When you are starting a language, not all words are equal. A small core of very common words — pronouns, basic verbs, question words, numbers and everyday nouns — makes up a huge share of everything people actually say. Learn the first hundred well and you will start to catch the shape of real Thai sentences surprisingly quickly.
That is exactly what the 100 basic words list on this site is built around: the highest-frequency, highest-usefulness words to start with.
A taste of the first words
Here are a few of the words you will meet early. Read the Thai script first, then check yourself against the romanisation — and always play the audio on the site for the tone, which romanisation can only approximate.
- สวัสดี (sawatdee) — hello / goodbye
- ขอบคุณ (khop khun) — thank you
- ใช่ (chai) — yes / that’s right
- ไม่ (mai) — no / not
- ผม / ฉัน (phom / chan) — I (male / female)
- คุณ (khun) — you
- กิน (kin) — to eat
- ไป (pai) — to go
- มา (maa) — to come
- น้ำ (naam) — water
- อาหาร (aahaan) — food
- ดี (dee) — good
- รัก (rak) — to love
- ที่ไหน (thii nai) — where
- หนึ่ง สอง สาม (nueng, song, saam) — one, two, three
Even with just these you can greet someone, say yes and no, talk about eating and going, ask where something is and start counting — the scaffolding of everyday conversation.
How to remember them for good
- Practise them as flashcards in both directions — English → Thai and Thai → English.
- Add the ones you find tricky to your Interval Study deck and review a few minutes every day.
- Learn them in short sentences too, so they come with context rather than as isolated items.
- Say each word out loud with the audio to lock in the tone.
- Use them immediately — greet people, count things around you, name your food — so they move from “recognised” to “owned.”