Saying Yes and OK (châi, dâi, dtòk-long)

Thai has no all-purpose word for yes. The gap is filled by a rule, and the rule is the most useful thing on this page: you answer a question with the verb the question used. ไปไหม (bpai mǎi), "are you going?", is answered ไป (bpai). ชอบไหม (châwp mǎi), "do you like it?", is answered ชอบ (châwp). มีไหม (mii mǎi), "have you got any?", is answered มี (mii). ว่างไหม (wâang mǎi), "are you free?", is answered ว่าง (wâang). You take the verb out of the question and hand it straight back. Nothing is added, nothing changes shape, and there is no separate particle of agreement waiting to be learned. The refusal is the same word with ไม่ in front of it, ไม่ไป, ไม่ชอบ, ไม่มี, which is the subject of saying no. This page is the other half of that one. Put the politeness particle on the end and the echo is already a complete, polite sentence: ไปครับ (bpai khráp), มีค่ะ (mii khâ), ว่างครับ (wâang khráp). A bare one-word echo with no particle is not rude, but it is flat, and to a stranger it lands shorter than you meant it to; the particles have their own lesson at khráp and khâ. You can also go the other way and lengthen the echo, which is what a Thai speaker does when the answer is warm: ชอบครับ ชอบมาก (châwp khráp, châwp mâak), "yes, I like it a lot". In a longer question, the word to give back is the main verb, not the last word you hear. รับถุงไหมคะ (ráp thǔng mǎi khá), "would you like a bag?", is answered รับครับ (ráp khráp) or ไม่รับครับ — the verb is รับ, and ถุงครับ is not an answer. เอาเผ็ดไหมคะ (ao phèt mǎi khá), "do you want it spicy?", is answered เอาครับ (ao khráp), not เผ็ดครับ. And when the question ends in ได้ไหม, it is ได้ that comes back rather than the main verb: จ่ายด้วยบัตรได้ไหมครับ (jàai dûay bàt dâi mǎi khráp), "can I pay by card?", gets ได้ครับ (dâi khráp), not จ่ายครับ. Four question shapes cover nearly everything that is put to you, and each one hands you its own pair of answers; the refusing half of each pair is set out on the no page, so take what follows as the yes side of the same table. A question ending in ไหม (mǎi, usually said mái) gets the verb back, or ไม่ plus the verb. A question ending in ใช่ไหม (châi mǎi) gets ใช่ or ไม่ใช่. A question ending in หรือยัง (rěu yang) gets แล้ว or ยัง. A question ending in หรือเปล่า (rěu bplàao) gets the verb back, or a bare เปล่า. Listen to the last two syllables of the question and your yes has already been chosen for you. One shape needs a warning: the negative question. ไม่ไปเหรอ (mâi bpai rǒe), "you're not going?", is agreed with by saying ไม่ไปครับ (mâi bpai khráp) and contradicted by saying ไปครับ (bpai khráp). ไม่เอาเหรอ (mâi ao rǒe) and ยังไม่ได้กินเหรอ (yang mâi dâi gin rǒe) work the same way. English and Thai agree about the fact — both answer with the negative — but the confirming word goes the other way. Answer ไม่ไปเหรอ with ใช่ครับ and you have confirmed the negative, "right, I am not going", which is the opposite of what an English "yes" would have meant, and the person in front of you will take you at your word. The echo removes the ambiguity: repeat the verb in whichever form is true, and never translate the yes. Now the particle on its own. Answer a yes-or-no question with nothing but ครับ or ค่ะ and you have agreed; that much is true. But the same syllable is also the ordinary noise of listening, the string of quiet ครับ that runs down one end of a Thai phone call, and there it means only that you are still on the line and still following. Because one sound does both jobs, a ครับ you receive at the end of a request is weak evidence that anything will happen. It confirms that your words arrived. It does not say what was agreed to. When you are the one accepting, and it matters, echo the verb instead: ได้ครับ, ไปครับ, พรุ่งนี้ส่งให้ครับ (phrûng-níi sòng hâi khráp), "I'll send it to you tomorrow". A verb commits. A particle acknowledges. ครับผม (khráp phǒm) is the eager version of ครับ, male only and pitched upward — worth having ready when somebody senior asks you for something, and covered in full on the particles page. A woman being emphatically willing says ได้เลยค่ะ (dâi loei khâ). ใช่ (châi) is the word learners usually adopt as "yes", and it is the source of the mistake this page most needs to fix. ใช่ does not mean yes. It means "that is so, that is the one", and it judges a statement to be correct. It answers a question built on the tag ใช่ไหม, which hangs on the end of something you already half believe: สองร้อยบาทใช่ไหมครับ (sǎwng ráwy bàat châi mǎi khráp), "two hundred baht, is that right?", ตรงไปแล้วเลี้ยวขวาใช่ไหมครับ (dtrong-bpai láew líao khwǎa châi mǎi khráp), "straight on and then turn right, is that right?". Both come back as ใช่ครับ (châi khráp) or, with a shade more emphasis, ใช่แล้วครับ (châi láew khráp). It also confirms a label or an identity, which is why its negative ไม่ใช่ is the form Thai uses in front of nouns; that machinery is in the four answers to English "is". What ใช่ cannot do is answer a verb question. ไปไหม does not put a proposition in front of you to be judged true or false, it asks about the going, so it wants the going back. Answering ใช่ครับ to ไปไหม, to ได้ไหม or to เอาไหม usually gets you understood, and few people will correct it, and it is a clear signal that you are assembling Thai out of English. It is worth fixing early, because it is a habit rather than a gap: the word you need was already in the question. Standing next to ใช่ there is ถูกต้อง (thùuk-dtâwng), "correct", which is what you say when somebody reads a number, a spelling or an address back to you: ถูกต้องครับ (thùuk-dtâwng khráp). It is a step more official than ใช่ครับ and it is the right register at a counter or over a document. Pulling the other way, when you want to agree hard with something just said, ใช่เลย (châi loei) is "exactly, that's the one", and นั่นแหละ (nân làe) and นั่นสิ (nân sì) do the same job among friends. All three are warm rather than polite, so they still take ครับ or ค่ะ outside that circle. ได้ (dâi) is yes to a question about what is possible or permitted, and you will hear it all day. ได้ครับ (dâi khráp) and ได้ค่ะ (dâi khâ) mean "you can", "that's allowed", "that works". ได้เลยครับ (dâi loei khráp) is the warm version, "sure, right away", and you will meet it constantly across a counter; it is warm and willing, but it is still ได้, so a time or a price named in the question still has to come back in the answer. Be precise about what ได้ commits anyone to. It says the thing is possible, not that it will be done, which is why ได้ครับ in answer to "can you come on Friday?" is worth one more question about the hour. ได้ also moves around the sentence and changes meaning when it does, and all of that is in the three ways to say "can". ก็ได้ (gâw dâi) is "that works", "fine by me". It accepts, and it accepts with a shrug in it. Delivered flat it lands lukewarm, closer to "if you like" than to "yes please", so it is the wrong answer to somebody who has gone to trouble on your behalf: keep it warm, put ครับ or ค่ะ on it, or better, say what you would actually prefer. It also grants permission gently in the other direction, taking the weight off the person you are speaking to: ไม่ต้องมารับก็ได้ค่ะ (mâi dtâwng maa ráp gâw dâi khâ), "you don't need to come and collect me". Stuck to a question word it means "any", อะไรก็ได้ (à-rai gâw dâi), ที่ไหนก็ได้ (thîi-nǎi gâw dâi), เมื่อไหร่ก็ได้ (mêua-rài gâw dâi), and that set is worth taking whole from the "can" page rather than in pieces here. ตกลง (dtòk-long) is agreement to a proposal: a price, a plan, a set of terms. English "OK" is too loose for it; "agreed" is right. ตกลงครับ (dtòk-long khráp) closes something that was open, and it carries the weight of a decision in a way that โอเคครับ does not. It also works as an ordinary verb, so you can say ตกลงกันแล้วนะครับ (dtòk-long gan láew ná khráp), "we've agreed on this, then", and when the arrangement is not being honoured, the sentence that names the problem is ตอนแรกไม่ได้ตกลงไว้แบบนี้ครับ (dtawn râek mâi dâi dtòk-long wái bàep níi khráp), "that isn't what we agreed at the start" — a firm sentence, so keep the volume down and keep the ครับ on the end. And it opens a sentence in the sense of "so then, that's settled": ตกลงพรุ่งนี้กี่โมงครับ (dtòk-long phrûng-níi gìi moong khráp), "so what time tomorrow?". That opener earns its place in your first hundred