> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://easythailandvisa.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Thai Phrases That Get You Further Than Google Translate - URL: https://easythailandvisa.com/useful-thai-phrases-not-greetings/ - Published: 2026-09-24T13:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-09T05:36:59.000Z - Description: I have watched a tourist say 'khop khun' nineteen times in a day and still leave Thailand able to buy nothing, argue about nothing and know when a motorbike driver was being polite or sarcastic. - Author: Somchai Jaidee - Tags: Practicalities, Temples & Culture Almost every "learn Thai before you travel" list is the same twelve words, and all twelve are the least useful things in the language. *Sawatdee khrap ka/krap* will get you a smile. It will not get you a discount, it will not stop you being overcharged, and it will not help when a [motorbike](https://easythailandvisa.com/renting-a-scooter-in-thailand-what-they-dont-tell-you/) driver is telling you something important at 70 kilometres an hour. Here is what actually earns its place in your head, ordered by how often it saves you money or a day. Last verified 25 September 2026. ## The number words, because everything is priced in them **Learn 1 to 10 in Thai numerals and out loud.** Not "how much", the numbers. Thai vendors do not use a calculator, they count on their fingers or a notepad, and the number you hear and the number on the screen will differ constantly because one is a discount. *Nueng song sam si ha hok jet paet kao sip* — one two three four five six seven eight nine ten. Note the "hok" trap: *six* is one syllable that sounds like it, but *sixteen* is *sip lit* and *sixty* is *hit*. If you only learn single digits you will mishear every number above ten, which is most prices. ## Price and refusal **"Dao mai" means "not much" and it is the polite way to refuse anything.** Food, a room, a taxi fare, a [massage](https://easythailandvisa.com/thai-massage-what-to-ask-for/), a t-shirt. It is soft, it is not rude, and it is understood by everybody. *Mai ao rai* is "I don't want it" and it is also fine but slightly more direct. **"Siao tai" is the number you want to hear.** It means too expensive and it is a real negotiating position rather than an insult, though the tone matters. Saying it with a smile and a hand gesture is a game. Saying it flat and then walking away is a negotiation. **"Tao rai" is "how much" and it is the most useful three syllables in the language.** It is what you say in a market, a taxi, a shop, and at a ticket counter. Point at the thing, say *tao rai*, and you are in a conversation instead of being handed a number. ## The three that protect you **"Mai chai" — I don't have it. No cash, no card, not today.** Useful everywhere, and in a market it is the sentence that ends a price conversation gracefully. **"Mai sai sai" — I am not sure / I do not know.** Saying this instead of nodding is the single most useful travel skill. Nodding at something you have not understood is how people end up agreeing to a 2,000 baht motorbike tour. **"Phra tam" — please excuse me / I am sorry.** Used to get past people, to apologise for bumping someone, and to get a [monk](https://easythailandvisa.com/talking-to-monks-in-thailand/)'s attention without touching them. On a crowded street, *phra tam* and a flat hand at chest height is the correct way to pass behind somebody. ## The two that change prices **"Kin jay" — eat where? Pointed at a menu or a stall.** The response is either *kin jay* pointing somewhere, or *kin laeng* (eat at home) or *kin tam jay* (only eat this). It is a question that opens a real conversation with a vendor and vendors will tell you where they actually eat. **"Mai phon" — not spicy.** Say it clearly, with the gesture, because saying it quietly gets you food that is still hot. If you cannot manage spice at all, *mai phet phra* — not spicy hot — is the phrase that will actually work, because *mai phet* on its own can be read as "a bit less" and *mai phon* is often ignored. ## The one nobody learns that they all need **"Chai" means "no" when you do not want the bill, and "yes" when you do.** This is the most common misunderstanding in Thailand and it produces the classic scene of a tourist nodding vigorously at a vendor, then being presented with a bill for 1,200 baht. *Chai* at a shop counter means the total. *Chai* in response to "would you like this?" means yes. The context is the entire meaning. ## What about the greetings Do the [*wai*](https://easythailandvisa.com/how-to-address-people-in-thailand-titles-and-names/). It takes four seconds and it is the single most disarming thing a visitor can do. Palms together, fingers up, at forehead height, with a small dip of the head. To a monk, the hands go higher and the dip is deeper. Do not return a *wai* to someone significantly older or higher-ranking, because that is the version that causes offence. And learn *sawasdee* plus good, so that you can greet a person. That is the baseline of being polite and it costs you nothing. ## On Google Translate It is genuinely good now for the written and formal stuff, and genuinely bad for anything said across a noisy counter by someone with an accent and an incentive to overcharge you. The gap between the two is exactly the gap that matters: it can tell you what the sign says, and it cannot tell you whether the man saying *si mai* meant five hundred or fifteen hundred. Learn twenty words and use them badly. A person who tries and gets it slightly wrong is understood immediately and treated generously. A person who says nothing is understood perfectly and charged accordingly. **More on this** - [The Grand Palace Tour Scam, and the Four Words That End It](https://easythailandvisa.com/grand-palace-tuk-tuk-tour-scam/) - [The Temple Rule Nobody Writes Down, and the Fine That](https://easythailandvisa.com/thai-temple-dress-code-rules/) - [Every Thai Toilet Has a Shovel and a Bucket and They Are](https://easythailandvisa.com/thai-toilets-squat-little-hatchet-lcdc/)