Speak Real Thai
Lessons - Reference - Tips - Books - Technical - Links - History

Greetings 1 2 3 Gifts ไหว้ 1 2 Summary

Where Are You Going ?

Instead of asking "How are you ?" Thais ask "Where are you going ?" or "Where have you been ?" If the person seems to be going somewhere you might ask


(จะ) ไปไหนคะ
(ja) bai nai ka
Where are you going ?

If you don't really want to answer you might say ไปธุระ bai tura, doing stuff (lit. business). This is a neutral answer when you don't want to be specific. If they seem to be coming back from somewhere you could say

ไปไหนมาคะ
bai nai ma ka
Where have you been ?

If you bump into someone unexpectedly you might say

ไปไงมาไง (เนี่ย)
bai ngai ma ngai (nee-ya)

literally "What are you doing here ?" It's short for
ไปยังไง มายังไง (ไปอย่างไร มาอย่างไร)
bai yang ngai ma yang ngai (bai yang rai ma yang rai)


[ปู] ไปไงมาไงเนี่ย
[อ้อม] มารอเพื่อน

[Poo] bai ngai ma ngai nee-ya
[Aom] ma ror peuan

[Poo] What's up ?
[Aom] I'm waiting for a friend.

Back Greetings 1
Greetings 3 Next

Speak Real Thai
Copyright (c) 2008. Lyndon Hill
http://www.speakrealthai.com
Valid HTML 4.01!