Some adjectives which can use with classifiers

By Jang

 Sà-wàt-dii kâ…. Let’s speak Thai together!!!

As you have learnt before, when you want to talk about numbers of objects, Thai people say :

Noun + number + clf.

For example

Grà-bpăo nùng bai      กระเป๋า 1 ใบ     1 bag

Nák-rian hâa kon        นักเรียน 5 คน    5 students

          Today I would like to teach you more about some adjective which can use with classifiers.

1.            Noun + lăay + clf.       =          many noun

For example

măa lăay dtua              หมาหลายตัว     many dogs

=          káo mii măa lăay dtua          เขามีหมาหลายตัว

năng-sŭu lăay lêm     หนังสือหลายเล่ม many books

            =          chán chôrp năng-sŭu lăay lêm           ฉันชอบหนังสือหลายเล่ม

2.            Noun + clf. + diaw      =          one noun (when you think that it is only one thing)

For example

rót kan diaw             รถคันเดียว          1 car

=          Alex mii rót kan diaw  อเล็กซ์มีรถคันเดียว

rorng-táo kûu diaw     รองเท้าคู่เดียว    1 pair of shoes

=          Anna súu rorng-táo kûu diaw  แอนนาซื้อรองเท้าคู่เดียว

3.         Noun + kâe + number + clf.   =          only / just + number + noun (when you think that the amount of thing(s) is too little, not enough for you)

For example

            Sûa kâe săam dtua                 เสื้อแค่ 3 ตัว     only 2 shirts

            =          káo mii sûa kâe săam dtua     เขามีเสื้อแค่ 3 ตัว

            Korm-píw-dtêr kâe sŏrng krûang        คอมพิวเตอร์แค่ 2 เครื่อง  only 2 computer

            =          nai bor-ri-sàt mii korm-píw-dtêr kâe sŏrng krûang     ในบริษัทมีคอมพิวเตอร์แค่ 2 เครื่อง

4.         Noun + dtâng + number + clf.            =          when you think that the amount of thing(s) is too many for you

For example

            Mor-dter-sai dtâng sìp kan      มอเตอร์ไซค์ตั้ง 10 คัน    10 motorcycles

            =          bâan káo mii mor-dter-sai dtâng sìp kan                    บ้านเขามีมอเตอร์ไซค์ตั้ง 10 คัน

            Sôm dtâng yîi-sìp lûuk                        ส้มตั้ง 20 ลูก             20 oranges

            =          káo gin sôm dtâng yîi-sìp lûuk            เขากินส้มตั้ง 20 ลูก       

Q : Wan-níi kun rian Thai gìi kam ká? (How many Thai words that you have learnt today?)

A : Wan-níi chán rian Thai dtâng lăay kam kâ (Today I’ve learnt many Thai words!)

Hope you enjoyed learning Thai..

Khruu Jang

 Thai teacher

 Want to learn more Thai…then come to have a look at our Thai Language School

www.thailanguagehut.com

Can you open a TV?!?.. Can I close the light?!?

By Jang

Can I open a TV??!?

Can you close the light??!!?

Maybe some foreigners used to hear some Thai people ask these questions.

Don’t be confused because they meant

“Can I turn on a TV?” and

“Can you switch off the light?”

In Thai language, we say “bpèrt” which means “to open, to turn on, to switch on”,

And we say “bpìt” which means “to close, to turn off, to switch off”.

For example :

Kǒr bpèrt TV dâi mái (ká / kráp)?

= Can I turn on a TV?

Bpèrt bprà dtuu.

= Open a door.

Chûay bpìt fai dâi mái (ká / kráp)?

= Can you switch off the light?

Bpìt nǎng-sǔu.

= Close a book.

That’s why Thai people say “open” instead of “turn on”, and also “close” instead of “turn off”.

 From now on, I hope you can understand Thai people more..

