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Lesson Transcript

สวัสดีค่ะ ดิฉันกิตติยาค่ะ (sà-wàt-dii khâ. dì-chǎn Kittaya khâ)
Hi everybody! I’m Kittaya.
Welcome to ThaiPod101.com’s “Learn Thai in 3 minutes.” The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Thai.
In the last lesson, we learned how to ask "What" questions in Thai.
This time, we are going to ask questions using the interrogative word "Where?"
Imagine you want to ask where your friend is now. You will ask him คุณอยู่ที่ไหน(khun yùu thîi-nǎi)?
[slowly] คุณอยู่ที่ไหน(khun yùu thîi-nǎi)?
So let’s break down this sentence:
First we had:
คุณ(khun) which is “you”, and then we have
อยู่(yùu) which can translate into “be located” Finally we have
ที่ไหน(thîi-nǎi) which is the basic translation of "Where" in Thai.
So in Thai, "Where" is mainly translated as ที่ไหน(thîi-nǎi)
What if you want to ask "Where do you come from?" What would you say?
You will say “คุณมาจากที่ไหน(khun maa jàak thîi-nǎi)?” and the answer will be ผมมาจาก(phǒm maa jàak) + your country (if you are a man) and ดิฉันมาจาก(dì-chǎn maa jàak) + your country (if you are a woman)
The word ที่ไหน(thîi-nǎi) is asking about directions. “Where are you going?”, คุณจะไปที่ไหน(khun jà bpai thîi-nǎi)?
For example, when you get into a taxi the driver may ask you “Where are you going?” คุณจะไปที่ไหน(khun jà bpai thîi-nǎi)?
Suppose that you want to go to “Sawatdee Hotel” you will say “ผมจะไปที่โรงแรมสวัสดี(phǒm jà bpai thîi roong-raaem sà-wàt-dii)”
Now it’s time for Kittaya’s Insights.
Let’s talk about the question คุณอยู่ที่ไหน(khun yùu thîi-nǎi)? "Where are you?" You need to be careful with this question because sometimes, Thais will use this question to ask “Where do you live?” However, if you want to ask someone where they live,I suggest you use, บ้านของคุณอยู่ที่ไหน(bâan khǎawng khun yùu thîi-nǎi)? which means “Where is your home?”
Before ending this lesson, let’s look back at all the ways to translate "Where" in Thai:
ที่ไหน(thîi-nǎi) is the basic "Where"
- คุณอยู่ที่ไหน(khun yùu thîi-nǎi)? is “Where are you?” but as I mentioned earlier, be careful not to mix it up with “Where do you stay”, so instead of using the same question, we would use “บ้านของคุณอยู่ที่ไหน(bâan khǎawng khun yùu thîi-nǎi)?” “Where is your home?”
- “คุณมาจากที่ไหน(khun maa jàak thîi-nǎi)?” is "Where do you come from?"
And finally, we have..
- คุณจะไปที่ไหน(khun jà bpai thîi-nǎi)? which is “Where are you going?”
In this lesson, we learned how to use the Thai word for "Where", ที่ไหน(thîi-nǎi), and also its different variations.
Now you can avoid getting lost!
In the next lesson we’ll learn more about asking questions, this time using "When" in Thai.
I’ll be waiting for you in the next Learn Thai in 3 minutes. สวัสดีค่ะ(sà-wàt-dii khâ)

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