This article was originally posted on WomenLearnThai.com.
Basic Thai flood phrases…
In my last post, the Primer on Thai Disaster Words, I shared flood vocabulary found in Thai conversations, TV, and Thai Newspapers. If you’ve found yourself in Thailand during the floods, the few phrases below will help you to communicate at a basic level with your Thai neighbours and friends.
Please note that I left out the honorifics for brevity. I also dropped most of the personal pronouns since in regular conversation they aren’t really needed, or used often. Also, the word for flood น้ำท่วม /nám-tûam/ will often be shortened in regular conversation to just ท่วม /tûam/.
Everything is interpretation and not translated word-for-word.
บ้านคุณน้ำท่วมมั้ย
bâan kun nám tûam máai
Is your house flooded?
ครับ ท่วมแล้ว
kráp tûam láew
Yes, it’s flooded.
ไม่ ยังไม่ท่วม
mâi yang-mâi-tûam
No, not yet.
แถวบ้านเป็นยังไงบ้าง
taew-bâan bpen yang-ngai-bâang
How is your neighborhood?
ท่วมหมด
tûam-mòt
It’s completely flooded.
ยังแห้งยู่
yang hâeng yòo
It’s still dry.
ท่วมนานมั้ย
tûam naan máai
Has it been flooded long?
ท่วมประมาณหนึ่งอาทิตย์
tûam bprà-maan nèung aa-tít
About a week.
ท่วมไม่นาน
tûam mâi naan
Not long.
ครอบครัวเป็นยังไงบ้าง
krôp krua bpen yang ngai bâang
How is your family?
ทุกคนสบายดี
túk kon sà-baai dee
Everyone is OK.
เราทุกคนเหนื่อยมาก
rao túk kon nèuay mâak
We are all very tired.
จะให้ผมช่วยอะไรมั้ย
ja ̀hâi pom chûay a-rai máai
Can I help you with anything?
ไม่ขอบคุณ
mâi kòp kun
No thank you.
ขอบคุณที่ถาม
kòp kun têe taam
Thanks for asking.
คุณมีที่อยู่หรือเปล่า
kun mee têe yòo reu bplào
Do you have a place to stay?
มีครับ
mee kráp
Yes we do.
ยังหาอยู่
yang haa yòo
We are still looking.
มีอาหารและน้ำพอมั้ย
mee aa haan láe nám por máai
Do you have enough food and water?
พอครับ
por kráp
Yes we do.
เราต้องการอาหารและน้ำ
rao dtông gaan aa haan láe nám
We need food and water.
ขอช่วยน่อย
kǒr chûay nòi
Can you help me please?
ได้ครับ
dâai kráp
Yes I can.
คุณต้องการอะไรบ้าง
kun dtông gaan a-rai bâang
What do you need?
ขอให้น้ำลดลงเร็วนะ
kor hâi nám lót long reo ná
Let’s hope the water recedes quickly.
เห็นด้วย
hen dûay
Agreed.
แน่นอน
nâe-non
For sure.
If you are in Thailand, what flood and emergency phrases are you starting to use more often?
Keep safe…
Hugh Leong
Retire 2 Thailand
Retire 2 Thailand: Blog
eBooks in Thailand
Nick, the recent earthquake in Japan was awful. But if I found myself in that situation, I’m sure all I’d be able to manage is a few squeaks before turning tail to run.
I see you are advertising the Rocket course for Japanese. I just bought their Italian version but haven’t had time to play. I plan on comparing Rocket to Fluenz as they seem to be the top competitors for that type of course. Time…
This lesson reminds of learning emergency Japanese in case I was going to be caught in an earthquake. Thankful I never had to use any.
Hi Talen. Thanks for stopping by (you’ve been missed!)
Suggestion: Take a truck to Don Mueang and load up with the care packages, prepacked. From the photos, there are huge mounds piled up, just sitting. In each photo shared on the twitter rumour mill, the mounds get bigger. The newspapers have covered the story but by now there are sure to be more… bags, that is.
Take care, ok? I’m looking forward to your flood post (coming soon, I hope 🙂
Cat. great stuff as always. I am in Petchaboon at the moment and many places on the way here were flooded bad especially around Lop Buri.
Tomorrow we are heading to Nakhan Sawan to help put together care packages for the flood victims…there is some serious devastation out there.
Anyway these flood pohrases should come in quite handy.