12/08/2026
🇹🇭 If คุณ means “you”, why don’t Thai people use it all the time?
When you first learn Thai, it seems quite simple:
ผม / ฉัน (pom / chan) = I
คุณ (kun) = you
So you start speaking Thai — and then something strange happens.
Thai people seem to avoid saying คุณ (kun) quite a lot.
At a restaurant, someone might say:
พี่คะ ขอเมนูหน่อยค่ะ
Pii, could I have a menu, please?
Talking to someone younger:
น้องมาคนเดียวเหรอ
Did you come alone?
At work, people may use พี่ + name, น้อง + name, a job title, or simply the person’s name.
And very often, Thai speakers don’t use any word for “you” at all.
So, is คุณ (kun) wrong?
Not at all.
คุณ (kun) is perfectly correct and polite.
But Thai doesn’t choose forms of address simply by asking:
“What is the Thai word for ‘you’?”
We also think about:
Who am I talking to?
How old are they compared with me?
How well do we know each other?
What is our relationship?
What situation are we in?
That’s why calling someone พี่ (pii) or น้อง (naawng) isn’t necessarily about being related.
And it’s why Thai people may call someone ครู (kruu), หมอ (maaw), ป้า (bpaa), ลุง (lung) or another relationship/title word where English would simply use “you”.
This is one of those moments when a sentence can be grammatically correct Thai but still not be what a Thai person would naturally choose to say.
Learning Thai isn’t only about finding the Thai equivalent of an English word.
Sometimes you need to know:
“What would a Thai person call this person in this situation?”
That one question can make your Thai sound very different. 😊
If you live in Thailand, what do Thai people usually call you?