Khruu Jang

 Want to learn more Thai…then come to have a look at our Thai Language School

www.thailanguagehut.com

Learning Thai by Something Easy Easy…คุยอะไรง่ายๆกันเถอะ

By may

Wan-née-ao-rûehng-bao-bao-bòr-bòr-láew-gan-ná    maa-doo-tao-long-tháai-gan    chên    tham-mai-ná    a-rai-gan-já    bpai-mái    jà-wâa-ngai-là    pra-maan-née    an-née-khŏrr-bòrg-wâa-bpen-gan-ehng-yàang-lŭeh-chûeh    gôrr-bpen-gaan-chái-pa-săa-nai-mòo-khon-sa-nìt-sa-nŏm-gan   mâi-bpen-thaang-gaan-yàang-yîng-tàeh-bpen-gan-ehng

วันนี้เอาเรื่องเบา  ๆ เบาะ ๆ แล้วกันนะ มาดูตัวลงท้ายกัน เช่น ทำไมนะ อะไรกันจ๊ะ ไปมั๊ย จะว่าไงล่ะ ประมาณนี้ อันนี้ขอบอกว่าเป็นกันเองอย่างเหลือเชื่อ ก็เป็นการใช้ภาษาในหมู่คนสนิทสนมกัน ไม่เป็นทางการ(อย่างยิ่ง)แต่เป็นกันเอง

Today I think I am going to talk about some easy stuff. Let’s see the ending words such as “Why’s that?”, “What’s going on?”, “Wanna come?”, “What ya gonna say?”, etc. I can tell you that it is the way how we talk to our close friends or confidants or familiars or acquaintances showing our closeness. And that will be totally informal.

Mái (มั๊ย) = măi (ไหม) (we put at the end of questions which are required “yes/no” answers.)
năi (ไหน) = thêe-năi (ที่ไหน) means where

Thâa-khon-thai-phûhd-wâa-bpai-năi-maa-gôrr-maa-jàag-pra-yòhk-khun-bpai-thêe-năi-maa-khá/kráb    láew-thâa-thăm-wâa-tham-a-rai-gan-já-yàang-bpen-thaang-gaan-gôrr-kuh-pûag-khun-tham-a-rai-gan-yòo-khá/kráb    hàag-pûag-rao-gam-lang-jà-bpai-thêe-năi-sàg-hàeng-láew-òey-wâa-bpai-mái    gôrr-măai-kwam-wâa-rao-chuan-khun-hâi-bpai-dûay-gan    pra-yòhk-săehn-sù-phâap-gôrr-nâa-jà-bpen-khun-yàag-bpai-dûay-gan-măi-khá/kráb    ao-bpen-wâa-khon-thai-yîng-phûhd-yîng-sân    pró-rao-pra-yàt-kham-phûhd-jing-jing-rao-khêe-gìet-phûhd-tàang-hàag    ao-nâ-pa-săa-năi-gôrr-mŭehn-gan-mee-pa-săa-glùm-pa-săa-thìn-pa-săa-ta-làad    yohm-ráb-dtrong-dtrong-wâa-way-laa-wai-rûn-thai-phûhd-a-rai-baang-thee-gôrr-mâi-khâo-jai    láew-thêe-phûhd-gan-thúg-kham-bpen-kham-yàab-gôrr-mâi-khâo-jai-èeg-mŭehn-gan    Porr-gòhn-ná-láew-jeu-gan-mài

ถ้าคนไทยพูดว่า “ไปไหนมา” ก็มาจากประโยค “คุณไปที่ไหนมาคะ/ครับ” แล้วถ้าถามว่า “ทำอะไรกันจ๊ะ” อย่างเป็นทางการก็คือ “(พวก)คุณทำอะไรกันอยู่คะ/ครับ” หากพวกเรากำลังจะไปที่ไหนสักแห่งแล้วเอ่ยว่า “ไปมั๊ย” ก็หมายความว่าเราชวนคุณให้ไปด้วยกัน ประโยคแสนสุภาพก็น่าจะเป็น “คุณอยากไปด้วยกันไหมคะ/ครับ” เอาเป็นว่าคนไทยยิ่งพูดยิ่งสั้น เพราะเราประหยัดคำพูด (จริง ๆ เราขี้เกียจพูดต่างหาก) เอาน่ะภาษาไหนก็เหมือนกันมีภาษากลุ่ม ภาษาถิ่น ภาษาตลาด ยอมรับตรง ๆ ว่าเวลาวัยรุ่นไทยพูดอะไรบางทีก็ไม่เข้าใจ แล้วที่พูดกันทุกคำเป็นคำหยาบก็ไม่เข้าใจอีกเหมือนกัน พอก่อนนะ แล้วเจอกันใหม่

