You will often hear people greet each other by saying good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and good night. How do you say that in the Thai language? We will find out today.
โญ๏ธ One important thing to note is that Thais more commonly just say hello (เธชเธงเธฑเธชเธเธต (sร -wร t-dee) or เธซเธงเธฑเธเธเธต (wร t dee)) instead of saying ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’, ‘good evening’, or ‘good night’.
Good morning in Thai
To say good morning in Thai you can say either เธชเธงเธฑเธชเธเธตเธเธญเธเนเธเนเธฒ (sร -wร t-dee dton-chรกo) or เธญเธฃเธธเธเธชเธงเธฑเธชเธเธดเน (ร -run sร -wร t).
เธชเธงเธฑเธชเธเธตเธเธญเธเนเธเนเธฒ (sร -wร t-dee dton-chรกo)
sร -wร t-dee is a very common way of saying hello in Thai. We can add dton-chรกo which means ‘morning’. This turns the phrase into ‘good morning’
เธญเธฃเธธเธเธชเธงเธฑเธชเธเธดเน (ร -run sร -wร t)
ร -run sร -wร t means sunrise or dawn. The entire phrase means good morning but sounds beautiful, almost poetic. I hardly ever hear any Thais say it anymore.
Good afternoon in Thai
To say good afternoon in Thai you would say เธชเธงเธฑเธชเธเธตเธเธญเธเธเนเธฒเธข (sร -wร t-dee dton-bร ai).
dton-bร ai means afternoon. Together with sร -wร t-dee forms ‘good afternoon’. We consider around 1 PM – 5 PM to be afternoon. After 5 PM it’s good evening which we will learn next.
Good evening in Thai
Good evening in Thai is เธชเธงเธฑเธชเธเธตเธเธญเธเนเธขเนเธ (sร -wร t-dee dton-yen).
dton-yen means evening. Together with sร -wร t-dee it makes ‘good evening’. This phrase is usable from 5 PM-ish onward until 7 PM.
Good night in Thai
Good night in Thai is either เธเธฑเธเธเธต (fฤn dee) or เธฃเธฒเธเธฃเธตเธชเธงเธฑเธชเธเธดเน (raa-dtree sร -wร t).
เธเธฑเธเธเธต (fฤn dee)
fฤn means dream, dee means good. Together it means good night or more accurately, wishing someone good night/dream.
เธฃเธฒเธเธฃเธตเธชเธงเธฑเธชเธเธดเน (raa-dtree sร -wร t).
raa-dtree sร -wร t is also wishing somebody good night, but just like, ร -run sร -wร t (good morning), it is formal and sounds very nice. It is also poetic and not commonly used.
I hope you now understand how to say good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good night in the Thai language!
You can watch the video version of this below and you can download the transcript for the video here.
To learn different ways to say good bye in Thai ๐, please visit my article.
