Outrageous Thai. T. F. Rhoden
[leri]. As you get better in Thai you’ll realize that there are a lot of different ways to use เลย [leri], but for our purposes here I want to stress the colloquial use of just.
• ไม่ เป็นไร ถ้าเรา ไม่ มา ก็ ไป เลย ก็ ได้
mâi-bpehn-rai tâh rao mâi mah gâw bpai LERI gâw dâi
Don’t worry about it! If I don’t come then you can just go.
• ไม่ เห็นต้องขอ น่ะเอา ไป เลย
mâi hěhn dtâwng kǎw nâ ’ao bpai LERI
I don’t see why ya hafta ask— just take it!
All Those Weird Endings
There’s a ton of different ending particles that you can throw to the end of any Thai sentence or phrase and the meaning of the sentence will totally change. The two most common ones for beginners of the Thai language are the super polite ครับ [krúp] and ค่ะ [kà] for guys and girls, respectively. While these are incredibly useful they are also incredibly boring. Nothing—and I mean nothing—will make you sound more like a dweeb then to continue using these for every situation. The Thais will tell you that, “Oh, you’re so polite,” or “Wow, how cute!” and will discourage you from using what I’m about to teach you, but don’t give in! The truth is that they simply don’t want you to know too much. The more of these you learn the more Thais will be wary of you in general. But the flip side to that is that they won’t see you as a pushover. I want to help you succeed in the latter.
Since there isn’t room in a book like this to go into all the various endings, I want to stress the most important and most slangy. These will help to get Thais to start taking you seriously. The most common particles after ครับ [krúp] and ค่ะ [kâ] are นะ [ná] with a high tone and น่ะ [nâ] with a falling tone. The first one is used to soften a phrase, while the second is used to mildly strengthen a phrase. Sometimes they are also pronounced as long vowels for extra effect as นา [nah] and น่า [nâh]. If you don’t already use these regularly, start now! There’s no excuse to not have an ending particle of some sort for every phrase you utter. The sooner you start to use these, the sooner you’ll start to sound more natural. When you can’t think of any others to use—use these two.
• พี่ อยาก ดู นม แป๊บเดียว นะ
pêe yàhk doo nohm báep-dieo NÁ
Ahhh, come on, I just wanna see your tits real quick.
• อย่าชี้ นะ
yàh chée NÁ
Please don’t point.
• อย่าชี้ น่ะ มันหยาบ
yàh chée NÂ mun yàhp
Don’t point! It’s rude!
After those two come the endings ละ [lá] and ล่ะ [lâ]. These can have a host of different meanings, but for our purposes in understanding slang they are mostly used to convey extra feeling. ละ [lá] (sometimes pronounced หละ [là]) is used in this way, while ล่ะ [lâ] can be used to either strengthen or soften a phrase, depending on intonation. ล่ะ [lâ] can also be used to create a short pause after an utterance, or it can sometimes be used in place of แล้ ว [láeo] to mean already. ล่ะ [lâ] is also occasionally pronounced or written as ล่า [lâh] or เล่ า [lâo].
• ถูก ละ เค้าก็ นิยมกันมาก ใน เมืองไทย
took LÁ káo gâw ní-yohn gun mâhk nai mueang-tai
Of course! He’s really popular in Thailand.
• อยาก อยู่ กะ ชั้น ทำไม ล่ะ
yàhk yòo gà chún tam-mai LÂ
Why do ya wanna be with me anyway?
• อยา ลืมซือเบียร์ ลีโอ ล่ะ ไม ใช ช้างหรอก
yàh luem súe bia lee-’oe LÂ mâi châi cháhng
Don’t forget to buy Leo Beer, not Chang!
• แล้วไอ้ เครื่อง นี้ ไง ล่ะ ใช้ ได้ รึเปล่า
láeo ’âi krûang née nai LÂ chái dâi rúe-bplào
This damn machine! Does it work or not?!
• พอดี มี ธุระเหมือนกันเรา ไป ล่ะ นะ
paw-dee mee tòo-rá mǔean-gun rao bpai LÂ ná
Just as well I’m gonna head out already. I’ve also got some stuff to do.
• นี่ ไง ของ ของ ใดร ล่ะ
nêe ngai kǎwng kǎwng krai LÂH
This here! Who does this belong to?
• แก จะ กอด กันอยู่ ถึงเมื่อไร เล่า ไม่ ได้ อาย เหรอ
gae jà gàwt gun yòo tǔeng mûe-rai LÂO mâi dâi ’ai rěr
Man, how long you guys gonna hug for? You’re not shy?
To be a little sterner and make full use of the imperative in Thai, start to use ซะ [sá] or, in more formal Thai, เสีย [sǐa].
• ทิ้ง ยัยไป ซะ ปวด หัวแล้ว
tíng yai bpai SÁ bpùat hua láeo
Dump the girl! She’s already a headache.
• ไป ซะ
bpai SÁ
Get outta here!!
If you want to add the meaning of course, isn’t it obvious or for sure, try the ending participle ซิ [síh]. In more formal Thai this would be rendered as the low tone สิ [sìh]. Sometimes you’ll also hear a short ดิ [dìh] or a short เดะ [dày]. All of these mean the same thing as ซิ [síh] but are a little bit more slangy.
• ก้อออมี แฟน ซิ
gâw mee faen SÍH
Well, yeah, of course I have a girlfriend.
• เอา ดิ!
’ao DÌH
Yeah, I want it!
Another cool way to indicate the imperative or to say let’s in Thai is to use the low tone เหอะ [hèr]. Sometimes, though, it is pronounced as the high tone เฮอะ [hér]. Both of these pronunciations come from the more standard เถอะ [tèr]. For most situations though if I want to say let’s, I normally use the first pronunciation of เหอะ [hèr]. It just sounds the best.
• สนุกจังเลย