ချောတယ်
hkyaw tal
The Burmese word for handsome is ချောတယ် (hkyaw tal).
The phrase is primarily used to describe a man as being attractive or handsome. The root word ချော (hkyaw) can also be used to describe a surface or texture as being smooth or sleek.
Meaning: of man: attractive (adj)
Which one should you use?
ချောတယ် is the standard way to say someone is handsome, while ချောမောတယ် is a more formal or literary version used to mean someone is handsome or elegant.
How does it change in a sentence?
The form ချောတယ် includes the verb suffix တယ် (tal), which indicates a present tense indicative statement.
How do you pronounce it?
hkyaw tal
Did you know?
- While ချောတယ် is used for men, the same word is the primary way to describe a woman as 'beautiful' in casual conversation.
- The word ချော can also be used in the context of 'smoothing over' a conflict or a mistake to make a situation pleasant again.
- Adding the suffix တယ် turns the adjective into a complete sentence, meaning 'He is handsome' without needing a subject like 'he' or 'she'.
Examples in context
- သူက အရမ်းချောတယ်။thu ka ayan chaw tal.He is very handsome.
- အဲဒီလူက ချောတယ်နော်။ae de lu ka chaw tal naw.That man is handsome, isn't he?
- မင်းက တော်တော်ချောတယ်။min ka taw taw chaw tal.You are quite handsome.
Example conversation
Two friends are talking about a person they saw in a movie.
- နှင်းနှင်း Hnin Hninမင်းမင်း၊ အဲဒီမင်းသားက ချောတယ်နော်။Min Min, ae de min thar ka chaw tal naw.Min Min, that actor is handsome, right?
- မင်းမင်း Min Minဟုတ်တယ်၊ သူက တကယ်ချောတယ်။Hote tal, thu ka ta gae chaw tal.Yes, he is really handsome.
- နှင်းနှင်း Hnin Hninသူ့မျက်နှာက အရမ်းချောတယ်။Thu myet hna ka ayan chaw tal.His face is very handsome.
- မင်းမင်း Min Minငါလည်း သဘောကျတယ်။Ngar lal tha baw kya tal.I like him too.
