How to Say “Too expensive” in Thai
แพงเกินไป
phææng kəən-pay
Too expensive
ค่ะ and ครับ are polite particles — they depend on the speaker's gender, not the listener's.
Word by word
When to use it
แพง (phaaeng) means "expensive," เกินไป (gəən-bpai) is "too much/overly." Saying this with a smile opens most price negotiations at markets and souvenir stalls. Follow with a counter-offer: [your price] ได้ไหม (dâai-mǎy) — "Can you do [price]?"
Why you've seen it spelled differently
You may have seen แพงเกินไป written as: paeng gern pai, phaeng geun pai, paaeng kern pai.
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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