Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Contents
Grammar notes
Consonants ก, ข, ค, ฆ, ง, จ, ฉ, ช
Consonants ซ, ฌ, ญ, ฎ, ฏ, ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ณ, ด
Lesson 3. Numbers
Consonants ต, ถ, ท, ธ, น
Vowels เ-, แ-
Consonants บ, ป, ผ, ฝ
Lesson 5. Time
Consonants พ, ฟ, ภ, ม
Money
Consonants ย, ร, ล, ว
Consonants ศ, ษ, ส, ห
Consonants ฬ, อ, ฮ
Obsolete consonants ฃ, ฅ
Introduction to tones
Comparison of adjectives
Nationalities
Anomalous tones
Written Thai
Written Thai
Written Thai
4
Written Thai
Lesson 24. The use of GOR (ก็) and GAHN TEE (การที )
Written Thai
Written Thai
Duplicated words
Written Thai
Appendix 1. Classifiers
Appendix 9. Idioms
This book is an attempt to introduce the Thai language from an English speaking
foreigner’s point of view; to provide a useful vocabulary; to illustrate the various
constructions used in simple sentences and to deal completely with the Thai alphabet
and the system of indicating the Tonal Values of the words; both of which latter aspects
are fundamental to the learning of the language.
The excellent books of Cartwright and Eagling are both long since out of print and the
only other book available at the present time, “Spoken Thai” by Haas and Subhanka, is
designed more for classwork under an experienced teacher than for individual study and
makes no attempt to deal with the Thai written word or the tone rules. Apart from these
there are a number of conversation and phrase books written by Thai which though
useful to those who already know the fundamentals of the language are of little help to
the beginner who wants to know how to make up his own sentences rather than to learn
stock phrases which are seldom exactly what he wants to say.
The books available for those who want to learn to read consist almost entirely of the
elementary readers used in Thai schools which are unsatisfactory for a foreigner in
every way and for anyone requiring more additional reading matter we would
recommend one of the Thai monthly magazines such as “The English Language” or
“Progress”. Both of these are well set up and clearly printed and contain a large amount
of not too difficult reading printed in both Thai and English.
In the earlier books on Thai for foreigners, as well as in the Ministry of Education
elementary books for use in Thai schools, the tones are dealt with from the beginning
but we have departed from precedent in this respect because we feel that it is only
confusing the issue to try and deal with the tones until you have acquired something of a
vocabulary and can string the words together into simple sentences.
The usual drill of repeating over and over again in different tones words whose meaning
you do not understand and words which in many cases you will never use is
monotonous in the extreme and tends to make the lessons dull and unattractive for an
adult.
In a letter discussing a proposed system of Romanising the Thai alphabet, written to the
Siam Society in 1912, His Majesty King Rama VI wrote:
“I propose that the tone value of the Siamese consonants might be ignored altogether ...
since the context would always make clear the meaning.”
and later:
“For similar reasons given above I think it would be best to ignore all Siamese tone
accents.”
Although we do not go all the way with His Majesty in these sentiments, we do think
that a study of the tones should be secondary to the acquisition of a vocabulary, a
6
knowledge of the Thai alphabet and of the fundamental constructions of the language
and hence a discussion of the tones has been left until about a third of the way through
the book. In only relatively few cases will a wrong tone cause you to be misunderstood
and if this book is used as intended, with the help of a native born Thai teacher or friend
you will find that in the early stage at least you will acquire the correct tone far more
easily by imitation than you could possibly do by trying to remember the tone rules
which are all dependant on familiarity with the Thai alphabet.
Since we realise that many people will not want to bother with more than a superficial
study of the language, the book has been arranged so that both the Thai spelling and the
tone rules are separate sections of each lesson and can be omitted entirely by those who
only wish to acquire a vocabulary and learn the construction of simple sentences enough
to be able to talk with their servants and do their marketing.
Nevertheless we strongly advise anyone who thinks it worth while learning the
language at all to work through the complete lessons since we believe that no foreigners
can learn to speak Thai even reasonably well unless they also master the Thai alphabet
and have at least a working knowledge of the tone rules.
You may not aspire to be able to read a Thai newspaper; and if you do you will have to
go a long way further than this book will take you; but it is not difficult to learn enough
to be able to read street names, public notices, company names etc. and to be able to
work out the pronunciation of a new Thai word from its spelling. Being able to do this
will give you an added interest in the language.
In most languages there are several ways of expressing the same idea and the one
adopted depends to a large extent on the speaker’s education, experience and social
environment; so if your teacher tells you to say something differently from what we
have put down here, make a note of it and follow him. Similarly when working through
the exercises, if you find your way of rendering an English sentence in Thai is not the
same as that given in the book, it does not follow that you are wrong. Check with your
teacher and see if your version is acceptable or not, and if not, why not. If it is you will
gain confidence; if it is not you will have learned something new about the finer points
of Thai constructions and the meaning of Thai words.
As far as possible a colloquial style has been adopted throughout the exercises both in
English and Thai versions, even in some cases at the expense of strict academic
accuracy, since the aim of this book is to teach you to speak Thai rather than to become
a Thai scholar. Such lapses as there are from formal accuracy however are all common
usage and are readily acceptable anywhere but in Court circles.
The system of transliteration from Thai into English is an unorthodox one which is
certain to be criticised by professional linguists but it has been carefully worked out, is
consistent and, we believe, is suitable for the purposes of this book and appropriate to
the class of people we expect to use it.
The lessons are intended to cover a six months course taking one lesson per week and
doing it thoroughly. Experience has shown that one lesson can easily be mastered in a
week although if time is available it may be advantageous to treat the discussion on
tones and the tone exercises in Part B as separate lessons.
7
No attempt has been made to deal with specific activities such as “Going to the Post
Office”, “Seeing a Doctor” etc. as in Bangkok today none of these activities require a
knowledge of Thai at all and even in the country, until you are comparatively fluent in
the language you will probably do far better to stick to English and speak it slowly. If a
Thai can speak English at all he is generally better at it than you will be at Thai for quite
a while.
The Extended Vocabulary at the end of book contains all the words from the various
sectional vocabularies with a number of additional ones making about 1200 in all
which, if you know them all, will get you along fairly well under most circumstances.
There are many Thai and foreigners in Bangkok who are far more qualified to write a
book such as this than we are. The need is there; but as none of them have shown any
sign of doing so, we make no apologies for stepping into the field.
Stuart Campbell
Chuan Shaweevongs
Bangkok,
December 1956.
8
As a result of the experience gained with the first edition, this book has been completely
re-written and enlarged to include many more examples and explanations of the
particular usage of a large number of additional Thai words.
All the examples are given in Thai script as well as in the Romanised approximation
and we hope in this way to encourage our readers to get interested in the Thai written
language and used to the lack of separation between Thai words which at first presents a
most formidable barrier to reading.
We have introduced a large number of idiomatic forms both in the text and in examples,
some new and we hope useful appendices and have increased the vocabulary to over
2,500 words.
The unorthodox system of transliteration used in the first edition has been adhered to
with slight modifications and though it is neither scholarly nor elegant, experience over
the last five years has shown that “it works” and is generally appreciated by, and
acceptable to, the large group of commercial, military and foreign service personnel
who have used the first edition and who generally have had little if any linguistic
training and no knowledge of the phonetic alphabet. It is for such people that this book
has been written. We have however included the phonetic alphabet inside the front
cover of the book for those who are familiar with it and wish to use it and we do not
anticipate that such people will have any difficulty in making the appropriate
substitutions.
We do agree however that it is almost impossible to reproduce the exact sound of many
Thai words in any form of transliteration without going into fairly complicated
typography and we strongly recommend users of this book to start as soon as possible
and learn the Thai alphabet which is by no means as hard as it looks at first. Once
having done this, the intermediate step of transliteration can be dispensed with entirely
or used merely as an aid, since all words in the text are given in their Thai spelling from
the beginning so that the proper pronunciation can be determined directly.
Without knowing the Thai alphabet you will be unable to look up any new word in the
dictionary and your vocabulary will be limited to the words given in this text. More
importantly still, it is only by knowing the alphabet that you will be able to determine
the tone of a Thai word for certain since many Thai though they can pronounce the
words correctly are not always sure of the tone they are using.
As we have mentioned before, study of this book alone will not enable you to speak
Thai and you should get yourself a proper Thai teacher as soon as possible. Don’t fall
into the common error of thinking you can learn the language “by book and by cook”.
Servants in any country are not usually very well educated and this is particularly so in
Thailand. Your servants can certainly help you with your pronunciation and then with a
9
few words and a lot of gestures you will probably be able to get along alright in the
market, but it will be very poor Thai.
A proper teacher is essential not only to help you in the pronunciation but also to
explain the syntax and the vast number of idiomatic expressions and constructions used
by educated Thai in everyday conversation and writing, many of which cannot even be
worked out with the help of a dictionary. Correct Thai is good enough for the market,
but market Thai will leave a bad impression in educated circles.
With the general high social status accorded to Europeans in Thailand it is far better, if
you want to speak with anyone other than your servants and market people, to talk
“good English” rather than “market Thai”.
Don’t be misled if someone says “Oh poot Thai geng” meaning “Oh you speak Thai
very well”; the Thai are very polite people and will usually say this if you utter three
words in Thai that they can understand even though they may think you speak like a
coolie.
We owe a considerable debt to numerous interested users of the first edition who have
come along with helpful suggestions for alterations and additions. practically all of
which we have been able to incorporate in this book. Nevertheless we realise that it is
still far from perfect and any criticisms or suggestions for the future would be most
welcome.
Finally we must express our appreciations of the work of our printers, “The Siva Phorn
Press” who have carried out this extremely complicated typesetting job with such
marked success, and have made every possible effort to ensure that the final product is
one they can be proud of.
Bangkok,
January 1962.
We thank the many interested readers who have sent us suggestions for improvements
to this book.
We have considered them all but although most have considerable merit we felt that to
have incorporated them all would have meant getting away too far from the original
concept of a book on “fundamentals” and this we hesitate to do.
We have re-arranged the examples to show English and Thai together and added some
new examples and some new words in the extended vocabulary at the end. We have also
included a new appendix containing a selection of useful and common idioms.
Bangkok,
October 1964.
10
The very marked success of the third edition has made a fourth edition inevitable before
we were really ready.
A number of misprints and errors have been corrected and a few small additions made
but otherwise there have been no major changes.
Bangkok,
March 1968.
11
TONE RULES
Notes.
1. In the table above the numbers beside each tone refer to the method of
designating tones adopted in McFarland’s dictionary.
2. In words starting with two consonants and having an inherent “a” between them;
if the first consonant is either High or Middle class and the second is low class,
the tone of the second syllable usually is governed by the class of the first
consonant.
กจฎฏดตบปอ
คฆงชซฌญฑฒณทธนพฟภมยลรวฬฮ
12
Kกขค
Pบปพภ
Tจชซฌฎฏฐฑฒดตถทธศษส
Mม
Nญณนลฬ
NG ง
Short Vowels
Long Vowels
-ว -วย -อ -อย -◌ัย -◌ัว -า -าย -าว -◌ํา-◌ิว -◌ี -◌ื -◌ุ ย -◌ู เ- เ-ย เ-ว เ-อ
เ-า เ-◌ิ เ-◌ีย เ-◌ียว เ-◌ือ เ-◌ือย แ- แ-ว โ- โ-ย ใ- ไ- ไ-ย
The inherent “or”.
13
LESSON1.A.CONVERSATION
1.A.1.(a). The Tones.
The Thai language is a “Tonal Language” which means that a word may have two or
more distinct and quite unrelated meanings depending on the tone in which it is
pronounced.
Altogether there are five tones but there is no single word which is pronounced in all
five although there are a number which may be pronounced in two or three and carry a
different meaning in each.
Most newcomers to the language are rather appalled at the apparent difficulty of the
tones but they are not as hard as is generally imagined even for people with no musical
ear.
A great many words in common use take only one tone and even where a word has two
or three tones, each with a different meaning, in most cases the word you intend to use
will be made clear by the context provided you get the construction of the sentence right
even though your tone may not be quite correct.
This is a uniform tone pitched well above the level of the speaker’s normal voice
and is similar to the tone used in English to denote alarm.
A bird NOK h นก
To love RUK h รัก
Small LEK h เล็ก
This as the name implies has a rising inflection and is something like the tone
used in English to denote surprise or a question.
A question MY r ไหม
word
Three SAHM r สาม
A stone HIN r หิน
14
This is spoken in the speaker’s ordinary tone of voice without any inflection. It
is the tone used in English for ordinary conversation.
Come MAH c มา
Go PY c ไป
To eat GIN c กิน
This is a level tone with no inflection but lower in pitch than common tone.
This is an emphatic and heavily accented tone with a falling inflection and is
similar to the tone used in English to denote emphasis.
It should be noted that the tone applies to a syllable only so that in a polysyllabic word
each syllable may and often does have a different tone.
A rose GOOLAHP l-l กุหลาบ
Human being MANOOT h-h มนุษย์
Papaya MALAGOR h-h-c มะละกอ
Movie PAHPA-YON d-h-c ภาพยนตร์
Government RUTABAHN h-l-c รัฐบาล
You may find it difficult at first to pronounce all of the syllables of a polysyllabic word
in the correct tone but luckily there are very few words of more than two syllables
15
where tonal values of the syllables vary, so that even if the tone of one or more syllables
is not quite correct the combination of syllables alone will usually distinguish the word
without ambiguity. The tone of each word in the vocabularies is indicated as shown
above and the same system is used for all words in the extended vocabulary at the end
of the book but for clarity and simplicity of printing the tones are not shown in the
Romanised version of the examples throughout the text.
By far the best way to learn the tones at the beginning is the way a Thai child does, i.e.
by copying a natural Thai speaker, and as this book is intended to be used with the help
of a Thai teacher we recommend you just to listen to your teacher and try to imitate the
way he pronounces the words and correlate this with the tone given in the vocabularies.
In Thai writing the tones are quite clearly indicated by the use of Tone Marks coupled
with a rather complicated set of rules but as the understanding of these rules depends on
a thorough knowledge of the Thai alphabet it is quite meaningless to discuss them until
you have first mastered the alphabet. The full consideration of the tone rules has
therefore been left until lessons 10 to 19.
There is no inflection of nouns, pronouns or verbs; case, gender, number, tense etc.
being indicated where considered necessary by the addition of other words.
Possession may be indicated by adding the word KORNG “of” “belonging to” in front
of the noun or pronoun but this is often omitted.
Plurality if not indicated by the text of a sentence may be indicated by adding numeral
words.
Inanimate objects have no gender and where it is necessary to indicate gender in relation
to animate objects this is usually done by the addition of extra words.
Affirmative and interrogative sentences are of the same form; the interrogative sentence
being indicated by the addition of an interrogative word, usually at the end of a
sentence.
The word MY expressed in a rising tone at the end of a sentence is probably the most
common interrogative word and denotes a question. Its use is analogous to that of the
English word “No?” as often used by Latin peoples at the end of a sentence in English
to denote a question.
16
“You will come tomorrow, No?” = Will you come tomorrow? When an interrogative
sentence contains words such as “who”, “why”, “when”, “where” etc. no other
interrogative word is needed.
In colloquial Thai and also to a lesser extent in writing it is customary to leave out
pronouns, prepositions and other words provided that the intention of the sentence
appears to be otherwise adequately expressed. On the other hand words which have
little or no meaning in the context in which they are being used and are often quite
incapable of translation are frequently inserted in a sentence to make it sound more
complete and euphonious.
Although in this and all subsequent vocabularies the Thai spelling is given you need not
worry about it until you have learned the alphabet.
I CHUN r ฉัน
You TAHN d ท่าน
He, she, it, they. KOW r เขา
We ROW c เรา
Who? KRY c ใคร
Belonging to KORNG r ของ
My KORNG CHUN r-r ของฉัน
His, hers, etc. KORNG KOW r-r ของเขา
Whose? KORNG KRY r-c ของใคร
Live at, be at. YOO l อยู่
Question word MY r ไหม
At, a place. TEE d ที
This, these. pro. NEE d นี
This, these. adj. NEE h นี
That, those. pro. NUN d นัน
That, those. adj. NUN h นัน
That over there. pro. NON d โน่น
That over there. adj. NON h โน้น
Come MAH c มา
Go PY c ไป
Here TEENEE d-d ทีนี
There TEENUN d-d ทีนัน
There, yonder. TEENON d-d ทีโน่น
17
YOO (อยู่) has the general meaning of “to live at”, “to be at”, “to occupy” and is used in
a wide variety of ways as you will see later.
Note the Thai spelling of this word and note that it is quite different from that of the
other word MY “not” given in this vocabulary.
You will notice that the only difference in the spelling of the words in each pair is in the
tone mark but in Thai this makes them different words.
In all three cases the first word is a pronoun and the tone mark indicates that it is
pronounced in the Dropped Tone.
The second word of each pair is an adjective and the tone mark indicates that it is
pronounced in the High Tone.
Run through the examples below with your teacher, note the differences and concentrate
on the correct tones.
The other two words NON (โน่น) and NON (โน้น) meaning “yonder”, “over there” are
similar to นัน and นัน but imply a greater distance away. The first is a pronoun
pronounced in the dropped tone and the second an adjective pronounced in the high
tone.
19
Note that the second word of these three compound words is always a pronoun and is
pronounced in the dropped tone.
In conversation it is quite common to omit the first syllable of all these three words and
merely say NEE, NUN or NON for “here”, “there” and “over there” but you had better
start and use the full words until you get more familiarity with the language and know
when to abbreviate and when not to.
TEENY (ทีไหน) “where?”. This is often shortened to NY but it is best to use the word in
full.
Note that the second syllable is spelled quite differently in Thai to the word NY
meaning “in” given below in the vocabulary.
MY (ไม่) is the most general word for “not” but you will come across MI (pronounced
with the “I” very short) and it is as well to be aware of it. You need not use it yourself.
BAHN (บ้าน) is pretty well the same as the English word “home” and is the common
word to use for “a house” or “dwelling place”.
MOO BAHN (หมู่บา้ น) which literally means “a group of homes” is the name for the
smallest Thai village group. This is usually referred to by writers in English as “a
hamlet”.
The English word “village” is used rather indiscriminately in referring to either a MOO
BAHN or a DTUMBON but in Thai they are very different.
20
In addition to the consonants and vowels, there are four symbols which represent
combined consonant and vowel sounds. These however are not very often met
with.
In Thai writing there are no capital letters and no punctuation and no break is
made between words although a break may be made between groups of words at
the writer’s discretion.
b. When writing Thai consonants we always start with the little curl if any.
When pronouncing Thai consonants we always add the vowel sound “OR” after
them. (American sound “Aw”)
Many consonants have a different sound depending on whether they are used as
initial consonants at the beginning of a syllable or as final consonants at the end
of the syllable.
c. In the Thai alphabet there are many groups of consonants in which each member
of the group has exactly the same sound.
For instance ศ, ษ and ส all have the sound S and are all spoken as SOR.
Obviously it is necessary to have some method of distinguishing between these
letters when referring to them verbally and this the Thai do by giving each letter
a name.
This name is usually a noun, the spelling of which incorporates the consonant
concerned and is considered to be generally familiar to most literates.
22
Examples.
Many Thai, although they use it themselves, tend to disparage this method of
naming the consonants as being rather childish and unscholarly, which it may
be, but apart from writing the letter, we know of no other way in which it is
possible to give verbally the correct spelling of many Thai words.
The names of all the consonants will be given in the lessons and though it is
hardly necessary to try and remember the names of those consonants which have
a unique sound it will be found very useful later on to be able to refer to the
consonants having K, P, B, T and S sounds by their Thai names.
d. All Thai syllables which have a consonant ending must end with the sound of M,
N, NG, K, P or T.
You will notice in conversation however that the final P’s often sound rather
more like B’s and the final T’s like D’s.
e. Vowels are written either in front of, above, below or all around the consonants
to which they refer but any particular vowel always occupies the same position
relative to the consonant and is always pronounced after the consonant.
f. When writing a list of vowels it is usual to put a dash (-) to represent the position
of the consonant.
g. A vowel cannot stand alone, it must always be related to some consonant. Where
a vowel sound alone is required the consonant อ must be added to support the
vowel and in this case the อ is always silent.
ก
G (as in “get”) as an initial consonant and K as a
final.
Name. GOR GY from ไก่ “A fowl”.
ข
K as an initial consonant and K as a final.
Name. KOR KY from ไข่ “An egg”.
ค
K as an initial consonant and K as a final.
Name. KOR KWAI from ควาย “A buffalo”.
ฆ
K as an initial consonant and K as a final.
Name. KOR RAKUNG from ระฆัง “A bell”.
ง
NG as an initial consonant and NG as a final.
Name. NGOR NGOO from งู “A snake”.
จ
J as an initial consonant and T as a final.
Name. JOR JAHN from จาน “A plate”.
ฉ
CH as an initial consonant and does not occur as a
final.
Name. CHOR CHING from ฉิง “High pitched
cymbals”.
ช
CH as an initial consonant and T as a final.
Name. CHOR CHAHNG from ช้าง “An elephant”.
24
-ะ
This is a very short “a” as in “sofa”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “A”.
Note.
It should be noted that the short “a” (-ะ) or the inherent “a” (See Lesson 4.B.3.(a).)
always closes a syllable so that in two syllable words when the first syllable ends with
the short “a” either written or inherent, and the second starts with the Thai consonant ร
(R) care should be taken not to pronounce the combination like the “ar” in “car”.
-◌ั
This vowel is called MYHUNAHGAHT and is
considered by Thai scholars as being the same
vowel as the vowel -ะ above, but is always used in
place of it when there is a final consonant.
-า
This is the long “a” sound as in “Ah”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “AH”.
In a very few words, of which ท่าน “you” is the most common, this vowel is pronounced
short as though it were the same as -◌ั.
Note.
In two syllable words where the first syllable ends with the short “a” (-ะ) or the inherent
“a” and the second starts with the Thai consonant ห (H), the “A” and the “H” will be
separated by a hyphen to avoid confusion with the AH sound mentioned above.
25
-◌ํา
This has the sound somewhere between the “um”
in “number” and the “am” in “amount”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “UM”.
Note.
There are about 50 words in the language where the Thai consonant ม (M) follows the
vowel -◌ั (MYHUNAHGAHT).
This combination (-◌ัม) would also appear in the transliteration as “um” but as most of
the words are fairly uncommon ones it has not been thought necessary to try and make
any differentiation. Probably the most common word of this type is
-◌ิ
This is the very short “i” as in “hit”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “I”.
-◌ี
This is the long “ee” as in “see”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “EE”.
The spelling for “vowel” is สระ SARA, pronounced with both the “a”’s very short and
not as in the girl’s name.
When spelling a word we usually put this word SARA in front of the vowel sound as
follows;
In the case of the vowel MYHUNAHGAHT we use its name instead of its sound thus;
The spelling of words where there are combined vowels and/or Tone Marks will be
referred to in Lesson 5.B.3. and Lesson 10.B.4.
Spell the following words and then pronounce them in your normal tone of voice. Do
not bother about the meanings of the words which you have not had, you will meet all
of the important ones in later vocabularies.
กา คํา ชา ชี กาง
A crow Word Tea A nun Spread out
ชัง กัง ชิง คง ชง
Hate A small Snatch Probably To brew
monkey
จาง คาง อา ชํา จํา
To fade Chin Uncle To soak a Remember
cutting
A negative sentence is formed by putting a negative word in front of the verb or, in
certain cases, after it. (See Lesson 7.)
When a negative word qualifies an adjective it is usually placed between the noun and
the adjective. (See Example 21.)
The future tense is indicated by putting the word JA “will”, “shall” in front of the verb.
In most cases questions in the future tense can be answered in the present tense.
The answer to a question is generally made as short as possible and in many cases will
consist only of a repetition of the verb in the case of an affirmative answer, or the verb
preceded by a negative word in the case of a negative answer.
27
The position of adverbs and adverbial clauses is variable. Generally the adverb of time
comes at the beginning of the sentence but we can add emphasis to it by putting it at the
end.
Other adverbs and adverbial clauses may go either at the beginning or end of the
sentence but the position of each particular one is usually fairly constant. Adverbs or
adverbial clauses seldom come in the middle of a sentence. For instance;
Interrogative adverbs and some adverbs of time such as “always”, “often”, “soon” etc. are
usually placed at the end of the sentence.
In the Thai language we find many groups of two or more words (mostly nouns) in
which all members of the group have exactly the same meaning but some are Formal or
Polite words and others are Common words.
The Formal or Polite words are generally used in writing but whether to use them in
general conversation or not depends largely on the age, intimacy and relative social
status of the speaker and the person spoken to.
In general, “Polite” words are used by educated people when talking to equals or
superiors and the “Common” words by less educated people talking among themselves
or by educated people talking to servants and inferiors, but there are many exceptions to
this generalization which you will learn as you proceed.
If in doubt it is generally better to use the “Polite” word which at worst can only sound
funny and not rude.
Both “Polite” and “Common” forms of the words will be given in the vocabularies
together with an indication of their use.
In a special class of “Polite” words are the two words KRUP (ครับ) and KA (คะ) which
have no meaning themselves but which are merely tacked onto the end of a sentence in
conversation to round it off and make it sound more polite.
A peculiar feature of these two words is that irrespective of the sex of the person spoken
to, only a male can say KRUP and only a female can say KA.
28
As these two words are “Polite” words indicating respect, they are not normally used
when speaking to sahmlor boys, servants etc. though they should and probably will be
used by them when speaking to you in which case they are somewhat equivalent to
“Sir” or “Madame”.
Under certain circumstances these two words can be used alone and are equivalent to
“Yes” or “I understand” but nevertheless the limitations as to which sex may use which
word still remain. This usage will be dealt with in a later lesson.
We have used these two words in appropriate places in the examples to these lessons so
that you will get used to seeing and hearing and using them, but which word to use and
whether they should be used at all in any particular sentence depends on your sex and
who you consider you are speaking to.
Finally mention should be made of a large group of special words and phrases known as
RAHCHAH SUP which are used by Thai people when referring to or speaking to
Royalty and a further group of words used only in reference to or when talking to
Buddhist Priests.
It is however beyond the scope of this book to deal further with these highly
complicated and specialized versions of the language.
2.A.2. Vocabulary.
2.A.3. Idioms.
KA. There are actually two words (written KA in the transliteration) used by women,
and though there is little difference between them in normal conversation it is
appropriate to draw attention to them at this stage.
KA (คะ) pronounced in the high tone is normally used in questions and requests.
PEN (เป็ น) is used to indicate a “state of being” and in this sense can be translated as
“is”.
It is not very easy to lay down definite rules as to when and when not to use PEN, but if
you study the examples in this and the succeeding lessons you will gradually acquire the
correct usage. In general foreigners tend to use the word far too much. KEU (คือ) has
roughly the same meaning as PEN but is used more in an introductory sense.
KEU is also used as an adverb meaning “namely”. You will come across this meaning
in a later lesson.
31
NY (ไหน) meaning “where?” can be used in many cases instead of TEENY. Which word
to use is largely a matter of custom and euphony of the sentence. A very common
expression is:
HEN (เห็น) means “to see with the eyes” and can also be used for “to think or
comprehend” i.e. “to see with the mind”. (See Lesson 13.) It cannot be used in the
common English sense of “to meet”. If you want to say “I saw him today” meaning “I
met him today” you must use POP “meet” and not HEN.
POP (พบ) “to meet” is generally used for “seeing” or “meeting” someone but not for
“going to meet” someone, for which you must use another word RUP. (See Lesson
7.A.4.)
OW (เอา) means “to take” but it is not often used alone in this sense. It is usually
combined with MAH “to come” or PY “to go” to mean “bring” or “take away”.
Double verbs of this nature are a common feature of the Thai language and will be dealt
with more fully in Lesson 20.
You should note however that where there is an object it is placed between the two
verbs. (Examples 3, 15.)
OW also means “want”. You will come across this meaning later.
TEENY (ทีไหน) “anywhere” is the same word as you have had in Lesson 1 meaning
“where”.
You are not likely to find that these two different meanings cause you much trouble.
ARY (อะไร) This word generally means “what?” except in negative sentences where it
usually has the meaning of “anything”.
DY ( ได้) “can” is the same word as DY ได้ “to get”. (Lesson 7.)
32
PEU-AN (เพือน) MIT (มิตร) Both these words mean “friend, companion”. PEU-AN is the
most commonly used in conversation but you will come across MIT occasionally in
reading and in certain compound words.
SEUNG (ซึ ง) TEE (ที) Both these words mean “who”, “which” but TEE is in more
general use than SEUNG which is rather more formal. Note that TEE is the same word
as TEE which you had in Lesson 1 meaning “at”. See also Lesson 3 and 20.
2.A.5. Examples.
ซ
S as an initial consonant and does not occur as a final in any Thai
word.
Name. SOR SO from โซ่ “A chain”.
*ฌ
CH as an initial consonant and does not occur as a final.
Name. CHOR CHER from เฌอ “A tree”.
ญ
Y as an initial consonant and T as a final.
Name. YOR YING from หญิง “A girl”.
ฎ
D as an initial consonant and T as a final.
Name. DOR CHADAH from ชฎา “A Thai dancer’s headdress”.
*ฏ
DT as an initial consonant and T as a final.
Name. DTOR PADTUK from ปฏัก “A goad”.
ฐ
T as an initial consonant and T as a final.
Name. TOR TAHN from ฐาน “A pedestal for a statue”.
*ฑ
T as an initial consonant and T as a final.
Name. TOR MONTO from มณโฑ the name of a mythical giant’s wife.
*ฒ
T as an initial consonant and T as a final.
Name. TOR POOTOW from ผูเ้ ฒ่า “An old person”.
*ณ
N as an initial consonant and N as a final.
Name. NOR NAYN from เณร “A novice monk”.
ด
D as an initial consonant and T as a final.
Name. DOR DEK from เด็ก “A child”.
35
* These consonants occur in only a few words derived mainly from Pali or Sanskrit and
you need not bother about them at this stage other than to remember their place in the
alphabetical order of consonants.
-◌ึ
This vowel has no counterpart in English but
is something like the sound you would make
trying to say “sir” through your clenched teeth.
It is represented in the transliteration by “EU”.
-◌ื
This is a longer sound than the above and has
no counterpart in English.
It is represented in the transliteration by “EU”.
There is not much difference between these two vowels except that the second is longer
and more tense.
-◌ุ
This has the short sound of “oo” as in “Book”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “OO”.
-◌ู
This has the long sound of “oo” as the
“Moon”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “OO”.
The sign ๆ YAMOK (ยมก) means that the previous word is to be repeated.
The sign ฯ PER-Y YAHN NOY (เปยยาลน้อย) is used to abbreviate names. You will meet it
frequently in connection with the Thai name for Bangkok which is;
In passing it may be mentioned that “Bangkok” is also very frequently referred to as,
The sign ฯลฯ PER-Y YAHN YY (เปยยาลใหญ่ ) is used like “etc.” in English and when
spoken is pronounced LA with the “a” very short.
Spell the following words and then pronounce them in your normal tone of voice. Do
not bother about their meanings.
3.A.1. Numbers.
Numbers are always placed before the noun they qualify. An exception to this rule is the
number “one” which when used as a descriptive word is placed after the noun.
Similarly WUN NEUNG means “one day” in the sense of “Once upon a time.”.
Ordinal numbers are indicated by putting TEE “at” “which” in front of the cardinal
number.
There are separate words for 100, 1000, 10,000, 100,000 etc. and these must always be
used.
37
If you cannot remember the word for, say, 10,000 it is better to write the figures down
because if you try something like “twenty five and a half thousand” (25,500) when you
should say “two ten-thousand, five thousand, five hundred” you will just not be
understood.
3.A.2. Vocabulary.
3.A.3. Idioms.
TO (โท) “two” is frequently used when speaking telephone numbers, etc. where the
numbers are spoken individually instead of being referred to as “hundreds”,
“thousands” etc. Otherwise it is not generally used.
DEE-O (เดียว) has the general meaning of “one only”, “alone” etc. and never occurs with
other numbers.
TEE (ที) “times” always comes after the number but is not generally used except in
special idioms.
39
Note.
Note that this word is spelled (ที) and is pronounced in the common tone. The other
word TEE meaning “at” “which” etc. and which when placed in front of a number
converts it into an ordinal number, is spelled (ที) and is pronounced in the dropped tone.
KRUNG (ครัง) which may also be translated as “times” is very generally used. It
precedes the number “one” but follows all other numbers.
Note.
