mogul Posted October 29, 2003 Report Share Posted October 29, 2003 when used for cannot, how is it pronounced? my dai? may dai? and what about don't want: my ow? may ow? i hear it both ways. thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 30, 2003 Report Share Posted October 30, 2003 äÃè (mai) = not, no äËÃé (mai) = to burn äËà (mai) = silk äËà (mai) = word to indicate a question if at the end of a sentence. ãËÃè (mai) = new, anew etc. äÃé (mai) = wood, forest, stick, rod etc. ËÃÒ (mai) = warrant, decree etc. ËÃéÒ (mai) = divorcee ÃèÒ (mai) = widowed Hope this all confuses the matter. As to whether all these word are Mai, My, May, Mi, you'll have to ask a transliteration specialist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sickbuffalo Posted October 30, 2003 Report Share Posted October 30, 2003 Falling tone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samak Posted October 30, 2003 Report Share Posted October 30, 2003 the tone actually first rises and then falls! in opposite to chinese, where the 4. tone (qusheng) is a sharply falling tone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 30, 2003 Report Share Posted October 30, 2003 >>>when used for cannot, how is it pronounced? my dai? may dai?<<< Sounds like the English "my die" (both words are used with falling tone). >>>>>what about don't want: my ow? may ow? i hear it both ways. thanks.<<<< Sounds like the English "my ouch", without saying the 'ch'. Mai is falling tone, and 'ow' is middle tone (I Think?) HT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straycat Posted October 30, 2003 Report Share Posted October 30, 2003 yet another variation on spelling: [color:"red"]à áÃÑÂ[/color] Ekkamai/Egmai (the BTS station). I don't know however what/if [color:"red"]ÃÑÂ[/color] (mai) means anything in this context... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markle Posted October 30, 2003 Report Share Posted October 30, 2003 Confused, well just in case you're not. As for 'my, mai, may, migh, mi etc' it really depends on who you are, what kind of accent you have and which way you write down what you hear. Therefore the way a Thai word is written in Roman script (English) is in no way a reliable way of guessing at how it is pronounced, let alone give it some indication of the tone to use. There are a number of fairly standardised transliteration systems but these are by means universally accepted or applied (and all have their flaws) BTW the most accepted transliteration would be 'mai' but this is by no means absolute. Concerning tones, Thai has 5. flat, low, high, rising and falling What does that mean? No easy way to explain but these are really important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markle Posted October 30, 2003 Report Share Posted October 30, 2003 Says HIGH THAIED: Sounds like the English "my die" (both words are used with falling tone). Sounds like the English "my ouch", without saying the 'ch'. Mai is falling tone, and 'ow' is middle tone (I Think?) Tones in English are used as inflection to indicate such nonverbal things as confusion, fear, anger, joy, love etc. Tones in Thai are used to indicate different words with different meanings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khwaimaisabai Posted October 30, 2003 Report Share Posted October 30, 2003 Says mogul: when used for cannot , how is it pronounced? Hi mogul, ..........and just to cause more confusion, it varies according to regional accent. Bangkok "street" accent would be more like mi dai, or so I was told. Khwai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasmine Posted October 30, 2003 Report Share Posted October 30, 2003 Hi, May I suggest that ones listen to the context and use it as the tool to understand? The tones in Thai can be very confusing even to a Thai (like me). "mai" with differenr tones have many meanings as Orand stated. But if ones stand in a market and a merchant asking "Ow mai?" pointing at oranges, ones should understand. Mai ow" - "Do not want " is also easy, IMO, for it is such an affirmative. By the way, for Hubby, I expalined to him once that "mai" using in front of a sentence/phrase negates the sentence and "mai?" in different tone using the end of a sentence makes it a question and how many times I pronounced both "mai"s he never got the tone and got a severe headach from my explanation!!! :: So, just listen to the context and watch body language too. Jasmine :: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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