สวัสดี
“สวัสดี” (саватди) — hello in Thai. Interjection, level A0, topic — greetings and goodbyes. Works as hi, good morning and good evening alike, at any hour. A man ends it with khrap, a woman with kha — without the particle the greeting sounds curt, like an order. In a live sentence: “สวัสดี ครับ” — Hello (a man says it). Written with the characters ส, ว, ส, ด, ี. One of 9 words in the set “greetings and goodbyes” in the Thai course.
In short
| Written in Thai | สวัสดี |
| Read in Latin letters | саватди |
| Translation | hello |
| Part of speech | interjection |
| Level | A0 |
Why it looks that way
Works as hi, good morning and good evening alike, at any hour. A man ends it with khrap, a woman with kha — without the particle the greeting sounds curt, like an order
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.
- สวัสดี ครับсаватди кхрапHello (a man says it)
Nearby words: greetings and goodbyes
Every conversation starts here, and so does every first impression: say hello in the local language and you stop being a stranger in about a second.
- สวัสดี ตอน บ่ายсаватди тон байgood afternoonLiterally "hello in the afternoon". You will rarely hear it live: Thai just says sawatdi morning, noon and night, and builds no time of day into the greeting
- แล้ว เจอกันлаэо джёканbyeLiterally "see you then". The friendly farewell; the formal one is laa gon, said to the person who stays behind
- สบายดี ไหม?сабайди май?how are you?Literally "well or not?". The particle mai turns a statement into a question and sits at the very end
- คุณ เป็น อย่างไรкхун пен янграйhow are you? (polite)The polite "how are you getting along". Khun is the polite you, and it doubles as plain "you" for anyone who is not a close friend
- ลา ก่อนлаа конgoodbyeLiterally "I part first". Said to the person who stays; the friendly parting is laeo jer gan, "see you"
- สวัสดี ตอน เช้าсаватди тон чаоgood morningLiterally "hello in the morning". Less common than you would expect: most people just say sawatdi — the time of day is obvious anyway
- สวัสดี ตอน เย็นсаватди тон йенgood eveningLiterally "hello in the evening". Correct but rare in life, like good afternoon: people manage with plain sawatdi
- ฝัน ดีфан диgood nightLiterally "dream well": fan means "to dream". The living wish nearly always carries the particle na at the end
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “greetings and goodbyes”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “hello” in Thai?
Works as hi, good morning and good evening alike, at any hour. A man ends it with khrap, a woman with kha — without the particle the greeting sounds curt, like an order
- How do you say “good evening” in Thai?
Literally "hello in the evening". Correct but rare in life, like good afternoon: people manage with plain sawatdi
- How do you say “goodbye” in Thai?
Literally "I part first". Said to the person who stays; the friendly parting is laeo jer gan, "see you"
- How do you say “how are you?” in Thai?
Literally "well or not?". The particle mai turns a statement into a question and sits at the very end
- How do you say “good afternoon” in Thai?
Literally "hello in the afternoon". You will rarely hear it live: Thai just says sawatdi morning, noon and night, and builds no time of day into the greeting
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 “hello” in Thai?
«สวัสดี», read “саватди”. In a live sentence: “สวัสดี ครับ” — Hello (a man says it). Interjection, level A0, from the set “greetings and goodbyes”; written with the characters ส, ว, ส, ด, ี.
How is “สวัสดี” written in Latin letters?
саватди. 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?
Works as hi, good morning and good evening alike, at any hour. A man ends it with khrap, a woman with kha — without the particle the greeting sounds curt, like an order. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.