How to Say “How old are you?” in Thai
อายุเท่าไหร่
aa-yú thâw-rày
How old are you?
ครับ (khráp) and คะ (khá) are polite particles — they depend on the speaker's gender. In a question the female particle is คะ (khá) (high tone), not the statement form ค่ะ (khâ).
Word by word
When to use it
อายุ (aa-yú) means "age" and เท่าไหร่ (thâw-rày) means "how much." Thais traditionally asked age to set the social hierarchy — older people are called พี่ (phîi), younger ones น้อง (nɔ́ɔng) — but nowadays it's less common and some find it intrusive, so ask with care. When there's an obvious age gap it's fine for the older person to ask a younger one, but younger people don't usually ask their elders; otherwise many Thais guess age indirectly, from graduation year or career, rather than ask outright.
Why you've seen it spelled differently
You may have seen อายุเท่าไหร่ written as: ah-yu taorai, ayu thaorai, ah yu tao rai.
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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