Learn how to make questions and question tags in Thai
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Intro |
|---|
| Michael: How are questions made in Thai? |
| Nantanee: And what about question tags? |
| Michael: At ThaiPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Thida Thongtong is asking his neighbors about whether they'll join their party. Mark Lee wants to join but seeks confirmation from his wife. |
| "Are you coming to our party?" |
| Thida Thongtong: คุณจะมาปาร์ตี้ของพวกเราไหม (khun jà maa bpaa-dtîi khǎawng phûuak rao măi) |
| Dialogue |
| Thida Thongtong: คุณจะมาปาร์ตี้ของพวกเราไหม (khun jà maa bpaa-dtîi khǎawng phûuak rao măi) |
| Mark Lee: พวกเราจะไปใช่ไหม (phûuak rao jà bpai châi măi) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Thida Thongtong: คุณจะมาปาร์ตี้ของพวกเราไหม (khun jà maa bpaa-dtîi khǎawng phûuak rao măi) |
| Michael: "Are you coming to our party?" |
| Mark Lee: พวกเราจะไปใช่ไหม (phûuak rao jà bpai châi măi) |
| Michael: "We are coming, aren't we?" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, you will learn how to form questions in Thai. Asking questions in Thai is straightforward, although it doesn't necessarily work the same way as in other languages. For instance, in English or Spanish, you would normally raise your intonation toward the end of your sentence. You don't always do this in Thai as it may interfere with the tones you're using. Remember, Thai is a tonal language. The simplest way to form a question in Thai is to use |
| Nantanee: ไหม (măi) |
| Michael: This is a particle that's equivalent to the question mark and is used mainly for yes-no questions. For instance, if you want to ask someone, "Do you like this?" you can say, |
| Nantanee: คุณชอบนี่ไหม (khun châawp nîi măi) |
| Michael: Question tags come in when you're asking for confirmation. One of the most common question tags in Thai is |
| Nantanee: ใช่ไหม (châi măi) |
| Michael: which roughly translates to "right?" If you notice, this tag is formed by adding the Thai word for "yes" to the question particle, |
| Nantanee: ไหม (măi) |
| Michael: The sentence in our dialogue is a perfect example of how to use this tag: |
| Nantanee: พวกเราจะไปใช่ไหม (phûuak rao jà bpai châi măi) |
| Michael: "We are coming, aren't we?" As you can see, question tags in Thai work the same way as they do in most languages. The only difference is that this exact same tag could mean different things in English: |
| Nantanee: เขาอาศัยอยู่ที่ลอนดอนใช่ไหม (khăo aa-săi yùu thîi lon-don châi măi) |
| Michael: "He lives in London, doesn't he?" Here's another one: |
| Nantanee: คุณมาที่นี่เมื่อวานนี้ใช่ไหม (khun maa thîi nîi mûuea waan níi châi măi) |
| Michael: "You were here yesterday, weren't you?" In both instances, we used the same question tag, which is |
| Nantanee: ใช่ไหม (châi măi) |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you've learned how questions are made in Thai. You've also learned about using question tags. Now, let's look at a couple of other examples. Our first example is: |
| Nantanee: คุณชอบอาหารไทยไหม (khun châawp aa-hăan thai măi) |
| Michael: "Do you like Thai food?" Here, we have a yes-no question, and so we simply added the standard Thai question particle at the end of the sentence. Here's another one: |
| Nantanee: คุณชื่อหลุยส์ใช่ไหม (khun chûue lŭi châi măi) |
| Michael: "Your name is Luis, isn't it?" This time, we used the question tag, |
| Nantanee: Nantanee: ใช่ไหม (châi măi)) |
| Michael: because we were asking for confirmation. |
| Contrast |
| Michael: If you're wondering if we could use other interrogative words to form questions in Thai, the answer is yes. For instance, we have the word, |
| Nantanee: อะไร (à-rai) |
| Michael: or "What" such as in, |
| Nantanee: คุณชื่ออะไร (khun chûue à-rai) |
| Michael: "What's your name?" Another one is |
| Nantanee: เมื่อไหร่ (mûuea rài) |
| Michael: which means "When," such as in |
| Nantanee: คุณจะไปเมื่อไหร่ (khun ja bpai mûuea rài) |
| Michael: "When are you leaving?" Next, there's the word |
| Nantanee: ที่ไหน (thîi-nǎi) |
| Michael: which means "where," as in |
| Nantanee: คุณกินข้าวที่ไหน (khun gin khâao thîi năi) |
| Michael: or "Where are you eating?" We also have the word |
| Nantanee: ทำไม (tham-mai), |
| Michael: the Thai word for "Why," such as in |
| Nantanee: ทำไมเธอถึงอยู่ที่นี่ (tham-mai thooe thǔeng yùu thîi nîi) |
| Michael: or "Why are you here?" If you want to ask "who," you can use the word |
| Nantanee: ใคร (khrai) |
| Michael: such as in "Who are you?" |
| Nantanee: คุณคือใคร (khun khuue khrai) |
| Michael: And, finally, we have the word |
| Nantanee: อย่างไร (yàang rai) |
| Michael: which means "how," such as when you ask |
| Nantanee: คุณเป็นอย่างไร (khun bpen yàang rai) |
| Michael: "How are you?" |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then, repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how Thida Thongtong says "Are you coming to our party?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nantanee as Thida Thongtong: คุณจะมาปาร์ตี้ของพวกเราไหม (khun jà maa bpaa-dtîi khǎawng phûuak rao măi) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Nantanee as Thida Thongtong: คุณจะมาปาร์ตี้ของพวกเราไหม (khun jà maa bpaa-dtîi khǎawng phûuak rao măi) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nantanee as Thida Thongtong: คุณจะมาปาร์ตี้ของพวกเราไหม (khun jà maa bpaa-dtîi khǎawng phûuak rao măi) |
| Michael: And do you remember how Mark Lee says, "We are coming, aren't we?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nantanee as Mark Lee: พวกเราจะไปใช่ไหม (phûuak rao jà bpai châi măi) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Nantanee as Mark Lee: พวกเราจะไปใช่ไหม (phûuak rao jà bpai châi măi) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nantanee as Mark Lee: พวกเราจะไปใช่ไหม (phûuak rao jà bpai châi măi) |
| Expansion |
| Michael: There's one more word you can use when asking questions in Thai. However, this one is used when you think you already know the answer. The word is |
| Nantanee: หรือ (rǔue) |
| Michael: It's when you're asking questions like, |
| Nantanee: คุณกินอาหารเผ็ดไม่ได้หรือ (khun gin aa-hăan phèt mâi dâai rǔue) |
| Michael: "So, you can't eat spicy food then?" |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Nantanee: แล้วพบกันใหม่เร็วๆ นี้ค่ะ (láaeo phóp gan mài reo-reo níi khâ) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
Comments
Hide