I would like to be a volunteer of Thai language instructor.

[clark_kent911]

To Chaimeekwahmsuk (ใจมีความสุข right? Your handle name is pronounced so, meaning happy heart)
“Don’t go for too long”  Ya Pai Nan Kernpai อย่าไปนานเกินไป
Ya = Don’t, Pai = go, Nan Kernpai = too long, Nan = long (for time)
Someone asks/commands another not to go somewhere too long or longer than it should take.

“mai dai bai nahn girn bai”  ไม่ได้ไปนานเกินไป (I did not go somewhere too long) Someone does not/did not go somewhere too long or longer than it should take.

Both sentences “don’t go for too long” and “mai dai bai nahn girn bai” (I did not/do not go somewhere too long) have different means in different situations/speakers.
The former one is used when someone asks/commands another not to do something, the latter is spoken when someone did not go somewhere too long (actually it should be used with a past activity so you know you did not go somewhere longer than it should take).

PS. I guess you are a Chinese person. I make a conjecture from your spelling/pronounciation. You use “b” for the sound “p” or “ป” in Thai. For pin yin, yes, b stands for sound of ป (Po Pla in Thai), but for pronounciation in Thai by having English ways, we use P, not B.

[chaimeekwahmsuk]

ผมคิดว่าชายมีความสุข=happy boy?......I am only a beginner (still) thanks for your instruction...very interesting.
สนใจมากเลย..?
ก็ได้ ไป=bp sound b+p together?...thankyou..ขอบคุณครับ

[parrot]

To Chaimeekwahmsuk (ใจมีความสุข right? Your handle name is pronounced so, meaning happy heart)
“Don’t go for too long”  Ya Pai Nan Kernpai อย่าไปนานเกินไป
Ya = Don’t, Pai = go, Nan Kernpai = too long, Nan = long (for time)
Someone asks/commands another not to go somewhere too long or longer than it should take.

“mai dai bai nahn girn bai”  ไม่ได้ไปนานเกินไป (I did not go somewhere too long) Someone does not/did not go somewhere too long or longer than it should take.

Both sentences “don’t go for too long” and “mai dai bai nahn girn bai” (I did not/do not go somewhere too long) have different means in different situations/speakers.
The former one is used when someone asks/commands another not to do something, the latter is spoken when someone did not go somewhere too long (actually it should be used with a past activity so you know you did not go somewhere longer than it should take).

Very easy to understand answer. Thank you very much!

[Harpo]

Post above is to check whether the OP is genuine i can read thru that a mile

Hi Sakonnick

Sounds like Clark_ K is a nice sort of a person, offering up his time and learning to assist us in the understanding of Thai language, thank you C K =D> =D> =D>

Mrs Parrot is bilingual, likes to exercise vastness here on UM, only language Mrs Parrot has trouble with as pointed out to me in a past posting is not understanding the unique qualities of the Australian ( yes Mrs Parrot that's Australian with a capital "A") vocabulary

[parrot]

I'm really shocked that anyone takes exception to anyone else trying to get a better handle on the local language. I've done my best (I think) to not take issue with anyone who finds the language too difficult or too much of an annoyance to learn.....no problem with me.
In my years here, I've come across very few Thais who can clearly explain in English a question dealing with the language. To be honest, most of the language 'experts' who seem capable of doing so (in an understandable way) are foreigners. So, I'm quite happy to take Clark_Kent up on his free offer. I'm sure he'd offer the same service whether the op is from australia or the UK or elsewhere....whether the question is a very basic one or a more complicated one. Not many good things in life come free anymore!

[chaimeekwahmsuk]

น่าบือ......chaimeekwahmsuk=ไชมีความสุข=happy male.....thankyou ck..ขอบใจ คลากเนท์

[parrot]

I found this info while searching Thai websites for the dates of the rocket festival in Roiet.
ปี 2557 -ขึ้น 15 ค่ำ เดือน ภข7 ปีมะเมีย จ.ศ.1376 ตรงกับวันพฤหัสบดี วันที่ 12 มิถุนายน พ.ศ.2557 (วันแห่บั้งไฟ)

https://sites.google.com/site/asdfggfds ... r-c-rxyxed

I understand most of the info......Year 2557, 15th evening of the waxing moon.....but don't know what ภข means. It obviously refers somehow to the 7th month of the year of the horse calendar. I found out that จ.ศ.1376 refers to the Chula Sakkarat Era derived from the Burmese calendar. I've never seen a reference to จ.ศ. before.....usually only see พ.ศ.
I understand the rest of the sentence.....ตรงกับวันพฤหัสบดี วันที่ 12 มิถุนายน พ.ศ.2557 (วันแห่บั้งไฟ)=the same day as Thursday, June 12, B.E. 2557 (the day of the rocket festival parade).

