Using Particles to Make Your Speech Polite

When to say ครับ krap or ค่ะ/คะ ka

These words are used when speaking politely. There is no word to describe them so we'll call them "particles". Men can also say ครับผม krap pom instead of ครับ krap. This is even more formal. Some men say ครับผม all the time instead of just ครับ.

Sometimes particles have other meanings, such as replying to a question in the affirmative:

[เก๋] คุณไปหาอะไรกินกันมั๊ยคะ
[ลิน] ครับ

[Kay] khun bai ha arai gin gan mai ka
[Lyn] krap

[Kay] Let's have something to eat.
[Lyn] Yes, let's.

Men Can Use Both ค่ะ ka and ครับ krap

You might hear a man say ค่ะ ka, this is not weird, it's totally normal. Some ฝรั่ง farang men say ค่ะ because they have been taught Thai by a woman who either forgot to mention that only women say it or because she thought it sounds cute.

ค่ะ ka sounds softer but should be used with caution.

Used when talking with women, ค่ะ makes a sentence sound polite but it could make the man sound smooth so there is a fine line between being polite and being smooth, เจ้าชู้ jaochoo.
Used with young children. It's cute to talk to children with the right ending for themselves, boys - ครับ, girls - ค่ะ no matter who is talking to them; the use of ค่ะ or ครับ depends on the child we're talking to. It's a way of teaching children to use ค่ะ or ครับ by saying it to them and they can learn to repeat what you say.
Male royal family members, even extended royal family, seem to use ค่ะ instead of ครับ. As we've never met a real member of the royal family we may as well assume this is true for now.

Women Can Also Say ครับ krap

When talking with young men, usually someone younger than the woman. A woman might say ครับ to make the sentence sound more friendly.
When talking with young children (see above).

นี่ nee or ซะหน่อย sa noy can also be used at the end of a sentence, similar to particles.

Other end particles can also be used, but some of them only with people who you know well and some of them have quite a detailed meaning. We'll talk about those next.

Lessons
Friendly particles Next