When referring to numbers of things or people a special form of construction is used
which includes a “Classifier” or “Designatory Particle”.
For instance you cannot say “He has three houses” but must say “He has houses three
buildings”.
The question of Classifiers and their usage will be dealt with in Lesson 10 and until you
reach there you had better be a little careful with numbers.
3.A.5. Examples.
ต
DT as an initial consonant and T as a final.
Name. DTOR DTOW from เต่า “A tortoise”.
ถ
T as an initial consonant and T as a final.
Name. TOR TOONG from ถุง “A small bag or sack”.
ท
T as an initial consonant and T as a final.
Name. TOR TA-HAHN from ทหาร “A soldier”.
ธ
T as an initial consonant and T as a final.
Name. TOR TONG from ธง “A flag”.
น
N as an initial consonant and N as a final.
Name. NOR NOO from หนู “A rat”.
เ-
This has the sound something between the “ea” in
“Bear” and the “a” in “Bake”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “AY”.
If there is a tone mark over the initial consonant of the syllable this vowel is mostly
pronounced short like the “e” in “Hen” and when there is no tone mark it may be
similarly shortened by placing the symbol MYDTYKOO (-◌็) over the initial consonant.
There are a number of common words where the vowel is shortened by one or other of
these methods and in such cases it will be represented in the transliteration by “E”. (See
Lesson 3.B.3. below)
42
แ-
This is the long sound of “a” as in “Land”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “AA”.
The vowels เ- and แ- when used with a final consonant can be shortened by placing the
symbol ( -◌็) MYDTYKOO (ไม้ไต่คู)้ over the initial consonant.
There are a number of common words where this device is used with the vowel เ- which
is then pronounced short like “e” in “Hen”.
เป็ น PEN Is
In the case of the vowel แ- the difference between the normal and shortened forms is
something like the difference between the “a” sounds in the words “Land” and “Latin”.
About the only word you are likely to meet where the vowel แ- is shortened in this way
is
and no attempt has been made to distinguish in the transliteration between the two
sounds.
The symbol MYDTYKOO is never used if there is a tone mark over the initial
consonant, but if there is a tone mark this itself very often has the effect of shortening
the vowel as follows.
The vowel เ- is usually pronounced short if there is any tone mark over the initial
consonant as in;
The vowel แ- is usually pronounced short when there is a MYAYK (ไม้เอก) (-◌่ ) over the
initial consonant but not with other tone marks.
We may mention here the word ก็ which as you will see in Lesson 24 is a connective
particle which may have many meanings or no meaning at all and is generally
untranslatable.
The significance of the MYDTYKOO in this case appears to be to shorten the “OR”
sound always vocalized with a single consonant standing alone.
Where vowels are placed in front of the initial consonant we vocalize the consonant first
then the vowel and then the tone mark.
Spell the following words and then pronounce them in your normal tone of voice. Do
not bother about their meanings.
In Thailand it is customary to call everyone by their first name, but unless speaking to
servants it is not very polite to use the name alone without a title of some sort in front of
it just as we use the word “Mr.” in front of a man’s name in English.
When speaking to or about a man of approximately the same social status as yourself
you can use NAI (meaning Mr.) in front of the name or a more polite word still, KOON.
KOON should certainly be used for men of superior social status and is in very general
use even amongst friends.
For females the words corresponding to NAI are NAHNG (Mrs.) and NAHNGSAOU
(Miss.) but these are never used in conversation, only in writing. In conversation we
always use KOON as for men.
These titles may be used as a form of address on their own or a pronouns; that is to say,
you can address a man as NAI or KOON without using his name or you can talk about
him as NAI or KOON as long as it is clear to whom you are talking or referring.
As many foreigners get mixed up regarding the correct way in which to introduce a Thai
lady it is worth setting out the position quite clearly.
As a young unmarried girl she will be addressed and introduced simply as MAHLINEE,
though when she is grown up it is better to use KOON MAHLINEE.
If she marries PRASERT Y. she will still be introduced and addressed as KOON
MAHLINEE and you may not know for a long time that she is married.
If you want to be specific you can use as in English her first name followed by her
husband’s second name. MAHLINEE Y.
Foreigners when talking with educated Thai people in English however often use the
Western terms Mrs. or Madame followed by the husband’s first name but this though
understandable is not correct, and you should avoid it.
If you know your servants’ first names, and you should, you can address them by their
first names without any prefix using the name instead of the pronoun “you”.
If you don’t know their names you can address them and refer to them by the name of
their job.
You will probably find that your servants, if they are Thai, will address you and refer to
you as NAI meaning “Master” and KOON NAI meaning “Mistress”.
4.A.2. Vocabulary.
4.A.3. Idioms.
TOWRY (เท่าไร) is always used in such questions as “What is the price?” “What is the
distance?” etc. where the answer is expected to be a number.
For a question where the answer is to be an ordinal number use the form TEE TOWRY
(The how manyeth).
In most cases there are alternative forms of question and answer as below.
47
KRY (ใคร) “anybody” is the same word as KRY meaning “who?” which you had in
Lesson 1, and is one of the many cases of Thai words which have several completely
separate and distinct meanings. Note that the opposite of this is MY MEE KRY
“nobody”.
LAYK (เลข) which is usually followed by TEE is the proper word for “number”.
BER (เบอร์) an adaptation from English, is in common use colloquially particularly when
asking telephone numbers, motor car numbers, etc. which are expressed by a recital of
individual numbers.
SABAI (สบาย) can be used for “contented” in mind or body. i.e. “happy” or “feeling
well”.
OW (เอา) “to want” can only be used in the sense of wanting something concrete, and
cannot be used in the sense of “I want to buy”. It is not such a polite word as DTORNG
GAHN although you will hear it used a lot colloquially particularly in the negative.
SAWUTDEE (สวัสดี) can be used alone either as a greeting or valediction but when
meeting a person one has not seen for some time it is usually followed by SABAI DEE
REU “are you well?”.
RAAK (แรก) “first” is only used when there is no implication of the thing referred to as
being part of an actual numerical series. Otherwise we use TEE NEUNG.
BAHN TEE NEUNG NY SOY AHREE The first house in Soy Aree.
บ้านทีหนึงในซอยอารี
REU (หรื อ) if it comes in the middle of a sentence usually means “or”. You will meet it
again as a question word in Lesson 8.
4.A.5. Examples.
บ
B as an initial consonant and P as a final.
Name. BOR BY MY from ใบไม้ “A leaf”.
ป
P as an initial consonant and P as a final.
Name. POR PLAH from ปลา “A fish”.
ผ
P as an initial consonant and does not occur as a final.
Name. POR PEUNG from ผึง “A bee”.
ฝ
F as an initial consonant and does not occur as a final.
Name. FOR FAH from ฝา “A lid”.
51
โ-
In the oral spelling these two last vowels are sometimes distinguished by name though
this is seldom necessary as the vowel ใ- is used only in 20 words in the language most of
which are fairly common and of which the spelling is well known.
The vowel ใ- is called MY MOO-AN from ไม้ “wood” and ม้วน “To be rolled up”.
The vowel ไ- is called MY MALAI from ไม้ “wood” and มลาย “To be broken”.
There are many words in Thai which have either two initial consonants or two
consonants coming together in the middle of the word. In some cases these two
consonants can quite easily be pronounced together just as in English and there is no
problem.
Very frequently however you will find that an unwritten vowel sound (Inherent Vowel)
is understood between the two consonants; the two most common of these Inherent
Vowels being;
This is a very short “a” practically the same as the written vowel -ะ but even
shorter and is used when the two consonants are considered as being the initial
consonants of two different syllables. For example, the English word “Spring” is
written in Thai
52
Similarly
This inherent vowel will always be represented in the transliteration by “A” and
not distinguished from the short written vowel -ะ in any way. (See also Lesson
18.B.1. Anomalous Tones)
This is used between double consonants where the first is considered as being
the initial consonant of the syllable and the second as being the final consonant.
d. We must warn you that though you will very quickly fall into the way of using
either of these two inherent vowels quite correctly in most cases, there is no
certain way other than by knowing the word to determine just which of the
vowels should be used and in fact there are a few cases where the word may be
pronounced with either vowel and has a different meaning in each case.
Finally we should mention that there is still one further small group of double consonants
which are pronounced as a single consonant different to either of them which will be discussed
in Lesson 6.B.3. and 7.B.3. and one additional inherent vowel with an “or” sound which you
will meet in Lesson 8.B.3.
The predisposed vowels เ-, แ-, โ-, ใ-, and ไ- usually present some difficulty to the
beginner when they are immediately followed by two or more consonants as it is not
always easy to decide where they should be pronounced.
Generally speaking, if the two consonants following the predisposed vowel can be
pronounced together without the introduction of an inherent vowel, they are so
pronounced and the vowel sound comes after them.
but occasionally the first two consonants are pronounced with an inherent vowel
between them and then followed by the predisposed vowel.
Apart from knowing the word there is no certain way of determining the vocal position
of these predisposed vowels.
54
Spell the following words and then pronounce them in your normal tone of voice. Do
not bother about their meanings.
5.A.1. Time.
There are two ways of indicating time in Thailand, the Official System used for official
notices, invitations etc. and the Colloquial System used in everyday conversation.
The Official System makes use of the 24 hour clock starting at midnight and uses the
word NAHLIGAH “o’clock” after the time.
The Colloquial System is more complicated and divides the day into four six hour
periods starting at midnight, 6 a.m., noon and 6 p.m. There are special words to identify
each period and the counting starts from one again at the beginning of each period.
The word NAHLIGAH is not used.
In both of these systems the word WAYLAH “time” should strictly speaking precede
the time but in conversation this is usually omitted. Similarly when there is no chance of
confusion the word designating the particular period of the day is often omitted in the
Colloquial System.
55
In normal conversation a mixture of the two systems is often used, as well as some
special words for particular hours, and as the whole reckoning of time is rather
confusing at first, both systems and various alternatives are given below in some detail,
not with the idea that they should be learned completely at this stage, but rather to serve
as a reference as you gain more proficiency in the language.
Minutes before the hour are expressed by (JA) EEK “(will be) still more” followed by
the number of minutes and then the hour.
EKK SIP NAHTEE BAI SEE MONG อีกสิ บนาทีบ่ายสี โมง 3.50 p.m.
Minutes after the hour are expressed by merely adding the number of minutes after the
hour.
Don’t be surprised if one of your Thai friends asks you to come to his office at “three
o’clock in the morning”; he means 9 a.m.
5.A.2. Vocabulary.
5.A.3. Idioms.
NAHLIGAH (นาฬิกา) is “a clock” or “a watch” but when used in specifying time has the
meaning of “by the clock”.
BAI. (บ่าย) The afternoon period denoted by BAI starts after midday and continues till 4
p.m. after which we use YEN “evening” until 6 p.m.
TOOM and DTEE (ทุ่ม, ตี) both mean “to strike”. TOOM can be used to denote the night
hours from 7 p.m. till 5 a.m. but more commonly we use DTEE for the hours after
midnight.
Both these usages apparently originate from the old practice of striking a bell or a gong
in the monasteries.
57
CHOW (เช้า) can also be used to mean “early” but only if we are speaking about “early
in the morning”. (See Lesson 9.A.4.)
GLAHNG (กลาง) means “middle” but GLAHNG WUN is “daytime” and GLAHNG
KEUN is “night time”.
KREUNG (ครึ ง) coming before the noun means “half” but if it comes after the noun
means “one and a half”.
In this latter case it is really NEUNG WUN KREUNG but we leave out the NEUNG.
DTORN (ตอน) “a part” or “an interval” is very commonly used when referring broadly
to morning, afternoon or evening.
NAH (หน้า) which means “front” or “face” is combined with a number of words to give
the general idea of “ahead” or “in front” in time or place.
KRAOU (คราว) means “a time” or “occasion” and is usually met with in such
expressions as;
Note that although KRAOU, TEE and KRUNG all mean “time” or “occasion” they are
all mainly used slightly different ways.
YAHM (ยาม) is an old word meaning “a night watch”. The four watches started at 6 p.m.
ยามหนึง, 9 p.m. ยามสอง, midnight ยามสาม and 3 a.m. ยามสี .
SORNG YAHM is commonly used for midnight and SAHM YAHM for 3 a.m.
58
5.A.5. Examples.
a. Official System.
b. Colloquial System.
พ
P as an initial consonant and P as a final.
Name. POR PAHN from พาน “A dish with a pedestal base”.
ฟ
F as an initial consonant and does not occur as a final.
Name. FOR FUN from ฟัน “A tooth”.
ภ
P as an initial consonant and P as a final.
Name. POR SUMPOW from สําเภา “A junk”, “Sailing vessel”.
ม
M as an initial consonant and M as a final.
Name. MOR MAH from ม้า “A horse”.
There are three consonants ย (YOR), ว (WOR) and อ (OR), which you will come to later,
which are sometimes used as vowels. They are mostly used in combinations with other
vowels but ว and อ may be used alone.
-ว
When used between two consonants has the sound
of “oo-a”.
-◌ัว
This takes the place of ว when there is no final
consonant and has exactly the same sound.
-วย
This has the sound of “oue” in the French word
“Roué”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “OO-AY”.
-อ
This vowel may be pronounced long as in “claw”
(British pronunciation; Americans must guard
against sounding the “r”) or short as in “song”.
In the transliteration it is represented in both cases by “OR”. Ask your teacher to say the
following words and note the difference.
Long pronunciation.
Short pronunciation.
The symbol (-◌์) MYTUNTAKAHT (ไม้ทณ ั ฑฆาต) or GAHRUN (การันต์) placed over a final
consonant silences whatever is below it.
The use of this symbol is mainly confined to words of foreign origin and its application
is rather varied. Generally it merely cancels the consonant over which it is placed.
62
but sometimes it cancels the last two consonants or a consonant and a vowel.
There are also a few words in which the final consonant or vowel and occasionally even
a non final consonant is silent although not marked in any way.
When transliterating a foreign word into Thai a final consonant and occasionally an
intermediate one which, though pronounced in the original language, cannot be
pronounced in Thai without altering the sound of the word considerably, is usually but
not always marked with MYTUNTAKAHT.
5.B.4. Spelling.
When consonants are used as vowels we do not use the word “SARA” when spelling.
When spelling words which have a letter silenced by MYTUNTAKAHT we add the
word GAHRUN after the letter so silenced.
Spell the following words and then pronounce them in your normal tone of voice. Do
not bother about their meanings.
The Thai use the same week, month and year subdivisions as in the West.
The name of each day of the week is prefixed by the word WUN “day” instead of
ending with the syllable “-day” as in English.
Officially and commercially they observe Saturday afternoons and Sundays as holidays.
64
Their own religious holiday corresponding to Sunday, however, is a day called WUN
PRA “Priest’s Day” which is largely observed in the agricultural districts, and even in
Bangkok is the general day for going to the WUT or Temple if possible.
As this day falls on the 8th and 15th of the waxing and waning of the Moon it usually
falls on a different day each week and is rather difficult to calculate, but most Thai
calendars show it.
January 1st is observed as a holiday although the actual Thai New Year falls on the
13th, 14th or 15th of April depending on the moon and is the occasion of the SONG
GRAHN festival commonly known as the “Water Festival”.
The months in Thai are named after the signs of the Zodiac and their names are rather
complicated.
Many Thai themselves have difficulty in working out which month follows which and
will often run through them until they come to the one they want. As it is hardly
necessary to try and remember the names of the months at this stage, they are given in
Appendix 2 for reference.
When referring to a month we always use the word DEU-AN “month” in front of the
name of the month.
Years in Thailand are usually specified in relation to the Buddhist Era which is obtained
by adding 543 to the Christian Era.
This is indicated by the prefix B.E. (Buddhist Era) in English or พ.ศ. in Thai which is
short for,
Newspapers very often use the Christian calendar and in this case the abbreviation is,
ค.ศ.
A.D. 1971 = B.E. 2514 = พ.ศ. ๒๕๑๔ = ค.ศ. ๑๙๗๑. This spoken as, POR SOR SORNG PUN
HAH ROY SIP SEE or, KOR SOR PUN GOW ROY JET SIP ET.
65
6.A.1.(b). Money.
This has been commonly referred to by foreigners for at least 500 years as the “Tical”
which was an old Mon coin of approximately the same weight.
Both these words BAHT and SADTAHNG are commonly used as synonyms for
“money”.
In writing if you are using the word “Tical” it comes before the amount but if you use
BAHT it always comes after the amount.
The amount 25 SADTAHNG is known as the SALEUNG and amongst the poorer
people in the market this term is more frequently used than 25 SADTAHNG.
The Tical or BAHT is worth about U.S. $ 0.05 or 2d. Sterling (1971 Decimal system).
6.A.2. Vocabulary.
6.A.3. Idioms.
AHTIT, SUPADAH (อาทิตย์, สัปดาห์). Both these words are in common use meaning
“week”. AHTIT is mostly used in conversation and the more formal or “polite” word
SUPADAH in writing but there is nothing very fixed about this and you can use either.
TEE LAAW (ทีแล้ว) means “previous” and is used as a suffix to temporal nouns to
indicate an earlier period. (See also Lesson 9.)
MAHTEUNG (มาถึง) means “to arrive here from somewhere”. (See also Lesson 22.)
YEN (เย็น) and NAOU (หนาว) both mean “cold” but are used in different senses. YEN is
the physical state of low temperature whereas NAOU is the subjective feeling of cold.
If the food is cold it is YEN; if your feet are cold they are YEN; but if you feel cold you
are NAOU.
Be careful to use these words in their correct senses or you will probably not be
understood.
MEU-A KEUN NEE CHUN NAOU MAHK Last night I was very cold.
เมือคืนนีฉันหนาวมาก
AHGAHT (อากาศ) means “air” and is generally used for “weather” as in the above
example.
REUDOO (ฤดู) “season”. There are only three seasons in Thailand, known respectively
as;
NAH (หน้า) is often used in place of REUDOO when referring to a particular season but
this word cannot be used alone to mean “season”, it must always be followed by the
word denoting the particular season. For instance;
You cannot substitute NAH in the example above, but it quite common to say,
DTOK (ตก) “to fall” has a variety of idiomatic uses. (See Lesson 14.)
NUM DTAHN (นําตาล) “sugar” literally means “water of the sugar palm” as the sap of
the Palmyra Palm used to be one of the main sources of sugar in Thailand before the
cultivation of sugar cane. Palm sugar is still widely used and is sold in small brown
discs.
NGERN (เงิน) really means “silver” as in the olden days all prices and currencies were
expressed in relation to the weight of an amount of silver and all currency was silver.
LOM (ลม) meaning “air in motion” or “wind” usually has the word PUT (พัด) “to blow”
or “to fan” associated with it.
Note that if the order of the words is reversed the meaning is completely changed.
6.A.5. Examples.
ย
Y as an initial consonant and does not occur as a final.
(See Note 1. below)
Name. YOR YUK from ยักษ์ “A giant”.
ร
R as an initial consonant and N as a final.
(See Note 2. below)
Name. ROR REU-A from เรื อ “A boat”.
ล
L as an initial consonant and N as a final.
Name. LOR LING from ลิง “A monkey”.
ว
W as an initial consonant and does not occur as a final.
(See Note 3. below)
Name. WOR WAAN from แหวน “A ring”.
Notes.
-◌ิว
This is the short sound of “i” followed by “w” as in
“Few”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “IW”.
It occurs in only a few words.
-◌ุ ย
This is the short sound of “oo” in “Cook” followed by
the sound of “y” in “Any”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “OO-Y”.
It occurs in only a few words.
a. Certain Thai consonants when written together have a sound different to that of
either of them alone.
d. Sometimes only one consonant in the middle of a word acts as the final
consonant of one syllable and the initial consonant of the next and thus carries
both its final and initial sounds.
e. Here the ล is the final consonant of the first syllable containing the inherent “o”
and hence has the final sound of “N”. But it is also considered as the initial
consonant of the second syllable and hence has the initial sound of “L” and is
followed by the short inherent “a”. Again in the word
PUNRAYAH
ภรรยา PUNYAH Wife
f. Here the รร takes the place of the vowel -◌ั and there is the unwritten “N” at the
end of the first syllable, but the final ร also acts as the initial consonant of the
second syllable followed by the inherent “a”.
Spell the following words and then pronounce them in your normal tone of voice. Do
not bother about their meanings.
a. The Past Tense is usually expressed by using the simple present together with an
adverb of time to denote the past.
b. In cases where no adverb of time is used, the past tense may be indicated by
putting the word DY in front of the verb.
c. In this case DY is best translated as “did”.
d. This form of the past tense is not very often used except with a few words such
as “to receive”, “to hear” etc. which invariably take DY in front of them in the
past tense.
e. In other cases the Thai generally prefer to convert the simple past tense into past
perfect and say “I have come”, “I have eaten”, etc. (See Lesson 9)
f. If the word DY is placed after the verb it means “can”.
g. When DY is used with the negative word MY the meaning is again dependent on the
position with relation to the verb.
MY DY placed in front of the verb means “did not” and this construction is very
widely used.
Note that in the negative sense the word DY is not omitted even if there is some
other word in the sentence indicating past time. MY DY placed after the verb
means “cannot”, “could not”, etc.
75
h. The word PEN (See Lesson 2) also has the meaning of “can” and in certain cases can be
used instead of DY.
The difference between DY and PEN is that DY assumes you have the
knowledge or ability to do something but implies that some other conditions
may prevent you, whereas PEN relates more to the fundamental ability to do
something.
WAI NUM PEN MY Can you (Do you know how to) swim?
ว่ายนําเป็ นไหม
Note.
That there are two different words (both written MY in English) used in the examples above.
In the first and third examples MY is the question word and in Thai is written ไหม whereas in
the second and fourth examples it is the negative word “no”, “not” and in Thai is written ไม่.
Colloquially you will very often hear DY used in sentences where it would strictly be
more correct to use PEN.
There is also another word meaning “can” used in a rather special sense which you will
meet in Lesson 18.
76
7.A.2. Vocabulary.
7.A.3. Idioms.
KEE-AN (เขียน) AHN (อ่าน). These two words are usually followed by an object such as
the word NUNGSEU “book” or JOTMAI “letter” even though no actual book or letter
would be implied in English.
PAHSAH (ภาษา) “language” is usually placed in front of the name of the language
referred to after the word POOT “to speak” but not after AHN or KEE-AN for which
we use a concrete noun as mentioned above.
DY (ได้) “to get”. This is exactly the same word as DY “can”. By far the most common
meaning is “can” but you will come across the meaning “get”, “attain”, etc. mostly with
other words as,
LEN (เล่น) “to play” is also used as an adverb to indicate doing something “for fun or
pleasure”.
DTORNG (ต้อง) “must”, “will have to”, “had to” is used for present, future, and past as
follows.
JUMPEN (จําเป็ น) “necessary” may be used alone but it is often followed by DTORNG
“must” to give it more force.
In the above sentence the emphasis is on “today” and the implication is that you should
go some other day, but if you change the position of the adverb of time and say,
GOW (เก่า) “old” is used only for things and inanimate objects. It also has the meaning
of “former”, “of long standing” and in this sense may refer to people.
GAA (แก่) is the word to use when referring to humans, animals, or plants.
RUP (รับ) “to receive” is always used instead of POP “meet” when referring to meeting
or receiving someone at an airport, railway station etc. or “picking someone up in a
car”.
RUP is one of the words which always takes DY “did” in front of it in the past tense.
SOY (ซอย) as an adverb means “to chop up into small pieces” and a noun means a canal
or lane dividing or branching off from another one.
The lanes off suburban roads are usually referred to as SOY and those off city streets as
DTRORK.
These two words which appear almost synonymous to us are an integral part of the
name of the lane or alley as far as a Thai is concerned and it is useless to refer to a SOY
as a DTRORK or vice versa; you will not be understood.
7.A.5. Examples.
เขาได้เงินไม่มาก
Kow dy ngern my mahk.
(25) I only went there once.
ฉันไปทีนันครังเดียวเท่านัน
Chun py tee nun krung dee-o townun.
(26) Next Friday he will come back from Udorn.
วันศุกร์หน้าเขาจะกลับมาจากอุดร
Wun sook nah kow ja glup mah jahk oodorn.
ศ
S as an initial consonant and T as a final.
Name. SOR SAHLAH from ศาลา “An open sided shelter”.
(More commonly called SOR KOR from its resemblance to the
letter ค KOR KWAI.)
ษ
S as an initial consonant and T as a final.
Name. SOR REUSEE from ฤษี “A hermit”.
(More commonly called SOR BOR from its resemblance to the
letter บ BOR BY MY.)
ส
S as an initial consonant and T as a final.
Name. SOR SEU-A from เสื อ “A tiger”.
(More commonly called SOR LOR from its resemblance to the
letter ล LOR LING.)
ห
H or silent as an initial consonant and does not occur as a final.
See note below.
Name. HOR HEEP from หีบ “A box”.
Note.
The letter ห may be used as an initial consonant with the sound of “H” or it may be used
as a silent consonant at the beginning of a syllable in which latter case it acts merely as
a tone indicator.
This latter usage is by far the more common and will be dealt with fully in Lesson
11.B.2. All that is necessary to remember at this stage is that when ห occurs at the
beginning of a syllable it is in most cases silent.
82
เ-ย
This has the sound of “ur” in “Turn” without rolling the “r” followed
by the sound of “y” in “Very”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “ER-Y”.
It occurs in a few words only.
เ-ว
This combination occurs only rarely as a compound vowel.
In most cases it is treated as the simple vowel เ- and the consonant ว.
When treated as a compound vowel it has the sound of “ea” as in
“Bear” followed by the sound of “w” in “Wet”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “EW” (short) and “AYW”
(long).
Be careful not to pronounce this as in “Few” or “Sew”. There are only three words of
any importance where this form is used;
เ-อ
This has the long sound of “er” as in “Mercy” withou stressing the “r”
and occurs only where there is no final consonant.
If there is a final consonant the vowel form เ-◌ิ is used instead. (See
Lesson 8.B.2.)
It is represented in the transliteration by “ER”.
เ-า
This has the short sound of “ow” in “Now”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “OW”.
When this form occurs with two consonants in the middle, it is not always easy to tell
whether it is to be considered as the compound vowel or as the two simple vowels เ- and
-า.
83
If the two consonants can be pronounced together the combination is almost invariably
considered as a compound vowel.
If the two consonants cannot be pronounced together there are two possible alternatives.
In most words the group เ-า is treated as two separate simple vowels เ- and -า each
relating to one of the consonants.
In a few cases however the two consonants are pronounced with the inherent “a”
between them and the vowel is treated as a compound vowel.
Apart from knowing the word there is no way of determining which of the two possible
pronunciations is the correct one in these cases.
a. The double consonants ศร (SR) and สร (SR) are sometimes considered as double
consonants similar to ทร (TR) and in these cases have only the sound of “S” and
will be represented in the transliteration only by “S”.
b. In other cases there is assumed to be an inherent “a” between the two letters and
in such words the inherent “a” will appear in the transliteration and both
consonants are sounded.
c. When จ (J) and ร (R) occur together as initial consonants there is usually an
inherent “a” between them.
Spell the following words and then pronounce them in your normal tone of voice. Do
not bother about their meanings.
In Lesson 1.A. we saw that an interrogative sentence was formed by adding the
interrogative word MY or the words CHY MY at the end of the sentence.
REU and REU PLOW are two other words which are used in a similar manner.
The distinction between the various forms of question is not easy to make and in many
cases they are used alternatively but we can set out the following broad principles as a
general guide.
MY cannot be used in a negative question or in questions where pronouns นี, นัน or โน่น
are written or implied.
CHY MY corresponds fairly close to “is it”, “are you”, “does it”, etc. and is used in
sentences where we could use “is it?” in English even though in English we would
probably use a rather different form of construction.
REU PLOW is mostly used in questions to which you do not know what the answer is
likely to be, i.e. questions in which in English we might end with the words “or not?”.
REU is similar to MY but is not such a good word to use generally. In many cases it
does not sound very “polite”. It is however the general word to use in the following
circumstances.
b. In negative questions.
As you will see if you examine these questions, it can be broadly said that if you use REU it
usually implies that you expect an affirmative answer.
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Negative questions of the form of (b) above are not very common in Thai and should be
avoided for the present as the answer is rather tricky. See Examples 8 and 12 in A.5. of
this lesson.
This type of question will be dealt with more fully again in Lesson 15.A.
There are many exceptions to the above general rules on question words and in many
cases alternative forms of question are equally acceptable just as they are in English.
Experience in the language alone will enable you to pick out the most appropriate form
for each question.
8.A.2. Vocabulary.
8.A.3. Idioms.
DEUM (ดืม) “to drink” is a rather formal word and we usually use GIN “to eat” instead.
PROW WAH (เพราะว่า) “because” is often written and pronounced as PROW (very short)
with the final syllable omitted altogether.
REU (หรื อ) if it comes in the middle of a sentence usually means “or” but if it comes at
the end it is always a question word.
The expression REU MY (หรื อไม่) at the end of a sentence, as you should be able to see
from the Thai spelling, is not a question word but means “or not”, “whether or not”.
PLOW (เปล่า) “empty”, “no”. When meaning “no” it always comes at the beginning of
the sentence and is usually answering a question which ended in REU PLOW (See
Lesson 15.A.).
GERN (เกิน) meaning “excessive”, “beyond” etc. is usually combined with other words.
89
GERN PY (เกินไป) “too” is frequently met with in MAHK GERN PY “too much” and in
conversation this is often shortened to MAHK PY.
DERN (เดิน) alone means “to walk” but DERN LEN (walk play) means to “go for a walk
for pleasure”.
YAHK (อยาก) “wish” or “want” refers to the desire to do something and is usually
followed by JA “will” and then by a verb.
MEU-ANG LOO-ANG is “The Capital City”, another word for which is PRA
NAKORN. The Municipality of Bangkok is also called PRA NAKORN.
NUM KAANG (นําแข็ง) Note the formation of the word “ice” from NUM “water” and
KAANG “hard”.
SY (ใส่ ) means “to put in” or “to add something to something else”. There are several
words in Thai which are translated as “put” in English but they are all used in different
senses.
YAH (อย่า) is the prohibition “don’t” and cannot be used in any other way. It always
comes at the beginning of the sentence.
KOY (ค่อย) means “gently”, “steadily” but in the negative form when preceded by MY
“not” it means “not very”.
8.A.5. Examples.
(1) What is your business? (What have you come to see me about?)
มีธุระอะไรครับ
Mee toora ary krup.
(2) What is that person selling?
คนนันขายอะไรคะ
Kon nun kai ary ka.
(3) This is the car that my friend bought yesterday.
นีรถทีเพือนฉันซื อเมือวานนี
Nee rot tee peu-an chun seu meu-a wahn nee.
(4) You ought to go home
คุณควรจะกลับบ้าน
Koon koo-an ja glup bahn
(5) I don’t like it; it is too sweet.
ไม่ชอบ หวานมาก (เกิน) ไป
My chorp; wahn mahk (gern) py.
(6) Did your friend come to see you today? No, he didn’t.
วันนีเพือนนายมาหานายหรื อเปล่าคะ เปล่าเขาไม่ได้มา
Wun nee peu-an nai mah hah nai reu plow Plow kow my dy
ka. mah.
(7) Is Nai Lek there? Yes, he is here.
นายเล็กอยู่ทีนันหรื อเปล่า อยู่ครับ
Nai Lek yoo tee nun reu plow. Yoo krup.
(8) You were not at home yesterday were you? No (Yes, I was not
เมือวานนีคุณไม่อยู่บา้ นหรื อ in).
Meu-a wahn nee koon my yoo bahn reu. ไม่อยูค่ รับ (หรื อ) ครับ
My yoo krup or;
Krup.
91
ฬ
L as an initial consonant and N as a final.
Name. LOR JOORLAH from จุฬา “A male fighting kite”.
อ
Is always silent when used as a consonant. See note below.
Name. OR AHNG from อ่าง “A basin”.
ฮ
H as an initial consonant and does not occur as a final.
Name. HOR NOK NOOK from นกฮูก “An owl”.
a. The letter อ as a consonant is always silent and is used only as a support for vowels,
which as we have already mentioned, cannot stand alone. When thus used it does not
appear in the transliteration.
d. There are four words and their compounds beginning with อย in which the letter อ acts
as a tone indicator only and the ย is considered as the initial consonant except for tonal
purposes. This will be dealt with in Lesson 13.B.1.
e. When the vowel -◌ื is used alone without a final consonant the silent อ is always added.
f. The letter อ may be used as a vowel alone or as part of a compound vowel. When used
alone it carries the sound of “OR” as in “foreign” which as mentioned in Lesson 5.B.2.
may be long or short.
g. In this last word ORK you will notice that the first อ is a silent consonant acting
as the support for the second which is a vowel with the sound “OR”.
h. The use of อ in compound vowels is dealt with under “Vowels” in this and other
lessons.
i. The letter อ also occurs as an inherent vowel. This is dealt with in B.3. below.