Two questions: Can you tell me what ภข means.......and......is the use of จ.ศ. unique to the people of Roiet, or have you ever seen it used elsewhere?


Thanks for any assistance you might be able to provide.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

I'm really shocked that anyone takes exception to anyone else trying to get a better handle on the local language. I've done my best (I think) to not take issue with anyone who finds the language too difficult or too much of an annoyance to learn.....no problem with me.
In my years here, I've come across very few Thais who can clearly explain in English a question dealing with the language. To be honest, most of the language 'experts' who seem capable of doing so (in an understandable way) are foreigners. So, I'm quite happy to take Clark_Kent up on his free offer. I'm sure he'd offer the same service whether the op is from australia or the UK or elsewhere....whether the question is a very basic one or a more complicated one. Not many good things in life come free anymore!

Yes, this is a fantastic opportunity that is much appreciated.

[clark_kent911]

Before clarifying Parrot’s points, I would like to clarify myself regarding what I have purposed to do (about teaching Thai as a volunteer). I believe I myself am a nice guy (not gay ha ha ha, just kidding) and very easy-going so I have given my hands to help anyone (either foreigners or Thais who are not really good at in Thai) about Thai issues (it could be anything about Thai, not only language, but cultures and traditions as well). If what I share can clarify or be useful to others, I will be pleased indeed. I do not mind if every single question is to test or prove me how good at in Thai I am. This is because I always think that there might be others who do not really know about that and they could get advantages from what I answer that question. So if others and I cannot set up a settle class or classes (beginning, intermediate and advanced) yet, I suppose to clarify every issues about Thai here (private emails are always welcome as well) if I have a chance.
I clarify Parrot’s issues:
ภข (Po Kho, the former is pronounced as same as พ, Po Pan. I do not dig into deeper hole of detail about Thai alphabets here, please message me directly if anyone wants to know about Thai alphabets). I do not see these 2 characters in the link so I cannot answer you about these 2 characters. Probably they do typo if any. I also cut and past the screen in the link here, please specify where they are.

จ.ศ. (Cho So, this is the abbreviated form of ChunLaSakKarat), it is a Thai original calendar year, not Burmese calendar year, started from April 16 and ended on April 15 of following year. The one who originated this calendar is a former Lanna high officer, as same as a minister of a government in the present time (in the past about 500 years, in the north of Thailand, there was a kingdom, called Lanna. Their royal is somehow closed to Laos kingdom (related by marriage something like this). The first year of Cho So is 1181 B.E. (พ.ศ. 1181, Po So 1181) or 638 A.D.. This is not used in Roiet (a north-eastern city) only but throughout Thailand at the time. Presently this calendar year is occasionally used in some events related in Buddhist ceremonies and we normally just see in official documents (we do not generally talk about like Po So and I believe many Thai people do not know about Cho So at all, some forget completely because we study about this Thai ancient calendar when we are primary high school students, like me. I have to do research from the Internet about this Thai ancient calendar to be able to give you more detail here). So to transform Cho So to Po So, we just add 1181 to Cho So calendar year, for example, Cho So 1376, this equals to Po So 2557 or 2014 A.D..

PS. I presently teach Thai to 2 German people (they live in Germany) via Skype and Line. If anyone would like to do the same, just add me at somprata (for Skype) or 0819746535 (for Line). We can lively video Skype or messaging Skype or Line messaging, like I have been doing with those German people.

[parrot]

I was beginning to think the same thing about ภข as I couldn't find anything searching google. I'll chalk that one up to 'op error'.

Thanks for the detailed explanation about จ.ศ. As always, it's interesting to learn a bit of history....along with a little more Thai.
Off topic....but related to learning languages.....yesterday a Thai friend asked me about the term 'winter soldier' (from the movie Captain America). I'm not much of a movie buff.....but searched google for the term and read an article that mentioned John Kerry testifying before Congress on Vietnam War crimes. Kerry made a statement that was a play on words from Thomas Payne....circa 1776. My friend's simple question led to an hour's conversation about Thomas Payne, Common Sense, and the American Revolution. A most interesting 'language' lesson for both my friend and me.

Thanks again for your language help!