If Thai people say “Where’d ya go?”, actually it is “Where did you go, sir/maám?”. Then if they ask you “What ya doing?”, the polite one is “What are you doing sir/maám?” If we are going somewhere then say “Wanna come?”, it means we would like you to join us and the perfect sentence should be “Would you like to come with us sir/maám?” Let just say Thai people make it short just because we save some words (actually we are lazy to say the whole thing). Well, any languages are the same, there are dialect, colloquialism and slang. To be honest with you, I never get it when teenagers use slang. They use more slang than normal words. That’s enough for today. Till next time!!!

Khru May Thai Teacher

Want to learn more Thai….then come to have a look at our Thai Language School 
www.thailanguagehut.com

Learn to Speak Thai : Conversations in Daily Life

By may

Right here I will tell you about present simple and future simple the way Thai people like to say it.  

Thais might say “What do you do in winter?/ nâa-năaw-ther-tham-a-rai/หน้าหนาวเธอทำอะไร” but “What will you do this winter?/ nâa-năaw-née-ther-jà-tham-a-rai/ หน้าหนาวนี้เธอจะทำอะไร” You will see that the first question is about something someone does regularly then the second question is about something someone will do by the time mentioned. So the answers might be “Well, I normally go to America visiting my boyfriend. /ŏrr-pa-ga-tì-chan-bpai-hăa-faen-thêe-a-may-rí-gaa-nâ./ อ๋อ ปกติฉันไปหาแฟนที่อเมริกาน่ะ” or “I think I will go to see my ex-boyfriend this winter./chan-kíd-wâa-nâa-năaw-bpee-née-chan-jà-bpai-yîem-faen-gào. /ฉันคิดว่าหน้าหนาวปีนี้ฉันจะไปเยี่ยมแฟนเก่า” Let’s check this out, some questions and answers:
Q: What do you do?/ ther-tham-ngaan-a-rai /เธอทำงานอะไร
A: Well, I am a teacher./ŏrr-chăn-bpen-khruh-jâ/อ๋อ ฉันเป็นครูจ้ะ
Q: Will you be a translator?/láew-ther-jà-bpen-nág-plae-mái/แล้วเธอจะเป็นนักแปลมั๊ย
A: Maybe I will./chăn-aaj-jà-bpen-gôrr-dâi-ná/ฉันอาจจะเป็นก็ได้นะ
Q: Are you free?/ther-wâang-mái/ เธอว่างมั๊ย
A: Not at all./mâi-wâang-loey/ไม่ว่างเลย
Q: What about tonight?/láew-khuen-née-lâ/แล้วคืนนี้ล่ะ
A: Sure, I will be free tonight. /ngăeh-la-khuen-née-la-gôrr-wâang/แหง๋ละคืนนี้ละก็ว่าง

When it comes to making and taking phone calls just do it politely.
For example:
A: May I speak to David, please?/khŏrr-săai-day-wít-nòi-khâ/ขอสายเดวิดหน่อยค่ะ
B: May I ask who is calling, please?/mâi-sâab-krai-jà-rien-săai-duây-khá/ไม่ทราบใครจะเรียนสายด้วยคะ
A: My name is May. I am calling from Chicago./di-chăn-chûeh-may-khâ-thoh-maa-jàag-chík-kaa-gôh/ดิฉันชื่อเมย์ค่ะ โทรมาจากชิคาโก
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What year were you born? Learning Thai with an interesting culture

By Jang

To ask “what year were you born?” in Thai you have to say “khun goèrd bpee àrai?”

In Thailand for official papers and also general Thai speaking we use ‘Buddhist Era’ or ‘B.E.’ when we talk about years.

The word ‘Buddhist Era’ in Thai is ‘pút-tá-sàk-gà-raàt’. And in short as abbreviation we just say ‘por-sŏr’ which means ‘B.E.’  

e.g.     Q:  Khun goèrd bpee àrai? What year were you born?