sentences, because it is the move that turns a vague agreement into a time. โอเค (oo-khee) is the English word taken whole, and it is widely understood. It sits in the everyday band: colleagues, a LINE thread, the friend, the shop you use every week. โอเคค่ะ (oo-khee khâ) is the normal acknowledgement across a desk, and ได้ค่ะ does the same job there. It carries no politeness of its own, so it needs ครับ or ค่ะ hung on the end like any other answer. Where it can land oddly is upward and outward: with an officer across a counter, with a landlord you barely know, with somebody much older than you, it is thin — not offensive, just more casual than the moment, and ได้ครับ, ตกลงครับ or a plain echo of the verb fits better. In writing it doubles as โอเคๆ, which reads oo-khee oo-khee. It also runs in the negative, ไม่โอเค (mâi oo-khee), used about a situation or somebody's behaviour rather than about whether a thing is allowed. Below โอเค sit the answers friends give each other. จ้า (jâa) is a warm, friendly acknowledgement, common in LINE between peers: warm rather than polite, travelling sideways or downward, and no substitute for ค่ะ with a stranger. Lower again are the grunts, อือ (eu), อืม (eum) and เออ (oe), which do the work of "uh-huh" and "yeah". Recognise them, because they will be said to you, and use them only across or downward with people you know well. Aimed upward — at an officer, a landlord, somebody much older — a bare เออ lands as brusque, and ครับ or ค่ะ costs you nothing. เอา (ao) is the yes that takes a thing. It answers เอาไหม (ao mǎi) and, at a till, รับไหม (ráp mǎi), and it is how you say what you want: เอาอันนี้ครับ (ao an-níi khráp), "I'll take this one", เอาสองที่ค่ะ (ao sǎwng thîi khâ), "two portions", เอาเหมือนเดิมครับ (ao měuan doem khráp), "the usual". It is direct and it is not rude; its opposite ไม่เอา is the everyday refusal of an object and lives on the no page. One warning, and take it seriously, because nothing in the grammar flags it: keep เอา pointed at things. With a person as its object it is crude slang for sex, so เอาคุณ and เอาเขา are not sentences to improvise your way into. At a food stall the object is a bowl of noodles and the word is safe. If you mean that you want somebody to come along, use a different verb entirely: ไปด้วยกันไหมครับ (bpai dûay gan mǎi khráp), "shall we go together?". None of those is the word for agreeing with an opinion. That one is เห็นด้วย (hěn dûay), literally "see along with": somebody says the traffic has got worse or the rent is too high, and เห็นด้วยครับ (hěn dûay khráp) says you think so too. It answers a view rather than a request, so it is the wrong word for a plan or a price, which ตกลงครับ settles. Its negative needs care rather than volume, and that, with the softer ways of disagreeing, is on opinions. ไม่เป็นไร (mâi bpen rai) is not a yes at all, but it stands so close to one that it belongs here, because it does several jobs and learners reach for one more that does not exist. First, it answers thanks: somebody says ขอบคุณครับ and you say ไม่เป็นไรครับ, "it's nothing". Second, it waves away an apology or an accident, and there it is a social move as much as a statement — the drink goes over, the delivery is late, and ไม่เป็นไรครับ lets everybody keep their composure. That use combines perfectly well with a real request: ไม่เป็นไรค่ะ เข้าใจค่ะ แต่ช่วยรีบหน่อยนะคะ (mâi bpen rai khâ, khâo-jai khâ, dtàe chûay rîip nàwy ná khá), "it's all right, I understand, but please hurry it along". Third, it declines without refusing: offered a bag, a lift or another spoonful, ไม่เป็นไรครับ means "I'm fine, don't go to any trouble". The job it does not do is accept. Say it when you actually want the thing and you may well watch the thing go away. Thai marks completion rather than tense, and two words do most of the confirming; the machinery is on past, future and already. แล้ว (láew) says it has happened: จ่ายแล้วครับ (jàai láew khráp), "I've paid", โอนแล้วนะครับ (oon láew ná khráp), "I've made the transfer". It is also the yes half of the หรือยัง pair, so กินข้าวหรือยังครับ (gin khâao rěu yang khráp) comes back as กินแล้วครับ or simply แล้วครับ. เสร็จแล้วครับ (sèt láew khráp) is "it's finished", about