94
เ-◌ิ
This has the sound of “er” in “Her” without rolling the “r”. It is exactly
the same sound as that of the vowel เ-อ mentioned in Lesson 7.B.2.
เ-อ is used when there is no final consonant and เ-◌ิ when there is one.
Both are represented in the transliteration by “ER”.
เ-◌ีย
This has the sound of “ia” in “India”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “EE-A”.
เ-◌ียว
This has the sound of “yo” as in “Tokyo”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “EE-O”.
เ-◌ือ
This has something of the sound of “ewer” in “Brewer” only longer
and more tense.
It is represented in the transliteration by “EU-A”.
a. There are a number of fairly common words having a double initial consonant,
mostly those with บ or ม as the first and ร as the second, which have an inherent อ
understood between the two consonants.
กร GORN “Hand”.
ศร SORN “An arrow”.
นคร NAKORN “City”.
อากร AHGORN “Revenue”.
c. In both cases (a) and (b) above the inherent “OR” is represented in the
transliteration by “OR” and not distinguished from the written อ in any way.
Where there is no final consonant the vowels เ-, แ-, เ-า, โ-, เ-อ and occasionally a few
others can be shortened by placing the vowel -ะ (the short “a”) at the end of the syllable.
The vowel is then pronounced very short with a little catch in the breath. As there are
only a few common words where this device is adopted no attempt has been made to
distinguish them in the translation.
Spell the following words and then pronounce them in your normal tone of voice. Do
not bother about their meanings.
In general the Thai language does not always distinguish very clearly between the
various forms of Past and Perfect Tenses.
Although as we have seen in Lesson 7. the use of DY in front of the verb indicates the
past tense, this usually omitted in conversation and frequently in writing and the adverb
of time is relied upon to show that the action is in the past.
Another way of showing the past tense is to use the word MEU-A “when” and GORN
“before” separated by an adverb of time and in the construction these two words can
generally be translated as “ago”.
The perfect tense is usually expressed by either MAH “to come” or LAAW “already” at
the end of the sentence.
When referring to movement from one place to another and back both MAH and
LAAW are often used together at the end of the sentence to indicate that the whole
action has been completed.
97
KOW PY DORN MEU-ANG “He went to Don Meuang” and MAH LAAW “He has
come”.
If the verb is qualified by an adverb of time, we use MAH in front of the adverb and
LAAW after it.
ROW DERN MAH NAHN LAAW We have been walking for a long time.
เราเดินมานานแล้ว
With verbs indicating a steady state in one place, the word YOO “to live”, “to be
located at” is used instead of MAH in front of the adverb.
FON DTOK YOO NAHN LAAW It has been raining for a long time.
ฝนดกอยู่นานแล้ว
In the interrogative sense, LAAW is usually followed by REU YUNG “or not yet?” but
in conversation you will frequently find that LAAW is omitted.
In these cases it cannot be translated at all and appears to be merely added to round off
the sentence.
You will come across a number of instances of this use of a redundant LAAW in later
lessons and though you should try to use it to make your speech more colloquial you
will seldom have to worry about trying to translate it.
Despite the various constructions using MAH and LAAW given above, it must be
appreciated that the less educated Thai people are usually not very particular about the
correctness of their constructions and frequently use rather careless phraseology as long
as they feel that in the particular circumstances their meaning will be understood.
This often makes it rather difficult to determine the exact meaning they are trying to
convey if you do not have some idea of what is in their mind. This inexactness of
speech even makes it difficult at times for one Thai to determine exactly what another
Thai means.
9.A.2. Vocabulary.
What is the matter with you? PEN A-RY KRUP เป็ นอะไรครับ
This last idiom is the same as you had in Lesson 2.A.3. meaning “It doesn’t matter” and
in that case it was shortened to MY PEN RY. In the meaning given above however it is
usual to pronounce the last word in full.
100
SET (เสร็ จ) means “finished” or “ready” in the sense of “completed” and when used in
the affirmative sense is usually followed by LAAW.
GORN (ก่อน) means “before” in time and forms several useful compounds.
YUNG (ยัง) used alone in answer to a question means “not yet” but when used in a
sentence means “still” or “yet”.
YUNG may also be used as a preposition meaning “no”. You will come across this
meaning later, and had better not try to use it at present.
JUT (จัด) “to arrange”, “to organize” occurs as the first component of a large number of
compound words but always has the same general meaning of some sort of
organization.
NGAHN (งาน) is a noun meaning “work” and we form a verb by adding TUM “to do” in
front of it.
GAHN (การ) is a noun meaning a “job”, “business”, “activity” or “the work of doing
something”. This word will be dealt will more fully in Lesson 18.
MEU-A (เมือ) means “at the time when” and refers mostly to past time. In many cases it
is not translated.
MEU-A also occurs as a prefix in a large number of compound words referring to past
time as you will see later.
KRUN (ครัน) is a very little used word and is only mentioned here because it occurs in
some of the old fashioned text which many Thai teachers recommend to their foreign
students for reading practice.
WUT (หวัด) “a cold”. Note the idiom when referring to having a disease. We do not say
“I have a cold”.
REW (เร็ ว) and CHAH (ช้า) like most other adjectives can be made into adverbs by
duplication and this is the form in which they are most frequently met with.
REW and CHAH can also mean “early” and “late” and this is a very common usage.
If you are referring to “early in the morning” we usually use the word CHOW
“morning” instead of REW.
SAI (สาย) meaning “late”, “tardy”, “delayed” etc. is fairly synonymous with CHAH in
this sense but is mainly used for “late in the morning”, “late in the afternoon”.
WING (วิง) “to run” is also used to indicate anything going anywhere quickly.
NY MY CHAH (ในไม่ชา้ ) “soon”, like SAMER “always” and BOY BOY “often” usually
comes at the end of the sentence.
PERNG (เพิง) means “just now”, “recently”, “yet”, “For the moment” etc.
KY (ไข่) “an egg”. As hen’s eggs and duck eggs are both very widely used in Thailand it
is customary to specify the sort you mean on all occasions.
NUP (นับ) “to count” is also used as in English to mean “is considered as”, “is reckoned
as”.
9.A.5. Examples.
There are two obsolete consonants which you are never likely to meet but we give them
here as they are sometimes included in lists of Thai consonants and they make up the
total of 44 consonants which most people know constitute the Thai alphabet.
ฃ
K. Now replaced by ข.
Name. KOR KOO-AT from ขวด “A bottle”.
ฅ
K. Now replaced by ค.
Name. KOR KON from คน “A person”.
เ-◌ือย
This is the long double sound of “eu-ay”.
It is represented in the transliteration by “EU-AY”.
There are only about twenty words where this vowel is used, of which those given
below are about the only ones you are likely to meet.
In a few words this combination is not treated as a combined vowel at all but as the
simple vowel แ- and the consonant ว.
Note.
In accordance with the system of transliteration adopted throughout this book the word
“Thai” should be written TY but as it is so commonly rendered as “THAI” we have
departed from the strict adherence to the system in this case.
In addition to the combined vowel forms given in this and the previous lessons, there
are a few others which are so rarely met with that it is not considered necessary to deal
with them in detail. The principles set out in the forgoing lessons however should
enable you to work out the correct pronunciation for yourself if you ever come across
them.
There are four symbols which represent a combination of a consonant and a vowel
sound.
ฤ
Depending on the word in which it is met,
this represents one of the following combinations.
ริ (RI) รึ (REU) or เรอ (RER)
It is represented in the transliteration by either RI, REU or RER depending on its sound
in the particular word.
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This is about the only one of the combined consonant and vowel sounds you are likely
to meet and it occurs in very few words.
ฤๅ
This represents the sound รื อ.
It is represented in the transliteration by “REU”.
ฦ
This represents the sound ลึ.
It is represented in the transliteration by “LEU”.
ฦๅ
This represents the sound ลื.
It is represented in the transliteration by “LEU”.
In the alphabetical order of the dictionary ฤ and ฤๅ will be found after ร and ฦ and ฦๅ after
ล.
A full list of the Thai consonants and the principal vowels in the order in which they
will be found in most standard dictionaries together with their transliteration in
accordance with the system adopted in this book is given in The Thai alphabet and
system of transliteration.
Spell the following words and then pronounce them in your normal tone of voice. Do
not bother about their meanings.
Classifiers or Designatory Particles are words used mainly with concrete nouns to
designate and specify the unit used in counting or referring to them.
In English when we say “a head of cattle”, “a lump of ice”, “a bottle of beer” the words
“head”, “lump”, “bottle” are what would in Thai be called classifiers.
The use of these classifiers is far more widespread in Thai than in English and you
cannot even begin to speak acceptable Thai until you have thoroughly mastered their
use.
Any one classifier generally applies to a group of nouns all of which are considered as
having some common feature though this is not always apparent at first sight.
For instance;
DTOO-A c ตัว is the classifier for all animal life except human
beings and also for a few inanimate objects which
can be considered as having a body and arms and
legs such as a table.
There are altogether a great many of these classifiers, some of which are given in the
vocabularies of this and succeeding lessons and a more complete list is given in
Appendix 1.
The rules governing the use of classifiers are set out below and though you may find
some of these rules neglected in conversation it is essential that you get into the habit of
applying them properly from now on.
a. The classifier is always placed after the noun to which it refers, and after the adjective
if there is one.
b. A classifier is always used with the singular form of the noun where an individual thing
is specifically referred to unless the noun is qualified by a personal pronoun.
c. Although in conversation you may often find the classifier omitted, this can lead
to ambiguity and it is better to stick to the rules.
d. may mean; “These cars are very good.”, “This is a very good sort of car.” or
“This car is very good.”.
e. When the noun is qualified by adjectives DEE-O (เดียว) “one only”, RAAK (แรก) “first”,
NAH (หน้ า) “front”, “ahead”, LUNG (หลัง) “next”, “behind”, SOOTTAI (สุดท้ าย) “last”, “final”,
or Ordinal Numbers, these words come after the classifier.
f. When the noun is qualified by a numeral or numeral word, this always precedes the
classifier except in the case of the numeral “one” which may come either before or
after the noun and has a different meaning in each position.
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If it comes after the noun it is equivalent to the indefinite article “a” in English.
g. Where plurality is expressed by the adjectives GEE (กี) “how many”, LAI (หลาย) “many”,
“several”, TOOK (ทุก) “every”, BAHNG (บาง) “some”, and/or by cardinal numbers, these
usually come between the noun and the classifier, but this is not an invariable rule.
(See also (f) below)
ROT LEK TOOK KUN NON All those small cars over there.
รถเล็กทุกคันโน้น
TEE NEE MEE ROT LAI KON There are a lot of cars here.
ทีนีมีรถหลายคัน
h. A classifier is not used when the noun is qualified by the adjectives LOW NEE (เหล่านี)
“these”, LOW NUN (เหล่านัน) “those”, MAHK (มาก) “many”, NOY (หน่อย) “few” or TOWRY
(เท่าไร) “how many”. Compare the following examples with the last three above.
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TEE NEE MEE ROT MAHK There are a lot of cars here.
ทีนีมีรถมาก
j. In a large number of cases where there is no other suitable classifier, the noun itself is
repeated and used as it’s own classifier. In these cases the classifier is usually omitted
when the noun is in the singular.
k. A representative list of words where the classifier is the noun itself is given in
Appendix 1.
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10.A.2. Vocabulary.
Classifiers.
It is not easy at the start for a beginner to learn to pick out the right classifier to use in
each case but facility in this will come with practice and experience in the language.
10.A.3. Idioms.
LAI (หลาย) which is always used with a classifier means “several” or “many” whereas
MAHK which is used without a classifier means “many” or “a great many”. There is
considerable overlapping in the exact meaning of these two words and in many cases
they are used almost synonymously, but whichever you use you must use the right
construction.
GEE (กี) “how many” as already stated is always used with a classifier. When used with
a negative word, GEE has the meaning of “many”, “very many”.
LOW NEE (เหล่านี) LOW NUN (เหล่านัน). Neither of these two words are used if there is a
numeral word indicating plurality.
When LOW NEE or LOW NUN are used the classifier is always omitted.
DTON (ตน) is a formal word used mainly in the written language as a supplement to
AYNG and in certain idiomatic expressions.
POO CHAI (ผูช้ าย) POO YING (ผูห้ ญิง) are the commonly used words for “man” and
“woman” but in conversation we very often leave out “POO” and just use CHAI and
YING.
BOOROOT (บุรุษ) and SADTREE (สตรี ) are very “polite” and rather formal words for
“man” and “woman” and are very little used in conversation but are met with frequently
in the written language.
SOONUK (สุ นขั ) is a rather more “polite” word for “dog” than MAH (หมา) but both are in
common use.
If you are not sure of your tones it is probably better to use SOONUK and there is no
chance of your being mistaken. As you will see later, MAH in a different tone means
“horse”.
LAYW (เลว) means “bad” but it is not such a strong word as MY DEE “not good” which
implies that something is really bad or unpleasant. MY LAYW can be translated fairly
well as “not bad” in the sense of “fair” or “reasonably good”.
DTUT (ตัด) “to cut” is always used in place of TUM “to make” when referring to
“making clothes”.
Hair on the body is KON (ขน) and this word is also used for feathers and fur.
PON (ผล) which is the classifier for fruit also has the meaning of “the result of”, “the
product of”.
The word PONLAMY therefore means “the product of the wood”. PON occurs in a
large number of common expressions such as;
KOY (คอย) ROY (รอ). Both words mean “to wait” and are pretty well interchangeable.
10.A.5. Examples.
(1) I will drive the car myself. I will drive that car myself.
ฉันจะขับรถเอง ฉันจะขับรถคันนันเอง
Chun ja kup rot ayng. Chun ja kup rot kun nun ayng.
(2) This mango is very sweet.
มะม่วงผลนีหวานมาก
Mamoo-ang pon nee wahn mahk.
(3) That is my dog.
หมาตัวนันเป็ นของฉัน
Mah dtoo-a nun pen korng chun.
(4) This is a very sweet variety of mango.
มะม่วงนีหวานมาก
Mamoo-ang nee wahn mahk.
(5) That is his own car.
นันรถของเขาเอง
Nun rot korng kow ayng.
(6) That man lives here. Two men live here.
ผูช้ ายคนนันอยู่ทีนี ผูช้ ายสองคนอยู่ทีนี
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Poo chai kon nun yoo tee nee. Poo chai sorng kon yoo tee
nee.
(7) There are two men and three women living there.
มีผชู้ ายสองคนผูห้ ญิงสามคนอยู่ทีนี
Mee poo chai sorng kon poo ying sahm kon yoo tee nee.
(8) How many books will you take?
คุณจะเอาหนังสื อกีเล่มคะ
Koon ja ow nungseu gee lem ka.
(9) I want three more books.
ฉันต้องการอีกสามเล่ม
Chun dtorng gahn eek sahm lem.
(10) Whose shoes are those?
รองเท้าเหล่านัน (เป็ น) ของใคร
Rorngtow low nun (pen) korng kry.
(11) Whose are those two pair of shoes.
รองเท้าสองคู่นนั (เป็ น) ของใคร
Rorngtow sorng koo nun (pen) korng kry.
(12) I must go and have a haircut.
ฉันจะต้องไปตัดผม
Chun ja dtorng py dtut pom.
(13) Your coat is in the car.
เสื อ (ของนาย) อยู่ในรถ
Seu-a (korng nai) yoo ny rot.
(14) Your coat is in that car.
เสื อ (ของนาย) อยู่ในรถคันนัน
Seu-a (korng nai) yoo ny rot kun nun.
(15) That is not your coat. This is yours.
เสื อตัวนันไม่ใช่ของนาย ตัวนีของนาย
Seu-a dtoo-a nun my chy korng Dtoo-a nee korng nai.
nai.
(16) I want to write two letters.
ฉันต้องการเขียนจดหมายสองฉบับ
Chun dtorng gahn kee-an jotmai sorng chabup.
(17) I have received one letter only.
ฉันได้รับจดหมายฉบับเดียวเท่านัน
Chun dy rup jotmai chabup dee-o townun.
(18) I have read this book already.
ฉันอ่านหนังสื อเล่มนีแล้วค่ะ
Chun ahn nungseu lem nee laaw ka.
(19) These things are too expensive.
ของเหล่านีแพงมาก (เกิน) ไป
Korng low nee paang mahk (gern) py.
(20) He has been my friend for many years.
เขาเป็ นเพือนของฉันมาหลายปี แล้ว
Kow pen peu-an korng chun mah lai pee laaw.
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Although as has already been mentioned, the best way to learn the tones correctly is to
imitate a natural Thai speaker, you will undoubtedly come across new words in your
reading from time to time or want to look up words in a Thai dictionary and it is
necessary to understand the manner in which tones are indicated in the written language.
The tone rules are undoubtedly complicated because of the number of factors involved
and it may be mentioned here that a considerable number of otherwise quite well
educated Thai people do not know them.
Although it will be some time before you can be expected to apply these rules correctly
and rapidly, this is an appropriate stage at which to introduce them.
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To determine the tone of any syllable the following four factors have to be considered.
The Thai consonants are divided up into three groups known respectively as
HIGH, MIDDLE and LOW class consonants and the first thing to look at in
determining the tone of a word or syllable is the class of the initial consonant.
As has been mentioned before, there are many cases where the letter ห as an
initial consonant is silent and there are a few cases where the letter อ as an initial
consonant is also silent, but this makes no difference to the rule, the tone is still
governed by the class of the initial consonant even though it be a silent
consonant.
ข ฉ ฐ ถ ผ ฝ ศ ษ ส ห
ก จ ฎ ฏ ด ต บ ป อ
All words which do not end in a vowel sound must have either M, N, NG, K, P,
or T as the final sound.
Note.
Although this is strictly true, you will find that in conversation the final
consonant is often slurred and particularly after a long vowel, the final P may
sound more like a B and the final T more like a D.
Where there is no tone mark, the tone of the syllable or word will depend on
both the class of the initial consonant and on whether it ends with the M, N, NG
sounds or the K, P, T sounds. It should be noted that a final consonant with the
sign -◌์ (MY TUNTAKAHT) over it is not sounded and hence can have no effect
on the tone.
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If the word has no tone mark and ends in a final vowel, the tone is dependent on
whether this final vowel is a long or short one.
The short vowels for tonal purposes are -ะ, -◌ั, -◌ิ, -◌ึ, -◌ุ , the inherent “a”, the
inherent “o” and all vowels shortened by the sign -◌็ over the consonant or by the
addition of the vowel -ะ at the end.
There are altogether four tone marks but only two namely (-◌่ ) MYAYK and (-◌้)
MYTO are in common use.
The other two (-◌๊ ) MYDTREE and (-◌๋ ) MYJUDTAWAH are used only in a few
words beginning with middle class consonants.
a. The normal position of the tone mark is over the initial consonant of the syllable or
word.
If there is a vowel over the consonant the tone mark is placed above it.
b. If the first consonant is a silent one (silent ห or silent อ) the tone mark is placed over
the second, or first sounded consonant, but remember, the tone is still governed by
the class of the first consonant even though it be a silent one.
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c. In most words having two initial consonants of which either ก, ข, ค, ป, ผ or พ is the first
and either ร, ล or ว is the second. The two consonants form what is called “a consonant
cluster” and can be pronounced together.
In this case the tone mark is placed over the second consonant although the tone
is still governed by the class of the first consonant in the normal manner.
It should be noted that when ว comes immediately after the first consonant and is
not modified by a vowel it is nearly always acting as a vowel itself with the
sound of OO-A and not as a second consonant.
In this case the tone mark if any will naturally be placed over the first consonant
in the normal manner.
ป่ วย POO-AY l Sick
d. In words which start with two initial consonants but have an inherent “a” understood
between them, the tone mark if any is placed over the second consonant which, as
was mentioned in Lesson 4.B.3.(a) is considered as being really the initial consonant of
the second syllable.
In words of this class the tone of the second syllable is often anomalous and is
governed by special rules which will be dealt with in Lesson 18.B.1.
e. As has been mentioned in Lesson 6.B.3.(a) and 7.B.3.(a), certain double initial
consonants are often pronounced as a single consonant.
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In these cases the tone of the syllable is governed by the class of the first
consonant in the normal manner but the tone mark and also the vowel symbol if
any are positioned relative to the second consonant.
When spelling a word which has a tone mark we give the tone mark after the letter to
which it refers.
11.A.1.(a). Gender.
With regard to people and animals, gender is indicated where necessary by the addition
of another word or words.
In the case of human beings we use the word CHAI to denote male and YING to denote
female.
For people engaged in certain menial work, mostly of the domestic variety, we
sometimes use POR (father) or MAA (mother) as a prefix to denote gender.
For animals we use two additional classifiers, POO for male and MEE-A for female.
As we have already seen the sex of a person speaking is often shown by the “polite”
word used at the end of the sentence as only a man can use KRUP and only a woman
can use KA.
In Lesson 12 you will see that the sex of the speaker is often shown by the first person
pronoun used.
125
The Comparative of adjectives and adverbs is formed by adding GWAH (กว่า) “than”
after the adjective or adverb.
The superlative is formed by adding TEE SOOT “the most” after the adjective or
adverb.
When numbers are mentioned, GWAH is often used alone to mean “more than”.
In sentences comparing the present state of things with an earlier or later state we often
use the words KEUN “up” instead of “more” and LONG “down” instead of “less”.
11.A.2. Vocabulary.
Classifiers.
11.A.3. Idioms.
These expressions can be used with regard to entering or leaving any vehicle.
In the cases of embarking on a boat or disembarking however they are used the other
way round i.e. LONG for embarking or “getting down into” and KEUN for
disembarking.
128
BIDAH (บิดา) and MAHNDAH (มารดา) are “polite” words and should always be used
when referring to your own father or mother or your friend’s father or mother.
As an alternative to this however you can use KOON POR and KOON MAA which are
also quite “polite”.
POR (พ่อ) and MAA (แม่) used alone are rather rough speech but none the less you will
hear them used quite a lot by Thai themselves.
The MAA NUM JOW PRAYAH or Chow Phya River on which Bangkok stands is
commonly referred to by foreigners as the MAA NUM. This only means “River”.
DEK (เด็ก) and LOOK (ลูก) both mean “child” but are used in different ways, and it is
important for you to use them correctly.
DEK is used when referring to a child or children in general whereas LOOK is used
when referring to children in specific relationship to someone.
DEK PY NY
Where has the child gone? Where have the children gone?
เด็กไปไหน
PERM (เพิม) is a transitive verb meaning “to increase”. When it is followed by KEUN
“up” the combination is an intransitive verb meaning “to be increasing”.
KEUN (ขึน) “up” may be either an adverb or a verb. As an adverb it always follows the
word it qualifies and carries the idea of “to a higher degree”.
In both these forms KEUN is used in a large number of compound words of which the
meaning is very idiomatic.
LOT (ลด) is a transitive verb meaning “to decrease”, the opposite of PERM. When
followed by LONG “down” it means “to be decreasing”.
LONG (ลง) “down” may also be either an adverb or a verb, and is the opposite to
KEUN. As an adverb it gives the idea of “to a lesser degree”.
As a verb it has the meaning of “to come down”, “to go down”, “to put down” etc.
As with KEUN, LONG is used to make a great many compound words with very
idiomatic meanings as you will see later.
AROY (อร่ อย) has not quite the same superlative connotation as “delicious” in English. It
is nearly always used in relation to food and means that the food is “very nice” or MY
AROY “not very nice”. If you want to express greater appreciation than that you can
say AROY MAHK or AROY DEE. If the food is not very nice don’t say MY DEE as
this implies that it is very nasty indeed and may even be bad.
RY (ไร่ ) is a plantation usually of small shrubs such as chilli, coffee etc. It is also a
measurement of land of 1913 square yards or about 2/5 of an acre (See Appendix 6).
For the activity of farming we use the word TUM “to do”.
SUT (สัตว์) is a general term like “animal” and refers to all members of the Animal
Kingdom except humans.
NOOM (หนุ่ม) and SAOU (สาว) both mean “young” but NOOM is only used in relation to
“a young man” and SAOU only when referring to “a young woman”.
It is not generally used with concrete nouns which have their own proper classifier.
“The small one” referring to a car would be KUN LEK คันเล็ก.
DOO (ดู) is the normal word for “to look” or “to look at” and generally implies looking
at something fairly close.
MORNG (มอง) which means “to look at intently” or “to stare at” is more often used for
looking at something a distance away.
The usage of either of these words however is largely idiomatic and they are not usually
interchangeable.
DOO also means “to appear” but MORNG cannot be used in this sense.
KOON DOO MY SABAI You don’t well. (You look not well)
คุณดูไม่สบาย
BAHN TEE CHUN DOO LAAW The house that I have looked at already.
บ้านทีฉันดูแล้ว
This latter implies that there is something in the way which is physically preventing you
from seeing it.
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11.A.5. Examples.
(1) There are many fowls in the garden.
ในสวนมีไก่มาก
Ny soo-an mee gy mahk.
(2) I want one large papaya. Is this a good one?
ฉันต้องการมะละกอใหญ่หนึงใบ ใบนีดีไหม
Chun dtorng gahn malagor yy neung by. By nee dee my.
(3) That one is not ripe; this is a better one.
ใบนันไม่สุกค่ะ ใบนีดีกว่า
By nun my sook ka by nee dee gwah.
(4) Tomorrow there will be more fruit.
พรุ่ งนีจะมีผลไม้มากขึน
Proong nee ja mee ponlamy mahk keun.
(5) This mango is very delicious.
มะม่วงผลนีอร่ อยมาก
Mamoo-ang pon nee aroy mahk.
(6) This is a bad (unpleasant) book.
หนังสื อเล่มนีไม่ดี
Nungseu lem nee my dee.
(7) His car is faster than mine.
รถ (ของ) เขาวิงเร็ วกว่า (รถ) ของฉัน
Rot (korng) kow wing rew gwah (rot) korng chun.
(8) I want the best one.
ฉันต้องการอัน (ที) ดีทีสุ ด
Chun dtorng gahn un (tee) dee tee soot.
(9) I can’t turn the car around here.
กลับรถทีนีไม่ได้
Glup rot tee nee my dy.
(10) This is the best house in Bangkapi.
บ้านนี (เป็ นบ้านที) ดีทีสุ ดในบางกะปิ
Bahn nee (pen bahn tee) dee tee soot ny bahng-gapi.
(11) He doesn’t drive the car badly.
เขาขับรถไม่เลว
Kow kup rot my layw.
(12) The children must not play on the lawn, because it is very wet.
เด็ก ๆ ต้องไม่เล่นบนสนามหญ้า เพราะเปี ยกมาก
Dek dtong my len bon sanahm yah prow pee-ak mahk.
(13) There are more cars in Bangkok than in Songklah.
ในกรุ งเทพ ฯ มีรถมากกว่าสงขลา
Ny groong tayp mee rot mahk gwah songklah.
(14) Can you see better there?
ทีนันคุณเห็นดีขึนไหม
Tee nun koon hen dee keun my.
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ข ฉ ถ ฐ ผ ศ ษ ส ห
As has already been explained in Lesson 10.B.2.(a) when the letter ห as an initial
consonant is followed by one of the Low Class consonants ง, ญ, น, ม, ย, ร, ล and ว it is
usually silent but this makes no difference to the tone rule. As the initial consonant ห is
a high class one the tone of the syllable follows the high class tone rules.
a. Syllables beginning with a high class consonant and have no tone mark take the
Rising Tone unless they end with K, P or T sounds or a short open vowel.
b. Syllables beginning with a high class consonant and having no tone mark take
the Low Tone if they end in K, P or T sound or with a short open vowel.
c. Syllables beginning with a high class consonant and having the tone mark
MYAYK (-◌่ ) over the consonant take the Low Tone irrespective of ending.
d. Syllables beginning with a high class consonant and having the tone mark
MYTO (-◌้) over the consonant take the Dropped Tone irrespective of ending.
11.B.3. Examples.
Read through the following words and note the tone of each. Do not bother about the
meaning of the words at this stage, you will meet all the important words in later
vocabularies.
a. Rising Tone.
b. Low Tone.
c. Dropped Tone.
Up to now we have used the words CHUN “I” and TAHN or KOON “you” because
they can be used by either sex and are fairly correct or at least understandable in most
circumstances.
There are however a great number of other pronouns in the Thai language, and though
you need not bother about them all, you should have a working knowledge of the more
common ones and be able to recognise them and use them correctly.
You will notice that some words can be classified as 1st. person pronouns, but there is
no very clear distinction between 2nd. and 3rd. person pronouns.
Actually it is a “polite” word and would be used in conversation by a Thai only when
speaking to someone of high rank. In the written language however it is the ordinary
word to use for “you”. It shows respect for rank rather than personal respect.
When speaking to persons you consider your equals, there is no trouble; you can use
KOON for either sex or NAI for a man and that is as a Thai would use it.
When it comes to people in the market, taxi drivers, shop assistants etc. the position
becomes difficult because KOON or NAI are not appropriate.
There are a number of words a Thai may use, but just which he would use in any
particular circumstances is bound up with his or her whole social background as a Thai,
his or her official position and his or her relationship and intimacy with the person
spoken to.
What a Thai would use however is by no means always suitable for a foreigner who has
no well defined social status vis-a-vis any Thai. Traditional habits are not easy to cast
aside, and though a Thai will forgive a foreigner for using an impolite form of address it
will still make him squirm a little and it is far better to err on the over polite side.
If you must use a 2nd. person pronoun to a car driver, servant, shop attendant etc. and
want to appear friendly you can use “ROW” (เรา).
As mentioned above however it is better to try and avoid the 2nd. person pronoun
altogether if you can and use first names or occupational designations in cases where it
is inappropriate to use KOON or NAI.
If you are speaking to someone and they know you are speaking to them, the pronoun is
after all fairly redundant in many cases.
SUMMARY.
The above rather formidable list of pronouns, though by no means the full list, has been
given because it comprises those you are likely to run across in conversation or in your
reading.
There is no necessity to try and learn them all at this stage, that will come as you gain
more facility in the language.
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For the present you can confine yourself to the following which will get you along fairly
well.
“I” Man speaking: POM, Woman speaking: DICHUN or CHUN. POM will
sound a little over polite to your servant or the taxi driver but they
won’t be offended. If you can remember to use CHUN (male or
female) to servants or taxi drivers it sounds better.
“You” Use KOON to your equals or superiors and if you can’t avoid the
pronoun use ROW to all others. When speaking to servants you can
use their name alone e.g. BADOOM, MAHLEE etc. or the
designation of their job e.g. KON KUP ROT “driver”.
“He”, Both sexes use KOW for everyone, but when talking about your
“She”. equals or superiors it is better to use their name prefixed by NAI
“Mr.” or KOON “Mr.”, “Mrs.” or “Miss”. Do not use NAHNG “Mrs.”
or NAHNG CAOU “Miss” in conversation. For servants etc. use the
name alone or refer to them by the designation of their job.
12.A.2. Vocabulary.
I (Males) POM r ผม
I (Females) DICHUN l-r ดิฉนั
I (Writing) KAHPAJOW d-h-d ข้าพเจ้า
You, she, etc. TAHN d ท่าน
” TER c เธอ
It (Impolite) MUN c มัน
Mouse, little one. NOO r หนู
But, only. DTAA l แต่
Understand KOW JY d-c เข้าใจ
Know ROOJUK h-l รู้จกั
Straight DTRONG c ตรง
Turn LEE-O h เลียว
Right side KWAH r ขวา
Left side SAI h ซ้าย
Food, meal. (Polite) AH-HAHN c-r อาหาร
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Classifiers.
12.A.3. Idioms.
DTAA (แต่) has the meaning of “but” as a conjunction and also as an adverb in the sense
of “only”.
MEE MAH DTAA SAHM DTOO-A There are only (but) three dogs.
มีหมาแต่สามตัว
ROOJUK (รู้จกั ) means “to know” in the sense of “being acquainted with” a person.
DTRONG (ตรง) means “straight” with regard to place or time, or intention i.e. “honest”.
