TALK LIKE A THAI

We created this short lesson so you can learn one more Thai stucture you can use in veryday life, or it can help refreshing your memories.

Watch now by clicking the picture below. Hope you find it useful in your Thai learning. 🙂

‘Present continuous’ or verb with “-ing” expressing action that is happening at the moment speaking such as ‘I am eating’, ‘she is cooking etc.

The full pattern in Thai is:

gam-lang + verb/verb phrase + yùu

In spoken Thai we often drop either the word ‘gamlang’ or ‘yùu’.

For example: ‘I am eating’ in Thai can be phrased in three different ways.

1. ผม/ชั้นกำลังกินข้าวอยู่ [pŏm/chán gam-lang gin kâao yùu]

2. ผม/ชั้นกำลังกินข้าว [pŏm/chán gam-lang gin kâao]

3. ผม/ชั้นกินข้าวอยู่ [pŏm/chán gin kâao yùu]

Let’s see some examples

1. คุยโทรศัพท์กับแม่อยู่ [kui toe-rá-sàp gàp mâe yùu]

I am talking on the phone with mom.

– คุย[kui] means to talk, to have conversation

– โทรศัพท์ [toe-rá-sàp] means telephone

– กับ [gàp] means with

– แม่ [mâe] means mother

2. ทอมดูทีวีอยู่  [Tom duu tii-wii yùu]

Tom is watching TV.

– ดู [duu] means to watch, to look at

– ทีวี [tii-wii] means television

3. ไหมเล่นเฟซบุคอยู่ [Mai lên Facebook yùu]

Mai is Facebooking.

(We use verb ‘to play’ when doing something entertaining)

– เล่น [lên] means to play

4. ป้าออกกำลังกายอยู่ [bpâa òrk-gam-lang-gaai yùu]

Aunty is exercising.

ออกกำลังกาย [òrk-gam-lang-gaai] means to exercise.

And of course, the above sentences can also be phrased with กำลัง [gam-lang].

To form the Present Continuous question such as ‘what are you doing?’, the same pattern is applied.

The question structure in Thai is “Subject + Verb+ Question word”. In present continuous tense, the same pattern is apllied as following:

subject + gam-lang + verb + question word + yùu?

Verb to do in Thai is ทำ [tam], and ‘What question word’ is อะไร [à-rai].

The question ‘what are you doing can be phrased in three different ways:

1. คุณกำลังทำอะไรอยู่ [kun gam-lang tam à-rai yùu?]

2.คุณกำลังทำอะไร [kun gam-lang tam à-rai?]

*3. คุณทำอะไรอยู่ [kun tam à-rai yùu?]

* The third sentence is commonly used.

 

I hope you enjoyed this lesson, and have learned something new:)

 

Kop Kun Ka,

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