Learn Thai - 10 words a day

[KhwaamLap]

OK, just for fun, I am going to try and post ten words a day in Thai. They will all be simple words that are in popular usage. Feel free to comment or ask for clarification below - and any real Thais lurking, feel free to correct me.

I will use a simple transliteration and will also try to find English words that sound similar - I will add either (L),(M),(H),(R) or (F) after each syllable to help wth tones (Low - drop an octave, Medium - normal speach, High - up an octave, rising and falling respectively).

'll keep going even if they are no comment as it may be of use in the future to someone (maybe even me as a refresher).

Some words have many meanings - I will try and give the meanings that are used mostly.

Todays words:

นี่ Nee(F) pronoun this (can also mean here - implied 'this place')
มา Mah(M) verb to come (มานี่ Mah(M) Nee(F) come here)
บ้าน Bahn(F) Home or House
ไป Bai(M) verb to go (ไปบ้าน Bai(M) Bahn(F) to go home)
ผม Pom(R) pronoun I or me for a male speaker
ฉัน Chun(R) pronoun I or me for a female speaker (and informally by males to close friends or partners)
เรา Row(M) (Row like arguement not as in row boat) we or us or even our
เขา Cow(R) he, she, they, them, him, her
คุณ Koon(M) (short oo like in book) You
ตลาด Tal(L)-art(L) ('al' in tal is like the shortening of the name Allan not like 'tall' or 'tar' - it is all said as one word Tallart) Market

So, from these we can get several sentances (quite a lot actually).
ผมไปตลาด I am going to the market (immidiate tense)
เราไปบ้าน We are going home (immidiate tense)
เขามาบ้านนี่ They came (come) to this house

Have fun. Tomorrow I'll add some questions and possibly some tense words so some simple converstaions can be had. Feel free to comment, correct or suggest - remember though to keep it simple, this is meant as a newbie guide.

[frogblogger]

Good idea KL, I'm just about keeping up so far!

[KhwaamLap]

OK todays words - as promised I am going to give some question words so basic conversations can be used.

อะไร A(L)Rai(M) (said as one word - phonetically uh-rye ('uh' as in 'up' and 'rye' as in 'rye bread') What? (usually at the end of the sentance) - see below.

ไหน Nai(R) (as in the end is 'nigh') Where?

ทำไม Tum(M)Mai(M) ('Tum' as in kids word for stomach and 'mai' as in the English word 'My') Why?

ใคร Krai(M) (almost like the English word 'cry' but pulled up short at the end) Who? Whom?

เมื่อไร Mooah(F)Rai(M) (Mooah contains one of those Thai vowels that doesn't exist in English - the 'ooah' is quite short and is not far from the sound urgh! - I didn't like that - 'Rai' is a 'Rye Bread') When?

กี่โมง Gee(L)Mong(M) What time? This is not the same as when, and you will probably hear it more often. When is often used alone as in English.

อย่างไร Yahng(L)Rai(M) ( You may also hear ยังไง (colloq.) Yung(M)Nai(M) - 'Yahng/Yung' like 'Forever Young' (the second slightly shorter - notice tome difference) and 'Rai' like 'Rye Bread' - Nai as in 'the end is nigh') How? There are actually different words for 'how' depending on context - How here is for a question 'How do I...', not 'How many...' for example.

เท่าไร Tow(F)Rai(M) ('Tow' as in 'towel' not 'toe' and 'Rai' as in 'Rye Bread') How much?

กี่ Gee(L) (hard 'g' like 'Geek' but longer - and without the 'K' of course) How Many?

------ That's the end of the new words (only 9), some others for use in the examples follow as do the examples themselves -----------------

ยู่ Yoo(L) (like yule log) Resides/lives (as in place, not life)

ที่นี่ Tee(F)Nee(F) Here/This Place - look back at yesterday's Nee - it is the same word. เขาอยู่ที่นี่ s/he lives here.

กิน Gin(M) means to eat

รถไฟ Rot(H) Fye(M) means train - literally fire-car
ออก Ork(L) (like the word 'or' with a K suffixed) means exit/or to leave

นั่น Nun(F) means that.

Question words normally are placed at the end of the sentance. Here are some examples.