            A:  Chan goèrd bpee 2525 (săwng-pan-haâ-roí-yeê-sìb-haâ) or   

                 Chan goèrd bpee 2525 (săwng-haâ-săwng-haâ) or

                 Chan goèrd bpee 25 (săwng-haâ)  à most used one

            Q:  Bpee neé bpee por-sŏr àrai? What B.E year is this year?

            A:  Bpee neé bpee 2552 (săwng-pan-haâ-roí-haâ-sìb-săwng) or

                  Bpee neé bpee 2552 (săwng-haâ-haâ-săwng) or

                  Bpee neé bpee 52 (haâ-săwng)  à most used one

But sometimes we use ‘kor-sŏr’   which stands for Krít-sàk-gà-raàt.  ‘Kor-sŏr’ means ‘A.D.’ and ‘Krít-sàk-gà-raàt’ means ‘Anno Domini’ , ‘Christian Era’

e.g.     Q:  Khun goèrd bpee àrai? What year were you born?

            A:  Pŏm goèrd bpee  1980 (neùng-pan-gaô-roí-bpaèd-sìb) or

                  Pŏm goèrd bpee 1980 (neùng-gaô-bpaèd-soŏn)   à most used one

And in ‘Hŏ-raa-saàt-Thai’ which means Thai astrology we have the Zodiac of 12 animal signs like in Chinese one which represent the different types of personality and characteristics. The twelve signs are as follows:

Bpee Chuâd               =          Rat year                      ปีชวด

Bpee Chà-loŏ             =          Ox year                       ปีฉลู

Bpee Kaăn                 =          Tiger year                   ปีขาล

Bpee Toàh                 =          Rabbit year                ปีเถาะ

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What are you looking for?…กำลังหาอะไรอยู่… a useful sentence to help you to learn Thai

By may

Last time I told you about present simple. Right here it’s time to talk about present continuous. Are you ready to be absorbed?

When we, Thai people,  want to ask questions as someone is doing something, we end it with “อยู่” or “อยู่น่ะ” or “อยู่ล่ะ” or “อยู่เหรอ”.
For example:
Q: เธอกำลังทำอะไรอยู่/ther-gam-lang-tham-a-rai-yòo/ what are you doing?
A: อ๋อ ฉันกำลังดูทีวีอยู่/ŏrr-chăn-gam-lang-doo-thee-wee-yòo/Well, I am watching TV.
Q: เขาทำอะไรอยู่ล่ะ/kăo-tham-a-rai-yòo-lâ/ what is he doing?
A: เขาท่องตำราประวัติศาสตร์อยู่/ kăo-thông-tam-raa-yòo/ he is studying history.
Q: พวกเขากินอะไรกันอยู่น่ะ/pûak-kăo-gin-a-rai-gan-yòo-nâ/ what are they eating?
A: พวกเขากำลังกินส้มตำกันอยู่/ pûak-kăo-gam-lang-gin-sôm-tam-gan-yòo/ they are eating papaya salad.

How to pick Thai when Thais say it!!!

By may

Hi there, my dear farangs, I am back. Right now I just want to let you see some phrases which you may hear them a lot. And sometimes Thai people make Thai language more difficult to understand because they use it differently. Let’s see how they speak and how you can pick it.

When they say”เข้าใจมั๊ย/khâo-jai-mái/understand?”, your reply might be “ไม่เข้าใจ/mâi-khâo-jai/don’t understand”, or “ไม่เข้าใจเลย/mâi-khâo-jai-loey/don’t understand at all”, or “ก็เข้าใจบ้าง/khôrr-khâo-jai-bâang/yeah, I understand some.”, or “เข้าใจบ้าง ไม่เข้าใจบ้าง / khâo-jai-bâang-mâi-khâo-jai-bâang /some I do, some I don’t”, or “เข้าใจแล้ว/khâo-jai-láew/yeah, I got it.”, etc. What you need to pick for answering is the main word and this one is”เข้าใจ/khâo-jai-/understand”. 

