You probably know that my Thai is quite alright by now, but then when I’m with a group of Isaan people it’s always somehow frustrating to hear them switch speaking in their local Isaan dialect and I don’t get what they say.

As a consequence, I have recently started to obtain some useful Isaan vocabulary to at least be able to tell a girl things like that she’s cute, ask if she’s eaten yet, or understand when they talk about me (the Isaan word for Farang) or say that I’m handsome or whatever.

While the central Thai and Isaan languages share a lot of common words and the grammar is almost 100 percent identical, there are countless of Isaan words that make it quite its own language. Isaan people can always understand Thai people (mainly due to advertisements and television exposure) and a large majority is also proficient in speaking central Thai, most of the central Thai people have trouble understanding Isaan not just because of the different words but also because of some different tone characteristics.

A good example is the word for rice. In Thai the vowel has a falling tone (kâao) while in Isaan it’s the same word however the vowel has a low tone (kàao).

Here are some 20 very important and useful words from the Isaan language that you can use to impress your girlfriend, gik, friend or anyone else from Thailand’s northeastern provinces.

Please note: Some characters of the transliteration may cause displaying problems with Google Chrome browser. If it does, open it with Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari, those should work fine.

sam-baai dii bɔ̀ɔ               ชำบายดีบ่อ               How are you?

bpeeng-jang-dǎi               เปงจังได๋               How are you? (for friends)

hét-ì-yǎng yùu               เฮ้ดอิหยังอยู่               What are you doing?

bpai sǎi               ไปไส               Where are you going?

kɔ̀ɔi               ข่อย               I, me (both male and female)

jáo               เจ๊า               You

mák               มัก               to like

bpen dtaa hák / dtaa hák               เป็นตาฮัก / ตาฮัก               nice, cute

ngaam               งาม               beautiful

lɔ̀ɔ / lɔ̀ɔh hɛ̌ɛng               หล่อ / หล่อแฮง               handsome

lǎai               หลาย               very, much

hák               ฮัก               to love

kít hɔ̂ɔt               คิดฮอด               to miss

bàk-sǐi-daa               บักสีดา               Westerner (Farang in Thai)

bàk               บัก               fruit

jàk moong (lɛ́ɛo)               จักโมง (แล้ว)               What time is it?

gin kàao               กินเข่า               to eat

sɛ̂ɛp               แซ่บ               delicious

mɛ̂ɛn               แม่น               yes

bɔ̀               บ่               no

hɛɛng               แฮง               strong, power

Remarks about tone marks in transliteration:

Tone Symbol      Tone Type      Example

`                    low                     màa

(none)                    mid                    maa

´                         high                    máa

ˆ                    falling                    mâa

ˇ                    rising                    mǎa

More information on how to pronounce the transliterated words you can find in the Thai Love Course.

Make sure to check back here, I’m gonna add a few more important words when I have time to make it at least 30.