Passa Lao 101: your introduction to the Lao language

So, after three months, I have to say that learning Lao language has been both the biggest challenge and the greatest joy of my time in Laos. I studied formally for 6 weeks. During that time I was able to learn a lot of basics: how to read and write, basic phrases for simple conversation, etc. However, the majority of my learning has definitely come from living with my host family! Only a couple of them speak a little english, so that means every day brings ample opportunity to blunder my way through Lao conversations. Even though it’s difficult, I have come to LOVE it. Lately, I have even started thinking things in Lao when I’m on my own, driving my motorbike or running!! It is SO satisfying to have “successful” conversations with people (meaning they understood you and you understood them), whether it’s just a little exchange with the lady selling you your lunch, other teachers at Nita, or my host mom. When I was just beginning, it was hard to even get through two sentences, but I have come a long way since then. For example, just today I went to the Lao church in the morning and was able to sing the worship songs by reading the words on the projector and have a 30 minute conversation with a new friend – all in Lao!


But since you probably know nothing about this amazing language, I’ll take a few moments to tell you some basics:
- There are 26 consonants and 28 vowels and 6 tones
- The language is 100% phonetic (which is why I can now sound-out and read anything in Lao, even if I have no idea what it means)
- The script does read left to right (thank goodness!)
- The vowels can be found written either after, above, below, in front of, infront of and above, or in front, above, and after the consonant they are connected to. Luckily each vowel can only have one of these positions and it never changes.
- Syllables are the main focus of the language: all the rules about word formation and tone are determined per syllable not word.
- Verbs are not conjugated (also, thank goodness!): there are other little words you can add to indicate past or future tense…although in speech people often leave it out if the listener can understand from the context (for example, “yesterday I…” would not require adding a past-tense indicator, because, well, duh, yesterday is in the past)
- There is no distinction between “he” and “she” – both are simply referred to as “lao”
- Question words go at the end of the sentence (although there are a few exceptions to this…)
- When you are saying a number of something you have to add the appropriate “classifier” after the number. For example, to say I have 2 pencils you say “ khoy mee bpoom 2 gaan.” “gaan” is the classifier for pens and pencils. There are a billion different classifiers: for people (“kon”), for vehicles (“kan”)…for everything. And sometimes for really specific things. For example, “tuay” is for bowls of food, but “nuay” is for bowls without food in it…



I could go on and on (I just think it is SO interesting!) but instead I will leave you with just a could of my favorite things about passa lao (although this is super hard. I like so many….):
- I love that you add “Deuh” to the end of sentences if you want to make them extra polite.
- I love that you add a short, light “no” at the end of questions if you want to make them “friendly” (you also say it at the end of statements that you want agreement on, ie “muu nee hon laai, no?” “today is really hot, right?!”)
- I love that the verb for “to have a meal,” (“gin kao”) literally means “to eat rice”
- I love that there are some words with more than one meaning, like “hua” which means to laugh, head, and is the classifier for books
- I love that some words seem exactly the same…but are actually different tones and therefore different words. One of the most commonly used ones is “sai”: falling tone = to use, flat tone = to put in or on, rising tone = where. The funniest one is probably “muu”: rising tone = pig, flat tone = friend…
- One of my favorite new words is “pa-nyaa-nyaam” it means “try”


And, because it has been requested several times, I will leave you with the four words/phrases you couldn’t get by in Laos without: Sa-bai-dee (hello), Khop-jai (thank you, or khop-jai-deuh if you’re being very polite), Saeep (delicious! Whenever you eat anything, the Lao will ask you, “saeep boh?” and you’d better reply ‘saeep laai!” (it’s very delicious!), and last but certainly not least…boh phen nyang (you’re welcome/no problem). This is practically the Lao national motto. It definitely is used all the time and sums up their laid-back outlook on life.
Ok that’s all for now!
Phop gan mai! sook dee! (see you again/good luck = the two standard Lao good-byes)