In this second lesson, we will teach you how to introduce yourself and say where you come from. We will also tell you how to say you don't understand and that you have only learned a little Thai so far!
  In the previous lesson, you learned about the polite particle (krup for men and kaa for women) which is tagged onto the end of sentences to make them polite. In this lesson, you will see also that men and women have different words for saying "I".
You might hear some people use their own name instead of saying these words. Also, some women might just say chun in less formal situations.
To introduce yourself....
| |
Women say di-chun chue mary |
To ask someone their name....
The word a-rai means "what?". You might hear it being used like "pardon me" when someone didn't understand what you just said. To make it sound polite, you should add na to the end of the phrase: a-rai na.
The word koon is a polite way of saying "you". It is also used in front of first names instead of saying "Mr." or "Mrs.". So, if you met a Thai person called Malee, you could address her as Koon Malee which will make you sound very polite and proper.
To say where you come from....
| |
Women say di-chun jaak australia |
To ask if someone understands....
Here, mai is a question word so it has a rising tone.
To say you don't understand....
| |
Women say di-chun mai kao jai |
Really, you don't have to say "I" at the start of this phrase. Most people just say "mai kao jai". Also note that here mai in Thai has a different spelling and therefore different tone. To just say "no" in Thai, you should say mai with a falling tone.
To say you understand....
| |
Women say di-chun kao jai |
Again, most people just say "kao jai".
To ask if they speak English....
| |
Men say poot pa-sa ang-grit dai mai |
| |
Women say poot pas-sa angrit dai mai |
Again, mai has a rising tone as it is a question word. The phrase "dai mai" is also useful for asking people if they can do something. To answer "yes I can" just say "dai" and to answer "no I cannot" just say "mai dai".
The word "pas-sa" means language, so "pa-sa tai" means "Thai" and "pa-sa ang-grit" means "English".
To say you can a little....
In some phrase books, you might see "I can speak a little Thai" translated as "phom poot pa-sa tai dai nit noi". This is correct but long winded. If someone asks if you can speak Thai, just reply "dai nit noi" or even just "nit noi".
|
