Hello in Thai: sawasdee khrap, sawasdee ka, and to Yai

Hello is the first word anyone learns, and for a lot of us it’s also the one that matters most. It’s the word you say at the airport arrivals gate, at the door of Yai’s house, or into the phone while the video is still loading. Get the hello right and the rest of the visit starts warm.

The good news: Thai hello is one word plus one ending, and a small gesture that says more than either.

How do you say hello in Thai?

The word is sa-wat-dii. With elders and people you’ve just met, add a polite ending: the ending and a wai carry the respect. Here it is the way you’ll say it to family:

สวัสดีครับ

sa-wat-dii khrap

สวัสดีครับ

sa-wat-dii khrap

สวัสดีค่ะ

sa-wat-dii kha

Who is speaking?

ครับ said by a manค่ะ said by a woman

Draft: waiting for a native speaker’s review.

You’ll see it written sawasdee, sawatdee, sawadee, sawasdee krub and more. Romanization varies a lot; the Thai is the same word every time. On this site we always write sa-wat-dii, one easy spelling used the same way on every page.

Is it sawasdee ka or sawasdee khrap?

This is the question almost everyone asks, and the answer surprises people: the ending depends on who is speaking, not who you are talking to.

• If you are a man, say สวัสดีครับ (sa-wat-dii khrap).
• If you are a woman, say สวัสดีค่ะ (sa-wat-dii kha).

Wikipedia’s article on the Thai language describes ครับ as the respect particle used “when the speaker is a man” and ค่ะ “when the speaker is a woman”. So if your mum says sa-wat-dii kha and your dad says sa-wat-dii khrap, they are both right, and you pick the one that fits you. In questions, women switch to a high-tone คะ, which is a story for another page.

That’s the one-line version. For what these little words really do in a sentence, see what ka and khrap mean.

How do you say hello to a Thai grandparent?

Two things change when the person in front of you is Yai: you wai first, and you use her kinship word.

สวัสดีครับยาย

sa-wat-dii khrap yaai

สวัสดีครับยาย

sa-wat-dii khrap yaai

สวัสดีค่ะยาย

sa-wat-dii kha yaai

Who is speaking?

ครับ said by a manค่ะ said by a woman

Draft: waiting for a native speaker’s review.

In Thai family talk, people call each other by their family role rather than by name or “you”. Your mum’s mum is ยาย (yaai) and your dad’s mum is ย่า (yaa), so the last word of the greeting tells everyone in the room exactly who you mean. The same pattern works for aunts and uncles: ป้า (paa) for an older auntie, ลุง (lung) for an older uncle. Our guide to Thai family words has the full list of who’s who.

Don’t worry if your tones wobble. A grandparent who hears their own title in your hello tends to hear the love first and the accent a distant second.

Do you wai when you say hello?

With elders, yes. The wai, ไหว้ (wai), is the pressed-palms greeting that goes with sa-wat-dii. Wikipedia describes it as a slight bow with the palms pressed together, as if in prayer, and notes that the higher the hands and the lower the bow, the more respect it shows.

A quick family version:

1. Put your palms together, fingers up, close to your chest.
2. For grandparents, raise them higher, towards your face: the higher the hands, the more respect.
3. Bow your head a little and say sa-wat-dii khrap or sa-wat-dii kha.

Who goes first? By Thai custom, the person of lower social status offers the wai, and age is part of that order, so in a family it is usually the younger person who wais first. Wikipedia adds that a wai offered as a sign of respect should always be returned. So with little cousins, let them wai first and simply return it. Our guide to the Thai wai goes deeper, the temple etiquette guide covers it in a temple setting, and the glossary has the short version.

Polite vs casual: who gets which hello?

Meeting your partner’s family, or anyone for the first time, pairs the polite hello with this:

ยินดีที่ได้รู้จัก

yin dii thii dai ruu jak

ยินดีที่ได้รู้จักครับ

yin dii thii dai ruu jak khrap

ยินดีที่ได้รู้จักค่ะ

yin dii thii dai ruu jak kha

Who is speaking?

ครับ said by a manค่ะ said by a woman

Draft: waiting for a native speaker’s review.

Can sawasdee mean goodbye?

Yes. Sa-wat-dii does double duty: Wikipedia’s wai article notes that it is often said with the wai both as a greeting and as a farewell. So the same word, the same ending and the same wai work at the door on the way out.

With grandparents, a goodbye usually carries a bit more care than that. A favourite is ยายดูแลสุขภาพด้วยนะ (yaai duu lae suk-kha-phaap duai na), “take care of yourself, Yai”. More goodbyes like it are in our video call with Yai phrases.

How do you say hello casually, or on the phone?

With cousins and friends your age, sa-wat-dii khrap can sound like you’ve come to inspect the house. The everyday hello is:

ว่าไง

waa ngai

Draft: waiting for a native speaker’s review.

Keep it sideways or downwards: cousins, friends, younger relatives. It’s not for Yai, and not for the uncle who still calls you by your baby nickname.

The phone gets its own hello, borrowed from English and made Thai. Add her kinship word and she knows exactly who is calling:

ฮัลโหล ยาย

han-loh yaai

Draft: waiting for a native speaker’s review.

The natural next line is ยายสบายดีไหม (yaai sa-baai dii mai), “How are you, Yai?”. That’s a whole conversation of its own, and the video call guide walks through it.

Where does sawasdee come from?

As a greeting, it’s younger than you might think. The word comes from the Sanskrit svasti, which Google’s 2020 Doodle for the greeting glosses as “blessing” or “well-being”. The library of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University in Bangkok says Phraya Upakit Silpasarn began using it as a greeting among teachers and students at Chulalongkorn University, and that the government of Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram made it a general greeting on 22 January 1943. Wikipedia dates the coinage to the mid-1930s and notes that before then the word appeared in Thai only as a formal opening to inscriptions.

So when you say sa-wat-dii to Yai, you are wishing her well in a word that has been a hello for less than a century.

After hello comes “how are you?”: see how are you in Thai for what to ask Yai, and what she’ll answer.

Practise your hello before the trip home

In Reply Thai, the Who’s who moment practises the polite hello, the family titles and the casual waa ngai for cousins, and Video call with Yai starts with the phone hello. You choose ครับ or ค่ะ once, and every phrase follows. Coming soon to iPhone.

Reply Thai for iPhoneComing soon

Next up: thank you in Thai, the word you’ll need about ten seconds after hello, usually when the first plate arrives.

Thai words on this page are a draft until a native speaker has reviewed them.