If you’re just visiting Laos for a short while, you should be able to get by with these basic Lao phrases as people in the most touristic areas do speak a little English. The sign language works pretty well too, but being able to speak the local language is way better, as that’s how you avoid misunderstandings and other unexpected things.
How do you count to 10 in Laos?
Counting in Lao language
One = Neung
Two = Song
Three = Sam
Four = see
Five = ha
Six = hok
Seven = jed
Eight = pad
Nine = kao
Ten = sib
Eleven = sib et
Twelve = sib song
Thirteen = sib sam
Fourteen = sib see
Once you can count to eleven then the rest is a piece of cake. When you
count till 11 then the next is 10+ 2 (sib song), 10+3(sib sam), 10+4
(sib see),…
Twenty is sao and twenty one is sao et. Then it comes to the same formula as above for example
20+2 (sao song), 20+3(sao sam),…
Thirty is sam sib
Fourty is see sib
By now you can count all the way to one hundred
50=5 X 10 (ha sib)
60=6 X 10 (hok sib)
70=7 X 10 (jed sib)
80=6 X 10 (pad sib)
90=6 X 10 (kao sib)
One hundred = neung hoi
Two hundred = Song hoi
Three hundred = sam hoi
Four hundred = see hoi
Five hundred = ha hoi
Six hundred = hok hoi
Seven hundred = jed hoi
Eight hundred = pad hoi
Nine hundred = kao hoi
One thousand = neung pan
Days of the week
Monday = van chan
Tuesday = van khan or you can say van ang khan
Wednesday = van phoud
Thursday = van phahud
Friday = van souk
Saturday = van sao
Sunday = van tid
Months of the year
January = mung kon
February = kum pa
March = mee na
April = may sa
May = peaud sa pa
June = mi thu na
July = kor la kod
August = Sing ha
September = kun ya
November = pha jik
December = tan wa
