Let’s Learn Some Useful Thai Adjectives

Adjectives are incredibly important. They turn a boring sentence into something interesting and deep. You can also learn a lot more and share more details about something. Whatever way you look at it, adjectives are incredibly useful whether you are writing or talking. So then, have you been learning Thai adjectives?

Even just a few basic examples will go a long way into making you sound more fluent. Don’t forget that they are sometimes necessary for everyday activities, such as ordering food. To help you out, we have put together a few examples of adjectives in Thai that you will likely need during your stay.

What Are Adjectives?

Adjectives are a type of word that can be included in a sentence that describes or modify nouns (another type of word). Basically, it names an attribute of a noun, whether related to its size, color, appearance, height, strength, personality, shape… you get the picture.

Ultimately, adjectives are an easy way to spruce up your vocabulary. Instead of saying that a cat was chasing you, you can say that a large, evil cat was chasing you. See the difference that makes? In all types of conversations, you can use these types of words to improve your fluency in Thai and just generally get better at describing things.

There are other ways to use adjectives too.

Using Adjectives For Comparisons

Another benefit of knowing Thai adjectives is that you will be able to make comparisons in the language. Based on the adjective you use, it is usually just a case of adding one of two words/phrases to turn it into a comparative statement.

The first word to know for comparing things in Thai is ‘gwaa’ (กว่า), which is the equivalent to adding the “…er” suffix or saying “more than” in English. Using Thai word order, this is placed after the adjective. 

The second word is ‘tee sud’, which also comes after the adjective. This means “the most” and is like adding the “…est” suffix. Anyway, you can learn more on this topic in our post on comparatives.

For now, let’s learn a few of the more often used Thai adjectives to get you started.

Examples Of Thai Adjectives

Size

There are many situations where you would talk about the size of something, like when ordering food or talking about how big your dog has grown in just the last year. Here are the two main adjectives in Thai that you can use:

Color

We have already looked at colors in Thai, so you can learn more about their deeper cultural meanings there. For now, here are some of the main colors to know:

Appearance

Appearance is quite a broad topic, and so may overlap with some of the other more frequently used Thai adjectives, but never mind that. Here is a couple that you should know:

Strength

For the gym-goers out there, I am sure you would love to know how to say how strong you are in Thai. Well, want no more – here are some adjectives you should know for talking about strength:

Personality

There are many different types of personalities. They reflect a lot on the person, and so you may want to mention that when introducing people, for example. Here are a few examples that you can use when describing yourself or someone else.

Speed

I am quite a fast walker and so often my friends would tell me that I am walking too fast. For other fast walkers out there, especially in Thailand where people take things a bit more slowly, you should probably remember these adjectives:

Cost

If you are new to the world of bartering, you should try to give these words a try when trying to convince the seller at the market to give you a little discount. Just make sure you do it light-heartedly.

Food-related

For all the foodies out there visiting Thailand, you need to know these Thai adjectives ready for your stay there. They will help you let people know when you are ready to eat or drink.

Volume

Sometimes, things just get too loud. By learning these words, you can let people know just that:

Make Your Thai More Interesting

As always, it would be impossible to list all the Thai adjectives here are there are so many. However, the few mentioned here should be more than enough to get you started and improve your vocabulary, allowing you to order that bigger iced coffee.

If you combine your new-found knowledge of Thai adjectives with other elements such as conjunctive, then you will be able to build longer, more complex sentences like a true Thai.

Don’t forget that the Ling Thai app will be with you to help you learn all this new vocabulary and grammar. Try it out today for free and see if it is right for you when mastering these adjectives.