AH-HAHN (อาหาร) is the proper word for “food” or “a meal” but rice in some form or
other is such an ubiquitous dish throughout the whole of Thailand that the word KAOU
meaning “rice” has become the general word for “food” amongst the peasants and
poorer people.
The word AH-HAHN is combined with times of the day to designate the standard
European type meals.
KAOU (ข้าว) Cannot be used to designate meal times in this way. When talking of food
for animals etc. we can use either word.
RUP-PRATAHN (รับประทาน) is the “polite” word for “to eat” and GIN (กิน) is the
common word.
When talking to your friends or equals you should always use RUP-PRATAHN but
when talking to your driver or servants about their own food GIN is quite appropriate
and is more commonly used. Note that if you use RUP-PRATAHN you should
normally use AH-HAHN and if you use GIN you will use KAOU.
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GIN (กิน) is also used in another rather peculiar way meaning “to eat” or “to use up”
time.
YAH (ยา) “medicine” is usually placed in front of the medicine referred to.
This word YAH followed by a verb to show the purpose for which it is used is applied
to a wide variety of concoctions which are far removed from medicine in the English
sense.
RAHKAH (ราคา) and KAH (ค่า) are both used in asking the price of things but actually
RAHKAH means “price” whilst KAH means “cost”. Broadly speaking the two words
are fairly interchangeable though there are certain cases in which one word is used in
preference to the other. This you can only learn from experience.
As you will see from the Thai spelling, KAH is not merely a corruption of RAHKAH.
LA (ละ) and DTOR (ต่อ) both can mean “per” but the sentence arrangement is different
in each case.
When referring to articles in dozens etc. we usually find that LA is used but where the
basis of measurement is the single unit DTOR is rather more common.
143
TUM GUP KAOU (ทํากับข้าว) literally “make with rice” means “to cook” as an
intransitive verb.
There is no word in Thai for “to cook” as a transitive verb and we use TUM “to make”
or else specify the manner in which the particular thing is to be treated, i.e. boiled, fried,
baked etc.
HOR (ห่อ) as well as being a classifier is also used as a verb meaning “to wrap up in a
parcel”.
GUN (กัน) means “to ward off”, “to protect from”, “to inhibit”.
12.A.5. Examples.
(1) You need not fix any dinner; I am going to have some food with my friend.
อาหารเย็นไม่ตอ้ งทํา ฉันจะไปรับประทานกับเพือน
Ah-hahn yen my dtorng tum. Chun ja py rup pratahn gup peu-an.
(2) Go and have some food and come back here at 9 p.m. sharp.
ไปกินข้าวแล้วกลับมาทีนีเวลาสามทุ่มตรง
Py gin kaou laaw glup mah teenee waylah sahm toom dtrong.
(3) He likes only Thai food.
เขาชอบแต่อาหารไทย
Kow chorp dtaa ah-hahn thai.
(4) Don’t drive more than 30 kilometers per hour.
อย่าขับรถเร็ วกว่าชัวโมงละสามสิบกิโล
Yah kup rot rew gwah choo-a mong la sahm sip gilo.
144
Read through the following words and work out the correct tone for yourself.
Pronounce the word aloud, read through them in all directions until you can pick out the
right tone of each word without hesitation.
146
Do not bother about the meanings of the words which are given for interest only; you
will meet all the important ones in the various vocabularies given with each lesson.
The continuous tense in Thai is represented by putting the word GUMLUNG “vigour”
in front of the verb and the word YOO “to be located at” after the verb and after the
object if there is one.
Sometimes GUMLUNG is used alone and sometimes YOO is used alone. There does
not appear to be any very firm rule governing which word or words should be used in
any particular case except that YOO is not generally used if the verb is one indicating
physical movement from one place to another.
If talking of the future, JA “will” comes between GUMLUNG and the verb.
147
You will not find the continuous tense used very much in conversation as generally the
Thai People are not very much concerned about the finer shades of meaning and see
very little difference between “I buy a tomato” and “I am buying a tomato”. As long as
their meaning gets across they are prepared to take considerable liberties with formal
grammar.
Generally speaking you need not use the continuous tense in conversation unless you
particularly want to emphasise that the action is actually going on at this moment.
As a verb it means “to say” but its use in this sense is mainly confined to certain types
of sentences reporting speech.
WAH is also used in other cases where it acts more as a comma than anything else and
cannot be translated at all. You will come across this usage later.
13.A.2. Vocabulary.
Classifiers.
13.A.3. Idioms.
SAHP (ทราบ), ROO (รู้). The distinction between these two words is not very clearly
defined and in many cases the correct usage of one or the other is largely a matter of
custom.
Generally speaking ROO means to have knowledge acquired by specific study whereas
SAHP refers to more general perception.
KIT (คิด), NEUK (นึก). Both these words mean “to think” and though they are not quite
synonymous, the difference between them is beyond the scope of this book.
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KIT is the general word and is the only one you need use; we mentioned NEUK only
because you will come across it in reading. KIT also has the meaning of “to estimate”,
“to work out” but NEUK cannot be used in this sense.
As mentioned in Lesson 2, HEN “to see” also has the meaning of “to think” (to see with
the mind).
You will come across this usage of HEN again in Lesson 18, and 24.
SAMER (เสมอ), BOY BOY (บ่อย ๆ). Both these words almost invariably come at the end
of the sentence and not near the beginning as in English.
ROOSEUK (รู้สึก) means “to feel” both physically and mentally. If it refers to mental
impression it is followed by WAH but if it refers to a physical feeling no WAH is used.
TAHM (ถาม) means “to ask a question” and cannot be used for “to ask” in the sense “to
invite” or “to request”. The words to use in this sense will be dealt with in Lesson 21.
GRAYNG (เกรง) means “to be afraid that something may or may not happen”, but does
not imply actual fear.
GLOO-A (กลัว) on the other hand means to have actual fear or dread.
These distinctions in meaning are not always observed and GLOO-A is often used
where GRAYNG would be more correct.
If it takes a simple object it must be followed by the word GUP “with” as below.
If the object is a substantival clause the construction is quite normal and no GUP is
required.
MOR (หมอ), PAAT (แพทย์). Both these words mean “doctor” and both are in common
use. MOR is perhaps more generally heard in conversation whilst PAAT which is a
rather more formal word is met with more in writing.
PAAT specifically means a medical doctor but MOR rather means “a learned person”
and is met with in such compound words as;
CHEU (ชือ) means “a name” or “called” and is used in relation only to humans and
animals that have personal names.
REE-AK (เรี ยก) means “to call” in the sense of “giving a name to” and also in the sense
of “to call out to someone”.
In the first case it is always followed by WAH which is not translated but in the second
case no WAH is used.
SING NEE REE-AK WAH A-RY What do you call this thing?
สิ งนีเรี ยกว่าอะไร
KOON NAI REE-AK (POM) REU PLOW Did you call me, madam?
คุณนายเรี ยก (ผม) หรื อเปล่า
KANAHT (ขนาด) means “size” and is also used as a classifier referring to sizes.
13.A.5. Examples.
(1) What are you doing here?
คุณกาํ ลังทําอะไรอยู่ทีนี
Koon Gumlung tun ary yoo teenee.
(2) I am going shopping.
ผมกาํ ลังจะไปซื อของ
Pom gumlung ja py seu korng.
(3) You need not be afraid of the dog.
ไม่ตอ้ งกลัวหมา
My dtorng gloo-a mah.
(4) The master is having his breakfast.
นายกําลังรับประทานอาหารเช้าอยู่ค่ะ
Nai gumlung rup-pratahn ah-hahn chow yoo ka.
(5) I hope you can come.
ดิฉนั หวังว่าคุณจะมาได้ค่ะ
Dichun wung wah koon ja mah dy ka.
(6) Can you tell me where Nai Perm’s house is?
คุณบอกฉันได้ไหมว่าบ้านนายเพิมอยู่ทีไหน
Koon bork chun dy my wah bahn nai perm yoo teeny.
(7) I don’t know where he lives.
ผมไม่ทราบว่าเขาอยู่ทีไหนครับ
Pom my sahp wah kow yoo teeny krup. or;
อยู่ทีไหนไม่ทราบครับ
Yoo teeny my sahp krup.
(8) Wait here, I will be back in fifteen minutes.
คอยอยู่ทีนีอีกสิบห้านาทีผมจะกลับมา
Koy yoo teenee eek siphah nahtee pom ja glup mah.
(9) I promised Prasong I would meet him at Don Meuang.
ผมสัญญากับนายประสงค์ว่าจะไปรับทีดอนเมือง
Pom sunyah gup nai prasong wah ja py rup tee dorn meu-ang.
153
(24) I want to know what time the train from Ubon will arrive in Bangkok.
ผมอยากจะทราบว่ารถไฟจากอุบลจะถึงกรุ งเทพฯกีโมงครับ
Pom yahk ja sahp wah rot fy jahk oobon ja teung groong tayp gee mong krup.
(25) He is working at home.
เขากาํ ลังทํางานทีบ้านครับ
Kow gumlung tum ngahn tee bahn krup.
(26) The big fruit are very expensive; this size is cheaper.
ผมไม้ขนาดใหญ่แพงมากค่ะขนาดนีถูกกว่า
Ponlamy kanaht yy paang mahk ka kanaht nee took gwah.
ก จ ฎ ฏ ด ต บ ป อ
As has already been mentioned in Lesson 8.B.1.(a). when this occurs as an initial
consonant and is immediately followed by the low class letter ย it is always silent but
the tone of the syllable still follows the tone rules for a syllable having an initial middle
class consonant in the normal manner.
There are only four words plus a number of compounds where the silent “อ” occurs, and
you will notice that they all take the low tone.
a. Syllables beginning with a middle class consonant and having no tone mark take
the Common Tone unless they end with K, P or T sounds or in a short vowel.
b. Syllables beginning with a middle class consonant and having no tone mark take
the Low Tone if they end in K, P or T sounds.
c. Syllables beginning with a middle class consonant and ending with a short open
vowel take the Low Tone. There are not many words of this type.
ดุ จะ ปะ เตะ กะ
Cruel Will Meet Kick Estimate
ติ
To blame
d. Syllables beginning with a middle class consonant and having the tone mark
MYAYK ( -◌่ ) over the initial consonant take the Low Tone.
e. Syllables beginning with a middle class consonant and having the tone mark
MYTO ( -◌้ ) over the initial consonant take the Dropped Tone.
f. Syllables beginning with a middle class consonant and having the tone mark
MYDTREE ( -◌๊ ) over the initial consonant take the High Tone. There are very
few of these words.
g. Syllables beginning with a middle class consonant and having the tone mark
MYJUDTAWAH ( -◌๋ ) over the initial consonant take the Rising Tone. There
are very few of these words.
เดียวนี ตัว บ๋ อย
Now Ticket Waiter
13.B.3. Examples.
Read through the following words and note the tone of each. Do not bother about the
meanings of the words at this stage, you will meet all the important words in later
vocabularies.
a. Common Tone.
b. Low Tone.
c. Dropped Tone.
14.A.1.(a). Colours.
Colours are not usually mentioned on their own in Thai but are prefixed by the word
SEE which is a classifier meaning “colour” or “paint”.
The name of the colour is often repeated but this seems to be more for euphony than
anything else.
The names of most fauna and flora with the exception of animals usually carry a prefix
to show the group to which they belong.
Some of the more common groups and prefixes are set out below.
i. Birds.
The Thai name for a particular bird is usually prefixed by the word NOK (นก)
“bird”.
This does not apply to domestic birds and there a few other exceptions.
158
The Thai name for a particular fish is always prefixed by the word PLAH ปลา
“Fish”.
This does not apply to crustaceans which are called by their specific names
without any prefix.
The names of snakes are prefixed by the word NGOO (งู) “snake”.
The names of many insects are prefixed by the word MALAANG (แมลง) “insect”
but this is not a general rule.
The Thai name for most trees and bushes is prefixed by the word DTON (ต้น) “a
post or tree”.
Where the tree is a timber producing tree, however, we often use the word MY
“wood” in place of DTON.
Note.
We use the prefix DTON for a Pine tree because this is not normally considered
a timber producing tree in Thailand.
159
If we want particularly to distinguish between a teak tree and teak wood, we can
say DTON SUK (teak tree) but this is not usual.
The proper word for a “bush” or “shrub” is POOM MY (พุ่มไม้) “bush” but DTON
MY is commonly used.
The names of flowers and leaves are prefixed by the words DORK (ดอก)
“flower” and BY (ใบ) “leaf” respectively.
The word for fruit is PONLAMY (ผลไม้) “fruit” but this is not used as a prefix
and fruit are merely known by their names.
The names of a number of vegetables are prefixed by PUK (ผัก) “vegetable” but
again this is not a general rule.
None of the prefixes mentioned above in any way obviate the necessity for the use of
the appropriate classifier where one is called for in accordance with the rules already
given.
DTON SUK LAI DTON Many teak trees.
ต้นสักหลายต้น
DORK GOOLAHP SEE DORK Four roses.
ดอกกุหลาบสี ดอก
You will notice that the words DTON, DORK and BY are also used as classifiers for
trees, flowers and leaves respectively, but NOK, PLAH, NGOO and MALAANG are
not so used. The proper classifier to use for birds, fish, snakes and insects is DTOO-A
as you have already had.
14.A.2. Vocabulary.
Classifiers.
14.A.3. Idioms.
SEE (สี ) means both the concrete noun “paint” and the abstract noun “colour”. As a verb
it means “to rub” from which we get,
ORN (อ่อน) means “light”, “gentle”, “soft”, “weak” and is widely used as an adjective
with one of these meanings.
GAA (แก่) has several completely distinct meanings but in this case means “strong” or
“concentrated”. Its usage with this meaning is fairly restricted. (See also Lessons 7 and
16.)
In the negative, ORK occurs in a number of very idiomatic expressions where there is
the rather vague implication of something “going out” from the speaker.
POOT PAHSAH THAI MY ORK I don’t know how to say that in Thai.
พูดภาษาไทยไม่ออก
KANA (ขณะ) means “a moment”, “an instant of time”. It is usually met with as;
It is used rather in the same way a MEU-A “when” except that it usually refers to a
more particular instant of time.
MEU-A KOW MAH HAH POM POM ORK JAHK BAHN PY LAAW
When he came to see me, I had already gone out.
เมือเขามาหาผม ผมออกจากบ้านไปแล้ว
KOW MAH HAH POM KANA TEE POM GUMLUNG KEE-AN JOTMAI YOO
He came to see me whilst I was writing the letter.
เขามาหาผมขณะทีผมกําลังเขียนจดหมายอยู่
HAH (หา) means both “to look for” and “to find” but there is seldom any confusion
between the two meanings.
HAH MY POP
I cannot find it. (Look but not meet it)
หาไม่พบ
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CHAH (ชา) is the Tea plant. When referring to “tea” as used domestically we must be
more specific and say;
NORK (นอก) is an adverb meaning “outside” and is used pretty much as in English.
In this last example, if you used DTOO-A in place of CHANIT it would imply that it
was a pet fish and had a name.
SEE DTOK (สี ตก) means “to fade” or “to run” in relation to colours in material.
If you want to distinguish between the “fading” and “running” of colours you will have
to go into a further explanation of the conditions. Putting in the sun, washing etc. but
even then you may not get the right answer.
165
14.A.5. Examples.
(1) What other colours have you? Will the colours fade/run?
มีสีอะไรอีก สี ตกไหม
Mee see ary eek. See dtok my.
(2) We have many colours madam, this red cloth is very good.
มีหลายสี ค่ะ ผ้าสี แดงนีดีมาก
Mee lai see ka, pah see daang nee dee mahk.
The colour is fast.
สี ไม่ตก
See my dtok.
(3) This colour is too light. Have you any darker cloth than this?
สี นีอ่อนมาก (เกิน) ไป มี (ผ้า) สี แก่กว่าไหม
See nee orn mahk (gern) py. Mee (pah) see gaa gwah my.
(4) I want some red cloth with a yellow pattern.
ฉันต้องการผ้าสี แดงมีดอกสี เหลือง
Chun dtorng gahn pah see daang mee dork see leu-ang.
(5) How much is that shirt?
เสื อเชิตตัวนันราคาเท่าไร
Seu-a chert dtoo-a nun rahkah towry.
(6) How much are those red roses per bunch?
ดอกกุหลาบสี แดง (เหล่า) นันช่อละเท่าไร
Dork goolahp see daang (low) nun chor la towry.
Six baht three saleung per bunch.
ช่อละหกบาทสามสลึงค่ะ
Chor la hok baht sahm saleung ka.
(7) You must buy another packet of birdseed, sir.
นายต้องซื ออาหารนกอีกห่อหนึงค่ะ
Nai dtorng seu ah-hahn nok eek hor neung ka.
(8) What do you call that yellow flower?
ดอกไม้สีเหลืองชนิดนันเรี ยกว่าอะไรครับ
Dork my see leu-ang chanit nun ree-ak wah ary krup.
(9) We call that flower a Hibiscus.
ดอกนันเราเรี ยกว่าดอกชะบาค่ะ
Dork nun row ree-ak wah dork chabah ka.
(10) What sort of bird is that? This is a pigeon.
นันนกชนิดอะไรคะ (นันคือ) นกพิราบครับ
Nun nok chanit ary ka. (Nun keu) nok pirahp krup.
(11) What sort of mangoes have you?
มีมะม่วงชนิดไหน
Mee mamoo-ang chanit ny.
(12) We have two sorts, sir. This sort is very sweet.
มีสองชนิดค่ะ ชนิดนีหวานมาก
Mee sorng chanit ka. Chanit nee wahn mahk.
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(26) I don’t think that car has ever been here before.
ผมคิดว่ารถคันนันไม่เคยมาทีนี
Pom kit wah rot kun nun my ker-y mah tee nee.
Read through the following words and work out the pronunciation yourself.
There are no two words in Thai which can be considered as being the equivalents of
“Yes” and “No” in English and plain affirmative and negative answers are given in a
variety of ways depending on the way in which the question is asked.
168
This fact usually causes difficulty to the foreigner who is accustomed to using “Yes”
and “No” quite freely in a large number of sentences where they are in many cases
fairly redundant and are merely added for emphasis or to smooth out the sentence and
make it sound less abrupt.
You have already seen some of the ways in which Thai people give affirmative and
negative answers and we will now bring all these and some other forms together for
comparison.
a. In Lesson 1 you had CHY “it is” and MY CHY “it is not”, but these two words are often
used alone in sentences where in English we would also add “Yes” or “No”.
b. As a general rule, if a question ends in CHY MY the best answer is either CHY
or MY CHY.
c. Similarly, if the question ends in DY MY, the answer will generally be either
DY or MY DY.
f. The “polite” words KRUP and KA are very often used either alone or at the beginning
of a sentence to mean “yes” or “I understand”.
g. When talking on the telephone Thai people use these words KRUP and KA very
frequently meaning “I understand”. Note that it is only when used either alone or
at the beginning of a sentence that KRUP and KA have this meaning of “yes”.
h. When the question ends in REU PLOW the negative answer is usually either PLOW
alone or PLOW followed by an amplifying clause.
i. You will occasionally meet the word JA (จ้ ะ) meaning “yes” used similarly to PLOW “no”
and usually followed by an amplifying clause.
Negative questions.
Whether talking English or Thai you should be very careful about asking a Thai a
negative question such as:
which is quite straight forward, but if he did not go he will probably merely say.
Or again,
If you are not careful you can get very mixed up in these negative questions and the
unusual, though quite logical, reply, and it is better to try and avoid them if possible.
The Thai themselves do not use the negative form of question very much in
conversation.
171
These short answers given to questions in Thai sound rather abrupt when translated into
English but they are perfectly alright in Thai and you need not be afraid to use them.
Although we have tabulated the various forms of question and answer above, there are
no fixed rules as to when to use one or other particular form and in fact most of them
are fairly interchangeable. Once you have had a little practice in the language you will
have no difficulty in forming an appropriate reply to any question.
15.A.2. Vocabulary.
Classifiers.
15.A.3. Idioms.
KORP KOON (ขอบคุณ) and KORP JY (ขอบใจ) both mean “thank you”.
KORP KOON is the formal and “polite” expression and should be used when talking to
someone of superior status or when you feel you are under some of an obligation to
someone and wish to be very polite to them.
KORP JY however is the more friendly term and is generally used in conversation if on
intimate terms.
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KAHNG (ข้าง) meaning “side” is mostly used in compound words such as;
It can also be used for “upstairs” and “downstairs” much as we sometimes say “topside”
in English.
SUNG (สัง) means “to order” both in the sense of “to order someone to do something”
and “to place an order”.
SEE-A (เสี ย). The basic meaning of SEE-A is “to spoil” and it is used in a variety of
ways to indicate the general idea of spoiling, damaging or wasting.
When we use SEE-A in the sense of “to spend money or time” there is the slight
implication that the time or money has been wasted or spent to little purpose, but this
distinction is rather falling into disregard in normal conversation and you need not
worry too much about it.
SEE-A is also used in another way at the end of a sentence to indicate completeness or
finality. This usage is rather complicated and quite beyond the scope of this book but it
is mentioned here as you are sure to come across it in conversation and reading and all
you need to know is not to try and translate it.
MOT (หมด) means “finished”, “used up” and is very often added after other words in
indicate “completeness”.
KY GY SEE-A MOT ไข่ไก่เสี ยหมด The eggs are all broken (or bad).
ROO-AM (รวม) is used both as a noun and as a verb and gives the general idea of
“adding together”, “including”, “gathering up” etc.
TUNG (ทัง) “complete”, “entirely”, “together with” etc. is used in a wide variety of ways
to give the general idea of completeness or inclusiveness.
SUMRUP (สําหรับ) means “for” in the sense of “for the use of”, “for the purpose of”. It
cannot be considered as a general equivalent of the English preposition “for” which in
Thai is translated in a number of different ways.
SING LOW NEE SUMRUP ARY What are these things for?
สิ งเหล่านีสําหรับอะไร
CHY (ใช้) also means “to use”, “to spend” and implies that you have got something in
exchange for what you have used or spent.
JAI (จ่าย) has the same meaning as CHY above but is more generally used when talking
about money.
NOY (หน่อย) is an adverb and you should note the difference in spelling between it and
the adjective NOY given in Lesson 2.
176
If you want to emphasise the smallness of the amount you can add the prefix NIT.
This word NIT is a diminutive but is seldom met with except as above in combination
with other words, or as a first name for men or women.
NOY is also used at the end of an imperative sentence to soften down the command. It
then has almost the meaning of “please”. (See Lesson 21)
SATAHNEE (สถานี) corresponds closely with the English word “station” and is used in
the same way except that it does not make a verb similar to “stationed at”. It may be
used for a “railway station”, “police station”, “petrol station” etc.
LER-Y (เลย) is a word which is often added onto the end of a negative sentence to give
emphasis and can fairly well be translated as “at all” in most cases.
ROT CHY LAAW KUN NUN PAANG MAHK POM LER-Y MY DY SEU
That second hand car was very expensive so I didn’t buy it.
รถใช้แล้วคันนันแพงมากผมเลยไม่ได้ซือ
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15.A.5. Examples.
(1) Has my friend been waiting long? No, not long.
เพือนฉันคอยอยู่นานแล้วหรื อ ไม่นานค่ะ
Peu-an chun koy yoo nahn laaw reu. My nahn ka.
Yes, he has been waiting for a long time.
ค่ะคอยอยู่นานแล้ว
Ka koy yoo nahn laaw.
(2) Are you going to Pataya today? Yes, I am going.
วันนีคุณจะไปพัทยาไหมครับ ครับ or; ไปครับ
Wun nee koon ja py patayah my krup. Krup or; Py krup.
No, I am not going my car is out of order.
ไม่ไปครับ รถเสี ย
My py krup, rot see-a.
(3) Is this Ruen Rudee lane?
มีซอยรื นฤดีใช่ไหมคะ
Nee soy reun rudee chy my ka.
Yes, it is. No, it is not.
ครับ or; ใช่ครับ ไม่ใช่ครับ
Krup or; Chy krup. My chy krup.
(4) Do you like mangoes?
ชอบมะม่วงไหมคะ
Chorp mamoo-ang my ka.
Yes, very much. No, I don’t like them.
ชอบมากค่ะ ไม่ชอบค่ะ
Chorp mahk ka. My chorp ka.
(5) Have you got the book?
มีหนังสื อไหมคะ
Mee nungseu my ka.
Yes, I have it. No, I have not.
ค่ะ or; มีค่ะ ไม่มีค่ะ
Ka or; Mee ka. My mee ka.
(6) Did you order the taxi?
สังรถแท็กซี หรื อเปล่า
Sung rot taaksee reu plow.
Yes, I did. No, not yet.
สังแล้วค่ะ ยังค่ะ
Sung laaw ka. Yung ka.
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Read through the following words and work out the pronunciation yourself.
The word HY is very much used in Thai in several different ways, some of which are
quite straightforward but others are rather complicated and difficult to translate.
a. It can be used as a simple verb meaning “to give” and in this usage it is often
followed by the preposition GAA to separate the direct and indirect objects.
b. It can be used as a simple verb meaning “to permit”, “to allow”, “to let”.
e. You will note from the above two examples that the word HY may be placed
either before or after the name of the person to whom the order is to be given. Its
position in any particular sentence is largely dictated by common usage. If there
is no order the word HY is not used.
f. It is used after words such as “make”, “call”, “want”, “recommend”, “teach” etc.
as a preposition to introduce an objective clause.
182
h. When used with DY at the end of a sentence it means “be sure to” or “without
fail”.
16.A.2. Vocabulary.
16.A.3. Idioms.
SOOP (สูบ) means “to smoke” or “to pump” but when introducing the word for the first
time we usually say SOOP BOOREE “smoke cigarette”. SOOP YAH usually means
“smoke pot” or “smoke opium”.
SA-AHT (สะอาด), SOKGAPROK (สกปรก). Both these words can be made into verbs by
adding the prefix TUM “to make”.
REE-AN (เรี ยน) “learn” or “study” is very seldom used without an object. If there is no
other object we usually add the word NUNGSEU “book” to complete the sentence.
DEK POO CHAI TUNG SORNG KON NEE REE-AN NUNGSEU DTALORT WUN
These two boys study all day.
เด็กผูช้ ายทังสองคนนีเรี ยนหนังสื อตลอดวัน
REE-AN generally refers to elementary study as for children whereas SEUKSAH (ศึกษา)
is used when referring to advanced or adult study. SEUKSAH can also be used as a
noun meaning “education”.
KROO (ครู ) and AHJAHN (อาจารย์) both mean “teacher” but AHJAHN generally refers to
a higher grade of teacher such as a university lecturer or professor. (See also Lesson
18.A.4.)
185
BOW (เบา) means “light in weight” or “gentle” but BOW BOW is an adverb meaning
“softly”, “gently”, “carefully”.
CHUNG (ชัง) is “to weigh” but we usually add DOO “to look at” to give the ideas of
“weighing it and seeing the weight”.
JY (ใจ) is “the heart” or “the mind” which is considered the seat of all emotional feeling.
It is used as a suffix to a great number of words to denote a mental or emotional state.
HORNG (ห้อง) “a room” is used as in English to form compound words defining various
sorts of room.
LUP (หลับ) “to be asleep” is very seldom used alone. The common expression for “to
sleep” or “to be asleep” is NORN LUP (lie down sleep) which has the rather irregular
negative:
To go to bed is PY NORN.
BAHNG (บาง) means “some”, “a certain amount” and as it is a numeral word it always
takes a classifier.
BAHNG (บ้าง) is an adverb meaning “some”, “any” etc. and is always placed at the end
of the sentence and just before the interrogative word if there is one.
186
SONG (ส่ ง) “to send” is usually followed by MAH “come” or PY “go” to indicate that
the thing is being sent towards or away from the speaker. This type of construction will
be dealt with in more detail in Lesson 20.
When PY precedes SONG it means “go and send” or more commonly “to go to see
off”.
As there is no word for “to post” in Thai we use SONG and say “send the letter”.
NAA NUM (แนะนํา) “recommend” can also be used for “to introduce” since an
introduction is a recommendation to people to know each other.
GAA (แก่). This preposition is mostly used in conjunction with HY as shown in the
examples and it cannot be considered as equivalent to the English preposition “to” in all
cases. Be careful how you use it.
PRADEE-O (ประเดียว) means “in a minute” if it comes before the verb and “for a few
minutes” if it follows the verb.
KONG (คง) generally means “probably” though in some cases it is better translated as
“certainly”.
KONG also occasionally occurs as a verb meaning “to be stable”, “to be endurable”.
16.A.5. Examples.
(1) Bring it and let me see it first.
เอามาให้ฉนั ดูกอ่ น
Ow mah hy chun doo gorn.
(2) Tell Panom I will go home in a few minutes.
บอกพนมว่าประเดียวฉันจะกลับบ้าน
Bork panom wah pradee-o chun ja glup bahn.
188
ค ฆ ง ช ซ ฌ ญ ฑ ฒ ณ ท ธ
น พ ฟ ภ ม ย ล ร ว ฬ ฮ
It is not necessary to try and learn these low class consonants since if you have learned
the high and middle class consonants, it follows that everything else is a low class
consonant.
a. Syllables beginning with a low class consonant and having no tone mark take
the Common Tone unless they end with K, P or T sounds or in a short vowel.
คํา ชา ทํา นา งู
Word Tea Make, do. Field Snake
มา ราคา ลม ชม เรา
Come Price Wind Admire We
b. Syllables beginning with a low class consonant and having no tone mark but
ending in K, P or T sounds, take:
i. the Dropped Tone if the vowel is long.
ii. the High Tone if the vowel is short.
Dropped Tone.
High Tone.
c. Syllables beginning with a low class consonant and having a short open vowel
take the High Tone. There are very few complete words of this type.
และ มิ เพราะ
And No, not. Because
191
d. Syllables beginning with a low class consonant and having the tone mark
MYAYK (-◌่ ) over the initial consonant take the Dropped Tone.
e. Syllables beginning with a low class consonant and having the tone mark
MYTO (-◌้) over the initial consonant take the High Tone.
16.B.3. Examples.
Read through the following words and note the tone of each. Do not bother about the
meaning of the words at this stage, you will meet all the important words in later
vocabularies.
a. Common Tone.
b. Dropped Tone.
c. High Tone.
In English we use the suffix “er” to convert a verb into a noun indicating a person who
does something, as “Walker”, “Singer”, “Teacher” etc.
In Thai we achieve the same thing by adding another word in front of the verb.
Several prefixes are used in this way to personify nouns and verbs and though there is
some overlapping in their use, each word is in general applied to some particular form
of activity.
ii. POO d (ผู)้ “a person who” refers to people who are engaged on some particular
activity but on a more or less temporary basis.
iii. CHAHNG d (ช่าง) “a skilled worker” refers to artisans and people engaged in
skilled trades.
iv. NUK h (นัก) “one skilled in” is used for people engaged in the more professional
occupations and cultural activities.
17.A.1.(b). Nationalities.
The name of countries follow fairly closely to the English pronunciation in many cases
but there are a number of wide divergences and it is well to check up from the Extended
Vocabulary before referring to a new country or a national of the country.
The word CHAOU “inhabitant of”, “belonging to”, is placed in front of the name of the
country to denote a national of that country.
The word KON “a person” may be used instead of CHAOU to denote nationalities and
is generally used for.
17.A.2. Vocabulary.
Demonstrate, show. SADAANG l-c แสดง
To fly BIN c บิน
To listen FUNG c ฟัง
Wash (clothes) SUK h ซัก
Wash (the body etc.) LAHNG h ล้าง
Wipe CHET h เช็ด
Soap SABOO l-l สบู่
A smell GLIN l กลิน
Good smell HORM r หอม
Bad smell MEN r เหม็น
Country, state. PRATAYT l-d ประเทศ
Country, rural. BAHN NORK d-d บ้านนอก
” DTAHNG l-c-l ต่างจังหวัด
JUNGWUT
National CHAHT d ชาติ
Foreigner FARUNG l-l ฝรัง
Guest, Indian. KAAK l แขก
Music DONDTREE c-c ดนตรี
A song PLAYNG c เพลง
Visit a person MAH YEE-AM c-d มาเยียม
” PY YEE-AM c-d ไปเยียม
Visit a place MAH TEE-O c-d มาเทียว
” PY TEE-O c-d ไปเทียว
Take (a person or PAH c พา
animal)
Take (a person or NUM c นํา
thing)
If TAH d ถ้า
Interesting SON JY r-c สนใจ
Thick NAH r หนา
Remember JUM c จํา
Forget LEUM c ลืม
Born GERT l เกิด
Hungry HIW r หิว
Opposite DTRONG KAHM c-d ตรงข้าม
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17.A.3. Idioms.