[parrot]

clark_kent911
Hope you're still available for assistance:
I know there are two ways to order a dish in a Thai restaurant.......for example, พัดกะเพราลาดข้าว when you want your phatgrapao over rice.......and พัดกะเพราเป็นกับ when you want your phatgrapao separately (and usually a larger, more expensive portion).
I'm usually pretty good about dissecting a word (ผัด = fried กะเพรา = basil).....but I can't dissect เป็นกับ. Maybe I've got the spelling (เป็นกับ) wrong.
In short, my question is: how is it that เป็นกับ refers to a dish that's not served over rice?
Hope you can help. Thanks

[maaka]

sawasdee Bor Khun Clark Kent..
I am Kiwi in New Zealand, and girlfriend in Udon
we chat by email
we are building a house, and sometimes she doent understand inportant instructions and things I am talking about to her..
If I need you, can I PM you with my english email, and you translator into Thai, so then I can send to her?
Koopkun kap

[maaka]

I am so use to talking pigdin english its becoming the norm...oyiiiiiiiiiiii..
me have big tom tom..hahaha

[clark_kent911]

To address Parrot's questions:

First of all, I correct the word Phad. Phad is written in Thai as ผัด (not พัด), the first consonant is Pho Phueng, not Pho Phan
ผ is in the group of high-level consonant and this consonant, ผ cannot be a final consonant in any words, always. 
We have 44 consonants in Thai, only 2 are not presently available for being used in any words, those are ฃ (Kho Khuad) and ฅ (Ko Kon) We have 3 level consonants in Thai, high, middle and low.
High level consonant composes of ข, ฉ, ถ, ผ, ฝ, ส, ห (Kho Khai, Cho Ching, Tho Thung, Pho Phueng, Fo Fa, So Sua and Ho Heeb)
Middle level composes of ก, จ, ด, ต, บ, ป, อ (Ko Kai, Cho Chan, Do Dek, To Tao, Bo Bai Mai, Po Pla, Or Ang)
Low level composes of those which are not in above 2 groups.

We back to the issue, Phadkaprao (ผัดกะเพรา , many Thai people write kaprao incorrectly, they write as กระเพรา, this is absolutely wrong. The correct one is as Parrot has written here. Other words which are written wrongly by Thai people are for examples: กะเทย (they write as กระเทย, meaning gay) กระทะ (they write as กะทะ, meaning frying pan):
When we have dishes with any street food vendors and make orders of Phadkaprao (pork, beef, shrimp, squid and other kinds of meat that can be cooked for Phadkaprao dishes), of course they (vendors) understand that we ask for rice with phadkaprao if we do not order for phadkaprao separately. So if we would like to take an order of phadkapra as a separate dish, we suppose to ask them as phadkaprao pen kab (ผัดกะเพราเป็นกับ, เป็นกับ means separate phadkaprao or phadkaprao without rice). เป็นกับ (penkab) is a generally used word (not official) to tell food vendors that we prefer a separate dish of food which is often come with rice, except Khao Pad (fried rice) which we cannot order Khao Pad (khao = rice, pad = fried) as a separate dish or penkab  . Pen Kab = as a dish, pen = as or “to be”, kab is a short form of kabkhao (dishes). Or another way, you can say is “phadkaprao mai ao khao” to notify vendors that you prefer a separate phadkaprao.
But when we have dishes at any food shops or restaurants and we order for a phadkaprao, I would say all of them (waiters/waitresses/food shop owners) suppose to be confirmed that we are ordering a separate dish of phadkaprao or phadkaprao with rice. So we would like to have a separate phadkaprao, we just say “phadkaprao mai ao khao” (phadkaprao without rice, mai ao = without) or “phadkaprao plao plao” (plao plao = no other things, khao plao = only rice or pain rice).

So from my clarification above, it depends on in where you are having dishes, either a street food vendor or a food shop/restaurant.

Note: ผัดกะเพราราดข้าว (padkaprao rad khao) not ผัดกะเพราลาดข้าว (padkaprao lad khao),
ราด means pouring or putting liquid things onto another thing,
ลาด means laying or paving or tilting, for example we lay a mattress on a floor.

[clark_kent911]

To address Maaka's inquiries:

First, I correct your greeting words. Sawadee krub (สวัสดีครับ), you suppose to say this, not Sawasdee Bor. If you say Sawasdee bor, I guess you are saying/asking as Sabaidee Bor (how are you?, sabaidee = สบายดี, bor = บ่, a local Isan word, used when we would like to know anything, like sabaidee bor = how are you?, mee bor = Do you have'....?, mee = there is/are, you have, they have....).

Khob khub krub (ขอบคุณครับ= Thank you) , not koob kun kub.

You can drop me messages in this topic or directly email me at [email protected] or my skype line is somprata .
For long messages or urgent help, just go to my email address or Skype line.

Cheers,
Patrick.

[parrot]

ผัด = fried =

Patrick, thanks again for another detailed explanation. Very easy to understand. ขอบคุณครับ

[Joe blow]

Hi, I'm looking to learn thai. I'm from California, USA 67 y/o

[clark_kent911]

Hello Joe Blow,

You can directly contact me via the given channels of mine which have been declared in the topic.

