What better phrase to learn than the phrase "I love you" if you're interested in Thai love songs!

There are different ways you can say this, depending on how formal you want to be, your gender, your relationship with the person, etc. It may sound tricky and difficult, but trust me; it’s very simple once you understand it.

The most common way to say “I love you” is: "chun ruk tur." It is simple and there is no way you can mess it up because it’s gender neutral.



The sentence structure of this phrase lines up exactly to the English equivalent so you can switch out the words for "I" and "you" to suit your needs. You can even switch out the verb too! (More on that later)

Here are some more “I love you”s for you to look at:




By now, you probably get the gist of how to say the "I love you" phrase. It's just a simple Noun/Pronoun + "Ruk" + Noun/Pronoun

I never realized it before until it was pointed out to me, but us Thai people like to call ourselves by our nickname when we're talking. We usually refer to ourselves in the third person. For example, if my mom called me to ask if I'm going home this weekend, I might respond with "Sai doesn't want to go home this weekend" or "Yes, but Sai might be home later at night." The word "I" in my sentences are usually replaced by my nickname even when I'm the one that is speaking. I rarely ever say "chun” because that is a little bit more formal. When I’m speaking casually to family members and friends, I always use my nickname unless the occasion calls for a little more formality.

Anyways, I brought that up because you can also say [Your Name] + “Ruk” + [Other Person's Name] and it would be grammatically correctly. It’s just another option to choose from.

Here's a list of pronouns/nouns that you can use to substitute into the sentence:

Thai	Transliteration	English
ฉัน	chun	I
ผม	pom	I (more formal, male)
ดิฉัน	dee-chun	I (formal, female - rarely used for "I love you"s)
เรา	rao	I (actually means "we" but is sometimes used as "I")
พวกเรา	puak rao	We
หนู	hnuu	I (more formal, used when you're younger than the other person or to refer to children)
เธอ	tur	You
แก	gae	You (very informal, used among close friends only)
คุณ	khun	You (formal)
คุณ + [name]	khun + [name]	Mr./Ms. + [name] (can add their name after "khun")

Who said “I love you”s are limited to romantic feelings for your significant other? Here’s a list of other words you can use in your sentences by substituting the word "you" with any of these!

Thai	Transliteration	English
(คุณ)พ่อ	(khun)paw	dad (make it a proper noun so that it's "Dad" by removing "khun;" it also makes it more informal when you exclude it)
(คุณ)แม่	(khun)mae	mom (same as rule as above)
(คุณ)ปู่	(khun)poo	grandfather (paternal side; same rule as above)
(คุณ)ย่า	(khun)yah	grandmother (paternal side; same rule as above)
(คุณ)ตา	(khun)taah	grandfather (maternal side; same rule as above)
(คุณ)ยาย	(khun)yai	grandmother (maternal side; same rule as above)
(คุณ)ลุง	(khun)luung	uncle (older than your parents; same rule as above)
(คุณ)ป้า	(khun)pah	aunt (older than your parents; same rule as above)
(คุณ)นัา	(khun)nah	aunt or uncle (younger aunt or uncle from your mom's side of the family; same rule as above)
(คุณ)อา	(khun)aah	aunt or uncle (younger aunt or uncle from your dad's side of the family; same rule as above)
(คุณ)ครู	(khun)khru	teacher (same rule as above)
พี่ + [name]	Pi + [name]	"Pi" indicates that the person is older than you, but still within your age range. It also shows respect towards them
น้อง + [name]	nong + [name]	"Nong" indicates someone younger than you and shows respect
ลูก	luuk	your own child/children
หมา	mah	dog
แมว	maew	cat

The list can go on and on and on, but I will just stop it here for now. Hopefully this gave a lot of insight into the different ways to say "I love you."