LAHNG (ล้าง) is used for washing anything other than cloth; such as parts of the body,
dishes etc.
It is not used for washing or shampooing the hair however for which we use a special
word SA (สระ).
Note that this word SA is spelled in Thai the same as the word for a vowel (Lesson
1.B.4.) but is pronounced differently without the inherent “a”.
CHET (เช็ด) “to wipe” is used where in English we would say “clean” or “wipe”.
GLIN (กลิน) is the noun “a smell” or “a scent” but HORM means “a good smell” and
MEN “a bad smell”.
These last two words are commonly used on their own as a complete sentence.
DTAHNG JUNGWUT (ต่างจังหวัด) which means “provincial” is also commonly used and
is best translated as “up country”.
It is also a term generally applied to a member of any dark coloured race. In Bangkok an
Indian is usually referred to as KAAK.
MAH YEE-AM (มาเยียม) and PY YEE-AM (ไปเยียม) mean “to visit a person” and the
words MAH or PY are added as a prefix to show direction relative to the speaker.
TEE-O (เทียว) has the general meaning of going somewhere for recreation and is used for
“visiting a place”. Like YEE-AM it is usually prefixed by MAH or PY.
PY TEE-O also means “to go round and about”, “to wander here and there” etc.
PAH (พา) “to take”, “to lead” is always used instead of OW whenever we are referring
to taking a person somewhere.
NUM (นํา) which more specifically means “to lead” is not met with so much but is used
when we are specifically referring to “leading”, “guiding” or “piloting” someone or
something.
TAH (ถ้า) “if” has a number of variations which you will hear occasionally and come
across more frequently in reading. They all have just about the same meaning.
LEUM (ลืม) “to forget” is frequently followed by PY which in this case has little
meaning if any and appears to be merely added for emphasis or to round off the
sentence.
198
GERT (เกิด) “to be born” is used both for the birth of people, animals etc. and for the
coming about, happening or occurring of events.
YAHP (หยาบ) “rough to touch” as unplaned wood or rough cloth and is also used for
“rough in speech” or “rude”. If you want to say the road is rough you had better use MY
DEE or LAYW.
17.A.5. Examples.
(1) Take the car to Don Meung to meet Nai Aroon at a quarter to six without fail.
อีกสิ บห้านาทีหกโมงเย็น ต้องขับรถไปรับนายอรุ ณ ทีดอนเมืองให้ได้
Eek sip hah nahtee hok mong yen; dtorng kup rot py rup nai aroon;
tee dorm meu-ang hy dy.
(2) Will this cloth wash? No, you must have it dry cleaned.
ผ้านีซักนําได้ไหม ซักนําไม่ได้ค่ะ ต้องซักแห้ง
Pah nee suk num dy my. Suk num my dy ka; dtorng suk haang.
(3) Do you know a good tailor?
คุณรู้จกั ช่างตัดเสื อดี ๆ บ้างไหมครับ
Koon roojuk chahng dtut seu-a dee dee bahng my krup.
(4) That Englishman is an aviator.
ชาวอังกฤษคนนันเป็ นนักบิน
Chao ungrit kon nun pen nuk bin.
(5) There are many sorts of fruit in the market now.
เวลานีทีตลาดมีผลไม้หลายอย่าง
Waylah nee tee dtalaht mee ponlamy lai yahng.
(6) The child is sleepy, take her upstairs.
เด็กง่วงนอน พาเขาขึนไปชันบน
Dek ngoo-ang norn; pah kow keun py chun bon.
(7) Is there anything I can do for you?
มีอะไรให้ผมทําบ้างไหมครับ
Mee ary hy pom tum bahng my krup.
(8) Tell the tailor to make me a pair of trousers.
บอกให้ช่าง (ตัดเสื อ) ตัดกางเกงให้ฉนั ตัวหนึง
Bork hy chahng (dtut seu-a) dtut gahng gayng hy chun dtoo-a neung.
199
(21) He has been unwell for more than three months already.
เขาไม่สบายมาสามเดือนกว่าแล้ว
Kow my sabai mah sahm deu-an gwah laaw.
Read through the following words and work out the pronunciation yourself.
The word GAHN meaning “work” or “activity” is used as a prefix to form verbal nouns
dealing with some form of activity.
The use of GAHN corresponds to the Gerund in English and this construction cannot be
used to indicate the Present Participle. For example,
but if you want to say “He likes learning Thai” all you need is
The prefix GAHN is not very much used in conversation and is frequently omitted even
in such sentences as the first example given above where strictly it should be used.
When GAHN is placed before a noun it indicates a place where a certain form of
activity is carried out.
202
KWAHM “the subject”, “the gist of the matter” is also used as a prefix to verbs and
adjectives to convert them into abstract nouns.
KWAHM does not always appear in conversation as it is often preferred to use the word
as an adjective or a verb rather than as a noun.
The above are the colloquial forms though in writing we may find;
18.A.2. Vocabulary.
Activity, work. GAHN c การ
Subject KWAHM c ความ
Can, able to. WY r ไหว
Telephone TORASUP c-h-l โทรศัพท์
Far GLY c ไกล
Far from HAHNG l ห่าง
Near GLY d ใกล้
Important SUMKUN r-c สําคัญ
With, by. DOY c โดย
Hurry REEP d รี บ
Full DTEM c เต็ม
” IM l อิม
To park JORT l จอด
Meet, assemble. PRACHOOM l-c ประชุม
Year KOO-AP l ขวบ
Prohibit HAHM d ห้าม
Age AHYOO c-h อายุ
Difficult YAHK d ยาก
Troublesome LUMBAHK c-l ลําบาก
Electricity FY FAH c-h ไฟฟ้ า
Postal System PRYSANEE c-l-c ไปรษณี ย ์
Teach SORN r สอน
Just now MEU-A GEE NEE d-d-h เมือกีนี
” MEU-A DTA GEE d-l-d เมือตะกี
Carefully RA WUNG h-c ระวัง
Beginning (time or DTON d ต้น
place)
End (time or SIN d สิ น
place)
” PLAI c ปลาย
Dig KOOT l ขุด
Life CHEEWIT c-h ชีวิต
To die DTAI c ตาย
To rear, to bring up. LEE-ANG h เลียง
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18.A.3. Idioms.
It means that... (It has MAI KWAHM WAH หมายความว่า
the meaning that...)
Have found out that... DY KWAHM WAH ได้ความว่า
It is unintelligible. MY DY KWAHM ไม่ได้ความ
WY (ไหว) “can”. In Lesson 7 you had DY and PEN both meaning “can” but with
different implications. WY is another word with the same English equivalent but its use
implies that what we are talking about requires some physical strength or ability.
In conversation you will find that the distinction between DY, PEN and WY is not
always strictly observed.
TORASUP (โทรศัพท์) “telephone” is both a noun and a verb as in English. When used as a
verb we usually add MAH (มา) “come” or PY (ไป) “go” and often other words to indicate
whether the call is coming into or going out from the speaker.
Note. For further discussion on the word TEUNG (ถึง) see Lesson 22.
GLY (ไกล) “far” and GLY (ใกล้) “near”. Be careful of your tones with these two words
and note the differences in spelling. GLY “far” is in the Common Tone whilst GLY
“near” is in the Dropped Tone.
HAHNG (ห่าง) which really means “distant” is usually translated in English as “far”, but
it is not synonymous with GLY.
HAHNG means “separated from in time or space” whereas GLY means that the
separation is large and refers to space only.
In the second example above we could use GLY alone but it is better to use both words.
206
DTEM (เต็ม) means “full” in the sense of “filling something up” but IM (อิม) means “full”
after having a good meal.
JORT (จอด) means “to stop and leave stopped” and is mostly used in connection with
parking vehicles or mooring boats.
KOO-AP (ขวบ) is “the complete cycle of one year” and is commonly used in place of
PEE “a year” when referring to the age of babies.
HAHM (ห้าม) “to prohibit”, “to forbid” is mostly met with in notices of prohibition such
as;
LUMBAHK is often used in place of YAHK “difficult” but this usage though generally
understandable is not correct and the two words are not synonymous.
The G.P.O. is known as PRYSANEE GLAHNG (Central Post Office) and other Post
Offices are called;
SORN (สอน) “to teach”. In addition to the words for “a teacher” that you had in Lesson
16.A.4., you will also sometimes meet with POO SORN “a person who teaches” and
even KROO POO SORN. They all mean the same.
DTON (ต้น) means the “beginning of something” or “the first part of something” and
occurs in such expressions as;
SIN (สิ น) means “to finish”, “to come to an end” and occurs mostly as a prefix to other
words.
PLAI (ปลาย) means “the end” or “termination” and generally refers to space though in
some cases it also refers to time.
The word PEN (เป็ น) also has the meaning “to be alive”.
LEE-ANG (เลียง) means “to rear” or “to bring up” children or animals and is widely used
in connection with the various activities associated with “rearing” or “bringing up”.
For example, it may be used either for the general business of “keeping fowls” or for the
specific activities of feeding them or cleaning out the fowl house.
It is also used to describe people who “rear” or “bring up” children or animals.
PEU-A (เพือ) “for”, “in order to” etc. is met with in various forms such as;
18.A.5. Examples.
(1) Your son knows a lot. (Has a lot of knowledge)
ลูกชายของคุณมีความรู้มาก
Look chai korng koon mee kwahm roo mahk.
(2) Have you read the letter which has just arrived?
คุณอ่านจดหมายทีเพิงมาถึงแล้วหรื อยัง
Koon ahn jotmai tee perng mah teung laaw reu yung.
(3) His talking is very slow.
การพูดของเขาช้ามาก
Gahn poot korng kow chah mahk.
(4) Hunger makes me very tired.
ความหิวทําให้ผมเหนือยมาก
Kwahm hiw tum hy pom neu-ay mahk.
(5) Cleanliness in the kitchen is most important.
ความสะอาดทีในครัวเป็ นสิ งสําคัญมาก
Kwahm sa-aht tee ny kroo-a pen sing sumkun mahk.
210
When the first consonant is high or middle class and the second is one of the low class
consonants ง, ญ, ณ, น, ม, ย, ร, ล, ว or ฬ and the two consonants are pronounced with an
inherent “a” between them the tone of the second syllable is usually governed by the
class of the first of the two consonants.
c. Although the above rule can be said to apply generally, there are a few
exceptions, mostly fairly uncommon words, so that in all words of this type
familiarity with the word is the only sure way of determining the tone of the
second syllable.
213
In a few words, mostly those adopted from other languages, the tone is irregular.
A complete summary of all the Tone Rules is given in tabular form in Tone Rules for
easy reference.
214
a. The passive voice is generally used in Thai only when referring to events of a violent or
unpleasant nature.
When used it is denoted by the addition of the word TOOK (ถูก) in front of the
verb.
This is the same word TOOK as you have already had meaning “cheap” in
Lesson 10.
DEK TOOK MAH GUT The child was bitten by the dog.
เด็กถูกหมากดั
The second example given above is the more common form of construction and
should be particularly noted, as the word order:
Subject-TOOK-Agent-Verb.
b. In most other cases the passive voice is treated by turning the sentence round to put
the verb in the active voice.
c. or; by neglecting the passive voice altogether and relying on the context to make
the meaning clear, which in most cases it does.
215
d. There are a few words in Thai such as DTAAK (แตก) “to be broken”, HAI (หาย) “to be lost”
etc. which can only be used in the passive voice.
If you want to say “I broke it” or “I lost it”, you must say “I made it to be
broken”, “I made it to be lost” etc.
19.A.2. Vocabulary.
Bite GUT l ก ัด
To prosecute FORNG c ฟ้ อง
” BOY r บ๋ อย
Lift YOK h ยก
217
* Irregular Tone.
19.A.3. Idioms.
Not so good/well. MY SOO SEE/SABAI ไม่สู้ดี/สบาย
By mistake. (With wrong understanding.)
DOO-AY KWAHM KOW JY PIT
ด้วยความเข้าใจผิด
The very lowest price. RAHKAH KAHT DTOO-A
ราคาขาดตัว
DTAAK (แตก) is only used for glass, china etc. which can be “shattered”.
KAHT (ขาด) is used generally where in English we would say “break” or “tear” and has
an implication of “incompleteness”. In some cases it is used almost synonymously with
SEE-A “to spoil” (Lesson 15) but the meaning is not quite the same.
KAHT occurs in one highly idiomatic phrase “PEN UN KAHT” to indicate a strong
prohibition.
JUP (จับ) means “to arrest” or “to deprive of freedom” and can often be translated as
“catch”.
Note that except where JUP is used in the strict sense of “to arrest”, the sentence is not
put in the passive form.
DTMROO-AT (ตํารวจ) really means “the police”, and a policeman is strictly speaking
KON DTUMROO-AT but in conversation we always use DTUMROO-AT to mean “the
police” or “the policeman”.
KON CHY (คนใช้) is the general term for “a servant” and really means “an employed
person”.
BOY (บ๋ อย) derived from the English word usually applied to the head servant of a
European household irrespective of sex. The Thai themselves do not generally use this
word when referring to their servants. They call them by name.
BUNTOOK (บรรทุก) means “to load” and a “lorry” is therefore “a loaded vehicle”.
NIW (นิว) means “a finger” but it is also the word to use for “an inch”.
Note however that it comes after the subject of the substantival clause and not between
the two clauses as in English.
DEK CHAI MEE NGAHN JA DTORNG TUM KOW JEUNG PY WAI NUM MY DY
The boy has work to do so he can’t go swimming.
เด็กชายมีงานจะต้องทําเขาจึงไปว่ายนําไม่ได้
219
RUKSAH (รักษา) means “to look after” or “to care for” in the sense of “looking after a
sick person” or “caring for” a moral principle.
REU-ANG (เรื อง) means “a story” but in most cases it is better translated as “about”,
“referring to” etc.
19.A.5. Examples.
Read through the following words and work out the pronunciation yourself.
Double verbs are very common in the Thai language and are used in two different ways.
a. Two verbs may be used together to denote two separate actions as in English.
In this case each verb carries its own full meaning and the English translation
can generally be considered as having the word “and” understood between the
two verbs.
b. A number of verbs in Thai can be used as adverbs to qualify or amplify the meaning of
the verbs.
In this case the two verbs are often called primary and secondary verbs, and
though this is a convenient nomenclature it is probably better in many cases to
think of the second verb as an adverb.
When two verbs are used in this manner, the object, if any, usually comes
between the primary and secondary or adverbial verb.
Some of the more common secondary verbs are set out below.
For instance; if you ring up your soft drink suppliers you can say:
The meaning is exactly the same in each case, it is merely a matter of whether
the soda is being sent towards you or away from you.
Most verbs of motion such as SONG “to send”, KUP “to drive”, PAH “to
accompany”, LONG “to descend”, KEUN “to ascend” etc. are followed by
MAH or PY in this way to indicate the direction of motion relative to some
reference position.
As an extension of the above idea, we can, in certain cases, use these two words
to denote direction in time as well as in space. The distinction here involves the
rather philosophical concept of time moving up from the past to a given instant
and then receding into the future.
This is well illustrated in the use of the two expressions DTOR MAH and
DTOR PY, both of which mean “then”, “later on” etc. When talking about
events that have happened we used DTOR MAH because the sequence of events
referred to was considered as moving towards the speaker’s present, but when
talking of the future we use DTOR PY because the events are considered as
receding from the speaker’s present position in time.
The following two idioms will perhaps help make this concept clearer.
There are a few other cases in which PY is used as a secondary verb in which
the implication is by no means entirely clear, but these are idiomatic expressions
and should be learned as such.
225
As a secondary verb it generally indicates that the action is still going on. (See
Lesson 13.A.1.(a).)
It is almost invariably used after the word GEP “to keep” and also follows a
number of other primary verbs.
KEUN (ขึน) “to ascend”, “up” and LONG (ลง) “to descend”, “down”.
These two words may be used as either primary or secondary verbs, or as
adverbs.
i. As primary verbs.
iii. As adverbs.
There are a number of other words which are sometimes met with in the secondary or
adverbial meaning, but if you study the examples given above you should not have
much trouble when you come across them. In most cases the implication is fairly clear.
Try to get the “feeling” of the expression rather than to actually translate it.
227
20.A.2. Vocabulary.
To keep, to gather. GEP (WY) l-(h) เก็บ (ไว้)
Keep safely WY h ไว้
Since DTUNG DTAA d-l ตังแต่
Tie up POOK l ผูก
Enter KOW MAH d-c เข้ามา
” KOW PY d-c เข้าไป
Way TAHNG c ทาง
Hear DY YIN d-c ได้ยิน
Dangerous UNDTARAI c-l-c อันตราย
Stay (short time) PUK h พัก
Discard, throw away. TING h ทิง
Cupboard DTOO d ตู้
Look after FAHK l ฝาก
Ground DIN c ดิน
To plant, to build. PLOOK l ปลูก
Free, vacant. WAHNG d ว่าง
Mad, insane. BAH d บ้า
Goods SIN KAH r-h สิ นค้า
Sign. v. SEN c เซ็น
Pretty SOO-AY r สวย
” NGAHM c งาม
Injection CHEET YAH l-c ฉีดยา
Needle KEM r เข็ม
Meat NEU-A h เนือ
Besides, as well as. NORK JAHK d-l นอกจาก
Whilst KANA TEE l-l-d ขณะที
Correct, right. TOOK l ถูก
Window NAH DTAHNG d-l หน้าต่าง
Print PIM c พิมพ์
A place TEE d ที
” SATAHN l-r สถาน
Office SUMNUK NGAHN r-h-c สํานักงาน
” ORFFIT c-h ออฟฟิ ศ
228
20.A.3. Idioms.
To start the work. LONG MEU ลงมือ
To leave a message. SUNG (ARY) WY สัง (อะไร) ไว้
From the beginning. DTAA RAAK แต่แรก
GEP (เก็บ) meaning “to keep”, “to store”, “to collect” is usually followed by WY to
emphasise the idea of “keeping safely”.
This word cannot be used in all cases where we use “keep” in English and if you want
to tell the cook to “keep the dog out of the kitchen” you must change the sentence round
and say;
DTUNG DTAA (ตังแต่) “since” occurs frequently in two rather idiomatic expressions.
DTUNG DTAA NUN MAH From then on. (In the past.)
ตังแต่นนมา
ั
Note that in the two expressions above we again have the conception of time coming up
from the past and receding into the future.
229
TAHNG (ทาง) means “a road”, “a track”, “a route” or “a method” and is very similar to
the word “way” in English. TAHNG is generally used in preference to TANON when
referring to a country road.
It forms a great number of compound words of which the meanings are fairly obvious
such as;
DY YIN (ได้ยิน) means “heard” and this is one of the few cases in which we always use
DY in front of the verb when referring to the past tense.
The word YIN alone, which would be the present tense, is never used at all.
If you mean “hear” in the strict sense of “hearing with the ears” you must use FUNG “to
listen”.
PUK (พัก) means “to rest” or “to stay for a short time” as in a hotel and is usually
followed by YOO “to stay”.
DTOO (ตู)้ is the generic term for any sort of cupboard from which we get the
compound;
230
FAHK (ฟาก) is “to take care of” or “to look after” something for someone.
DIN (ดิน) means “ground”, “dirt”, “soil” etc. but “a piece of ground” is;
PLOOK (ปลูก) is “to plant” as a tree or “to build something on the ground” as a house.
SEN (เซ็น) “to sign” is generally followed by CHEU (ชือ) “name” meaning “sign your
name”. In many cases LONG CHEU “put down your name” is used instead of SEN
CHEU.
SOO-AY (สวย) and NGAHM (งาม) both mean “pretty” or “beautiful” and it is quite
common to use both words together but when this is done the order must always be
SOO-AY NGAHM and never the other way round.
CHEET YAH (ฉีดยา) is a combination of CHEET “to inject” and YAH “medicine”. The
classifier for CHEET YAH is KEM “a needle”.
NEU-A (เนือ) means “meat” and is usually followed by the name of the animal to show
what sort of meat is referred to. If not followed by the name of any animal, beef is
usually implied.
TOOK (ถูก) “right”, “correct” etc. is the same word as TOOK “cheap” and TOOK the
sign of the passive voice.
PIM (พิมพ์) is mostly used as a passive voice verb meaning “to be printed”.
TEE (ที). In Lesson 1 you had TEE meaning “at” and in Lesson 2 the same word
meaning “who”, “which”, “that” as a relative pronoun. The same word is also a noun
meaning “a place”.
231
This word TEE meaning “a place” is a very useful word and with it you can make up a
lot of descriptive nouns of your own if you don’t know the proper word.
If you have to make up words as in the last example of course you cannot expect to
convey any great accuracy of meaning and you may find the money put in the cashbox,
in the till or even under the mattress depending on circumstances, but this should
encourage you to find out where you went wrong.
It does not have the wide usage of TEE but you will meet it in some common words
such as;
This word for Embassy is a rather complicated one and as the distinction between an
Embassy and a Legation is known to only a few people in any country you will not be
far wrong if you stick to the simpler word SATAHN TOOT for both Legation and
Embassy.
232
20.A.5. Examples.
(1) The butter is not hard.
เนยไม่แข็ง
Ner-y my kaang.
You must keep it in the refrigerator all the time.
ต้องเก็บไว้ในตูเ้ ย็นตลอดเวลาให้ได้
Dtorng gep wy dtoo yen dtalort hy dy.
(2) Can you reduce the price any more? I can’t reduce it further.
ลดราคาลงอีกได้ไหมคะ ลดอีกไม่ได้ครับ
Lot rahkah long eek dy my ka. Lot eek my dy krup.
(3) Put some cold water in the bedroom.
เอานําเย็นไว้บา้ งในห้องนอน
Ow num yen wy bahng horng norn.
(4) Take my friend to the station.
พาเพือนไปทีสถานีรถไฟ
Pah peu-an py tee satahnee rot fy.
I am afraid the train will be very late.
ผมเกรงว่ารถไฟจะมาช้ามาก
Pom grayng wah rot wy ja mah chah mahk.
(5) Beware of that dog. It is mad and very dangerous.
ระวัง หมาตัวนันมันเป็ นบ้า และอันตรายมาก
Rawung mah dtoo-a nun pen bah la undtarai mahk.
(6) Tell the gardener to tie up the dog.
บอกคนสวนให้ผกู สุ นขั ไว้
Bork kon soo-an hy pook soonuk wy.
(7) If my friend is not in, leave a message that I will come again tomorrow.
ถ้าเพือนฉันไม่อยู่ สังเขาไว้ว่าพรุ่ งนีฉันจะมาใหม่
Tah peu-an chun my yoo sung kow wy wah proong nee chun ja mah my.
(8) I am looking for some pretty flowers to plant in my garden.
ดิฉนั หาดอกไม้ทีสวย ๆ ไว้สาํ หรับปลูกในสวน
Dichun hah dork my tee soo-ay soo-ay wy sumrup plook ny soo-an.
(9) The dog has run away. I don’t know where it has gone.
สุ นขั ออกไปวิงเล่นทางไหนไม่ทราบ
Soonuk ork py wing len tahng ny my sahp.
(10) He probably will come home as soon as the rain stops.
พอฝนหยุดเขาคงจะกลับบ้าน
Por fon yoot kow kong ja glup bahn.
(11) I am late because I could not remember the way.
ฉันมาข้า เพราะจําทางไม่ได้
Chun mah chah prow jum tahng my dy.
233
(23) Ask the driver what time the children want him to pick them up.
ถามคนขับรถว่า เด็กต้องการให้เขาไปรับกีโมง
Tahm kon kup rot wah dek dtorng gahn hy kow py rup gee mong.
(24) How much is the taxi fare to Pratoonam?
ค่ารถแท็กซี ไปประตูนาเท่
ํ าไรครับ
Kah rot taaksee py pradtoonum towry krup.
I don’t know because I never go by taxi.
ไม่ทราบครับ เพราะผมไม่เคยนังรถแท็กซี
My sahp krup Prow pom my ker-y nung rot taaksee.
A samlor is cheaper.
ไปรถสามล้อถูกกว่า
Py rot sahmlor took gwah.
(25) Can you tie them up in one parcel?
ผูกห่อเดียวได้ไหมคะ
Pook hor dee-o dy ka.
(26) He comes late every day. I will have to discharge him.
ฉันจะต้องไล่เขาออก เพราะมาช้าทุกวัน
Chun ja dtorng ly kow ork. Prow mah chah took wun.
If you have studied the Thai spelling of the words given in the previous vocabularies
and the Thai version of the examples in sections A.5 of the lessons up to date, you
should now be able to pick out a fair number of Thai words by their look without still
having to spell them out and should be at a stage to start reading some simple Thai
passages.
In part B. of this and the following lessons we give short passages in Thai to give you
practice in separating the individual words and to show you some of the characteristics
of the written language which differs fairly considerably from colloquial Thai in the use
of more formal words, rather long and complicated constructions and a considerable
number of what appears to be redundant words.
These passages have been taken from Ministry of Education readers, books, magazines
and newspapers so as to cover a number of variations in style and, though Thai scholars
may consider some of them not very good Thai, they have all been written originally in
Thai by Thai people for Thai readers and are reproduced here exactly as written. We
feel that they can be considered as quite typical of modern Thai usage.
It has not been possible to select passages containing only words that you have already
had in the vocabularies but any new words are given below each passage together with
explanatory notes where considered necessary and this should help to enlarge your
vocabulary. For the tone of any word refer to the extended vocabulary Appendix 10.
of the Thai phraseology even though in many cases this results in rather clumsy and
laborious English. Paraphrasing into more suitable English should present no difficulty.
a. Read through the whole passage once and try to separate the words and get a general
idea of what it is all about.
Look up in the list below each passage the words which are new to you as you come to
them.
Do not take any notice of the spaces between words which occur from time to
time. They do not represent sentences and do not even correspond very well
with punctuation and are best neglected.
They do however enable you to tell where one word ends and the next begins so
just be thankful for them.
b. Now read through the passage again and if necessary a third time and see if you can
write it down in English.
It is unlikely that you will be able to put it into good English straight away but that does
not matters; you can easily tidy it up once you worked out the meaning.
c. If you get really stuck refer to the English translation below but try not to do this
except as a last resort if you cannot work out the meaning yourself or if you want to
check up your own version.
Translation is an art which only comes with practice and requires a good vocabulary and a
certain amount of mental agility but the following hints may help you in the early stages.
1. Do not hesitate to neglect any word which appears to be a mere duplication or a word
added to make the sentence more euphonious. You will find a considerable number of
comparatively redundant words used in almost all Thai writing.
2. Do not hesitate to add a few extra words, particularly pronouns, prepositions and
conjunctions if they appear necessary to make sense in English. All Thai writing leaves
out a number of words which would be considered essential in English.
3. If the context appears to demand that a Thai word should have a meaning different to
that which you have been given in the vocabularies, use that meaning tentatively and
see if the whole phrase hangs together.
The meanings of words in any language depend to some extent on the situations
in which they are used and it is possible in vocabularies to give only the most
common and general meanings.
4. If you come across a long word or group of words which you cannot find in your
dictionary try to analyse it into its component words, put them together and see if you
can find a roughly corresponding English phrase.
Thai writing is full of rather flowery expressions and idioms and the translation
of many of these requires a good deal of imagination.
236
ค่า “value”
ทาง “a way”
อาหาร “food”
5. In reading newspapers particularly be prepared to find many of the rules you have
learned broken or disregarded and also a number of misprints and unofficial
abbreviations.
The editorial standard of most Thai newspapers is not very high or very
consistent.
6. If at the end of your translation you are still not quite sure of the exact meaning, do
not get worried about this.
The Asian way of thought and expression is very different from that of the West
and as a rule the Asian deals more with general ideas rather than with exact
relationships.
But lest this lead you into the common error of thinking that Thai is a very
inadequate language in all respects, we would commend for you consideration
the words of that Thai scholar and fluent English speaker M.L. Pin Malakul,
sometime Minister of Education, who, in opening a conference of S.E. Asia
Language experts in Bangkok, said:
“Although we have always been grateful for the use of English as a means of
communication with people of other nations, each of us at some time or other
must have found it inadequate as a medium of expression when it comes to
discussing elusive and abstract subjects such as art, literature, religion and
philosophy.”
237
ผู้ด◌ี
ครู ประสิ ทธิ กับนายสิ นไปกรุ งเทพ ฯ ด้วยกัน นายสิ นเห็นรถยนต์ในกรุ งเทพ ฯ มาก จึงพูดขึนว่า กรุ งเทพ ฯ มีผดู้ ีมาก
เพราะมีรถยนต์มาก ครู ประสิ นธิ เห็นนายสิ นพูดผิดจึงพูดขึนว่า คนมีรถยนต์ เขาไม่เรี ยกว่าผูด้ ีทุกคนไป แต่เขาเรี ยกว่าคนมีเงิน
คนทีเรี ยกว่าผูด้ ีนนคื
ั อคนทีมีกริ ิ ยาวาจาสุ ภาพ แต่งตัวสะอาดเรี ยบร้อย คนไม่มีเงินไม่มีรถยนต์ เรี ยกว่าคนจน
คนทีกิริยาวาจาไม่เรี ยบร้อยเรี ยกว่า คนไม่สุภาพ
Translation.
Teacher Prasit and Nai Sin went to Bangkok together. Nai Sin saw many cars in
Bangkok so said. “Bangkok has many high class people because there are many cars”.
Teacher Prasit saw that Nai Sin spoke wrongly so said. “People with cars, they are not
all called high class people, but they are called people who have money. People that we
call high class people are those people who have polite behaviour and speech and dress
cleanly and tidily. People who do not have money and do not have a car are called poor
people. People whose behaviour and speech is not very tidy (good) we call not polite
people.”
238
Translation.
In time not many days ahead it will reach the rainy season. Everyone is thinking that
(wondering if) we may get a lot of rain. If it rains too much or too heavily the rain will
be dangerous to the rice plants. But if you think that the farmer does not want rain for
the rice plants you will be thinking wrong. Rain is necessary for growing rice. It is
regrettable that most people like to commit suicide in the rainy season.
239
ทีนัวเดลี (New Delhi) ผูเ้ ชียวชาญของอินเดียเปิ ดเผยว่า ภายในเดือนมีนาคน ค.ศ. ๑๙๖๑ คืออีก ๑๔
เดือนข้างหน้าพลเมืองของอินเดียจะเพิมขึนเป็ น ๔๑๐ ล้านคน และใน ๖ ปี ข้างหน้าจะเพิมเป็ น๔๘๐ ล้านคน เมือ ๔ ปี ทีแล้ว
พลเมืองของอินเดียมีจาํ นวน๓๘๔ ล้านคน
Translation.
In New Delhi experts of India disclose that in the month of March 1961 that is 14
months ahead, the population of India will increase to be 410 million people and in 6
years ahead will increase to be 480 million people. Four years ago the population of
India amounted to 384 million people.
240
เรี ยน นายทีเคารพนับถือ
บ.....ต.....คนซักผ้ า
This is a letter from a wash girl who has fallen out with the No. 1 servant, (MAHLEE)
and resigned. Her knowledge of writing is about Grade 3 or 4. Notice that she refers to
herself as NOO (little one) throughout except at the end where she refers to herself by
her job as SUK PAH.
She uses no 2nd. person pronoun but refers to her employer as NAI. It is by no means a
very good letter but is reproduced exactly as written.
เรี ยน REE-AN This word which normally means “to learn” is used
as the introduction to a letter and in this case cannot
be translated.
Translation.
Yesterday that NOO took leave of NAI and did not work. Because MAHLEE is no
good. She has a story that NOO uses a lot of water but MAHLEE uses more. Husband
one person, boy one person, nephew one person, MAHLEE one person, altogether 4
people. As for NOO one person alone. NAI think which will be the most. MAHLEE’s
child comes to sleep here every night, sleeps in the kitchen, she never lets NAI see. That
day MAHLEE took NAI’s beer and gave it to the Samlor Man to drink but she says she
did not give. NOO saw her give it to him to drink.
If NAI doesn’t want NOO to go NAI must tell MAHLEE not to come and say anything
with wash girl. Wash girl live with NAI very happily but MAHLEE she is no good. At
the time when NOO goes to see her elder sister she charges her with going out for fun,
but no, NAI must not believe MAHLEE.
B.....D.....Wash girl.
There are a number of words in Thai which are usually translated as “Please”, but which
are mostly used in slightly different senses.
Certain other words which cannot readily be translated are also used when it is desired
to make an order or request sound a little more polite.
