เท่าไหร่
The English phrase "how much is it?" is translated into Thai as เท่าไหร่.
เท่าไหร่ is the standard way to ask for the price of an item in markets or shops.
Which one should you use?
While เท่าไหร่ is a general way to say "how much", กี่บาท specifically asks "how many baht?"
How does it change in a sentence?
You can make the phrase polite by adding particles to the end: adding ครับ to the end of the phrase makes it polite for male speakers (as in เท่าไหร่ครับ), and adding คะ to the end makes it polite for female speakers (as in เท่าไหร่คะ).
Did you know?
- The word บาท in กี่บาท refers to the Thai currency, which is named after a traditional unit of weight for silver. This means asking for the price is historically asking for the weight of the silver.
- In traditional Thai markets, a customer might use เท่าไหร่ as a starting point for a negotiation. It is culturally expected in these settings that the first price given is a baseline for bargaining rather than a fixed cost.
- In very formal written Thai, such as on a price tag or a menu, you will rarely see เท่าไหร่. Instead, the word ราคา meaning 'price' is used to denote the cost.
Examples in context
- เสื้อยืดนี่เท่าไรคะ/ครับ?How much is this T-shirt?
- กระเป๋าแบรนด์นี้เท่าไรคะ/ครับ?How much is this brand-name bag?
- ผลไม้ชุดนี้กี่บาทคะ/ครับ?How much is this fruit platter?
- เสื้อตัวนี้ราคาเท่าไหร่ครับsueatua ni rakha thaorai khrapHow much is this shirt?
- ส้มกิโลละเท่าไหร่คะsom kilo la thaorai khaHow much is the oranges per kilo?
- ทั้งหมดราคาเท่าไหร่คะthang mot rakha thaorai khaHow much is it in total?
Example conversation
At a fruit stall in a local market.
- ชลสิทธิ์ Cholasitแตงโมลูกนี้ราคาเท่าไหร่ครับtaeng mo luk ni rakha thaorai khrapHow much is this watermelon?
- กนกวรรณ Kanokwanลูกละห้าสิบบาทค่ะluk la ha sip bat khaIt is fifty baht per piece.
- ชลสิทธิ์ Cholasitลดให้หน่อยได้ไหมครับlot hai noi dai mai khrapCan you give me a discount?
- กนกวรรณ Kanokwanได้ค่ะ เอาสี่สิบห้าบาทก็ได้ค่ะdai kha ao si sip ha bat ko dai khaOkay, I can do forty-five baht.
