Tuesday Thai Tutorial #4

Daily Verb"To eat"กิน ข้าว
gin khaàò

 "To drink"ดื่มdeŭum

 "To want (a)"เอาao

 "To want (to)"อยากyaăk

Daily Noun"Plate"จานjaan

 "Glass"แก้วgaaeò

 "Bottle"ขวดkhuaăt

 "Ice"น้ำ แข็งnâhm khaéng

Daily Adjective"White"สี ขาวseé khaáó

 "Orange"สี ส้มseé sòhm

Daily "?" Word"Isn't it?"ใช่ ไหมchaì hmaí

 "Eh?"หรือhreuú

 "Or not?"หรือ เปล่าhreuú þlaŏ

Daily Other Word"Already"แล้วlaâeo

Daily Qualifier"Pieces of food"ชิ้นchîn

Daily Thainglish"Beer"เบียร์biia

 "Sauce"ซอส saàwt

The letters for today are the letter G (the hard one, like as in "gun", not the soft one as in "George")... (ก), the letter KH (ข), and the vowel (short)I (-ิ which looks like a little eye).

Okay... it is now time to make your brain hurt a little bit. The letters ก (G) and ข (KH) are more or less pronounced the same... BUT, the G is considered a "mid" consonant, and the KH is considered a "high" consonant. What does that mean? It means that the tone of a word in Thai is not just dictated by the vowel, or the tone marks in a word. (Remember the little apostrophe from lesson 1?) With a word like กิน (gin... "to eat") there is no tone... it is in the middle. With a word like ขาว (khaáó... "white") there is no tone mark, but nonetheless it has a rising tone. But, add the tone marker to the word "white": ข้าว (khaàò... "rice") and the word now has a falling tone.

The first two verbs for today are "to eat" and "to drink". When you say "gin khaàò" ("eat rice"), you are just talking about eating in general. You can leave out the khaàò part, and say instead, "gin pizza". The verb "gin" can also mean to drink, so you can say "gin biaa" (eat beer), but it is more proper to use the verb "deŭum" when referring to liquids.

Today we give you 2 verbs for wanting. The verb "ao" is the verb for "to want a", and is followed by a noun, such as "ao rôt seé sòhm" ("I want an orange car.") The verb "yaăk" is the verb for "to want to" and is followed by a verb, such as "yaăk yuŭ theè neè" ("I want to stay here.")

The nouns for the day are for plate, glass, bottle, and ice. When you order food, you can either use the word "plate" as the qualifier, or the Daily Qualifier, "chîn". Therefore, if you want three slices of pizza, you would say, "ao pizza saám jaan khrâp" ("I want pizza 2 plates, please"), or "ao pizza saám chîn khrâp" ("I want pizza 2 helpings, please.") (Note that this does not apply to fruits, which have their own qualifier.) For drinks, you could order 2 beers by saying "ao biia saáwng khuaăt, khrâp" ("I want beer 2 bottles, please.") or "ao biaa saáwng gaaeò, khrâp" ("I want beer 2 glasses, please.") If you want your beer without ice, you would say "ao biia saáwng khuaăt, khrâp. maì ao nâhm khaéng, khrâp." ("I want beer 2 bottles, please. I don't want ice (water solid), please.")

(Notice that there is no word for "please" in Thai. (There actually is, but...) Instead, remember to end all of your sentences with "khrâp" or "khà".)

The question word #1 is "chaì hmaí". You remember hmaí from the first lesson as the "general question word." The word "chaì" means "yes"... although "khrâp" or "khà" is a better word to use if you want to actually say "yes" in Thai. Therefore, "chaì hmaí" is a question word that you use when you are expecting an affirmative answer: "yaăk gin khaàò chaì hmaí" (You want to eat, yes?)

The question word #2 is "hreuú". This performs the same function as the word "hmaí", but is more informal. So it would translate well as, "yaăk deŭum biia hreuú" (You want to drink beer eh?).

The question word #3 is "hreuú þlaŏ". The word "þlaŏ" means "no"... although "maì khrâp" or "maì ao khrâp" is a better way to say "no" in Thai. So therefore, "hreuú þlaŏ" is a question word that you use when you are expecting a negative answer: "yaăk þai baàn hreuú þlaŏ" ("You don't want to go home, do you?")

The extra word of the day is "laâeo", which is the word for "already". Thai people aren't too big on tenses, and oftentimes they will just throw in the word "already" in order to indicate the past tense: "gin khaàò laâeo" ("I've eaten already.") "þai rohng raaem laâeo" ("I've gone to the hotel.")

The Thainglish words for the day, "biaa" is obvious. The word "saàwt" should proceed just about anything liquid that you want to put on food. If you want ketchup, you can say "saàwt ketchup." If that doesn't work just say "saàwt seé daaeng" ("red sauce").