This is ordinarily used in the written language and when you are asking to have
something done for you, by an equal.
242
In conversation it sounds rather formal and is not very much used except in
certain cases where it becomes a mild form of order.
This is the word most generally used in conversation when asking for a favour
of any sort.
It is a much less abrupt way of asking for something than to use OW MAH
“bring”.
d. NOY l (หน่ อย) “A little”, SUK l (สั ก) “As much as”, TEE c (ที).
To use KOR alone is considered a little abrupt in conversation and the request is
often softened down and made more polite by adding one or more of the words
above at the end of the sentence.
When used in this way these words are not subject to translation.
In many cases the word KOR is omitted altogether, and just which word or
combination of words you use in any particular case depends a lot on individual
preference and the euphony of the sentence.
This is often used in place of KOR at the beginning of a request sentence when
you are asking for something to be done.
243
As with KOR it can be used alone, in which case the request sounds rather
abrupt, or it can be softened down by adding one or more of the words in (d)
above at the end of the sentence.
This is sometimes used in such sentences as “Will you kindly tell me...”. It is
used in writing but seldom in conversation and is only mentioned as you may
meet it in your reading.
21.A.2. Vocabulary.
21.A.3. Idioms.
JOOT (จุด) “to light” is used in connection with lamps, fires etc. where we actually have
to light them with a flame.
DUP (ดับ) “to extinguish” is similarly used only where there is a flame to be
extinguished except that if the electric light has been extinguished by a blown fuse or
other breakdown we can also use DUP.
245
PIT (ปิ ด) “to close” is used for turning off a light, turning down or shutting down an
electrical appliance or machine etc.
PERT (เปิ ด) “to open” is also used for “turning on” or “turning up” an electrical
appliance, radio etc.
KORTOT (ขอโทษ) corresponds to “excuse me” in English and is used in the same way.
TEU (ถือ) means “to hold in the hand” but for “to hold something from moving” we use
JUP “arrest”.
YIP (หยิบ) “to pick up with the fingers” is often used instead of SONG with the meaning
of “to hand someone”.
LAAK (แลก) “to barter” and TORN “to divide up” are both used with regard to
“changing money” but in quite different senses.
LAAK implies that you expect to get back (in barter or exchange) as much as you gave
and hence this word is used in asking for change.
TORN (ทอน) however which really means “to divide up” refers to what you expect to get
as your share after you have divided up some money as for instance between yourself
and the taxi driver.
246
A point to watch in the first example given above is that if you leave out KOR it implies
that you are not asking a favour but rather want to know if the note is a good one or not
and if your friend will change it.
JUMNOO-AN (จํานวน) means “the amount” or “the number” of something and is used as
follows.
CHALAHT (ฉลาด) and GENG both mean “skilful” or “clever” but the former is the more
commonly used.
GENG (เก่ง) however is very frequently used in referring to your ability to speak Thai.
KOR YEUM (ขอยืม) “borrow” and HY YEUM (ให้ยืม) “lend” both refer to borrowing or
lending things or money on a temporary basis where there is no question of any interest
being paid.
Quite different words are used for borrowing or lending money with interest.
DTOO-A (ตัว) and BUT (บัตร) both mean “ticket” and are fairly synonymous although
there are a number of compound words in which only one or other of the words is
normally used.
Generally DTOO-A is used for small tickets such as railway tickets, airline tickets etc.
and BUT for larger ones such as invitation cards, passes etc.
21.A.5. Examples.
(1) I am sorry I am late. (Excuse me for coming late)
ผมขอโทษทีมาช้าครับ
Pom kortot tee mah chah krup.
(2) Please call me a taxi.
ช่วยเรี ยกรถแท็กซี ให้ฉนั ที
Choo-ay ree-ak rot taaksee hy chun tee.
(3) Please give me two tickets.
ขอตัวสักสองใบค่ะ
Kor dtoo-a suk sorng by ka.
(4) Please let me see that pair of black trousers.
ขอดูกางเกงสี ดาํ ตัวนันครับ
Kor doo gahng gayng see dum dtoo-a nun krup.
(5) Please light that lamp.
ช่วยจุดตะเกียงดวงนัน
Choo-ay joot dtagee-ang doo-ang nun.
(6) Excuse me, what is your name? My name is Lek.
ขอโทษคุณชืออะไรคะ ผมชือเล็ก
Kortot koon cheu ary ka. Pom cheu lek.
(7) Turn out the lamp. Turn out the (electric) light.
ดับตะเกียงที ปิ ดไฟที
Dup dtagee-ang tee. Pit fy tee.
248
นายพัด เชือเชิญ ทําไร่ ขา้ วและผักต่าง ๆ อยู่ทีหมู่บา้ นเขาเขียวตําบลเขาเขียว ในไร่ ของนายพัด ทีตําบลเขาเขียวนี
มีถวเหลื
ั องปลูกอยู่เป็ นจํานวนมาก นายพัดเป็ นคนมีความรู้กว้างขวาง เขาชอบอ่านหนังสื อพิมพ์ และหนังสื อทีเป็ นประโยชน์เสมอ ๆ
เขาจึงรู้ว่าถัวเหลืองเป็ นพืชทีประหลาด เพราะนอกจากใช้กนิ เป็ นอาหารแล้ว ยังใช้ทาํ เครื องใช้ได้อีก
เพราะฉะนันเขาจึงมักพูดกับเพือนบ้านของเขาเสมอ ๆ ว่า พืชประหลาดคือถัวเหลือง
Translation.
Nai Put Cheu-a Chern farmed rice and various vegetables at the village of Kow Kee-o
in the Dtumbon of Kow Kee-o. In the plantation of Nai Put in the village of Kow Kee-o
there were a lot of soya beans growing.
Nai Put was a man who had wide knowledge and he always liked reading newspapers
and books that were useful so he knew that the soya bean was a wonderful plant because
besides being used for food one could also use it to make utensils. Therefore he often
spoke with his neighbours that the soya bean was a wonderful plant.
นําเป็ นสิ งจําเป็ นแก่ชีวิต ถ้าไม่มีนาํ ก็จะไม่มีชีวิตอยู่เลย ถ้านําทีเราใช้กนิ และอาบอยู่ทุกวันนีหมดไป เราก็จะไม่มีผกั และผลไม้
เราจะไม่มีววั และไก่ ทีให้เนือและไข่แก่เรา สัตว์และพืชจะตายหมด คนก็จะอดอาหาร เราทุกคนก็ตอ้ งตาย
โลกเราก็จะกลายเป็ นโลกว่างเปล่า
อด ORT To be short of
กระหาย GRAHAI To crave for. In this case “to crave for water” i.e.
“to be thirsty”.
Translation.
Water is the thing necessary to life. If we do not have water there will not be anything
that has life at all. If the water that we use to eat and bathe every day was all used up we
would not have vegetables and fruit and we would not have oxen and fowls that give
meat and eggs to use. Animals and plants would die; people would be short of food and
we all must die. Our world would become a world free and empty.
We must drink water every day. When we are thirsty sometimes we drink the water of
coconuts or eat fruit instead of water.
Before we set out to travel to far places the first thing that we must think about is
namely water. When we look for a place to rest in the forest we choose a place near
water.
Translation.
Once there was an old woman who went into a shop which sold eggs and said to the
owner. “I want to buy eggs as much as one dozen but they must be eggs which have
been laid by a black hen”. The owner of the shop said. “I am glad to sell following your
wishes but I do not know how eggs from a black hen differ (are wrong from) those of
other hens”.
The owner of the shop answered. “If so please let grandmother choose the eggs
yourself. Go on”.
The old woman took a dozen eggs and put them in her basket. The owner of the shop
looked at the eggs that the old woman had chosen and then said. “Oh, I see already, the
black hens lay the biggest eggs”.
ข่ าวจากประเทศออสเตรเลีย (Australia)
Translation.
At the end of last month the writer received a letter from an Australian friend written on
16th. March. He had related that at the time of writing that letter, tramway workers in
Melbourne had started (opened) a strike since almost one month already. That fact
means that the people of Melbourne are not able to go anywhere or come anywhere by
tram for about one month already and at the time he writes the letter that the strike is
still going on.
Later the writer received a letter from a Thai student written on 2nd. April relating that
the strike of tramway men had been operating for more than 40 days already.
254
The Thai language contains a great number of compound words formed from a noun
and one or more qualifying or descriptive words. Some of these words you have already
met but it will help you to enlarge your vocabulary if we draw attention to certain
important groups at this stage.
d. Compounds with RAHN (ร้ าน) “A shop” and KAI (ขาย) “To sell”.
With the help of these two words we can make up the names of most sorts of
shops.
It should be noted that in Thailand there are really no such things as butchers
shops, fruit shops, greengrocers shops etc. as all these things are normally sold
in the market.
Throughout this book we have used the word ROT for “a motor car”. Strictly
speaking the correct word is ROT YON made up from ROT “a mechanical
vehicle” and YON “an engine”, but in all ordinary conversation and even in
writing unless there is some chance of being misunderstood, the word ROT
alone is used.
Other combinations with ROT which are always given in full are:
The word BY which you first met as a classifier for round and hollow things and
then as the word for “a leaf”, also has the meaning of “a leaflet” or small piece
of paper, and is used in a number of compound words in everyday use.
Although if you get stuck you can often make up your own words for unfamiliar things
in this way, don’t be surprised if you are not understood straight away as if there is a
proper word for something a Thai may not recognise your improvisation immediately.
22.A.2. Vocabulary.
Shop RAHN h ร้าน
Building. n. RONG c โรง
Implement, utensil. KREU-ANG d เครื อง
Spread over POO c ปู
Movies, cinema. NUNG r หนัง
” PAHP-PA-YON d-h-c ภาพยนตร์
To project, CHAI r ฉาย
show a movie.
To nurse PA-YAHBAHN h-c-c พยาบาล
To dress DTAANG DTOO-A l-c แต่งตัว
Enjoyable, good fun. SANOOK l-l สนุก
Licence BY ANOOYAHT c-l-h-d ใบอนุญาต
Popular NIYOM h-c นิยม
Family KRORP KROO-A d-c ครอบครัว
Wedding, marriage. DTAANG NGAHN l-c แต่งงาน
Brother (elder) PEE CHAI d-c พีชาย
Brother (younger) NORNG CHAI h-c น้องชาย
Sister (elder) PEE SAOU d-r พีสาว
Sister (younger) NORNG SAOU h-r น้องสาว
Register LONG TABEE-AN c-h-c ลงทะเบียน
” JOT TABEE-AN l-h-c จดทะเบียน
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22.A.3. Idioms.
It is believed that. PEN TEE CHEU-A WAH เป็ นทีเชือว่า
From the very first. DTAA DTON MEU แต่ตน้ มือ
What is happening? MEE ARY GERT KEUN มีอะไรเกิดขึน
LESSON 22.A. CONVERSATION
22.A.4. Vocabulary Notes.
NUNG (หนัง) and PAHP-PA-YON (ภาพยนตร์) both mean “the movies” or “the cinema”
and both are in general use in conversation though PAHP-PA-YON is a little more
formal and is used more in writing. In Thai we cannot say “go to the movies” but must
say;
CHAI (ฉาย) means “to project rays of light”. From this we get;
PA-YAHBAHN (พยาบาล) “to nurse” is seldom met with alone but is usually combined
with other words as in;
DTAANG DTOO-A (แต่งตัว) “to dress” is a composite word with the literal meaning of
“to adorn the body”. It may be compounded still further into;
SANOOK (สนุก) is an adjective meaning “enjoyable”, “cheerful” etc. but it is also used
as a verb meaning “to enjoy oneself”, “to have a good time” and is a very expressive
word in Thai.
PEE CHAI (พีชาย), NORNG CHAI (น้องชาย). The Thai like other East Asians make strong
distinctions between senior and junior relations both in relative age and in relation to the
side of the family they are connected with.
As these relationships are rather complicated they are set out in detail in Appendix 3.
Note that you cannot refer to a brother or sister without at the same time indicating
whether he or she is older or younger than yourself. These words are not strictly
confined to actual brother or sister but may also be used for relatives or close friends.
They are also commonly used as 2nd. and 3rd. person pronouns and if the sex is
obvious are commonly shortened to PEE and NORNG.
SAHMEE (สามี) and POO-A (ผัว) both mean “husband” but SAHMEE is the “polite”
word and is the best one for you to use in most cases.
PUNRA-YAH (ภรรยา) and MEE-A (เมีย) both mean “wife” and though PUNRA-YAH is
the “polite” word you will hear MEE-A used quite a lot. This word is often pronounced
PUNYAH.
SOO-AN (ส่ วน) meaning “a section” or “a part” is often more conveniently translated “as
for”.
SOO-AN MAHK is an adjective meaning “most” (See also DOY MAHK Lesson
24.A.4.)
The verb “to trade” is KAH KAI or KAH which forms a number of easily remembered
words.
As an interesting example of the way the Thai language is being adapted to express
modern concepts we give the following;
260
PRAJUM (ประจํา) is a very difficult word to translate. Broadly speaking it means “to be
regular” or “constantly associated with”. It occurs mostly in rather idiomatic
compounds some of which are in fairly common usage.
MEE LOOK KAH PRAJUM MAHK MY Have you many regular customers?
มีลูกค้าประจํามากไหม
MUN (มัน) is “fat” or “grease” of all sorts and from it we derive the obvious combined
word;
TEUNG (ถึง) is a word with a wide variety of uses but generally speaking it means “to”,
“to arrive at”, “to reach” etc. in place or time although this implication is by no means
easy to follow in all cases.
It may have the meaning of the preposition “to” in such sentences as;
POM JA DTORNG REE-AN PAHSAH THAI DTUNG DTAA SEE TEUNG HAH MONG YEN
I must study Thai from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
ผมจะต้องเรี ยนภาษาไทยตังแต่สีถึงห้าโมงเย็น
You have already had the word MAH TEUNG “to arrive”, “to come to” and a similar
combination is PY TEUNG which also means “to arrive” but at a place away from the
speaker.
เมือผมไปถึงสถานีรถไฟมาถึงแล้ว
These two examples illustrate the point that you do not always use the word TEUNG
meaning “to” as freely as you would use the word “to” in English.
TEUNG is also widely used with the general idea of “reaching” as in the following
sentences.
When TEUNG follows KIT “to think”, POOT “to talk”, ROO “to know”, REE-AN “to
learn” etc. it is translated as “about”.
TEUNG is also used in combination with a number of other words in various more or
less idiomatic usages.
22.A.5. Examples.
(1) Which hotel are you staying at?
คุณพักอยู่ทีโรงแรมไหนครับ
Koon puk yoo tee rong raam ny krup.
I am staying at the Oriental; it is very comfortable.
อยู่โรงแรมโอเรี ยนเตล สบายมาก
Yoo rong raam oree-andtayn sabai mahk.
(2) The driver is filling up with petrol.
คนขับรถเติมนํามันรถอยู่
Kon kup tot dterm num mun rot yoo.
(3) Can you tell me where the tobacco factory is?
โรงงานยาสูบตังอยู่ทีไหน บอกผมได้ไหมครับ
Rong ngahn yah soop dtung yoo tee ny bork pom dy my krup.
(4) Do you mean that all those eggs have been eaten already?
หมายถึงว่าไข่ไก่เหล่านันรับประทานหมดแล้วใช่ไหม
Mai teung wah ky gy low nun rup-pratahn mot laaw chy my.
(5) I resigned from my job because my mother was sick.
I had to go and look after her.
ดิฉนั ออกจากงาน เพราะว่าคุณแม่ไม่สบาย
ต้องไปพยาบาลท่าน
Dichun ork jahk ngahn prow wah koon maa my sabai
dtorng py pa-yahbahn tahn.
(6) I am going to Singapore by aeroplane and three later will get the ship to
England.
ผมจะไปสิ งคโปร์โดยเครื องบิน อีกสามวันต่อจากนันจะลงเรื อไปประเทศอังกฤษ
Pom ja py singkapo doy kreu-ang bin eek sahm wun dtor jahk nun ja long
reu-a py pratayt ungrit.
(7) If you drive without a licence you will be fined by the police.
ถ้าขับรถไม่มีใบอนุญาต จะถูกตํารวจปรับ
Tah kup rot my mee by anooyaht ja took dtumroo-at prup.
(8) I have a younger married sister.
มีนอ้ งสาวคนหนึงแต่งงานแล้ว
Mee norng saou kon neung dtaang ngahn laaw.
(9) Next year he will go to school with his elder brother.
ปี หน้าเขาจะไปโรงเรี ยนกับพีชาย
Pee nah kow ja py rong ree-an gup pee chai.
(10) His work is very good so I raised his salary to 600 baht per month.
งานของเขาดีมาก ผมจึงเพิมเงินเดือนให้ เป็ นเดือนละหกร้อยบาท
Ngahn korng kow dee mahk pom jeung perm ngern deu-an hy pen deu-an la
hok roy baht.
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22.B.1. Honesty.
ความซือ
เสี ยแล้ว SEE-A LAAW This has no real meaning here except to
emphasise the badness.
Translation.
HONESTY
There were two girls, one called Dek Ying Jong-gon-nee and the other one called Dek
Ying Yotagar. One morning those two children took goods and set up a stall at the
market. Dek Ying Jong-gon-nee sold fruit and vegetables, Dek Ying Yotagar sold fish.
Many people bought and these two children sold well. At the stall of Dek Ying Jong-
gon-nee there was left a watermelon and at the stall of Dek Ying Yotagar there was left
only one Plarchorn. At this time a girl came to the stall of Dek Ying Jong-gon-nee, took
the watermelon in her hand and said. “This watermelon is very big and truly good, what
is the price?”.
Dek Ying Jong-gon-nee answered. “There is left only this one watermelon, it is good
and big it is true but it has bad parts”. When she had spoken like that she turned over the
watermelon to let that girl look.
Translation.
Nai Jaang had a wife called Narng Sai. His house was in the Dtumbon of Boo-a Ngarm.
He had the occupation of a farmer and a trader. Nai Jaang had one son called Nai Samer
who worked in the Savings Bank in Bangkok. One day Nai Jaang received a letter from
Nai Samer saying that he had received a salary monthly of 300 baht and had deposited
in the Savings Bank 50 baht per month and had already deposited for many months. In
the type of deposit on call (current account) he got interest per hundred 5 per year (five
per cent) and in the type of deposit for six months he got interest per hundred 7 per year.
When Nai Jaang had received the letter from his son he took his money and went to
deposit it in the Savings Bank, some in the type of deposit for call and some in the type
for six months.
22.B.3. Trinidad.
Translation.
In Trinidad there will be the work of building a large sized paper factory. A factory
which must cost to construct up to 360 million baht. An English company will be the
people to carry out this piece of work. The paper which can be produced from this
factory will be enough for use both in the West Indies archipelago and in British
Guiana.
267
ภาพยนตร์ ทสร้
ี างจากฮ่ องกง (Hong Kong) ได้ รับการยกย่ องมาก
Translation.
In 1971 A.D. Hong Kong film companies, four places, making films in the Amoy
language turned out altogether 34 stories which were distributed and projected
everywhere in Singapore, Taiwan Vietnam and other countries; which made an income
for the Hong Kong movie companies not a small amount.
Last year three more movie studios (factories) in Hong Kong made films using the
Swatow language; 17 stories, most of which were sent for showing in Thailand; which
has Chinese in Thailand, using this language amongst themselves, more than 300,000
people; and they also received not a little popularity when sent for showing in
Singapore, Malaya and Hong Kong as well.
In Lesson 4 you had GUP meaning “with”, “as” etc. and now we introduce the word
GUN meaning “together with”, “with each other” etc. It is important to distinguish
clearly between these two words particularly when, as frequently occurs, they are used
as suffixes to other words.
GUP corresponds very closely to “with” or “as” in English and like “with” or “as” is
always followed by an object.
GUN is an adverb with the general meaning of “together”, “with each other”, “also” and
usually comes at the end of a sentence.
In combination with MEU-AN “the same”, “similar”, we have MEU-AN GUP “the
same as”, “similar to” and MEU-AN GUN “similar”, “similarly”, “also”, “the same
together” etc.
269
In combination with TOW “equal” we have TOW GUP “equal to”, “equal with” and
TOW GUN “equal”.
Note that when we are referring to dimensional quantities such as length, height,
breadth etc. we always use TOWGUP and TOWGUN and not MEU-AN GUP and
MEU-AN GUN.
In combination with DEE-O “one only” we have DEE-O GUP and DEE-O GUN which
are similar to MEU-AN GUP and MEU-AN GUN in many ways except that they imply
identically the same rather than just similar.
DOO-AY “with”, “also” etc. when followed by GUN means “together”, “with each
other”.
23.A.2. Vocabulary.
With GUP l ก ับ
Sick POO-AY l ป่ วย
Taste. n. ROT h รส
* Irregular Tone.
272
23.A.3. Idioms.
GUN (กัน) “together”, “with each other” also occurs as a verb meaning “to prevent”, “to
hinder” but it is not often met with in this usage. It is also sometimes used as a personal
pronoun meaning “I” but again this is fairly rare.
In some cases it is added onto the end of a sentence merely to round it off or add
emphasis and cannot be translated at all.
MEU-AN (เหมือน) “similar”, “the same” is usually met with in combination with GUP or
GUN and is seldom used alone except in the negative sense.
273
POO-AY (ป่ วย) means “sick” and probably in bed as distinct from MY SABAI which
means just “not well”.
DTOR MAH (ต่อมา), DTOR PY (ต่อไป). Both these words mean “later on”, “after that”
but DTOR MAH refers to something that has happened in the past whilst DTOR PY
refers to the future. (See Lesson 20.A.1.)
REET (รี ด) “to press”, “to squeeze”, “to iron” gives us two useful household words;
This last word literally means “a stove for ironing” which is a most appropriate
description of the charcoal iron so widely used throughout the country.
Note the obvious derivation of these words, “cash” is literally “fresh money” and
“credit” is “believe money”.
DOOLAA (ดูแล) means “to guard” as distinct from FAHK (Lesson 20) which merely
means “to look after something for somebody”.
ORNG GAHN (องค์การ) is “an Organization” for carrying out some specific activity and
usually refers to a Government Organization such as;
RORNG (ร้อง) means “to cry out”, “to shout”, “to give utterance to” and is usually
combined with other words which indicate the type of the cry.
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SEE-ANG (เสี ยง) “noise”, “voice”, “tone” etc. can also be used as a verb and in many
cases is practically synonymous with RORNG.
PAI (ภาย) meaning “a part” occurs as a prefix indicating that we are referring to a
particular part of space or time, and is always followed by some other word to show
which part.
In some cases its use is ambiguous and only the context of the sentence makes it clear
whether we are referring to a part of space or time.
YAHNG (ยาง) really means “rubber” but it often used colloquially as short for YAHNG
ROT “a tyre”.
TORALAYK (โทรเลข) “telegram” is also used for the verb “to telegraph”.
REE-AP ROY (เรี ยบร้อย) has the general meaning of “neat”, “tidy”, “well organized” etc.
and is used in a variety of ways to convey this general idea.
DTAHM (ตาม) means “to follow” or “in accordance with” and is widely used in both
senses, but some of the expressions are rather idiomatic and should be learned as a
whole;
276
RAWAHNG (ระหว่าง) means “between” in space or “during” in time but in the latter case
is usually preceded by NY “in”.
23.A.5. Examples.
(1) Is the hotel far from here?
โรงแรมอยู่ไกลจากทีนีไหม
Rong raam yoo gly jahk tee nee my.
Not far; we can reach it in less than 10 minutes.
ไม่ไกลครับ ห่างจากนีไม่ถึงสิ บนาที
My gly krup hahng jahk nee my teung sip nahtee.
(2) Will you let me borrow this book?
คุณจะให้ผมยืมหนังสื อเล่มนีได้ไหมครับ
Koon ja hy pom yeum nungseu lem nee dy my krup.
Yes, I will lend it to you with pleasure.
ครับผมจะให้ยืมด้วยความยินดี
Krup pom ja hy yeum doo-ay kwahm yindee.
(3) Usually it takes me at least half an hour to reach Don Meuang.
ตามธรรมดาผมไปดอนเมือง ต้องใช้เวลาอย่างน้อยครึ งชัวโมง
Dtahm tummadah pom py dorn meu-ang dtrong chy waylah yahng noy
kreung choo-a mong.
(4) You must iron these shirts with a warm iron only.
เสื อเชิตเหล่านีต้องรี ดด้วยเตารี ดอุ่นเท่านัน
Seu-a chert low nee dtorng reet doo-ay dtow reet oon tow nun.
(5) I will let you know later, I cannot find his address now.
ผมจะให้คุณทราบภายหลัง เดียวนียังหาทีอยู่ของเขาไม่พบ
Pom ja hy koon sahp pai lung dee-onee yung hah tee yoo korng kow my pop.
(6) I have a cook who makes good Thai food so I often have it.
ผมมีคนครัวทีทําอาหารไทยอร่ อยมาก ผมจึงได้รับประทานบ่อย ๆ
Pom mee kon kroo-a tee tum ah-hahn thai aroy mahk pom jeung dy
ruppratahn boy boy.
(7) Excuse me, I want to send a telegram to Australia, where do I go?
ขอโทษครับ ผมอยากจะส่ งโทรเลขไปออสเตรเลีย จะส่ งได้ทีไหมครับ
Kor tot krup pom yahk ja song toralayk py oosdtraylee-a ja song dy teeny
krup.
(8) I am going to Chiengmai by train this evening and will fly back on Monday.
เย็นนีจะขึนรถไฟไปเชียงใหม่ วันจันทร์จะบินกลับ
Yen nee ja keun rot fy chee-angmy wun jun ja bin glup.
(9) These two records are the same (song).
แผ่นเสี ยงสองแผ่นนีเพลงอย่างเดียวกับ
Paan see-ang sorng paan nee playng yahng dee-o gun.
No, they are not the same, this one has voice and the other is music only.
ไม่ใช่ค่ะ แผ่นนีเป็ นเพลงร้อง อีกแผ่นหนึงมีแต่ดนตรี เท่านัน
My chy ka paan nee pen playng rorng eek paan neung mee dtaa dondtree tow
nun.
278
I would rather have cash if you don’t mind. (Please cash better)
ขอเงินสดดีกว่าครับ
Kor ngern sot dee gwah krup.
(21) I want to go to a chemist shop.
ผมอยากไปร้านขายยาสักแห่งหนึง
Pom yahk py rahn kai yah suk haang neung.
Do you know where the nearest one is?
ร้านใกล้ทีสุ ดอยู่ทีไหน คุณทราบไหม
Rahn gly tee soot yoo teeny koon sahp my.
(22) I have been invited to lunch at the Erawan.
ผมได้รับเชิญให้ไปรับประทานอาหารกลางวัน ทีโรงแรมเอราวัณ
Pom dy rup chern hy py ruppratahn ah-hahn glahng wun tee rong raam
ayrahwun.
(23) What floor is your room on? It is on the third floor.
ห้องของคุณอยู่ชนทีั เท่าไรครับ ชันสามครับ
Horng korng koon yoo chun tee towry krup. Chun sahm krup.
(24) It is not that I don’t like Thai food but I promised my wife that
I would come home early.
ไม่ใช่ว่าผมไม่ชอบอาหารไทย แต่ผมสัญญากับภรรยาว่าจะกลับบ้านเร็ ว ๆ
My chy wah pom my chorp ah-hahn thai dtaa pom sunyah gup
punra-yah wah ja glup bahn rew rew.
(25) The dog bit the policeman so the owner (of the dog) was fined.
หมากัดตํารวจ เจ้าของหมาจึงถูกปรับ
Mah gut dtumroo-at jow korng mah jeung took prup.
The policeman was bitten by the dog so the owner (of the dog) was fined.
ตํารวจถูกหมากัด เจ้าของหมาจึงถูกปรับ
Dtumroo-at took mah gut jow korng mah jeung took prup.
(26) I want to register this letter. How much will it be?
ผมต้องการลงทะเบียนจดหมายฉบับนี จะคิดเท่าไรครับ
Pom dtorng gahn long tabee-an jotmai chabup nee. Ja kit towry krup.
One baht 10 sadtahng sir.
บาทสิ บสตางค์ครับ
Baht sip sadtahng krup.
280
Translation.
50 foreign students are studying English in a special school, one place at Exeter, in
order to prepare themselves to enter a university or enter to work in the industrial
sphere. From students of 20 countries that are studying according to the syllabus of this
school at the present time there is included one Thai namely P..... G..... of Bangkok.
This school has started teaching five years already which in that time had only 3
students but at the present time there are many people waiting.
281
นักท่ องเทียวในประเทศไทย
Translation.
TOURISTS IN THAILAND
I used to take many farangs who come to Thailand to look around in Bangkok many
times. Every time must go to look at Wat Pragaaw (Emerald Budda), Wat Po and Wat
Aroon because these wats are very beautiful are built very differently from wats in other
countries.
In regard to Wat Pragaaw they open and let people go in and look on Monday,
Wednesday and Friday only. As for the other wats you can go in and look every day. It
is regrettable that some farangs come visiting Bangkok for only one day which does not
coincide with the day that they open, so they cannot look at that wat. Myself I do not
understand why they therefore do not open and let people look every day.
Besides looking at various wats, I take farangs to get into a boat near the Oriental hotel
and go to look along the river and klongs. Many people like this very much because
they see things which are different from Bangkok.
They can see fruit gardens and very old houses that Thai people use as places to eat, to
live and to sleep.
Shops and markets sell things which are located on the river and the klong. The things
which they sell most are fruits which come from nearby gardens by the way of boats.
Such as mangoes, bananas, for example.
การเลือกอาหารรั บประทาน
Translation.
We can see that there are many people whose food does not do as much to them fully as
it ought. Not a few people who think that food which is good is food which is hard to
find and expensive and try to look for and eat for instance bird’s nests, shark’s fins and
mushrooms. These things are not expensive because they are good value in the way of
food; usually mushrooms almost have no value in the way of food; but it is because they
have a strange taste, are hard to find and so they are expensive. The popularity of tinned
foods, of foreign countries is like this also.
บริ ษทั จะทําการขายเลหลังสิ งของต่าง ๆ ทีสํานักงานของบริ ษทั ในวันเสาร์ที ๘ และอาทิตย์ที ๙ ตุลาคมนี เริ มเวลา ๑๐.๐๐ น.
ทังสองวันสิ งของทีจะขายมีเฟอร์นิเจอร์ (Furniture) หลายชนิด ตูเ้ ย็น พรมปูพืนทีนอนขนาดต่าง ๆ เสื อเชิตของอังกฤษ
(England) จํานวนมาก วิทยุเครื องเล่นจานเสี ยงสเตริ โอ นําหอมของฝรังเศส (France) และด้ายถักนิตติงเบอร์ ๘ และเบอร์
๑๒ จักรยานและจักรยานยนต์ นอกจากนียังมีของอืน ๆ อีกจํานวนมาก
สําหรับวันอาทิตย์ที ๙ เมือถึงเวลา ๑๑.๐๐ น. จะทําการขายเลหลังทีดินว่างเปล่าเนือที ๒ ไร่ อยู่ในซอยปุณณะวิถิ ถนนสุ ขุมวิท
Translation.
The company will do the business of selling by auction various things at the office of
the company on Saturday 8th. and Sunday 9th. October.
Things that will be sold are furniture many sorts, refrigerators, carpets to cover floor,
beds of various sizes, shirts from England, a large number radios, record players Stereo,
scented water from France, knitting thread No. 8 and No.12, bicycles and motor
bicycles.
As for Sunday 9th. when it comes to 11 o’clock will auction a piece of land vacant and
empty in area 2 RY which is at Soy BOONAWITEE on the SOOKOOMWIT road.
There are many words in Thai which cannot be translated into English in any simple
way and probably the two commonest which give most trouble to the beginner are the
letter ก็ GOR standing alone and the combination การที GAHN TEE.
286
The letter ก็ GOR standing alone or in combination with certain other words occurs
frequently in both conversation and writing and can be translated in a wide variety of
ways, depending on just how it occurs, and in some cases cannot be translated at all.
i. It frequently introduces the main sentence after a conditional clause and in this
case comes after the subject of the main sentence if any.
ii. When used as a prefix to DY “can” or DEE “good” the combination carries the
implication of uncertainty or indifference.
iii. When used as a prefix to MEE “have” the combination means “... have either
this or that”.
iv. When prefixed to certain words such as JING “true”, TOOK “correct” etc. it
merely adds emphasis.
vi. In addition to the above usages, this particle very often occurs in sentences
where it acts more like punctuation than anything else and is not translated at all.