[Lesroyalflush]

Hello Kun Patrick, I have a question about Thai language concerning time and detailing lengths of time that I would appreciate if you could answer (presuming this thread is still active). For example if I wanted to tell someone " I studied at Chiang Mai university for 3 years' How would i structure that in thai? 'Pom rian pasaa Thai tee mahawitiyalai Chiang Mai dtawn waylah sahm bpee"? Is how I would attempt to say an example sentence like that, but I'm not sure if that's how a Thai would speak. Please excuse my bad transliteration, I think everyone has their own different way, I can read thai script ok, just cannot write very well, so please feel free to write back using Thai characters.
Also for example, if one wanted to say something like "In 2 months' time (August) I will have lived in Udon Thani for 3 years' how could you say/write that in Thai? Muea eek sawng pbee teung laeo, Pom/Chan ja yoo tee Udon Thani sahm bpee laeo.
Again excuse my karaoke Thai. I struggle to understand how to say certain time related things like " i had a girlfriend for 2 years' as opposed to 'I had a girlfriend 2 years ago' including the examples above and would really appreciate if you enlighten me as to how a Thai would say it AND write it. Thanks very much

[clark_kent911]

สวัสดีครับ คุณ Lesroyalflush (Sawadee Krub Khun Lesroyalflush, Hallo Herr Lesroyalflush),

I explain mainly in English so that everyone who is interested in my post can understand as well (I believe many of them do not speak Thai, I mean they are in the beginning phase). I also have Thai sentences whenever I think that they are more useful for others who are advanced than “green horses” of Thai language

Whenever you want to tell anyone that you used to do anything, we normally put “koey” (เคย, used to) after the subject of a sentence (for this case, I is the subject, it is like in English, I believe) or put “ laew” (แล้ว, already) at the end of a sentence, this is not like in English somehow, right? Because in English, there are verbs for present, past, present perfect, past perfect and so on (like other western languages, such as German/Deutsch, I am a beginner of Deutsch). But in Thai, we do not have present, past and so-on verbs. We just put a period of time in a sentence (mostly at the end) to specify an event of what we did, are doing, will, or have done and so on, so that our listeners can know when it happens (happened).

Back to your cases, you suppose to say:
“ผมเคยเรียนภาษาไทยที่มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่เป็นเวลา 3 ปีครับ (ค่ะ for female speakers)
(Pom Koey Rian Pasa Thai Tee Mahawittayalai Chiang Mai Phen Wala Sam Pee Krub (Ka for female speakers)).
(I used to study Thai language at Chiang Mai University for 3 years).

“ในอีก 2 เดือนข้างหน้า (สิงหาคม) ผมจะอยู่ในอุดรธานี เป็นเวลา 3 ปีแล้วครับ”
(In next 2 months, August, I will have been living in UTH for 3 years)
(Nai Eek Song Duean Khang Na (Singhakom), Pom Cha Yu Ni Udonthani Pen Wala Sam Pee Laew Krub)

“ผมเคยมีคนรัก (แฟน) เป็นเวลา 2 ปีครับ” = I had a girlfriend for 2 years.
(Pom Koey Mee KonRak Pen Wala Song Pee)
For this case, you had a girlfriend and dated or lived together for 2 years.
“ผมเคยมีคนรัก(แฟน) เมื่อ 2 ปีที่แล้ว” = I had a girlfriend 2 years ago.
(Pom Koey Mee KonRak Mua Song Pee Tee Laew).
For this case, you had a girlfriend and dated with her last 2 years.

Note: for many Thai people, they use แฟน (Fan) for our girl/boyfriends. Not as same as in English. For this word, แฟน, Thai people have borrowed from the English word, fan, but we mis-understood the real meaning from the first time, that’s why we have said “fan” (แฟน) for boy/girlfriend since then. Another word for boy/girlfriend and formally used is คนรัก (Konrak, kon = people, rak = love).
From 3 examples above, we can say that we do not have verbs/helping verbs to specify manners of time of what we do, did, will do or so on in Thai language, we just use adverbs (verbs are same in timing) in identify a time of an event.

Cha (จะ) is used for what we will do in the future.
Koey (เคย) or Laew (แล้ว) is used for what we did in the past.
Kamlang (กำลัง) is used for what we are doing. For example, Pom (Chan) Kamlang Aan NangSue Yu (ผมกำลังอ่านหนังสืออยู่ครับ, I am reading a book).
Aan = read
NangSue = book
Yu is used to identify more clearly, we do not need to say this word if we are doing something, we just say Kamlang, that’s enough.

PS. I will go to CMU (Chiang Mai Univ.) again this coming August to join the freshmen welcoming ceremony, the ceremony that older students take freshmen to Doi Suthep praying worship there. Yes, I am a CMU alumnus, graduated from engineering school there. We normally run and walk up from the university to Doi Suthep. You can probably join us if you have a chance.