a task with an end to it. And then the one the textbooks tend to skip: เรียบร้อย (rîap-ráwy) means done and in order, tidy, settled, and it is what you hear at counters, in offices and from tradesmen closing a piece of business. The immigration officer slides your passport back under the glass and says เรียบร้อยแล้วค่ะ (rîap-ráwy láew khâ), all done. Learn to say it — เรียบร้อยแล้วครับ (rîap-ráwy láew khráp) reports in one breath that you have paid, sent, filed or fixed the thing — and learn to ask it: เรียบร้อยแล้วใช่ไหมครับ (rîap-ráwy láew châi mǎi khráp), "that's everything done, is it?", asked before you walk away from a counter, gets you either a yes or one last instruction, and both beat walking away guessing. In an office or a formal chat there is one more, รับทราบครับ (ráp-sâap khráp), "noted", which says you have registered an instruction and will act on it. It is the right answer to a manager or an all-staff announcement, and it sounds stiff sideways to a colleague, where โอเคครับ or ได้ครับ is the fit. Now the part that costs foreigners money and weekends. An agreement here is sometimes given to keep the moment pleasant, and it is worth being accurate about what that is and is not. It is not a lie, and it is not aimed at you. Refusing to somebody's face makes both people lose a little face, so a yes is cheap to give and a no is expensive, and the reasons for that sit in face, jai yen and greeng-jai. The practical consequence is the part you need on this page: some of the agreements you receive mean "I have heard you and I would rather not argue with you". The wording gives you a reading rather than a guarantee: warmth and detail lean towards yes, a flat particle with nothing hanging off it leans the other way, and neither settles it. Asking the same question again, more slowly or more loudly, does not separate them either. It only asks the person to refuse you to your face, which is the thing the whole arrangement exists to avoid. Ask a different question instead. Three work, and all three are ordinary politeness rather than pressure. The first is to ask for a number, because a commitment survives a number and an acknowledgement usually does not: ประมาณกี่โมงครับ (bprà-maan gìi moong khráp), "about what time?", วันไหนสะดวกครับ (wan nǎi sà-dùak khráp), "which day suits you?", กี่วันครับ (gìi wan khráp), "how many days?". A specific answer is a real yes. A vague one, a laugh or a change of subject is also an answer, and it is usually a no. The second is to ask something that cannot be answered with a particle at all: anything built on a question word — ใคร (khrai), เมื่อไหร่ (mêua-rài), ที่ไหน (thîi-nǎi), ยังไง (yang-ngai) — forces content rather than agreement. The third is to put it in writing. Send the plan on LINE as one short message and ask for a reply: ตกลงพรุ่งนี้บ่ายสองนะครับ (dtòk-long phrûng-níi bàai sǎwng ná khráp), "so, two o'clock tomorrow, yes?". The reply worth having is ตามนั้นครับ (dtaam nán khráp), "as agreed", which repeats the arrangement instead of merely acknowledging it. A written yes attached to a specific time is about as firm as a yes gets, and asking for one is ordinary here, where a great deal of everyday arranging runs through LINE anyway. Two habits make those checks land better. Read what you were given: an elaborated yes, ได้เลยครับ with a detail attached to it, reads as a yes, while a flat particle with nothing hanging off it reads as a receipt. And make the no cheap before you need it, by attaching an escape hatch to the request itself, in the way the face lesson sets out. Somebody who has been given permission to decline will very often tell you the truth on the spot. The whole page collapses into one habit and one question. The habit is to listen to the end of the question and hand the verb back. The question is what kind of yes you are giving: confirming that a statement is right is ใช่, saying a thing is possible or allowed is ได้, settling a plan or a price is ตกลง, taking an object is เอา, agreeing with an opinion is เห็นด้วย (hěn dûay), which belongs to opinions, and everything casual in between is โอเค. ครับ and ค่ะ cover the rest, as long as you remember that on their own they promise nothing.