How to Say 'Help' in Thai (Emergency Words)

ช่วยด้วย chûay-dûay — that's the shout. It's the one you say loudly, and it is understood instantly by everyone within earshot.

ช่วย chûay on its own is the ordinary word for help, the calm version you use to ask someone for a hand.

Learn chûay-dûay as one sound, not two words

In an emergency you will not be assembling grammar. Drill chûay-dûay until it comes out as a single reflex, the way you'd shout "help" in your own language, because that is the only condition under which it will actually be available to you when you need it.

Ten repetitions out loud today is worth more than reading this paragraph twice.

The numbers to have in your phone

Thailand's general emergency number is 191. The tourist police, who have English-speaking operators and exist specifically for situations involving foreigners, are 1155. Ambulance and medical emergency is 1669.

Calls to all three are free, and they connect even from a phone with no credit on it.

Put 1155 in your contacts before you land. It is the single most useful number a visitor can carry, and it turns a language problem into a phone call.

dtam-rùat and mǎw

ตำรวจ dtam-rùat is police, หมอ mǎw is doctor. Both are words you shout at a stranger to tell them what you need fetched, and both are short enough to survive panic.

mǎw is also just the everyday word for a doctor — you'll hear it in ordinary conversation about a clinic visit, not only in a crisis.

hǎai is lost, and also recovered

หาย hǎai means gone or lost — a missing bag, a missing phone, a missing person. It's the word in play at a police station when you're reporting something.

It has a second life, though, that says something nice about the language: hǎai is also what you say when an illness has gone away. Same word. The thing that was there isn't there anymore, and whether that's good or bad depends entirely on what it was.

an-dtà-raai — the word on the sign

อันตราย an-dtà-raai means dangerous, and you'll mostly meet it written: on a cliff path, near machinery, at a beach with a current, on an electrical box. Recognizing it on a sign is worth more than being able to say it.

Speaking of beaches — red flags on a Thai beach mean don't swim, and the rip currents on the Gulf and Andaman coasts are real. That sign and this word are worth the same amount of respect.

Takeaways

• chûay-dûay is the shout. Drill it as one reflex sound.
• chûay alone is the calm "can you help me."
• 191 general emergency, 1155 tourist police (English-speaking), 1669 ambulance.
• dtam-rùat police, mǎw doctor — short enough to shout.
• an-dtà-raai = dangerous. You'll see it on signs before you ever say it.