The Thai Phrases That Get You Further Than Google Translate
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.
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 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, 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'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. 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.
