เขา
“เขา” (кхао) — he in Thai. Pronoun, level A0, topic — pronouns. Used for a man and a woman alike: spoken Thai does not need to split he and she. Do not confuse it with khao, rice — a different tone. In a live sentence: “เขา สบายดี” — He is doing fine. Written with the characters เ, ข, า. One of 27 words in the set “pronouns” in the Thai course.
In short
| Written in Thai | เขา |
| Read in Latin letters | кхао |
| Translation | he |
| Part of speech | pronoun |
| Level | A0 |
Why it looks that way
Used for a man and a woman alike: spoken Thai does not need to split he and she. Do not confuse it with khao, rice — a different tone
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- เขา สบายดีкхао сабайдиHe is doing fine
Nearby words: pronouns
I, you, we, they. There is a handful of them, they turn up in every sentence, and politeness rides on them: most of these languages keep a formal “you” apart from a familiar one, and choosing the wrong one is noticed faster than a mispronounced word.
- ผมпхомIThe "I" of a male speaker. A woman says dichan. In speech the pronoun is often dropped: the phrase is clear without it, and it goes in for emphasis — "as for ME"
- คุณкхунyouBoth informal you and polite you in one word — the distinction simply is not made here. It also goes before a name as a title: khun Mana, Mr Mana
- พวก คุณпхуак кхунyou (plural)Literally "group of you". The word phuak, "group", in front of a pronoun makes the plural — the verb stays unchanged
- เธอтхёshe"She" for your own or someone younger; about an older woman or a stranger people prefer the neutral khao. The same word is "you" between girlfriends
- เราраоweOne "we" for every case: you-and-me and us-without-you alike. The verb does not change after it
- เรา สอง คนрао сонг кхонthe two of usLiterally "we — two people". The classifier khon, "person", is obligatory: Thai never leaves a bare number. There is no special dual pronoun — only this phrase
- พวก เขาпхуак кхаоtheyLiterally "group he". The plural is assembled with the word "group" and in no other way: there are no endings and no conjugations
- ของ ฉันкхонг чанmy; mineLiterally "thing of me": khong follows the object, the owner stands before it. The female chan; men say khong phom — the grammar is the same
- ของ คุณкхонг кхунyour; yoursThe same turn with the polite khun — which is both informal and formal you. There is no separate "your": the owner is simply named after khong
- ของ เราкхонг раоour; ours"Thing of us": khong plus the familiar rao. No number, no case — the one turn for every kind of belonging
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “pronouns”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “he” in Thai?
Used for a man and a woman alike: spoken Thai does not need to split he and she. Do not confuse it with khao, rice — a different tone
- How do you say “they” in Thai?
Literally "group he". The plural is assembled with the word "group" and in no other way: there are no endings and no conjugations
- How do you say “you (plural)” in Thai?
Literally "group of you". The word phuak, "group", in front of a pronoun makes the plural — the verb stays unchanged
- How do you say “our; ours” in Thai?
"Thing of us": khong plus the familiar rao. No number, no case — the one turn for every kind of belonging
- How do you say “the two of us” in Thai?
Literally "we — two people". The classifier khon, "person", is obligatory: Thai never leaves a bare number. There is no special dual pronoun — only this phrase
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “he” in Thai?
«เขา», read “кхао”. In a live sentence: “เขา สบายดี” — He is doing fine. Pronoun, level A0, from the set “pronouns”; written with the characters เ, ข, า.
How is “เขา” written in Latin letters?
кхао. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Used for a man and a woman alike: spoken Thai does not need to split he and she. Do not confuse it with khao, rice — a different tone. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.