As you hear “รู้มั๊ย/rú-mái/Do you know that(it)?”, your answer could be “ไม่รู้/mâi-rú/No, I don’t or don’t know”, or “ไม่รู้เลย/mâi-rú-loey/don’t know at all”, or “ไม่รู้อะไรมาก/mâi-rú-a-rai-mâag/don’t know much”, or “ไม่รู้อะไรเลย/ mâi-rú-a-rai-loey/don’t know anything at all”, or “ก็รู้บ้าง/ khôrr- rú-bâang/yeah, I know some.”, or “รู้แล้ว/ rú-láew/yeah, I knew or yeah, I heard about it.”, or something else. For Thais, to know is “รู้/rú/know something or about something” and “รู้จัก/ rú-jàg/know persons or places or things”.

If someone asks you “รู้จักมั๊ย/rú-jàg-mái/Do you know that(person or place or thing)?”, you might respond ”ไม่รู้จัก/mâi-rú-jàg /No, I don’t.”, or “ไม่รู้จักเลย/ mâi-rú-jàg-loey/ don’t know (person or place or thing) at all.”, or “รู้จักแต่ไม่มาก/ rú-jàg-tàeh-mâi-mâag /yeah but not much.”, or “รู้จักแล้ว/ rú-jàg-láew /yeah, I knew him/her/them or yeah, I knew that place/that thing.”, or just say “ไม่แน่ใจครับ(ค่ะ)/ mâi-nâeh-jai-kráb(khâ) /I am not sure.”  


Right here I am showing you how to have your conversation on the right track and I believe it is not that hard to remember or understand.

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Thai question words.. How to ask khon Thai questions

By Jang

No need to be confused anymore when you are asked with these following questions

Ø  Châi-mái?           ใช่มั้ย

Ø  Mái?                      มั้ย

Ø  Roĕr?                    เหรอ

Ø  Reŭh-bplaào?   หรือเปล่า

Ø  Reŭh-yang?        หรือยัง

Here are the hints to help you out with this problem, Let’s take a look together

Ø Châi-mái? ใช่มั้ย  is just like a tag-question in English. When you reply, just simply say “châi” for Yes and “mâi-châi” for No

Examples:

Q: Khun-cheuh-Sùpansăa-châi-mái? 

Your name is Supansa, isn’t it?   คุณชื่อสุพรรษาใช่มั้ย

A: châi-ka            Yes         ใช่

A: mâi-châi ka, chán-cheûh-Pánídaa      

No, my name is Panida  ไม่ใช่ค่ะ   ฉันชื่อพนิดา

Q: Baân-kun-yoò-teê-sù-kŭm-víd-soi-24-châi-mái?   บ้านคุณอยู่ที่สุขุมวิทซอย 24 ใช่มั้ย

A: châi-kráb        Yes     ใช่ครับ

A: mâi-châi-kráb, baân-pŏm-yoò-teê-sù-kŭm-víd-soi-26  

= No, my house is in Sukhumvit Soi 26   ไม่ใช่ครับ       บ้านผมอยู่ที่สุขุมวิทซอย 26

But when the question ends in “mái?” you have to answer in different way from “châi-mái?”

Ø Mái?  มั้ย  The usage of this question word is similar to English grammar e.g. …Do you…? Does he…? Did she…? Will you…? Can you…?

To say Yes

Thai Questions…how to ask the right questions in Thai?

By may

When you ask some questions, often students do not think to much about it but if they are Thai questions you will need to know how to ask.

Thai questions are not so different from English questions. Depending on tenses Thai people express their questions in different ways.

For example:

If you ask “Do you go to see the movie often? = Khun-bpai-doo-năng-bòy-mái (คุณไปดูหนังบ่อยมั๊ย), and if your answer is “Yes, quite often.” = Khôrr-bòy-náh ( ก็บ่อยนะ ) Or “No, just sometimes.” = Mâi- bòy-ròg-khôrr-bpai-bâang ( ไม่บ่อยหรอก ก็ไปบ้าง )

If your question is “Have you finished this project yet? = Khun-tham-krong-gaan-née-sèt-rúe-yang </sp