This episode of Talk Like a Thai, teacher Pear introduces you a Thai slang for “I got ditched!”.
First let’s learn a couple of words;
ทิ้ง /tíng/ means “to throw away something”
เท /tay/ means “to pour”
A formal language for “someone has been dumped” is โดนทิ้ง /doan tíng/, but if you want to communicate nuances of meaning or emotion better than formal language you can use the slang “โดนเท /doan tay/“. This phrase can also be used when someone stood you up as well.
Let’s have a look at this phrase in some full sentences,
ทอมโดนเท /Tom doan tay/ Tom got dumped.
คุณเคยโดนเทมั้ย /Kun keoi doan tay mái?/ Have you ever been dumped?
ทำไมชั้นโดนเทบ่อยจัง /tam-mai chán doan tay bòi jang?/ (female speaker)
ทำไมผมโดนเทบ่อยจัง /tam-mai pŏm doan tay bòi jang?/ (male speaker)
Why do I keep getting dumped?
Now you should also understand the structure of Thai Passive Voice.
In Thai language, passive voice sentences are used in the bad circumstances only. For example; she was deceived, the thief was arrested. etc.
The pattern of passive voice sentence is:
the action reciever + ถูก /tùuk/ + the doer + verb
or
the action reciever + โดน /doan/ + the doer + verb
*ถูก /tùuk/ and โดน /doan/ are interchangeable. However, ถูก /tùuk/ is more common.
Example;
ฉัน/ผมถูกหมากัด
chán/pŏm tùuk măa gàt
I was bitten by a dog.
คริสถูกไล่ออกจากงาน
Chris tùuk lâi-àwk jàak ngaan
Chris was fired from his job.
ดาวิกาถูกแฟนทิ้ง
Dawika tùuk faen tíng
Dawika was abandoned by her boyfriend.
แพรโดนเพื่อนเท
Prae doan pûean tay
Prae was stood up by a friend.
Read more about Thai Passive voice here.
We hope you find this lesson useful. Enjoy talking like a Thai! 🙂
Just FYI, there’s a typo spelling mistake in this sentence:
YOU MIHGT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN
It should be “might”.
Otherwise, great stuff. Thank you.
Oh! Thank you. I will correct it.
For the English transliteration, you wrote:
tam-mao chán doan tay bòi jang?
tam-mao pŏm doan tay bòi jang?
But would this be better:
tam-mai chán doan tay bòi jang?
tam-mai pŏm doan tay bòi jang?
It should be mai, not mao….unless the speaker is getting drunk vs asking why, lol 🙂
——–
Also a question about how you are using tùuk. It seems that you are using it to discuss past events. Couldn’t you also use ก่อน gone?
In other words what is the difference between:
ฉัน/ผมถูกหมากัด
chán/pŏm tùuk măa gàt
and
มากัดฉัน/ผมก่อน
măa gàt chán/pŏm gone
or
มากัดฉัน/ผมแล้ว
măa gàt chán/pŏm laew
Good to learn something new here.
—–
Also a suggestion for the video. No need to slow down the speech too slow. Just slow it down 2x maybe 3-4x max. But it was too slow to make any sense of what Khun Pear was saying. Google Translate does a 2nd pronunciation of a phrase about 2x slower than the first time you play the sound. It’s slower, but not too slow to where the voice changes 🙂
Thank you for your comment. I am sorry for the typo and I edited it already. 🙂
ก่อน that is used to discuss past events is actually มาก่อน, and it is used together with เคย to convey the meaning that you have done something before, at least once. For example; ผมเคยเรียนภาษาไทยมาก่อน ( I have had Thai lessons before). However this pattern is pretty formal and we don’t use in spoken Thai. In everyday life we just say ผมเคยเรียนภาษาไทย .
ก่อน is used on its own for the meaning “first as in something takes place first.” or “before”
In other words what is the difference between:
ฉัน/ผมถูกหมากัด
chán/pŏm tùuk măa gàt
and
มากัดฉัน/ผมก่อน măa gàt chán/pŏm gone – THIS SENTENCE MEANS “The dog bit me first”, and another event is followed. For example หมากัดผมก่อน ผมก็เลยตีหมา (The dog bit me first, so I hit the dog.)
or
มากัดฉัน/ผมแล้ว
măa gàt chán/pŏm laew
แล้ว is used to explain that an event has taken place already. Something has been done. For example; Someone asked you ไปกินข้าวด้วยกันมั้ย (Would you like to get something to eat together?) then you want to say “I had something to eat already” you would say ผมกินข้าวแล้ว.
Thank you for the video editing suggestion. I just learned about this new feature, so I was only playing around with it. I will try see if I can change the setting to not make it too slow when editing a new video in the future.
Keep making great videos. I enjoy every one.
Thank you for your comment. We are happy to hear that you found our lessons useful in your Thai learning.