Male - Female Distinction Words

[PeteC]

Baa Baa brought this up and it's a good subject. Does anyone have a list or know the Thai words a male can use that a female is not permitted to use? Pete

[Bamboo Grove]

Don't know of a list but the most common ones are "phom" (male) and "dichan" (female) for "I", "ther" (used for female) when the meaning is "she" and "khrup/kha" (male/female) when they say "yes" or end a sentence.

One interesting word is "noo" (normalli "mouse") which can be used when addressing children or which they use meaning "I". I've also heard grown up females use this when they talk with much older people, again it then means "I". I haven't heard grown up males use it.

[PeteC]

The word 'ther' seems to be used in almost all Thai songs, and I've seldom heard it used elsewhere. Pete

[expat71NL]

What about Kap un Ka (female) en Kap un Kap (male). Probably not spelt them right but the words for thankyou.

[Roel]

Actually there are not so many gender related words in Thai.
Another observation though is referring to yourself in the third person by using your name.
So a Thai girl called Nok will say "Nok is going to the market now" instead of "I am going to the market now". This is done by females only. The only time I heard males using this construction is when farangs are speaking Thai and they copied it from their female Thai partner. If a man does it the Thais find it amusing. They will however probably not correct you. (Saving you from losing face because of the mistake).

"Khrap" (male) and "ka" (female) are gender related polite words with no actual meaning and can be used at the end of every sentence. Not restricted to your "thank you" example expat71nl and not an inherent part of it.

[PeteC]

[quote="expat71NL"]What about Kap un Ka (female) en Kap un Kap (male). Probably not spelt them right but the words for thankyou.[/quote

Kap coon Ka for female and Kap coon Khrup for male. If you want to add 'very much', you add 'mach" after the coon. Pete

[Bamboo Grove]

Here we will enter the problem of different transliterations. Khop (khorp) khun means "thank you" and the "kha/ka" for females and "khrup/khrap/khup/khap) for males are the politeness words used at the end of the sentence. A very polite form of the male's "khrap" is "khraphom/khrapphom". There is no difference in the variations between "khrup/khup or khrap/khap" (or however one wants to transliterate them) the former was used more before and the latter is a more modern version.

[BaaBaa.]

A very polite form of the male's "khrap" is "khraphom/khrapphom".

I'd wondered what that meant, I'd presumed it was a shortened version of thanks as it's usually said when paying for a meal or leaving a restuarant.

Now I know.

[PeteC]

A very polite form of the male's "khrap" is "khraphom/khrapphom".

I'd wondered what that meant, I'd presumed it was a shortened version of thanks as it's usually said when paying for a meal or leaving a restuarant. Now I know.

You'll also hear it over and over again when a businessman is talking on the phone to his customer. Pete

[chopsticks]

Actually there are not so many gender related words in Thai.
Another observation though is referring to yourself in the third person by using your name.
So a Thai girl called Nok will say "Nok is going to the market now" instead of "I am going to the market now". This is done by females only. The only time I heard males using this construction is when farangs are speaking Thai and they copied it from their female Thai partner. If a man does it the Thais find it amusing. They will however probably not correct you. (Saving you from losing face because of the mistake).

The habit of adopting a 'nickname' and using it in place of the more correct 'I' seems to be more of a younger generation in-fashion trend.
Some of them revert to using the more correct 'I' and dropping the nickname when speaking with other Thais they have to respect. Maybe they fear a rebuke if they persist in using it for spoiling their Thai language.

[Condoking]

Personally I've always been confused when a lass uses Khaa or Mai. Does she really mean "Yes" when she shouts Kha and, conversly, does she really mean "No" when she screams Mai. I tend to use my own interpretation and hope it goes no further, but any advice would be appreciated

[Bamboo Grove]

There is a difference between two khas. If she has a rising tone, it is a question as, "Excuse me or sorry, what did you say". The word mai, if meant to mean "no" is a "no". However, the word "mai" to western ears can be confusing as it can have 7 different meanings depending on the tone.
tree, mile (a loneword), new, no, burn, silk and a question word used in the end of the meaning.

[johnnyk]

When she is saying "ka" all through the conversation its more of what we call a "marker" in English. It shows the listener is engaged.
Its like, "Uh huh", "Hmm-hmm", "yep" and so on. Little sounds that don't really have any meaning except to indicate we are listening and the speaker should continue.

[chopsticks]

When she is saying "ka" all through the conversation its more of what we call a "marker" in English. It shows the listener is engaged.
Its like, "Uh huh", "Hmm-hmm", "yep" and so on. Little sounds that don't really have any meaning except to indicate we are listening and the speaker should continue.

Noticed it with interviews on Thai TV.
And there was I thinking it was Ford doing some subliminal advertising

[BaaBaa.]

When she is saying "ka" all through the conversation its more of what we call a "marker" in English. It shows the listener is engaged.
Its like, "Uh huh", "Hmm-hmm", "yep" and so on. Little sounds that don't really have any meaning except to indicate we are listening and the speaker should continue.

Couldn't explain it better myself.