Talking About People in Thai

The word khon and its friends

The word for person in Thai is khon (คน), and it is a real workhorse. Pair it with pointing words and you can say khon nee (คนนี้) this person, khon nan (คนนั้น) that person, and khon nai (คนไหน) which person.

From there you can stretch it into everyday quantities: only one person, everyone, some people, how many people and many people. It is a compact set that lets you talk about anyone in a group.

Because khon shows up in so many sentences, learning these combinations pays off quickly. This short Thai reel runs through them so you can point people out and count them like a local in Phuket.