Spend a week in Thailand and the same handful of Thai words start to jump out at you — sawasdee (สวัสดี), aroy (อร่อย), sabai sabai (สบายๆ), mai pen rai (ไม่เป็นไร), and the famous "same same but different." Here are 15 you will hear everywhere, what each one means, and how to answer.
The greetings on repeat
sawasdee is hello and goodbye in one word. You will hear it dozens of times a day, usually capped with krub (ครับ) from men or ka (ค่ะ) from women — the little politeness particles Thais attach to almost everything.
A friendlier surprise is pai nai (ไปไหน), literally "where are you going?" It sounds nosy but it is really just a warm hello, like "how's it going?" You are not expected to share your itinerary — a smile and a vague pai tiao (ไปเที่ยว), "just out and about," is a perfect answer.
What they might call you: farang
farang (ฝรั่ง) is the everyday Thai word for a white or Western foreigner. You will hear it constantly, and it is almost never an insult — it is simply descriptive, the way English speakers might say "the tourists." Our guide to what farang means digs into the nuance.
Food words you'll live by
Two you will use daily: aroy (อร่อย), delicious, and phet (เผ็ด), spicy. Vendors often check before they cook by asking phet mai (เผ็ดไหม), "spicy or not?" Answer honestly. At a busy stall you will also meet mai mee (ไม่มี), "don't have" — the universal Thai for sold out or not available.
อร่อยมากครับ
aroy mak krub
Very delicious (male speaker)
เผ็ดไหม
phet mai
Is it spicy?
ไม่มี
mai mee
Don't have / sold out
Getting around: tuk-tuk and soi
The tuk-tuk (ตุ๊กตุ๊ก) is Thailand's three-wheeled taxi, named for the putter of its engine. And when you hunt for an address, you will hear soi (ซอย) — a side street or lane branching off a main road, or thanon (ถนน). "Sukhumvit Soi 11" simply means the 11th lane off Sukhumvit Road. Learn to read soi numbers and half the city's addresses suddenly make sense.
The legendary Tinglish
Two phrases are pure Thai-English magic. The first is "same same" — a beloved bit of Tinglish meaning "similar" or "the same," which grew into the T-shirt-famous "same same but different." Thai has its own tidy ways of saying it, like baep diao gan (แบบเดียวกัน, "the same kind"), but travelers fell for the doubled English version, and now everyone uses it.
The second is "up to you," the standard easygoing answer to "where should we eat?" It mirrors the Thai arai gor dai (อะไรก็ได้), "anything's fine" — a very Thai way of staying agreeable and keeping the peace.
Good vibes and goodbyes
A cluster of feel-good words rounds out your ear training. sabai sabai means "relaxed, easy, all good," the unofficial motto of the Thai islands. mai pen rai is "no worries, never mind," the phrase Thais reach for to smooth over anything. jing jing (จริงๆ) means "really!" and adds emphasis or surprise. And when you part ways, you'll hear chok dee (โชคดี), "good luck" — a warm, everyday goodbye.
Notice how many of these — mai pen rai, sabai sabai, "up to you" — point the same direction: toward ease, patience, and not making a fuss. Learn the words and you start to absorb the attitude behind them, which is half of what makes Thailand feel the way it does.
Keep learning Thai
You will pick up these 15 by ear within days; the fun part is learning to answer back. Keep going with our free list of essential Thai phrases, then train your ear and your tongue with audio and speaking practice in the Pretalk app — the same words, now yours to use.
