Laos Language

Learning Laos is not easy considering it has six tones. Furthermore, different tone uses are developed in different region of Laos. So what we want to do in this part is not teaching you to be a expert in Laos language but rather to being impressing Laos people when you are there.

Vowels:
i        as the "i" in kit
ii       as the "ee" in feet
ai       as aisle
aa      as the "a" in father
ae      as the "a" in cat
e       as the "e" in hen
eh      as the "a" in date
oe      as the "u" in fur
eu      as the "eu" in deux
u       as the "u" in flute
uu      as the"oo" in zoo
aai      the combination of "a" in father and "i" in pipe
ao      as the "ow" in cow
aw     as "aw" in jaw
oh      as the "o" in hose
o       as "o" in phone
eua     combination of eu and a
ia       as "i-a" in lan
ua      as the "ou" in tour
uay     pronounce as "u-ya-ee"
iu      "i-oo"
iaw     "ee-a-oo"
aew     "a" in bad +"w"
ehw     "a" in care + "w"
ew      shorter than "ehw"
oei      "oe-i"
awy     as the "oy" in boy
ohy     "ohi"

Consonants:
k       as the "g" in go
kh      as the "k" in kind
ng      as the "ng" in sing
j       as the "j" in jump
s       as the"s" in soup
ny      as the "ni" in onion
d       as the "d" in dodo
t       as the latter "d" in doubted
th      as the "t" in too
n       as the "n" in nun
f       as the "f" in fan
m      as the "m" in man
p      as the latter "p" in puppy
ph      as the "p" in pound
y       as the "y" in yoyo
l       as the "l" in lick
w      as the "w" in would

Words and Conversation:
Hello                  sabaai-dii
Goodbye               laa kawn pai kawn(said by people leave)/ sohk dii (said by people stay)
Thank you              khawp jai
You are welcome        baw pen nyang
Excuse me             khaw thoht
How are you?          sabaai-dii baw
How much             … thao dai?