Lesson Focus: ทำได้, ทำ, and ทำไหว

• There are three different words that can follow a verb to mean "can" or "can't."

• The most basic one is ได้ (dâai). It can follow a verb to show that the subject has the ability to do something, has permission to do something, or has the opportunity to do something.

  • ผมพูดภาษาไทยได้ (phǒm phûut phaa-sǎa-thai dâai.)

    ➤ "I can speak Thai."

  • คุณกลับบ้านได้ (khun glàp bâan dâai.)

    ➤ "You can return home."

• The second word that we can use is เป็น (bpen). When it follows a verb, it means that the subject has the skill or knows how to do the action.

  • ดิฉันเขียนภาษาจีนไม่เป็น (dì-chǎn khǐian phaa-sǎa-jiin mâi bpen.)

    ➤ "I'm not able to write Chinese."

  • คุณเล่นเทนนิสเป็นไหม (khun lên ten-nís bpen mǎi.)

    ➤ "Do you know how to play tennis?"

• The last word that we can use is ไหว (wǎi). When it follows a verb, it means that the subject is physically able to do the action. It occurs most commonly in the negative form as ไม่ไหว (mâi wǎi).

  • ผมเดินไม่ไหวแล้ว (phǒm dooen mâi wǎi láaeo.)

    ➤ "I can't walk anymore."

  • กินข้าวอีกหนึ่งจานไม่ไหวครับ (gin khâao ìik nùeng jaan mâi wǎi khráp.)

    ➤ "I won't be able to eat another plate of rice."

Vocabulary & Phrases

• ยังไง (yang-ngai)

  • This is a spoken form of the adverb "how."

  • The more formal written form of "how" is อย่างไร (yàang-rai).

  • But you will hear people use ยังไง (yang-ngai) more often in regular speech.

  • As with the English word "how," we use ยังไง (yang-ngai) in both questions and statements.

  • Examples:

    • วันนี้อากาศเป็นยังไง (wan-níi aa-gàat bpen yang-ngai.)

      ➤ "How is the weather today?"

    • ฉันไม่รู้ว่าเขาทำยังไง (chǎn mâi rúu wâa khǎo tham yang-ngai.)

      ➤ "I don't know how he did it."

• ภาษาอังกฤษพูดว่ายังไง (_______ phaa-sǎa-ang-grìt phûut wâa yang-ngai)

  • This phrase means "How is ___ said in English?"

  • You will say the word or phrase that you want to translate first.

  • Then comes ภาษาอังกฤษ (phaa-sǎa-ang-grìt), which means "English."

  • The last part, พูดว่ายังไง (phûut wâa yang-ngai), means "How is said as?"

  • You can easily adjust this phrase by changing the name of the language.

  • Examples:

    • สวัสดีภาษาอังกฤษพูดว่ายังไง (sà-wàt-dii phaa-sǎa-ang-grìt phûut wâa yang-ngai.)

      ➤ "How do you say 'sà-wàt-dii' in English?"

    • "Hello" ภาษาไทยพูดว่ายังไง ("Hello" phaa-sǎa-thai phûut wâa yang-ngai.)

      ➤ "How do you say 'Hello' in Thai?"

    • สวัสดีภาษาจีนพูดว่ายังไง (sà-wàt-dii phaa-sǎa-jiin phûut wâa yang-ngai.)

      ➤ "How do you say 'Hello' in Chinese?".

Other Languages in Thai

How Thais Speak English

• When visiting Thailand, you will undoubtedly encounter the Thai variant of broken English, sometimes referred to as "Tinglish," which incorporates peculiarities of Thai pronunciation and sentence structure when Thais attempt to speak English.

• To begin, Thai speakers struggle with many consonant clusters.

  • This frequently results in an extra short "-a" being appended to the first letter of some words.

  • Thai also has a limited number of consonant sounds that can end a syllable, such as "spaghetti" (sa-paa-get-tii).

  • Thais may have difficulty pronouncing the final "-l," "-r," "-s," "-ch," and so on.

  • "Bill," for example, will sound like "bin.”

• You may hear "no have" instead of "don't have any," "I eat already" instead of "I ate," and "where you go?" instead of "where are you going?"

  • You may also hear mistakes made from direct translations of correct Thai word use.

  • Using "open" and "close" with light switches or songs, for example.

  • Another phrase you may hear is "play Internet.”

• And finally, the king of Tinglish expressions is without a doubt "same same."

  • Some Thai use this in place of "it's the same as."

  • "Same same" likely has its origin in the precise concept the term "same" implies, in which two things must be compared to each other.

  • In some Asian nations, such as Nepal, the phrase "same same" is used.

  • It appears that the word was spread by travellers traveling around the continent.

  • Another variation on "same same" is "same same but different," which suggests that two items are identical in some aspects but not in others.

  • Young travelers who have adopted the term "the same but different" have almost established their own ideology.

  • It's even been printed on T-shirts.