คุณยู่ไหน Where are you?
ยู่ไปไหน Where did you go?
กินอะไร What are you eating? What did you eat? (Context dependant).
กินี่ทำไม Why did you eat this?
ใครอยู่ที่นั่น Krai is at the front here, it can be at either end as in English. It is usually at the end though. Who lives (over) there?

รถไฟออกกี่โมง What time is the train leaving?

นี่เท่าไร How much is this?

I haven't covered all the words in these examples, but they all follow the same lines. As you volcab builds you will be able to add better questions.

There are some other questions in Thai:

- Can/May (can you/may I etc)
- Isn't it? (e.g: That's 600 Baht, Isn't it?)
- Turnng a phrase into a question (eg: You came here yesterday?)
- Checking (e.g: [A]The red one is 500B. [B]500B, eh?)

Which I will cover tomorrow and several other question words that are more complex or can be got around with the above questions and good wording - which I'll leave for another day.

Don't forget to be polite - adding ครับ Krup(H), ค่ะ orKah(F) คะ Kah(H) to the end of the sentance. The former for men, the second for woman on statement and the latter at the end of questions fo women.

Hope it wasn't too confusing today - as always, post for clarification.

[frogblogger]

Thanks KL. Have you ever found that speaking a little Thai can be a real problem - resulting in rapidfire Thai being thrown back at you?

'Cha Cha' (slowly) doesn't help much, in my experience!

[Serendipity2]

OK, I was just getting the hang of the 10 from "yesterday" which Just arrived and you follow that up, rapid fire, with 15 today! And what I was getting the 'hang' of was the pronunciation Not the Thai script and the meaning of the word. Is there a kindergarten for farangs?

[KhwaamLap]

Originally Posted by frogblogger

Thanks KL. Have you ever found that speaking a little Thai can be a real problem - resulting in rapidfire Thai being thrown back at you?

'Cha Cha' (slowly) doesn't help much, in my experience!

Oh, only all the time. If you understand come of they are saying, they burst into a full complicated diatribe. Oh, help!

[KhwaamLap]

Originally Posted by Serendipity2

OK, I was just getting the hang of the 10 from "yesterday" which Just arrived and you follow that up, rapid fire, with 15 today! And what I was getting the 'hang' of was the pronunciation Not the Thai script and the meaning of the word. Is there a kindergarten for farangs?

This is kindergarten for Farangs!

I'm trying to cover thing that would be useful ad can be usd to make sentances - rather than a list of vocab that is meaningless in itself. Once I get past question words, then it should be a bit easier as other vocab can just be plugged in.

I didn't know whether to go over the alphabet or not - personally I think it helps a lot - but it takes practise, commitment and is a fair amount to remember. Let me know of you want me to do this - taking a day out of this thread (can't do both - it takes a fair while) - maybe every other day and do the alphabet and basic reading.

Let me know what you think.

[Serendipity2]

Originally Posted by KhwaamLap

This is kindergarten for Farangs!

I'm trying to cover thing that would be useful ad can be usd to make sentances - rather than a list of vocab that is meaningless in itself. Once I get past question words, then it should be a bit easier as other vocab can just be plugged in.

I didn't know whether to go over the alphabet or not - personally I think it helps a lot - but it takes practise, commitment and is a fair amount to remember. Let me know of you want me to do this - taking a day out of this thread (can't do both - it takes a fair while) - maybe every other day and do the alphabet and basic reading.

Let me know what you think.

Hi KhwaamLap,

For me ONE word per day will tax my intellectual prowess - others can probably do more. Seriously, ten works per day and the alphabet [Thai script or what ever one calls it] is pretty ambitious even if one devoted a fair bit of time daily but everyone can handle a different level of 'pain'.

[KhwaamLap]

OK today's is going to be a quickie just to cap off yesterday's questions.

As promised we will cover:

- Can/May (can you/may I etc)
- Isn't it? (e.g: That's 600 Baht, Isn't it?)
- Turnng a phrase into a question (eg: You came here yesterday?)
- Checking (e.g: [A]The red one is 500B. [B]500B, eh?)

