How to Say “Help me” in Thai

ช่วยด้วย

chûay-dûay

Help me

ช่วยด้วยค่ะchûay-dûay khâfemale speakerช่วยด้วยครับchûay-dûay khrápmale speaker

ค่ะ (khâ) and ครับ (khráp) are polite particles — they depend on the speaker's gender, not the listener's.

Word by word

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ช่วยchûayVto help

ด้วยdûayADValso, as well, too, with

When to use it

ช่วยด้วย (chûay-dûay) is reserved for real emergencies; shouting it loudly and repeatedly gets an immediate, instinctive response from bystanders. For polite, formal requests in non-emergency situations, use ขอความช่วยเหลือหน่อย ครับ/ค่ะ (khɔ̌ɔ khwaam-chûay-lɨ̌a nɔ̀y khráp/khâ) to ask for assistance. In everyday casual contexts, you can simply say ช่วยหน่อยได้ไหม ครับ/คะ (chûay nɔ̀y dâay-máy khráp/khá) to ask, "Can you help, please?"

Why you've seen it spelled differently

You may have seen ช่วยด้วย written as: chuay duay, choo-ay duay, cuai duai.

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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