาก
kèeng mâak
Good job
ค่ะ and ครับ are polite particles — they depend on the speaker's gender, not the listener's.
Word by word
When to use it
เก่ง (gèng) means skilled or capable, มาก (mâak) is "very." This is the warm, natural way to praise someone's performance or ability — teachers say it to students, parents to children. Just เก่ง on its own works perfectly too. ทำได้ดี (tham-dâai-dii) — "did it well" — is another option.
Why you've seen it spelled differently
You may have seen เก่งมาก written as: geng mak, keng maak, keng mak.
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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