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In Thai, speak for yourself
You might already know that in many languages, you have to change pronouns and adjectives depending on whether you're speaking to a man or a woman. But did you know that in Thai you have to be aware of your own gender instead? Thai uses different first person pronouns to mean I or me depending on whether the speaker is male (ผม pho:mˇ) or female (ดิฉัน di`-chanˇ). However, in the third person, Thai uses the same word (เขา khauˇ) to mean both he and she. Thai also uses a sentence-ending polite particle that depends on the gender of the speaker. Men use ครับ khrab´, and women use ค่ะ kha ̂ . To say a polite hello or good-bye in Thai, then, you would say สวัสดี sa`-wad`-dii, plus the appropriate polite particle for your own gender. It doesn't matter if the person you're greeting is male or female; you'll always say สวัสดี ครับ sa`-wad`-dii khrab´ if you're a man and สวัสดี ค่ะ sa`-wad`-dii kha ̂ if you're a woman. Tags: gender, grammar, newsletter, Thai
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