Can/May: The Thai word for can is ได้ dai(F) (like Yosemite Sam used to say 'die varmit'). It sis most often used in a question at the end. Like this: พูดภาษาไทได้ไหม Put(F) Pah(M) Sah(R) Thai(M) Dai(F) Mai(R) ('put' as in 'where did you put my keys', 'pah' as in 'park', 'Sah' as in 'sardine', 'Thai' as in 'neck tie', 'dai' as in 'die' and 'mai' as in 'my') - phew! - which means Can you speak Thai? (literally: Speak Language Than Can You?). Note the 'mai' at the end - we will see this formally in a minute.
To answer a Dai Mai question we repeat the verb to say 'yes' or negate the verb to say 'no':
[A] ภาษาไทได้ไหมคะ Put(F) Pah(M) Sah(R) Thai(M) Dai(F) Mai(R) Kah(H) Can you speak Thai?
[B] ไหครับ Dai(F) Krup(H) Yep.
[B] ไม่ได้ครับ Mai(F) Dai(F) Krup(H)No. *careful not to confuseไม่ Mai(F) (no/not) withไหม Mai(R) (?) - they are different words completely.



Isn't it? Isn't that so?:
OK. This is very common in Thai and you will here it a lot. Basically it is a statement with a couple of words at the end which queries the correctnes (your agreement with) that statement. Think of it in English "The cup final is on TV tonight, Isn't it?". The words in Thai is ใช่ไหม Chai(F) Mai(R) (Chai as in 'China' - rymes with 'sigh', and 'mai' as in 'my'). Notice the Mai(R) at the end once again.
The way to answer a chai mai question is to either repeat 'chai' or negate it.
นี่คือบ้านของคุณใช่ไหม Nee(F) Kooa(M) Bahn(F) Korng(R) Koon(M) Chai(F) Mai(R) ('nee' like 'knee', kooa like 'sewer' with a k instead of an s and shorter, 'bahn' like 'barn', 'korng' like 'king kong' but stretched a tad or spoken with a plumb in the mouth, koon with short oo like in book and 'Chai Mai' like above). This your house, isn't it? (literally: this/to be/house/belonging to/you/isn't it?)

[A] นี่คือบ้านของคุณใช่ไหมครับ Nee(F) Kooa(M) Bahn(F) Korng(R) Koon(M) Chai(F) Mai(R)Krup(H) This your house, isn't it?
[B] ใช่ค่ะChai(F) Kah(F)Yep.
[B] ไม่ใช่ค่ะ Mai(F) Chai(F) Kah(F)No.

Chai and Mai Chai are sometimes used as 'yes' and 'no' even when the question was not a chai mai question - or even to a statement.



Turnng a phrase into a question:
If you have been folloing you may have guessed this by now. The easiest way is to add ไหม Mai(R) to the end. For example to turn 'we are going to the market tomorrow', into 'we are going to the market tomorrow?' (or in English we might better say "Are we going to the market tomorrow?") we simply suffix Mai(R) to it:
พรุ่งนี้เราไปตลาด proong(F) Nee(H) Row(M) Bai(M) Tal(L)-art(L) (only new word here is Proong Nee - tomorrow - proong is said like 'prong' but with the 'oo' sound from 'book' instead of the 'o' sound, 'nee you have met before as is said like 'knee') Tomorrow we are going to the market.

พรุ่งนี้เราไปตลาดไหม proong(F) Nee(H) Row(M) Bai(M) Tal(L)-art(L) Mai(R) Are we going to the market tomorrow?

To answer either repeat the verb, for 'yes'; or negate the verb for 'no'.
The verb above is 'to go' - do you remember thsi from the first 10? - ไป Bai(M). So to say yes to this question we say ไป Bai(M);to say no we say ไม่ไป Mai(F) Bai(M)

Simple, eh?



Checking:
OK, last up for today. This is used when you expect a positive answer, i.e. you ar just checking they heard right or for a rhetorical question. It is also used instead of ไหม Mai(R) (above) informally between friends or siblings. It is used in exactly the same way as ไหม Mai(R) and the word is หรือ rueh(R) (hard to find and equivalent for this word - sounds a bit like 'mer' in 'mermaid - with an 'r' instead of a 'm'). It also means or.

For an example just use the Mai(R) one from above and replace it with rueh(R).




I'll be easy on you tomorrow and just cover Yung (yet) - as its a Friday and its a bit of a strange one.

[gerg]

great idea KL-I'm learning already. PS Do you remember me(+other respondees to my queries some weeks ago). Pleased to inform you that I should be a LOS resident within 3 months. Once agian thank you all for your supportive thoughts. Gerg