How to Say “How are you” in Thai
สบายดีไหม
sa-baay-dii máy
How are you
ค่ะ and ครับ are polite particles — they depend on the speaker's gender, not the listener's.
Word by word
When to use it
สบายดีไหม (sa-baay-dii-mǎy) is the most natural "how are you?" — สบาย means comfortable or at ease, ดี is good, ไหม is the question particle. The typical reply is สบายดี (sa-baay-dii) — "I'm well" — often followed by แล้วคุณล่ะ (láaeo-khun-lâ) — "and you?"
Why you've seen it spelled differently
You may have seen สบายดีไหม written as: sabai dee mai, sabaidee mai, sa bai di mai.
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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