| Let's look at the sentence pattern. |
| Do you remember how the character said, |
| "Excuse me, how much is this painting?" |
| ขอโทษนะคะ ภาพนี้ราคาเท่าไรคะ (khǎaw-thôot ná khá. phâap níi raa-khaa thâo-rai khá.) |
| ขอโทษนะคะ ภาพนี้ราคาเท่าไรคะ (khǎaw-thôot ná khá. phâap níi raa-khaa thâo-rai khá.) |
| This sentence follows the pattern here: |
| [Item] + [Classifier] + [Demonstrative] + ราคา + เท่าไร + ครับ/คะ |
| [Item] + [Classifier] + [Demonstrative] + raa-khâa + thâo-rai + khráp/khá |
| "How much is [ITEM]" |
| This is a common question structure used when asking about the price of something in Thai. |
| Let's see how the line from the dialogue uses the pattern. |
| ขอโทษนะคะ ภาพนี้ราคาเท่าไรคะ (khǎaw-thôot ná khá. phâap níi raa-khaa thâo-rai khá.) |
| "Excuse me, how much is this painting?" |
| ขอโทษนะคะ (khǎaw-thôot ná khá.) means "Excuse me," and it's not part of the pattern. |
| ภาพ (phâap) is the word for "painting," |
| นี้ (níi) is the demonstrative meaning "this," |
| and ราคาเท่าไรคะ (raa-khaa thâo-rai khá) means "how much is it?"—with คะ (khá) as the polite ending particle for female speakers. |
| Now, let's look at our second pattern: |
| [Noun] + [Classifier] + [Demonstrative] + ราคา + [Amount] + บาท + ครับ/ค่ะ |
| [Noun] + [Classifier] + [Demonstrative] + raa-khâa + [Amount] + bàat + khráp/khá |
| This structure is commonly used when giving the price of something in Thai. |
| Let's see how the line from the dialogue uses this pattern: |
| ภาพนี้ราคา 20,000 บาทครับ (phâap níi raa-khaa sǎawng-mùuen bàat khráp) |
| "This painting is 20,000 baht." |
| ภาพ (phâap) is the noun for "painting." |
| นี้ (níi) is the demonstrative meaning "this." |
| Together, ภาพนี้ (phâap níi) means "this painting." |
| ราคา (raa-khaa) means "price." |
| 20,000 บาท (sǎawng-mùuen bàat) means "20,000 baht." |
| And ครับ (khráp) is the polite ending particle used by male speakers. |
| So word-for-word, this sentence says: |
| "This painting – price – 20,000 baht – polite particle." |
| Or more naturally: |
| "This painting is 20,000 baht." |
| This is a very natural way to state the price of something when answering a price question or giving information about an item in Thai. |
| Now you can use these structures to talk about the price of anything when shopping in Thai! |
| Let's quickly review the Thai classifiers and demonstratives so you can ask about price clearly and correctly. |
| In Thai, nouns often need a classifier when we refer to them with demonstratives like "this" or "that." |
| The classifier depends on the type of object. |
| For example: |
| คัน (khan) is used for vehicles like รถ (rót, "car") and จักรยาน (jàk-grà-yaan, "bicycle"). |
| คู่ (khûu) is used for things that come in pairs, such as รองเท้า (raawng-tháo, "shoes") and ถุงเท้า (thǔng-tháo, "socks"). |
| ภาพ (phâap) is the classifier for ภาพวาด (phâap-wâat, "painting") or ภาพ (phâap, "picture"). |
| เรือน (ruean) is used with นาฬิกา (naa-lí-gaa, "watch"). |
| เครื่อง (khrûueang) is for devices like สมาร์ตโฟน (sà-mâat-fohn, "smartphone"). |
| ใบ (bai) is used for containers and flat items like กระเป๋า (grà-bpǎo, "bag") and กระเป๋าเงิน (grà-bpǎo-ngoen, "wallet"). |
| ขวด (khuat) is the classifier for bottles, such as ขวดน้ำ (khuàt-náam, "water bottle"). |
| ชิ้น (chín) is used for pieces of food like พาย (phaai, "pie"). |
| For demonstratives — the words that mean "this" or "that" — Thai has three main forms: |
| นี้ (níi) means "this," referring to something near the speaker. |
| นั้น (nán) means "that," referring to something near the listener. |
| โน้น (nôon) means "that over there," referring to something far from both speaker and listener. |
| In Thai, the structure is: [Noun] + [Classifier] + [Demonstrative] |
| Understanding which classifier to use with each noun and choosing the right demonstrative helps you ask and answer clearly when talking about price. |
| Now let's look at some speaking examples. |
| หนังสือเล่มนี้ราคาเท่าไรคะ (năng-sǔe lêem níi raa-khaa thâo-rài khá) |
| "How much is this book?" |
| Can you see how the pattern applies here? |
| หนังสือ (năng-sǔe) is the word for "book." |
| เล่ม (lêem) is the classifier used for books. |
| นี้ (níi) is the demonstrative meaning "this." |
| ราคา (raa-khaa) means "price." |
| เท่าไร (thâo-rài) means "how much." |
| And คะ (khá) is the polite ending particle used by female speakers. |
| So together, หนังสือเล่มนี้ราคาเท่าไรคะ (năng-sǔe lêem níi raa-khaa thâo-rài khá) literally means "This book's price is how much?" |
| Or more naturally, "How much is this book?" |
| Here's another example |
| กระเป๋าใบนี้ราคาเท่าไรคะ (grà-bpǎo bai níi raa-khaa thâo-rài khá) |
| "How much is this bag?" |
| กระเป๋าใบนี้ราคาเท่าไรคะ (grà-bpǎo bai níi raa-khaa thâo-rài khá) |
| "How much is this bag?" |
| Let's try one more, |
| กระเป๋าสตางค์ใบนี้ราคา 1,200 บาทครับ (grà-bpǎo sà-dtaang bai níi raa-khaa nèung-phan-sǎawng-ráawy bàat khráp) |
| "This wallet costs 1,200 baht." |
| กระเป๋าสตางค์ใบนี้ราคา 1,200 บาทครับ (grà-bpǎo sà-dtaang bai níi raa-khaa nèung-phan-sǎawng-ráawy bàat khráp) |
| "This wallet costs 1,200 baht." |
| Now you know how to ask for the price in Thai. |
| ...and now let's move on to the practice. |
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