The effective use of this particle can only be learned by constant practice and by
listening to natural Thai speakers.
This combination does not occur very much in conversation but is fairly common in
writing.
As will be seen from the following examples, any attempt to adhere to the Thai word
order or to translate the sentence word by word usually produces a very clumsy result in
English.
288
24.A.2. Vocabulary.
24.A.3. Idioms.
NAA JY (แน่ใจ) is a verb meaning “to be certain” and NAA NORN (แน่นอน) is the adverb
meaning “certain”, “sure”.
RAI (ราย) may be either a noun with the meaning of “a report”, “a record” etc. or a verb
meaning “to be listed” or “to be arranged in series”. It forms a great number of
compounds not all of which will bear too close an analytical examination but which
have to be learned as a whole.
DTUNG (ตัง) means “to set up”, “to promote”, “to establish” and is almost invariably
used in compounds in a somewhat idiomatic form.
HAYT (เหตุ ) means “the cause”, “the reason” and though sometimes used alone is more
often met in compounds such as;
HAANG (แห่ง) “of” is used only in the sense of “being associated with”.
It is not synonymous with KORNG “belonging to” and cannot generally be used in this
sense.
There is no single word in Thai equivalent to the English word “of” in all its various
uses.
NAHTEE (หน้าที) is the same as “duty” in English but is used rather differently. In
English we say “it is his duty to...” but in Thai we say “he has the duty to...”.
DUNG (ดัง) “similar” or “like” occurs in a large number of compounds such as;
TALAANG (แถลง), GLAOU (กล่าว). Both these words mean “to relate”, “to tell” and
though they are fairly synonymous they each have their own special usages which can
only be learned by practice.
TALAANG is a rather formal word seldom used in conversation but GLAOU which is
very similar to LOW (Lesson21) is common in speech and writing, mostly with the
meaning of “to speak about”, “to describe”.
DOY MAHK (โดยมาก) is an adverb meaning “mostly” and should not be confused with
SOO-AN MAHK (Lesson 22) which corresponds with the adjective “most”. This
distinction however is not always observed in ordinary conversation and to a large
extent these two words are interchangeable.
DOY CHAPOW (โดยเฉพาะ) “especially”. Note that in this word the vowel เ-า is shortened
by the addition of -ะ and hence is pronounced very short something like the “o” in “not”.
RAHTSADORN (ราษฎร), PRACHACHON (ประชาชน) both mean “the people” but are used
differently. RAHTSADORN is a formal word used mainly in referring to “the sovereign
people” whereas PRACHACHON is the ordinary word corresponding to “the people”
or “the public” in English. Both words are used in speech and in writing with their own
particular connotations.
HEN DOO-AY (เห็นด้วย) means “to agree with someone” and you should note the
difference between this word and YORM “to agree to” which you had in Lesson 16.
DTOK LONG (ตกลง) “to agree” can generally be used in place of either HEN DOO-AY
or YORM.
WITEE (วิธี) is “the method” or “the way” of doing something and usually implies “the
correct method”.
DTIT (ติด) “to fix”, “to attach”, “to be stuck” usually occurs as a compound word and
the meaning in most cases is very idiomatic.
TEUNG MAA WAH (ถึงแม้ว่า) is the full form of the conjunction “although” but the word
MAA is really the key word and appears on its own and in other combinations as below.
294
The meanings of these conjunctions are rather flexible and it is a matter of seeing which
meaning appears the most appropriate in the given context.
24.A.5. Examples.
(1) It will be many days before he returns.
กว่าเขาจะกลับก็อีกหลายวัน
Kwah kow ja glup gor eek lai wun.
(2) We both live in the same house. We both live together.
เราสองคนอยู่บา้ นเดียวกัน เราสองคนอยู่ดว้ ยกัน
Row sorng kon yoo bahn dee-o gun. Row sorng kon yoo doo-ay gun.
(3) What sort of flowers do you want?
คุณต้องการดอกไม้ชนิดไหน
Koon dtorng gahn dork my chanit ny.
Any sort will do, I have nothing in my garden.
ชนิดไหนก็ได้ ในสวนผมไม่มีดอกไม้เลย
Chanit ny gor dy ny soo-an pom my mee dork my ler-y.
(4) You can give me the change some other day.
วันหลังจึงค่อยทอนให้ฉนั ก็ได้
Wun lung jeung koy torn hy chun gor dy.
(5) I can hear speaking, but I cannot understand.
ผมได้ยินใครพูด แต่ฟังไม่เข้าใจ
Pom dy yin kry poot dtaa fung my kow jy.
(6) There is only one way to learn Thai well and that is to read Thai books.
มีทางเดียวเท่านันทีจะเรี ยนภาษาไทยได้ดี คืออ่านหนังสื อไทย
Mee tahng dee-o townun tee ja ree-an pahsah thai dy dee keu ahn
nungseu thai.
(7) Please give me three one baht twenty sadtahng stamps.
ขอแสตมป์ ดวงละบาทยีสิ บสตางค์ให้ผมสามดวงครับ
Kor sadtaam doo-ang la baht yee sip sadtahng hy pom sahm doo-ang
krup.
(8) The road is bad so you must not drive fast.
ถนนเลวก็ตอ้ งไม่ขบั รถเร็ ว
Tanon layw gor dtorng my kup rot rew.
295
(9) You can give this shirt to the gardener for cleaning the car.
ให้เสื อเชิตตัวนีแก่คนสวนสําหรับเช็ดรถให้สะอาดก็ได้
Hy seu-a chert dtoo-a nee gaa kon soo-an sumrup chet rot hy sa-aht gor
dy.
(10) Whoever wants to get a better salary should learn English.
ใครอยากได้เงินเดือนเพิมขึน ควรจะเรี ยนภาษาอังกฤษ
Kry yahk dy ngern deu-an perm keun koo-an ja ree-an pahsah ungrit.
(11) There are no letters to post so you need not go to the post office.
จดหมายไม่มีส่งก็ไม่จาํ เป็ นต้องไปยังไปรษณี ย ์
Jotmai my mee song gor my jumpen dtorng py yung prysanee.
(12) I am trying to understand the Thai movies but it is very difficult for me.
ผมพยายามจะดูหนังไทยให้เข้าใจ แต่กย็ งั ยากสําหรับผม
Pom pa-yahyahm ja doo nung thai hy kowjy dtaa gor yung yahk
sumrup pom.
(13) If his work does not improve I cannot raise his salary.
ถ้างานของเขาไม่ดีขึน ผมก็ให้เงินเดือนเพิมไม่ ได้
Tah ngahn korng kow my dee keun pom gor hy ngern deu-an perm my
dy.
(14) If you have finished your dinner you can go to the movies.
ถ้ารับประทานอาหารเสร็ จแล้วก็ไปดูหนังได้
Tah rup-pratahn ah-hahn set laaw gor py doo nung dy.
(15) Two days later he rang me up again.
สองวันต่อมา เขาก็โทรศัพท์มาอีก
Sorng wun dtor mah kow gor torasup mah eek.
(16) He asked me if I was free that night; he wanted me to go to the pictures
with him.
เขาถามฉันว่าเย็นนันวางไหม เขาอยากให้ฉนั ไปดูหนังกับเขา
Kow tahm chun wah yen nun wahng my kow yahk hy chun py doo
nung gup kow.
(17) When I last come to Bangkok I can remember that the roads were very
bad and the electricity was cut off twice a week, but now it is not cut
off at all.
เมือมากรุ งเทพฯ ครังทีแล้วผมจําได้ว่า ถนนไม่ดี ไฟฟ้ าดับอาทิตย์ละสองครังแต่เดียวนีไม่ดบั เลย
Meu-a mah groong tayp krung tee laaw pom jum dy wah tanon my dee
fy fah gor dup ahtit la sorng krung dtaa dee-o nee my dup ler-y.
(18) It makes me very sad to hear him speak roughly like that.
การทีเขาพูดหยาบอย่างนัน ทําให้ฉนั มีความเสี ยใจมาก
Gahn tee kow poot yahp yahng nun tum hy chun mee gwahm see-a jy
mahk.
(19) Although it will probably rain here I think it will be nice in Hua Hin.
ถึงแม้ว่าฝนคงจะตกทีนี คิดว่าทีหัวหินจะสนุกมาก
Teung maa wah fon kong ja dtok teenee kit wah tee hoo-a hin ja
sanook mahk.
296
(20) The watchman explained that it was “Children’s Day” and the school
was closed.
I was very surprised that nobody told us before.
คนยามอธิ บายว่าวันนีเป็ นวันเด็กโรงเรี ยนก็ปิด
ผมประหลาดใจมากทีไม่มีใครบอกเลย
Kon yahm atibai wah wun nee pen wun dek rong ree-an pit.
Pom pralayt jy mahk tee my mee kry bork ler-y.
(21) I am sorry I can’t be there before 1 o’clock.
I have to meet some friends at the hotel at twelve.
ผมเสี ยใจทีจะไปทีนันก่อนบ่ายโมงได้
เพราะเวลาเทียงจะต้องพบเพือนบางคนทีโรงแรม
Pom see-a jy tee ja py teenun gorn bai mong my dy.
Prow waylah tee-ang ja dtorng pop peu-an bahng kon tee rong raam.
Never mind, any time will do.
ไม่เป็ นไรครับ ไปเวลาไหนก็ได้
My pen ry krup py waylah ny gor dy.
(22) Can you change this cheque for me? What is the amount?
ผมขอขึนเช็คเป็ นเงินสดได้ไหมครับ เงินเท่าไรครับ
Pom kor keun chek pen ngern sot dy my krup. Ngern towry krup.
(23) The salesman’s daily job is to contact customers in the market.
งานประจําวันของคนขายของ คือไปติดต่อลูกค้าในตลาด
Ngahn prajum wun korng kon kai korng keu py dtit dtor look kah ny
dtalaht.
(24) You must start work at 8:30 sharp.
ต้องเริ มทํางานสองโมงครึ งตรง
Dtorng rerm tum ngahn sorng mong kreung dtrong.
(25) We hope that this book will be useful for people interested in learning
Thai.
เราหวังว่าหนังสื อเล่มนี จะเป็ นประโยชน์แก่ผสู้ นใจเรี ยนภาษาไทย
Row wung wah nungseu lem nee ja pen pra-yot gaa poo sonjy ree-an
pahsah thai.
(26) I worked for an hour and then went to bed. I was very tired.
ผมทํางานประมาณชัวโมงหนึงแล้วก็ไปนอน ผมเหนือยมาก
Pom tum ngahn pramahn choo-a mong neung laaw gor py norn.
Pom neu-ay mahk.
297
Translation.
The language that Thai talk is the Thai language. You have studied both the writing
language, the reading language and the speaking language. You can see that it is not too
difficult at all for foreigners. As for the difficulties, I think they will be because Thai is
a language that is not the same as your language which you have learned since a child
and are using every day. If you use effort only a little; try to speak with Thai often, soon
you will be able to speak fluently. When you have free time try to write or read as much
as you can or if you can associate with Thai often it will be very good.
As soon as you can speak well, write fluently and understand the Thai language freely,
you will be able to say that “the Thai language is not difficult ay all”.
Translation.
That they will do what with their holidays in between the end of terms is one important
problem for students from various islands in the Pacific who live and study in New
Zealand, who live far from their homes about 1,800 miles. These students are both boys
and girls who are “aided” students from Samoa and other islands. These children have
received “aid” to study in secondary schools in New Zealand. When they first arrive
newly, the children of these islands are usually very excited because they have always
lived only in rural areas and never met or never seen a big city like in New Zealand
before.
299
นายกรัฐมนตรีแถลงในทีประชุม
Translation.
“Today is still another occasion that I have come to a meeting of people who are
building the future of the country. Because school teachers have a very important part in
building the fortune and destiny of the country in the future. It is the truth as we say.
’children of today are the country of the days ahead’. We have new children born who
must have education more than 500,000 per year. How therefore will we be able to give
education to children who increase at an amount of 500,000 per year? It is a very
troublesome problem that is very worrying to me and to all of you. It is certain that the
Government will not be able to provide money plentifully in the Budget about education
in any way.”
300
Translation.
If your handwriting is good you are a lucky person. Because although in times of
automatic machines like these, handwriting that is good still has much meaning. My
handwriting is not very good (and) although I try always that I will let it be read easily
am not able to be sure to achieve (make it to be) the result always. People who read
documents of mine for the first time probably will read with much difficulty at times.
Some people say that we do not have the necessity to have good handwriting any more
in the future because now we use typewriters mostly but I don’t agree with those who
say that altogether. The truth is that we are not able to use typewriters all the time; there
are many things that it is necessary to write by handwriting.
Thus I contend that; that handwriting is orderly and good to read still, probably, is still a
thing that has value.
301
In Thai there are a number of words, some of them meaningless in themselves, which
are used as prefixes or suffixes to verbs to give them a particular shade of meaning.
NAH d (น่า) is a prefix added to verbs and when used thus has a meaning similar to the
archaic English word “worthy”.
KEE d (ขี) is added as a prefix to a few words to indicate “having a tendency to”. It
should be noted that this prefix is only used with words implying some slightly
unpleasant characteristic.
TEE DEE-O c-c (ทีเดียว) means “exactly”, “certainly”, “sure” etc. and is often placed at
the end of a sentence to emphasize the verb.
TER l (เถอะ) is often met with at the end of a sentence as a form of request or mild
imperative. It is often written เถิด but the final consonant is not pronounced.
DORK l (ดอก) which also means “a flower” can also be used as a meaningless suffix at
the end of a sentence to add emphasis.
RORK l (หรอก) is another meaningless suffix added for emphasis similar to DORK.
NOR r (หนอ) is a reflective word sometimes added at the end of a sentence as below.
NUN JA PEN SUT ARY NOR I wonder what that animal is?
นันจะเป็ นสัตว์อะไรหนอ
SEE-A r (เสี ย) “to waste”, “to spoil”, “to spend” is also used as a meaningless suffix at
the end of a sentence to give the idea of the action having been finally completed. This
usage is rather obscure and difficult for foreigners to understand but you will come
across it quite frequently in conversation and reading.
DOO-AY d (ด้วย) meaning “with” is another word often added at the end of a sentence
for little apparent purpose other than for euphony.
The colloquial forms of any language are difficult to explain to any foreigner and it is
unlikely that you will be able to use these words as a Thai would until you become very
accustomed to the language. The proper usage will come gradually by listening to Thai
speakers, but in the meantime you can get alone quite well without trying to use them
unless you are sure. Don’t just use them unless you are fairly sure the usage is correct;
they sound rather silly if used wrongly. We mention them here because you will hear
them used and meet them in reading and should recognise the usage.
304
25.A.2. Vocabulary.
25.A.3. Idioms.
MOW (เหมาะ) “suitable”, “appropriate”. Note that in this word the vowel เ-า is shortened
by the addition of -ะ and hence is pronounced very short with something the sound of
“o” in “log”.
DUMNERN (ดําเนิน) means “to operate”, “to carry on”, “to conduct”.
In the Palace language DUMNERN means “to walk” from which comes the name of
one of Bangkok’s most famous streets.
PEN DTON (เป็ นต้น) “for example” is used very much as in English except that the word
order is different.
In English we say; “As for example...” but in Thai we use CHEN (เช่น) “similar” and the
word order is; CHEN ... PEN DTON.
306
PEE-ANG (เพียง) “as much as” is used alone but also occurs frequently in such idiomatic
forms as;
CHANEE (ฉะนี), CHANUN (ฉะนัน) when used alone indicate “consequence” but they are
more often met with in idiomatic form as;
JON, JONGWAH, JONGRATUNG, JON TEUNG. All these words can mean “until”
and though they are interchangeable in some cases this is not always so and they can
also be translated in other ways. The correct word to use in each particular case appears
to be dictated more by common usage than by any fixed rules and the notes given below
are broad generalizations only, to which there are a number of exceptions.
JON (จน) is usually employed when it is directly followed by a verb which can be
expressed in the passive voice.
JON TUENG (จนถึง) literally “until it reached” is mostly used in referring to someone or
some event arriving at a point in space or time.
DTAWUN ORK (ตะวันออก), DTAWUN DTOK (ตะวันตก). It may help you to remember
these if we point out that DTAWUN is one of the many names for “the Sun” and these
two words literally mean “Sun comes out” and “Sun falls”.
The full designation for the main quadrantal points of the compass is as follows;
but it is more usual to use the words EESAHN (อีสาน) and AHKANAY (อาคเนย์) for North
east and South east respectively.
308
Note that DTAWUN DTOK is also the word for “sunset” but “sunrise” is DTAWUN
KEUN “Sun comes up”.
DY (ใด) “any” always comes after the noun. It is not very much used in conversation but
is quite commonly met with in writing.
It can also be used as an adverb meaning “what” in certain idiomatic forms such as;
25.A.5. Examples.
(1) As well as flowers, I have various fruits in my garden such as mangoes and
papaya for example.
ในสวนของผม นอกจากไม้ดอกแล้ว ผมก็ปลูกต้นผลไม้ต่าง ๆ เช่น มะม่วง มะละกอ เป็ นต้น
Ny soo-an korng pom nork jahk my dork laaw pom gor plook dton ponlamy
dtahng dtahng chen mamoo-ang malagor pen dton.
309
(26) I intended to go to Ayudhya last week but it was very wet (it rained a lot) so I
did not go.
ผมตังใจแล้วว่าจะไปอยุธยาเมืออาทิตย์กอ่ น แต่ฝนตกมากผมจึงไม่ได้ไป
Pom dtung jy laaw wah ja py ayootaya meu-a ahtit gorn dtaa fon dork mahk
pom jeung my dy py.
นางวิลสัน (Wilson) เป็ นภรรยากสิ กรชาวอเมริ กนั คนหนึง ซึ งมีทีดินทําไร่ อยู่ ๑๗๕ ไร่ ในมลรัฐเมรี แลนด์ (Maryland)
เธอมีชีวิตเหมือนภรรยากสิ กรอเมริ กนั ทังหลายนันเอง คือช่วยทํางานเบา ๆ ทังหลายในไร่ เป็ นงานพิเศษนอกเหนือไปจากงานบ้าน
Translation.
Mrs. Wilson is the wife of an American farmer who has a piece of ground to farm of
175 RY in the state of Maryland. She has a life the same as all wives of American
farmers; namely, help in all the special light work of the farm as well as do the
housework.
Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are people who have no son, therefore they took Eugene M......
aged 8 years to be their adopted son. Both husband and wife each gave love and warmth
and security to this boy in a good way, and Eugene who got this happy life loved the
family and the life in this family truly.
บี.โอ.เอ.ซี . เป็ นสายการบินสายหนึงทีมีโรงเรี ยนฝึ กแอร์โฮสเตสของตนเอง แต่กอ่ นทีบริ ษทั จะรับใครเข้าฝึ กในโรงเรี ยนนี
ก็จะต้องมีการเลือกเฟ้ นกันก่อนมากมาย
คุณสมบัติของผูท้ ีจะเข้าเป็ นแอร์โฮสเตสได้นนั มีดงั นีคือ ต้องมีอายุระหว่าง ๒๑ ถึง ๒๘ ปี และร่ างกายจะต้องแข็งแรง และมีสายตาดี
Translation.
B.O.A.C. is an airline that has a school to train air hostesses of their own. But before the
company will take anybody in to train in this school they must first be selected very
much. Every year there are young girls about 4000 people who volunteer to go in to
work to be air hostesses of B.O.A.C. but of this amount the company select and receive
into the training school as much as 70-80 persons only. The qualifications of persons
that will go in and be air hostesses are like this, namely, must be aged between 21 and
28 years, the body must be strong and they must have good eyesight.
เรียน ท่านสมาชิกทังไป
เรือง การจอดรถในวันแข่ งม้ า
รถทีเจ้าของขับเองจะจอดภายในสโมสรได้
Translation.
On horserace days of the horseracing season that will arrive by starting on 1st. October
2503 cars that drivers cannot park within the boundaries of the club. The club has
arranged to reserve car parking places for cars of members who have drivers to a limited
amount in the place in front of the club beside Racecourse road. If that area is full and
there are no free places then it must be the duty of the driver to look for a place to park
himself as may be available along the side of the road.
The club will arrange to have an amplifier to call drivers to go and pick up the owners
of the cars; people who are ready to leave the club.
Cars that the owners drive themselves will be able to park within the club.
ความสะอาดตามกฎหมาย
ผูใ้ ดเล่นกีฬา เช่น ฟุตบอล (football) หรื อการเล่นอืน ๆ ในทีสาธารณะ ต้องระวางโทษปรับไม่เกิน ๕๐๐ บาท
Translation.
Any person who puts any thing in a public place, that person has wrong and must
beware of a punishment fine at least not more then 100 baht.
Any person who plays sport such as football or other games in a public place must
beware of a punishment fine of not more then 500 baht.
Any person who distributes food or drinks in a place that has been established as a
public way and does not arrange to there to be a lavatory which has a notice board to be
clearly seen and does not look after that lavatory and make it clean and hygienic always,
let him be imprisoned not more than one month or fined not more than 1000 baht or
both fined and imprisoned.
All these wrongs mentioned, if the person who does the wrong is a child not more than
7 years, it will be held that the parents or guardian are the people who do the wrong.
316
i. Fractions in Thai are indicated by specifying both the numerator SAYT (เศษ) and
the denominator SOO-AN (ส่ วน) as below.
iv. For decimals we use the word JOOT (จุด) “a dot” and read as in English.
v. The diagonal line so commonly met with in the numbering of Thai houses in
Bangkok is called TUP (ทับ) “a stroke”; which as a verb means “to be on top of”;
and numbers are spoken as follows.
Although as you have probably noticed it is very difficult to say exactly what
constitutes a single word in Thai, there are many cases where it is quite clear that two
words are used together when it would appear that one of the words alone would
suffice.
317
Once you realise the existence of these double words they do not cause you much
trouble because in a great many cases they can be recognised by the fact that they form
an alliterative or euphonic combination.
An important thing to note is that the word order in these combinations is fixed and
cannot be reversed. These duplicated words fall broadly into two categories.
i. Where both words have substantially the same meaning and either at times may
be used alone.
ii. Where one or both of the words used alone have a meaning entirely unrelated to
that of the combination, or in certain cases where one of the words does not exist
at all on its own.
Although in certain cases the use of the double words shown above clearly gives a
particular shade of meaning, it appears that these duplications are more often than not
used merely for emphasis or for euphonic reasons.
Similar types of double words also occur in English such as “Fast and furious”,
“Complete and utter”, “Really and truly”, “Over and above” etc.
26.A.2. Vocabulary.
26.A.3. Idioms.
The sooner the better. YING REW YING DEE ยิงเร็ วยิงดี
Some (day) or other. (WUN) DY (WUN) NEUNG (วัน) ใด (วัน) หนึง
Probably there will be. BAHNG TEE JA ME บางทีจะมี
SOOPAHP (สุ ภาพ) means “polite”, “gentle”, “well behaved”. You will meet it mostly in
the following combinations.
YAAK (แยก) is “to divide”, “to separate”, “to split up” and is generally used rather
idiomatically.
RAYA (ระยะ) is “an interval”, “a period” or “a space” and applies both in time and
distance.
JON (จน), JONGRATUNG (จนกระทัง). You have already had these words in lesson 25
meaning “until”. In many cases however they are better translated as “so ... that”.
POM NEU-AY JON NORN MY LUP I was so tired that I could not
ผมเหนือยจนนอนไม่หลับ sleep.
GEE-O (เกียว) meaning “to hook up” or “connect” physical things is more often used to
imply connection between events.
KANA, FAI, POO-AK all mean a group or assembly of some sort but in general each
word is used particularly when referring to a certain type of group although there is
some overlapping.
KANA (คระ) refers to some sort of a group bonded together for a particular purpose such
as a committee.
FAI (ฝ่ าย) which also means “a side” refers to “a group on the side of” such as a political
party.
CHON (ชน) “to strike”, “to collide with” is generally used when referring to traffic
accidents.
ROT TAAKSEE CHON GUP ROT BUS The taxi collided with the bus.
รถแท็กซีชนก ับรถบัส
LORNG (ลอง) “to test”, “to try out” forms a number of compounds in fairly general use.
PRAGAHT (ประกาศ) “to announce”, “to declare”, “to give notice of” can also be used as
a noun meaning “a notice”.
MOON (หมุน) means “to revolves” or to turn round about an axis as in turning a wheel or
turning a table round.
It cannot be used for turning round in a circle as in turning a car round, for which we
use GLUP.
For turning over on the other side as in turning over a piece of meat or for turning end
for end we also use GLUP.
TOO-A (ทัว) is a word which gives a rather broad general idea of “completeness” or
“inclusiveness” and is mostly used rather idiomatically.
Generally speaking.
WICHAH (วิชา) means “the subject of”, “the technique of”, “knowledge with relation to”
etc.
ATIBAI (อธิ บาย) “to explain” and CHEE JAANG (ชี แจง) “to point out” are pretty well
synonymous as in English.
323
YUNG (ยัง) which you have already had meaning “still” or “not yet” can also be used for
the preposition “to”.
As we have already seen however the preposition is more often than not ommitted.
NUK (นัก), YING (ยิง) and JUT (จัด) are all words indicating a superlative and are usually
added at the end of a sentence after an adverb or adjective.
KOON KONG KUP ROT REW MAHK JEUNG MAH REW NUK
You must have driven very fast to have come so quickly.
คุณคงขับรถเร็ วมาก จึงมาเร็ วนัก
PRAPAYT (ประเภท) means “a species”, “a variety”, “a category” and is both a noun and
a classifier particle for “species” or “types of things”.
PRAGAHN (ประการ) also means “kind”, “sort” but usually refers to abstract nouns.
SORM (ซ่ อม) as a noun means “a fork”. As a verb it means “to sharpen to a point” or “to
repair”. In the latter case it often has SAAM “to insert new pieces” added to it as a
euphonic couplet or if thought necessary to identify the meaning.
DTOW REET SONG PY SORM LAAW The iron has been sent to be
เตารี ดส่ งไปซ่อมแล้ว repaired.
SOO (สู)้ “to compete with”, “to match against” is mostly used in regard to physical
competition.
TAAN (แทน) “to represent”, “to substitute for”, “instead of” is used as below.
PET (เผ็ด) “spicy”, “pungent” or “hot to taste” is the proper word to use when referring
to dishes made with chillies.
If however the “hot” taste is due to pepper or if the temperature is high, we use RORN.
26.A.5. Examples.
(1) Most foreigners know very little about Thailand before they come here.
ฝรังส่ วนมาก ก่อนมา รู้เรื องเกียวกับเมืองไทยน้อยมาก
Farung soo-an mahk gorn mah roo reu-ang gee-o meu-ang thai noy mahk.
(2) Which way must I go?
ดิฉนั จะต้องไปทางไหนคะ
Dichun ja dtorng py tahng ny ka.
Go over the railway lines and then turn left at the crossroads.
ข้ามทางรถไฟ พอถึงทางสี แยกก็เลียวซ้ายซิ ครับ
Kahm tahng rot fy por teung tahng see yaak gor lee-o sai si krup.
(3) I looked at education in Manila for the first six months and after that I went
to Japan.
หกเดือนแรกผมดูการศึกษาในมนิลา ต่อจากนันก็เดินทางไปยังญีปุ่ น
Hok deu-an raak pom doo gahn seuksah ny manila dtor jahk nun gor dern
tahng py yung yeepoon.
325
(12) That man is so sick that he can’t eat anything and can drink only milk.
However he is a little better today.
ชายคนนันป่ วยมากจนกินอะไรไม่ได้ ดืมได้แต่นม
อย่างไรก็ดีวนั นีค่อยยังชัวขึนนิดหน่อย
Chai kon nun poo-ay mahk jon gin ary my dy deum dy dtaa nom.
Yahng ry gor dee wun nee koy yung choo-a keun nit noy.
(13) Yesterday morning I couldn’t send the driver to Don Meuang because he has
been on holiday for some days.
เมือวานนีผมส่ งคนขับรถไปทีดอนเมืองไม่ได้
เพราะว่าเขาหยุดงานมาหลายวันแล้ว
Meu-a wahn nee pom song kon kup rot py tee dorn meu-ang my dy.
Prow wah kow yoot ngahn mah lai wun laaw.
(14) I have a chance to go to Chiengmai by car with Nai Kasem next week.
I think it will be good fun.
However if it rains we cannot go.
อาทิตย์หน้าผมมีโอกาสไปเชียงใหม่โดยรถยนต์กบั คุณเกษม
ผมคิดว่าจะสนุกมาก อย่างไรก็ดี
ถ้าฝนตกเราก็ไปไม่ได้
Ahtit nah pom mee ogaht py chee-ang my doy rot yon gup koon kasaym.
Pom kit wah ja sanook mahk yahng ry gor dee.
Tah fon dtok row gor py my dy.
(15) You must mend that shirt before you wash it.
เสื อเชิตตัวนันต้องซ่ อมเสี ยก่อน แล้วจึงซัก
Seu-a chert dtoo-a nun dtorng sorm see-a gorn laaw jeung suk.
(16) There was a big accident in Wireless road.
A car collided with a bus and two people were killed.
Both vehicles were smashed up.
เกิดอุบตั ิเหตุใหญ่ทีถนนวิทยุ
รถยนต์ชนกับรถประจําทาง คนตายไปสองคน
รถทังสองคันเสี ยหายมาก
Gert oobuthayt yy tee tanon witayoo.
Rot yon chon gup rot prajum tahng kon dtai py sorng kon.
Rot tung sorng kun see-a hai mahk
(17) Actually, learning Thai is very much easier than some people think.
ความจริ งภาษาไทยเรี ยนได้ง่ายกว่าทีคนส่ วนมากคิด
Kwahm jing pahsah thai ree-an dy ngai gwah tee kon soo-an mahk kit.
(18) If he is still waiting there, tell him to come in.
ถ้าเขายังคอยอยู่ ก็บอกให้เขาเข้ามา
Tah kow yung koy yoo gor bork hy kow kow mah.
(19) I don’t think I can stay much longer because I have to take the children to the
movies tonight.
เห็นจะอยู่ต่อไปอีกนานนักไม่ได้ เพราะคืนนีต้องพาลูกไปดูหนัง
Hen ja yoo dtor py eek nahn nuk my dy prow keun nee dtorng pah look py
doo nung.
327
(20) Most people all over the world depend on the farmer to grow rice for food so
farming is a most important job.
คนส่ วนมากทังโลกอาศัยชาวนาปลูกข้าวเป็ นอาหอรดังนันการทํานาเป็ นอาชีพสําคัญมาก
Kon soo-an mahk too-a lok ahsy chaou nah plook ah-hahn dung nun gahn
tum nah pen ahcheep sumkun mahk.
(21) My sister likes the movies no matter what the film (story).
As for me I mostly prefer swimming.
พีสาวผมชอบดูหนังไม่ว่าเรื องอะไร
ส่ วนผมเองโดยมากชอบเล่นนํามากกว่า
Pee saou pom chorp doo nung my wah reu-ang ary.
Soo-an pom ayng doy mahk chorp len num mahk gwah.
(22) I never thought Bangkok was a big city like this until I came here.
ผมไม่เคยคิดเลยว่ากรุ งเทพฯ จะใหญ่โตเช่นนี จนกระทังมาถึง
Pom my ker-y kit ler-y wah groong tayp ja yy dto chen nee jongratung mah
teung.
(23) If you have any difficulty with the language, Nai Boonsong will be able to
help you.
ถ้ามีความลําบากในเรื องภาษา นายบุญส่ งอาจจะช่วยคุณได้
Tah mee kwahm lumbahk ny reu-ang pahsah nai boonsong aht ja choo-ay
koon dy.
(24) That the cost of living is going up (getting higher) every day makes the
people very dissatisfied.
การทีค่าครองชีพสูงขึนทุกวัน ทําให้ประชาชนไม่พอใจมาก
Gahn tee kah krong cheep soong keun took wun tum hy prachah chon my por
jy mahk.
(25) Is there anyone here who can speak English?
ทีนีมีใครบ้างไหมทีพูดภาษาอังกฤษเป็ น
Tee nee mee kry bahng my tee poot pahsah ungrit pen.
(26) I hope that now you are familiar with (know all about) everything in this
book.
หวังว่า เดียวนีคุณรู้เรื องทุกอย่างทีอยู่ในหนังสื อเล่มนีดีหมดแล้ว
Wung wah dee-o nee koon roo reu-ang took yahng tee yoo ny nungseu lem
nee dee mot laaw.
