How to Say “Speak slowly” in Thai
พูดช้าๆ หน่อย
phûut cháa cháa nɔ̀y
Speak slowly
ค่ะ and ครับ are polite particles — they depend on the speaker's gender, not the listener's.
Word by word
When to use it
พูด (phûut) is "to speak," ช้าๆ (cháa-cháa) is "slowly" (reduplication for emphasis), หน่อย is the softening particle. Thai people generally respond well to this — it signals you're trying. Pair it with a smile and you'll usually get a patient repeat.
Why you've seen it spelled differently
You may have seen พูดช้าๆ หน่อย written as: phut cha cha noi, put cha cha noi, pood chaa chaa noi.
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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