How to say hello in Thai: sawasdee, khrap/kha, and the wai

To say hello in Thai, say sawasdee (สวัสดี) and add khrap if you're a man or kha if you're a woman: sawasdee khrap or sawasdee kha. It's the same word for any time of day, and pairing it with a small wai — palms together, slight bow — covers most greeting situations.

Sawasdee: the only Thai greeting word you need

English splits greetings by time of day — good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Thai doesn't bother. Sawasdee works at 8am, 2pm, or 9pm, which means you only have to learn one word instead of three. It also works both ways: use it to greet someone, and expect it back.

If you want a broader starting kit beyond hello, the basic Thai phrases for travelers covers thank you, numbers, and a handful of situational phrases that pair naturally with a greeting.

The khrap and kha particle: who says what

Sawasdee on its own is understood, but Thai speakers almost always attach a gender particle to soften and formalize it. Men add khrap: sawasdee khrap. Women add kha: sawasdee kha. Neither particle changes the meaning of "hello" — they're politeness markers, roughly equivalent to speaking in a courteous tone of voice rather than a flat one.

You'll hear this particle constantly in Thailand — shopkeepers, hotel staff, and taxi drivers use it on nearly every sentence directed at a customer. As a visitor, tacking khrap or kha onto sawasdee is the single fastest way to sound polite rather than just correct.

Thai wai greeting: the gesture that goes with the word

The wai (ไหว้) is Thailand's traditional greeting gesture: press your palms together in front of your chest, fingers pointing up, and give a small bow of the head. It's often paired with sawasdee but can also stand alone as a silent greeting or a thank-you.

The height of the hands signals the level of respect. Roughly chest height is normal for greeting someone your own age or status. Raising the hands closer to the chin or nose is reserved for people clearly senior to you — parents, teachers, bosses, older relatives. A wai with the hands raised to the eyebrows or forehead is reserved for monks and images of the Buddha, not for everyday people.

As a foreign visitor, nobody expects you to get the height exactly right. A general rule that works: wai back if someone wais you first, and use a normal-height wai when greeting someone clearly older or more senior than you. In a shop, a restaurant, or with hotel staff, a smile, a nod, and a verbal sawasdee khrap/kha are entirely sufficient — staff will often wai you as a courtesy, and a slight nod back is a perfectly polite response, not a snub.

What to do instead of a handshake

Handshakes aren't the default greeting in Thailand the way they are in much of the West. Between Thai people, the wai fills that role; when greeting a foreigner, many Thais will offer a handshake instead, correctly guessing it's more familiar to you, and either is fine to reciprocate. What's genuinely uncommon is skin contact as a greeting between people who've just met — no hugs, no cheek kisses, even among people who'd exchange them at home. A verbal sawasdee khrap/kha and a smile is never the wrong call if you're unsure what's expected.

Casual vs. formal Thai greetings

Sawasdee khrap/kha is the safe, formal-leaning default — it works with strangers, staff, and anyone you're meeting for the first time. Among close friends, Thais often skip it entirely and greet each other with a question instead of a word, the way "what's up" replaces "hello" in English. Two of the most common: pai nai (ไปไหน) — literally "where are you going?" — and kin khao rue yang (กินข้าวหรือยัง) — "have you eaten yet?" Neither is a real question expecting a detailed answer; they're just how friends say hi to each other.

Getting sawasdee's tones right — and hearing the difference between a flat, textbook delivery and how a Thai speaker actually says it — is easier by ear than by reading a transliteration. Thai Phrasebook, an offline Thai phrasebook app with 700+ real-world phrases across 16 categories, plays sawasdee and other greetings as native audio at full and slow speed, with readable phonetics and word-by-word notes alongside each one.

FAQ

Do I say sawasdee khrap or sawasdee kha?

It depends on your own gender, not the listener's. Men say khrap regardless of who they're greeting; women say kha. The particle marks the speaker's politeness, not anything about the person being addressed.

Do I have to do the wai every time I say hello?

No. The wai is a mark of respect that's expected in more formal situations — greeting elders, monks, or in business settings — but in everyday tourist interactions, a spoken sawasdee khrap/kha with a nod is completely normal and won't come across as rude.

Is sawasdee used for goodbye too?

Not typically. Sawasdee is a hello, though some people do use it loosely both ways. The more common way Thais actually part ways is with laeo jer gan (see you later) or simply "bye bye," borrowed straight from English.

What does sawasdee literally mean?

It comes from a Sanskrit-derived root associated with well-being and auspiciousness, similar in spirit to saying "may things go well for you." In modern Thai it functions simply as "hello," without anyone consciously thinking about the older meaning.

Can I just say sawasdee without khrap or kha?

You can, and you'll be understood, but it reads as blunt — closer to dropping "please" from a request in English than to a genuine grammar error. Adding the particle costs one extra syllable and consistently reads as more polite, so there's little reason to skip it once you know your own.