เมือปี 2500 ผมรู้จกั กับผูห้ ญิงคนหนึง และในทีสุ ดเรารักกันในฐานะคนรักแบบแฟน ในระหว่างเป็ นแฟนกันนันเป็ นเวลาประมาณ ๖
เดือนเราไปเดินเล่นและพบกันคุยกันทุกวัน ผมได้แสดงความเป็ นสุ ภาพบุรุษโดยไม่ได้มีการล่วงเกินเธอเลย
จนวันหนึงเธอได้บอกความจริ งแก่ผมว่าเธอได้เสี ยตัวกับชายอืนเสี ยแล้ว
ผมคิดว่าเรื องอย่างนีต้องเป็ นความจริ งเพราะไม่มีผหู้ ญิงใดทีจะกล้าบอกความจริ งเช่นนีแก่ผชู้ ายคนใด และเธอได้พดู ต่อไปว่า
ผมไม่สมควรทีจะแต่งงานกับเธอหรอก เพราะผมเป็ นคนดีควรทีจะไปแต่งงานกับผูห้ ญิงทีใกล้เคียงกันดีกว่า
เมือเธอพูดเสร็ จเธอก็จากผมไป และก็ไม่ยอมให้ผมพบอีกเลย ผมมาคิดดูว่าเธอน่าคบมาก เพราะเรื องทีเป็ นความลับทีสุ ดของเธอ ๆ
ยังล้าบอกให้ผมทราบ ผมจึงได้พยายามไปพบเธอ และในทีสุ ดก็ได้พบกัน ผมจึงได้พดู ชีแจงให้เธอฟังจนเธอเข้าใจทุกอย่างดี
328
This is part of a letter to the Editor of a Bangkok paper asking for advice on a social
problem.
Translation.
Since the year 2500 I have known a girl and finally we love each other in the way of
being lovers. Whilst we have been lovers for about 6 months we walk and meet each
other to chat every day. I showed I was a well behaved man by not ever offending her at
all. Until one day she told the truth to me that she had an affair with another man
already. I thought that a story like this must be true because there is no girl who would
dare to say truthfully like this to any man and she then said that I was not suitable to get
married to her because I was a good man I ought to go and marry with a local girl it
would be better. When she had finished speaking she went away from me and would
not agree to let me meet her at all. I considered that she was very well worth keeping
company with because the story which was her biggest secret she had dared to tell me
about. So I tried to meet her and finally we met and I explained to her until she
understood properly in a good way.
329
Translation.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Abraham Lincoln was born in a small wooden house in the State of Kentucky in the
United States of America. His father was a penniless farmer. When he was still a child
he helped in the work of the farm. At school he learned reading and writing and did not
have anything more than that. In his house there were three books which he read and
read again. He loved reading and when he grew up he spent his money almost every
penny that he had in buying books.
He looked for a living in many ways. One time he volunteered to be a clerk for a river
trader; another time he worked in a shop in a village close to his house.
Translation.
Amount of Teak which is extracted (made out) compared with other timbers.
According to the figures which we have shown, you will be able to see that during the
war the working of Teak decreased in amount a lot as a result of the companies of
people from other countries, receivers of concessions had to stop business and almost
there was not any way of sending timber for distribution to other countries.
For this reason the amount of Teak which was extracted during the war therefore can
average only as much as 66.605 m³ (cubic meters) per year or about one half of the
amount extracted on an average in the period before the war. But as for other timbers,
the amount during the same period returned a little higher than in the period before the
war.
Translation.
August is the month that is very popular for marriages in West Germany. It appears
from statistics that have compiled recently that one in seven couples of all married
couples marry in August. An important reason of the first sort is in relation to the
climatic conditions of Europe which usually can change easily but especially in August
the weather is clear and fresh.
One other important reason is that according to the law, couples who wed on August
31st. will receive a reduction of taxes for the whole year. Most young girls in West
Germany have work and after they have married usually continue working until they
give birth to their first child.
333
APPENDIX 1. CLASSIFIERS
Although there are 80 classifiers many of them are rather falling into disuse and you can
get along well with a lot less.
The following list includes all those you have already had in the lessons as well as some
others you are likely to come across within the range of reading appropriate to the
standard of this book.
คน KON c Persons.
In the case of a great many nouns such as parts of the body, geographical features,
furniture etc. which are not readily classified into groups the classifier used is the word
itself.
Representative list of words for which the classifier is a repetition of the word itself.
Body ตัว
Head หัว
Eye ตา
Ear หู
Neck คอ
Shoulder ไหล่
Mouth ปาก
Arm แขน
Hand มือ
Finger นิวมือ
Chest หน้าอก
Abdomen ท้อง
Foot เท้า
337
Tail หาง
Leg ขา
Mountain ภูเขา
Island เกาะ
Peninsular แหลม
Beach ชายหาด
Country ประเทศ
Klong คลอง
Dam ทํานบ
Continent ทวีป
Ocean มหาสมุทร
World โลก
Fence รัว
Lawn สนาม
Garden สวน
Room ห้อง
Cupboard ตู ้
Drawer ลินชัก
Shelf หิง
Bed เตียง
Store เตา
Picture รู ป
Raft แพ
Mine เหมือง
Wat โบสถ์
Language ภาษา
Nationality ชาติ
Key กุญแจ
339
Although since 1913 the official method of reckoning years has been in relation to the
Buddhist Era. POOTTASUKARAHT (พุทธศักราช) which is equal to the Christian Era plus,
543 years, there is also a very widely used 12 year cycle in which each year is
designated by the name of an animal.
12 year cycle
The Rat ชวด CHOO-AT
The Ox ฉลู CHALOO
The Tiger ขาล KAHN
The Rabbit เถาะ TOW
The Dragon มะโรง MARONG
The Snake มะเส็ง MASENG
The Horse มะเมีย MAMEE-A
The Goat มะแม MAMAA
The Monkey วอก WORK
The Cock ระกา RAGAH
The Dog จอ JOR
The Pig กุน GOON
It should be noted that the names used for the animals of the 12 year cycle are not the
same as the common names of the various animals, and if referring to a year in this
system you must use the correct name as given above.
The year 1948 was “The year of Rat 1” and hence 1971 is “The year of the Pig”.
This system which probably originated in China is of great antiquity and is found
throughout most countries in South East Asia.
Most people in Thailand know the animal year in which they were born. Although all
birthdays are observed by Thai people, the completion of a 12 year cycle is a most
important event in everyone’s life.
The completion of the 5th cycle (60) years is an occasion for special rejoicing.
There are two other eras which you will sometimes find referred to in old books and
which are still used in astrological calculations.
The MAHASUKARAHT ERA (มหาศักราช) dating from 78 A.D. is the Hindu era of
SAKA and was probably introduced into Thailand by the Khmers.
It appears in the inscriptions of Angkor but is not now in use for other than astrological
calculations. The significance of the base year is lost in the swirls of time.
340
The JOOLASUKARAHT ERA (จุลศักราช) dating from 638 A.D. was probably taken over
from the Mon. It is first mentioned in an inscription of the Sukothai period about 1327
A.D. M. Cassini of the French Royal Academy of Sciences has shown that the base year
was derived from an astrological epoch which coincided with a total eclipse of the sun
on the 21st March 638 A.D. But no more is known.
It has been extensively used in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia until the middle of the
19th Century and is still occasionally referred to in the North.
B. Months.
The months in the Thai language are named after the signs of the Zodiac, and though
rather complicated to remember are given below for reference.
When referring to a month the name of the month is usually prefixed by the word DEU-
AN “month” and in conversation it is quite common to leave out the last syllable of the
name of the month.
POM JA PY DEU-AN MAYSAH I will go in April.
ผมจะไปเดือนเมษา
341
1. As family relationships in Thai are rather complicated and as you will probably have to
refer to them only occasionally, they are set out in this Appendix for reference rather
than in a lesson which you are expected to learn.
This is rather like the English and American habit of having your children call
very close family friends “Uncle” or “Aunt”.
In addition to this the Thai will commonly refer to their own close friends of
contemporaneous age as “My brother” or “My sister”.
These peculiarities often make it very difficult to find out just who is related to
who and how.
2. The main family relationships other than those you have already had in Lessons 11 and
22 are as follows.
You need not worry about the various distinctions between grandparents or uncles or
aunt. They are given here because you will come across them in reading and will hear
them and you should be able to recognize them, but it matters little which sort of
grandparent or uncle or aunt it may be. If in speaking you should use the wrong word it
doesn’t matter much; you are a foreigner and the Thai will not expect you to know all
the fine distinctions between various uncles, aunts etc. It is important however to note
and remember the distinction between elder and younger brothers and sisters.
The system of titles and ranks in Thailand is a rather complicated one, and as it is not
set out anywhere that we know of in English, it is thought that the following rather brief
explanation will be helpful to, and sufficient for the needs of, most of the users of this
book.
Broadly speaking there are two forms of titles; the Royal Titles which, within the
limitations set out below, are inherited, and the Conferred Titles which are not inherited.
a. Royal Titles.
In the olden days the Kings of Thailand has a very large number of children and
it is obvious that if any child of a Prince inherited his or her father’s title, the
country would very rapidly become overcrowded with high ranking nobility.
Below the King, there are only four grades of Royalty and each succeeding
generation inherits, only one grade lower than their parents so that after five
generations from the King, the inherited title becomes extinct and the progeny
become commoners.
Since in the last few reigns, it has been the custom for Kings to have relatively
few children, this gradual degradation of rank is beginning to take effect, and the
number of high ranking Princes and Princesses is becoming less and less.
b. Conferred Titles.
There are two types of Conferred Titles; those which may be conferred only on
Royalty of, or above the rank of MORM JOW, and those which may be
conferred on a MORM RAHTCHAWONG, a MORM LOO-ANG or a
commoner.
In almost all cases these titles are conferred only on persons in the Government
Service or in the service of the King, and since the institution of the
Constitutional Monarchy in 1932 very few have been given, and the number
now extant, particularly in the higher ranks, is very limited.
The titles which can only be conferred on Princes of the rank of MORM JOW
and above are as follows in descending order.
Note.
The “R” in PRAYAH is usually dropped in conversation and this word is pronounced as
though spelled พะยา.
In addition to these, the title of “MORM”, ranking between “LOO-ANG” and “PRA”
may be conferred ONLY on a MORM RAHTCHAWONG.
But don’t get caught with this one, because it is also common to address or refer to a
MORM RAHTCHAWONG as “MORM” for short.
The wife of a MORM JOW and above is usually given the honorary title of “MORM” if
she is a commoner and has no equal or higher rank of her own.
“KOON YING” and still higher “TAHN POO YING” (ท่านผูห้ ญิง) though not in
themselves titles, are also forms of address used when speaking to or referring to ladies
who have received certain high decorations.
Persons who though now commoners, have descended directly from one of the old
Princes of Thailand add the suffix “NA CHEE-ANGMY”, “NA SONGKLAH” etc.
after their second name to denote that they have come in direct line from the Prince of
Chiengmai, Prince of Songkla etc.
Most people who come to stay in Thailand will probably come in contact with some
government officials or government departments and may at times want to refer to them
or visit them. In many cases the Thai name is very different from the English one, and
as generally speaking the Thai are usually unsure of the English version, it is felt
desirable to include in this book a list of the names of the main government officials,
ministries etc.; not with the idea that they should be learned but rather as a quick and
handy reference which may not be readily available elsewhere.
The words have been syllabicated where this has been thought desirable to avoid
possible ambiguities in pronunciation.
2. Government Officials.
3. Government Offices.
4. Ministries.
5. Departments.
6. Government Organizations.
Certain Public Services are carried out by wholly Government owned bodies
called “Organizations”.
349
and for obvious reasons is always known as the GOR POR (ก.พ.)
8. Local Government.
Below the Jungwuts are 411 Districts call UMPUT (อําเภอ), the chief official of
which is the NAI UMPUR (นายอําเภอ).
Below the Umpur are 3,327 Communes or DTUMBON (ตําบล) the head of which
is the GUMNUN (กาํ นัน) who is the lowest official appointed by the Government.
The smallest unit is the Village or MOO BAHN (หมู่บา้ น) of which there were
49,832 in 1960.
9. Diplomatic Missions.
350
The weights and measures listed below are not the full scale used throughout the
country as these vary to some extent from district to district but they are the most
commonly accepted ones which you are likely to meet in Bangkok and other
commercial areas.
a. Length.
b. Area.
Measurement for volume and weight are rather interwoven and confused for the
reason that as scales are not generally available in the rural districts the primary
form of measurement is traditionally by the volume of a particular basket or
other form of container such as a kerosene tin, the equivalent weight of the
contents of which has been fixed more or less arbitrarily by custom or law,
mostly assuming that the commodity measured will be rice.
Kaufmann states that in part of the Central Plain one SUT is equivalent to 1.25 TUNG
or 25 Litres.
Kingshill states that in the north 2 baskets of 1 TUNG each constitute 1 HAHP.
1. Many readers of the first edition have been interested in Thai food and most at
some time or other have had to deal with Thai cooks and although there are
several books in English on Thai cooking, a vocabulary of cooking terms and
the names of the various ingredients is usually fairly difficult to come by.
2. Cooking terms.
3. Some of the above words are used both as verbs and as adjectives and in each
case the word order is normal.
4. As verbs.
5. As adjectives.
6. Sometimes however these words form part of the name of a specific Thai dish
and in these cases the usage is rather idiomatic and they cannot be considered as
separate words.
353
ต้มยํา (ปลา) DTOM YUM (PLAH) A thick rice soup or stew with
fish and spices.
ต้มเค็ม (เนือ) DTOM KEM (NEU-A) Meat boiled with salt and
then sweetened.
ต้มกะปิ DTOM GAPI A curry made with onions,
shrimp paste (GAPI) and
pepper.
ทอดมัน (กุง้ ) TORT MUN (GOONG) (Prawns) minced and fried in
batter.
7. Common foods.
A full list of the vegetable products which Thai use in their cooking would make
a book in itself, but the selected list below covers most of the spices and
vegetables used in the more common dishes and are those which anyone
interested in Thai cooking and flavouring will want to know about. We have
also included some fruits which are mostly new to Europeans.
To assist in identification where the common names are not generally known,
we have given the scientific names and a description but it must be appreciated
that the local name may be applied to more than one botanical species or variety
even in the same district and coversely one botanical variety may have different
local names in different localities.
We have not included the more ubiquitous and widely known vegetables and
fruits as the Thai names for these can all be found in the Extended Vocabulary
under their generally accepted English names.
1. The use of a Thai Dictionary usually presents some difficultly at first becuase of the fact
previously mentioned that the vowels have no place in the alphabetical order of the
consonants but form a separate series of their own.
The words are arranged firstly in order of consonants, then in order of vowels
and finally in order of tone marks.
A list of the consonants and vowels is given in The Thai alphabet and system of
transliteration in the order in which they will be found in any standard dictionary
except that ฤ and ฤๅ come after ร, and ฦ and ฦๅ after ล.
ไป PY “go”.
c. Look up under ป.
d. If there is no written vowel associated with the first consonant go on to the
second consonant.
e. First look up under ส them สน, then สนา and finally สนาม.
f. If there is a written vowel associated with the first consonant, look up the
consonant and then the vowel irrespective of the position of the vowel with
relation to the consonant.
i. Look up under ล and then after all the combinations of ล with another
consonant go on through ละ, ลั etc. until you come to เล.
j. If there are two initial consonants the dictionary order of the word depends on
whether or not the vowel, if a simple one is predisposed, or if a compound
one, has a predisposed component. If the vowel is not predisposed or has no
predisposed component we proceed as before and look up the first consonant,
then the second and finally the vowel.
predisposed vowel form and then the other consonants and vowels in
order taking the consonant always before the vowel associated with it.
p. Look up under ห, then เห, then เหม, then เหมื and finally เหมือน.
q. The order of the tone marks is, “No tone mark”, (-◌่ ), (-◌้), (-◌๊) and (-◌๋ ) but
there are no words where all the tone marks are used.
Although all these rules sound very complicated and confusing at first, you will
find that once you know the order of the consonants and vowels you will soon
pick up the procedure even if you have to search a little at the beginning.
3. The following hints may help you find a word which at first sight may not appear to be
in the dictionary at all.
a. The short “a”, the “o” and the “or” sounds are often understood and not
written.
364
พบ POP “meet”
b. A number of words beginning with กระ and ประ are often spelled with กะ and ปะ,
and hence if you can’t find them under one spelling try the other.
c. Some words starting with the “S” sound are spelled with ทร or ศร and a few
words starting with the “J” sound are spelled จร.
d. The vowel (-◌ั) MYHUNAGAHT is often represented by รร.
e. A great many common words with the silent ห.
If you forget about this and are not sure of the tone of the word and look them
up under their sounded consonant you will probably come to the conclusion
that they are not in the dictionary at all.
If you come across a word and can’t find it where you think it ought to be the
chances are that you will find it under ห.
We have given a number of the idiomatic usages of the words you have learned in the
various lessons but if you are going to progress with the language you will have to
know a great many more.
The expressions given below are all fairly common ones and have been selected from
the many hundreds that occur in ordinary conversation and writing.
They are arranged in the order of the Thai dictionary and no transliteration is given as it
is felt that anyone who gets as far as studying this appendix will at least be able to read
a simple Thai sentence.
Most idiomatic expressions can be used in a number of ways and an exact translation is
frequently impossible so it is well to be careful about using them. When you meet them
study the context in which they occurred, as an idiom used out of context sounds
strange to a native speaker of the language and is not always understood.
กลืนไม่เข้าคายไม่ออก To be in a dilemma.
(Can’t swallow it, can’t spit it out)
กนรั
ั ว Put up a fence.
กินเปล่า (เสี ยเงินกินเปล่า) Something for nothing. (To pay tea money)
คิดถึงบ้าน To be homesick.
ใช่ It is.
ใช่ไหม Is it?
ดังต่อไปนี As follows.
ดังแต่กอ่ น As before.
เดือดร้อน To be depressed.
ต่างหาก Separately.
ทันสมัย Up to date.
ทําด้วยตนเอง Do it yourself.
ไปซือของ To go shopping.
ไปหา Go to see.
พร้อมกันนี Herewith.
ฝนตก It is raining.
ไม่ใช่ It is not.
ไม่ได้ความ It is unintelligible.
ลมพัด It is windy.
เลยไป Go further.
The Extended Vocabulary which follows contains all the words you have had in the
various sectional vocabularies as well as a large number of others which are in fairly
common use; about 2600 altogether.
Be a little careful about picking new words out of the vocabulary and using them. If
they are nouns you can’t go far wrong as in most cases any one noun can be substituted
for another but adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and verbs are very often used in certain
contexts only and if you use them wrongly you will not be understood.
For instance; POP (พบ) means “to meet” but “to meet someone at the airport” is RUP
(รับ) “to receive”.
Again “for rent” is HYCHOW (ให้เช่ า) and you cannot use SUMRUPCHOW.
You are more likely to be understood if you get the construction right even if some of
the tones are wrong than if all your tones are faultless but you use the wrong words and
get the rhythm of the sentence wrong. If you want to try new words, and you should,
check up with your teacher or a Thai friend first if possible.
Where a word has been dealt with specifically in a particular lesson the number and a
link to the lesson is provided and this to some extent serves as an index to the words of
special usage. In most cases an example showing the usage will be found in the lesson
referred to or the following one.
In order to save space many of the more obvious compound words have been omitted as
you should now be able to make these up yourself.
e.g. TOOK “every” TOOK KON “everyone” TOOK WUN “everyday” etc.
Thai words and syllables in brackets are those which are often omitted in conversation.
e.g. LORT FY (FAR) “electric light bulb”. Usually called LORT FY.
No significance attaches to the fact that the English approximation of the Thai spelling
is sometimes written as two or more words; this is merely done for clarity and to help in
separation of the syllables.
The tones of all words are shown by the small letters after the English approximation
using the following convention.
A Thai-English vocabulary is provided but is very inadequate and if you are going to do
any reading outside this book you will have to get a Thai-English dictionary anyhow.
Of the Thai-English dictionaries available, McFarland, though a little out of date and
rather expensive, is well arranged and contains a vast amount of information not found
elsewhere. It is a “must” for any serious student. “The Student’s Thai-English
Dictionary” by Mary Haas of the University of California published in 1964 is a most
welcome addition to Thai lexicography, and gives the pronunciation of every word in
phonetic symbols. It also gives a great number of examples of common idiomatic usage.
The Modern Standard Dictionary by Plang Phloyphrom is well produced, cheap and
very comprehensive Thai-English dictionary.
A B C D E F G
H I J K L M N
O P Q R S T U
V W X Y Z
Abscess FEE r ฝี
Accuse FORNG h ฟ้ อง
Admire 26 CHOM c ชม
Ant MOT h มด
Any 25 DY c ใด
As for, 22 SOO-AN l ส่ วน
on the part of.
At 1 TEE d ที
* Irregular Tone.
Bake OP l อบ
Bend. v. NGOR c งอ
Big 26 DTO c โต
Bird 14 NOK h นก
Bite 19 GUT l ก ัด
Bitter KOM r ขม
Blame DTI l ติ
Boil. n. FEE r ฝี
Both ... and TUNG ... LAA h-h ทัง ... และ
Breast NOM c นม
Brick IT l อิฐ
Burnt MY d ไหม้
Can 2 DY d ได้
Chain. n. SO d โซ่
Clear, transparent. SY r ใส
Climb PEEN c ปี น
Collide 26 CHON c ชน
Come 1 MAH c มา
Cotton FAI d ฝ้ าย
Cough AI c* ไอ
Cover. v. 23 POO c ปู
Crab POO c ปู
Criticise DTI l ติ
Cupboard 20 DTOO d ตู ้
* Irregular Tone.
Demolish REU h รื อ
Did 7 DY d ได้
Ditch KOO c คู
Down 11 LONG c ลง
Dozen 12 LO r โหล
Ear HOO r หู
Egg 9 KY l ไข่
Estimate GA l กะ
Excrement KEE d ขี
Eye DTAH c ตา
Fall 6 DTOK l ตก
Feathers 10 KON r ขน
Fever 9 KY d ไข้
Field 11 NAH c นา
Fire 9 FY c ไฟ
Flag TONG c ธง
Flavour. n. ROT h รส
Flow LY r ไหล
For 16 HY d ให้
Four 3 SEE l สี
Fowl 8 GY l ไก่
Fresh 8 SOT l สด
Frog GOP l กบ
Full 18 IM l อิม
Fur 10 KON r ขน
Get OW c เอา
Get 7 DY d ได้
Go 1 PY c ไป
Good 10 DEE c ดี
Gun PEUN c ปื น
Handle. n. HOO r หู
Heart, mind. 16 JY c ใจ
Hit DTEE c ตี
Huge DTO c โต
Hurry 18 REEP d รี บ
I 1 CHUN r ฉัน
I (Males) 12 POM r ผม
If 17 TAH d ถ้า
Ill POO-AY l ป่ วย
In 1 NY c ใน
Is 2 PEN c เป็ น
Is 2 KEU c คือ
It is 1 CHY d ใช่
Ivory NGAH c งา
435
Judge (of the court) POO PI PAHK SAH d-h-d-r ผูพ้ ิพากษา
Know 13 ROO h รู ้
Lead 17 PAH c พา
Leg KAH r ขา
Let 16 HY d ให้
Lid FAH r ฝา
Look 11 DOO c ดู
Medicine 12 YAH c ยา
Meet 2 POP h พบ
Mend, cloth. PA d ปะ
Mind, heart. 16 JY c ใจ
Minus LOP h ลบ
Neck KOR c คอ
New 2 MY l ใหม่
Nine 3 GOW d เก ้า
No (See lesson) 15
Not 1 MI h มิ
Not 1 MY d ไม่
451
Of KORNG r ของ
Of 24 HAANG l แห่ง
On 8 BON c บน
One. n. 11 UN c อัน
Opium FIN l ฝิ น
Or 4 REU r หรื อ
Per 12 LA h ละ
Person 4 KON c คน
Person 17 POO d ผู ้
Place. n. 1 TEE d ที
Place. n. 20 TEE d ที
Please 21 KOR r ขอ
Plough TY r ไถ
Poor 20 JON c จน
Pour TAY c เท
Prosecute 19 FORNG c ฟ้ อง
Pump. v. SOOP l สู บ
* Irregular Tone.
Rain 6 FON r ฝน
Result 10 PON r ผล
Ripe 11 SOOK l สุ ก
Roast PING d ปิ ง
Rub SEE r สี
Rub. v. TOO r ถู
Scrub TOO r ถู
Self 10 DTON c ตน
Send 16 SONG l ส่ ง
Servant 19 BOY r บ๋ อย
Shade ROM d ร่ ม
Shall, will. 2 JA l จะ
Short of 21 ORT l อด
Shoulder LY l ไหล่
Shrink. v. HOT l หด
Sick 23 POO-AY l ป่ วย
Silk MY r ไหม
Six 3 HOK l หก
Sky FAH h ฟ้ า
Slap DTOP l ตบ
Smell. v. DOM c ดม
Smoke. v. 16 SOOP l สู บ
Snake 14 NGOO c งู
So 19 JEUNG c จึง
Strike. v. 5 DTEE c ตี
Subtract LOP h ลบ
Sufficient POR c พอ
* Irregular Tone.
** Irregular Transliteration.
Take 2 OW c เอา
Taste. n. 23 ROT h รส
489
Tea 14 CHAH c ชา
Tear up CHEEK l ฉี ก
Ten 3 SIP l สิ บ
There is MEE c มี
Things 10 SING l สิ ง
Till 25 JON c จน
Times 3 TEE c ที
To 16 GAA l แก่
To 26 YUNG c ยัง
To 22 TEUNG r ถึง
To 26 NA h ณ
To 16 HY d ให้
Together ROO-AM d ร่ วม
Train. v. 25 FEUK l ฝึ ก
Transfer. v. ON c โอน
Two 3 TO c โท
Umbrella ROM d ร่ ม
Until 25 JON c จน
Unwell POO-AY l ป่ วย
Up 11 KEUN d ขึน
Us ROW c เรา
* Irregular Tone.
Vehicle 22 ROT h รถ
Wait 10 ROR c รอ
Want 4 OW c เอา
Warm 25 OP l อบ
We 1 ROW c เรา
Will, shall. 2 JA l จะ
Wing PEEK l ปี ก
With 4 GUP l ก ับ
With 23 GUP l ก ับ
Wood MY h ไม้
Year 6 PEE c ปี
Zero SOON r สู ญ
A B C D E F
G H I J K L
M N O P Q R
S T U V W X
Y Z EU O OO Y
AI c* Cough ไอ
* Irregular Tone.
** Irregular Transliteration.
BON c On 8 บน
BOY r Servant 19 บ๋ อย
CHAH c Tea 14 ชา
CHEEK l Tear up ฉี ก
CHOM c Admire 26 ชม
CHON c Collide 26 ชน
CHUN r I 1 ฉัน
CHY d It is 1 ใช่
DEE c Good 10 ดี
DOM c Smell. v. ดม
DTAH c Eye ตา
DTEE c Hit ตี
DTEE c Strike. v. 5 ตี
DTI l Blame ติ
DTI l Criticise ติ
DTOK l Fall 6 ตก
DTON c Self 10 ตน
DTOP l Slap ตบ
DTO c Big 26 โต
DTO c Huge โต
DTOO d Cupboard 20 ตู ้
DOO c Look 11 ดู
DY c Any 25 ใด
530
DY d Can 2 ได้
DY d Did 7 ได้
DY d Get 7 ได้
FAH r Lid ฝา
FAH h Sky ฟ้ า
FAI d Cotton ฝ้ าย
FEE r Abscess ฝี
FEE r Boil. n. ฝี
FEUK l Train. v. 25 ฝึ ก
FIN l Opium ฝิ น
FON r Rain 6 ฝน
FORNG h Accuse ฟ้ อง
FORNG c Prosecute 19 ฟ้ อง
FY c Fire 9 ไฟ
GA l Estimate กะ
GAA l To 16 แก่
make excuses.
GOP l Frog กบ
GOW d Nine 3 เก ้า
GUN c Together, 23 ก ัน
with each other.
GUP l With 4 ก ับ
GUP l With 23 ก ับ
GUT l Bite 19 ก ัด
GY l Fowl 8 ไก่
HAANG l Of 24 แห่ง
HOK l Six 3 หก
HOT l Shrink. v. หด
HOO r Ear หู
HOO r Handle. n. หู
HY d For 16 ให้
HY d Let 16 ให้
HY d To 16 ให้
543
IM l Full 18 อิม
IT l Brick อิฐ
IM l Full 18 อิม
IT l Brick อิฐ
JA l Shall, will. 2 จะ
JEUNG c So 19 จึง
JON c Poor 20 จน
JON c Till 25 จน
JON c Until 25 จน
JY c Heart, mind. 16 ใจ
KAH r Leg ขา
GAHN c
KEE d Excrement ขี
KEUN d Up 11 ขึน
KOM r Bitter ขม
KON r Feathers 10 ขน
KON r Fur 10 ขน
KON c Person 4 คน
KOR c Neck คอ
KOR r Please 21 ขอ
KORNG r Of ของ
KEU c Is 2 คือ
KOO c Ditch คู
KY l Egg 9 ไข่
KY d Fever 9 ไข้
LA h Per 12 ละ
LONG c Down 11 ลง
LOP h Minus ลบ
LOP h Subtract ลบ
LO r Dozen 12 โหล
LY r Flow ไหล
LY l Shoulder ไหล่
MAH c Come 1 มา
MEE c There is มี
MI h Not 1 มิ
MOT h Ant มด
MY d Burnt ไหม้
MY d Not 1 ไม่
MY h Wood ไม้
MY l New 2 ใหม่
MY r Silk ไหม
NA h To 26 ณ
NAH c Field 11 นา
NGAH c Ivory งา
NGOR c Bend. v. งอ
NGOO c Snake 14 งู
NOK h Bird 14 นก
NOM c Breast นม
NY c In 1 ใน
OP l Bake อบ
OP l Warm 25 อบ
ORT l Short of 21 อด
OW c Get เอา
OW c Take 2 เอา
OW c Want 4 เอา
PA d Mend, cloth. ปะ
PAH c Lead 17 พา
PEE c Year 6 ปี
PEEK l Wing ปี ก
PEEN c Climb ปี น
586
PEN c Is 2 เป็ น
PING d Roast ปิ ง
POM r I (Males) 12 ผม
PON r Result 10 ผล
POO-AY l Ill ป่ วย
POO-AY l Sick 23 ป่ วย
POO-AY l Unwell ป่ วย
POP h Meet 2 พบ
590
POR c Sufficient พอ
PEUN c Gun ปื น
POO c Cover. v. 23 ปู
POO c Crab ปู
POO d Person 17 ผู ้
POO PI PAHK SAH d-h-d-r Judge (of the court) ผูพ้ ิพากษา
PY c Go 1 ไป
REEP d Hurry 18 รี บ
ROM d Shade ร่ ม
600
ROM d Umbrella ร่ ม
ROO-AM d Together ร่ วม
ROR c Wait 10 รอ
ROT h Flavour. n. รส
ROT h Taste. n. 23 รส
601
ROT h Vehicle 22 รถ
ROW c Us เรา
ROW c We 1 เรา
REU h Demolish รื อ
REU r Or 4 หรื อ
ROO h Know 13 รู ้
SEE l Four 3 สี
SEE r Rub สี
SING l Things 10 สิ ง
SIP l Ten 3 สิ บ
SONG l Send 16 ส่ ง
611
SOO-AN l As for, 22 ส่ วน
on the part of.
SOOK l Ripe 11 สุ ก
SOT l Fresh 8 สด
SO d Chain. n. โซ่
SOON r Zero สู ญ
SOOP l Pump. v. สู บ
SOOP l Smoke. v. 16 สู บ
SY r Clear, transparent. ใส
TAH d If 17 ถ้า
TAY c Pour เท
TEE d At 1 ที
TEE d Place. n. 1 ที
TEE d Place. n. 20 ที
TEE c Times 3 ที
TEUNG r To 22 ถึง
TONG c Flag ธง
TUNG ... LAA h-h Both ... and ทัง ... และ
TO c Two 3 โท
TOO r Rub. v. ถู
TOO r Scrub ถู
623
TY r Plough ไถ
UN c One. n. 11 อัน
YAH c Medicine 12 ยา
YUNG c To 26 ยัง
ON c Transfer. v. โอน