Correct pronoun ผม phom

[bow]

I am a middle aged male. Speaking to an equal.

ผม (phom) feels to formal and "deferential" .

Which would be the next step down towards a more informal pronoun ?

(My wife feels that ฉัน (chan) is for women, but I am not sure she is right.)

[ThePlant]

If ผม feels 'formal and stuffy', use your name as a pronoun. It can feel odd speaking in 'first person (?)' to English speakers however this is perfectly acceptable in Thai.

[bow]

I thought that was for girls wanting to sound "cute".

[ThePlant]

Girls wanting to sound cute often use 'Noo' หนู as a pronoun so don't do that or your pals might batter you or rip the p i s s until you die.....

Pronouns in Thai blow. There are many, some depending on status but if you want to keep it simple then stick to ผม or your name as a personal pronoun.

[bow]

No, I will not call myself a mouse. I am not.

[rgs2001uk]

What is the situation, formal or informal?

How did you initially address the other person?

If you are using ผม that would infer you are referring to yourself, in informal speech its usually dropped altogether.

eg,

(คุณ) กินอาหารไทยเป็นไม่

(ผม) กินเป็นครับ

[bow]

Informal

We don't use the polite particle ครับ ค่ะ after most, but not all, sentences.

By using the persons nickname.

[tgeezer]

Our posts crossed didn't they. I feel that to try to learn with nothing written down would have been beyond me, when I hear a word I always ask for the spelling because without that, it's gone; you're not going to get phonetics from a Thai.

[Briggsy]

พี่

[rgs2001uk]

พี่

I thought he was referring to himself, not the person he was talking to.

[bow]

Well, I hope to find the most suitable Thai word for English "I" - in the situation described above.

[AyG]

ผม (phom) feels to formal and "deferential"

It's not formal - it's neutral. It's all purpose, and unless you're speaking to royalty it's never going to offend.

Remember, also, that in most sentences it can (and in informal contexts usually should) be omitted since the subject (or object) is implicit from context.

[bow]

Thank you all.

The solution might be to train myself to be more relaxed about omitting the pronoun.

[naboo]

I usually drop the pronoun or use my name, pee or nong.

[Bangkok112]

if ผม is too formal what is ข้าพเจ้า or กระผม

[Lara Alex]

Public places

ผม is neutral. It can be formal in general.

ข้าพเจ้า is very formal for both speaking and writing.

ข้าพระพุทธเจ้า is the highest pronoun when you want to speak to the royal family in Thai.

Home

There are many friendly pronouns you can use when you want you talk to you wife or girlfriend.

...พี่... (you consider that you're older than your partner.)

...your short nick name... (you try to be neutral and avoid topics about age or social status)

**เค้า (I)... ตัว (You) ** This is extremely cute for a couple ever!

...omit pronoun... It's weird but Thai people don't use pronoun I, I, I, I, all the time. You can omit it sometimes.

Close Friends

เรา (I) and นาย (You) are popular among boys while girls like to use you ฉัน(I) and แก(you).

Very Close Friends regardless of age,sex,nationalities (Totally informal)

กู (I) , มึง (You) Of course, กู-มึง is considered to be rude in Thai society. If you want to use it please ask your friends if they are comfortable with this level of pronoun before you say it.

Good luck

[Lara Alex]

กระผม is too formal to use with friends.

กระผม (I) --- ท่าน (You) :

People use กระผม when they consider that their social status is lower than the one they talk to.

This pronoun is used popularily in Thai historical dramas like Si Phaendin (สี่แผ่นดิน).

Now, the pronoun sounds 'outdated'.

[uhuh]

ผม (phom) feels to formal and "deferential"

It's not formal - it's neutral. It's all purpose, and unless you're speaking to royalty it's never going to offend.

ExGf regularly was offended when i used phom.

She got very upset because she felt it was so formal that it sounded aggressive.

[wprime]

Use Pee พี่

[MaceLee]

There's quite a lot of choice with this... usually you'll either drop the pronoun altogether or use your own name. I never use ฉัน but it's quite common for men speaking to women who they're close with. Some guys even use ค่ะ when speaking to girls. เรา (rao) is an informal way to refer to yourself, I tend to use that quite a lot in writing.

[AyG]

Some guys even use ค่ะ when speaking to girls.

That's a rather different phenomenon. People, particularly parents, will sometimes use the particle appropriate for the gender of the child they're talking to. So a mother may use ครับ when talking to a son.

[SiSePuede419]

"ExGf regularly was offended when i used phom."

Maybe that's why she's your ex?

What's your status v.s. her's?

Was she a rocket scientist? Princess?

Are you a ditch digger who just happened to strike gold?

As a highly educated man, that reminds me of America where every coffeeshop barrista thought she was just as educated as me, because she knew how to type on a computer, 5555

[MaceLee]

Some guys even use ค่ะ when speaking to girls.

That's a rather different phenomenon. People, particularly parents, will sometimes use the particle appropriate for the gender of the child they're talking to. So a mother may use ครับ when talking to a son.

Indeed, different phenomenon but quite interesting That's useful to know actually, I did wonder why some women were using ครับ when talking with me, but I never questioned it. It would make sense for a parent to be using the gender specific particle to reinforce the correct word.