Asking Questions in Thai

[Guest]

This is something I'm never sure of. When asking a question in Thai, for example, khun cher arai khrap?, do you say it with a questioning tone at the end as you do in English?

Also, do 'ai' & 'khun' basically mean the same thing? I'm presuming 'khun' is a more formal way of saying 'ai', but I'm not sure.

And last but not least, when saying something is hot, 'rawn mark ma', how do you pronounce 'rawn'? And can this expression be used to describe if food is spicy?

The mind baffles!

[Guest]

“I love you ai fharhuk bhar”

“ Also, do 'ai' & 'khun' basically mean the same thing? I'm presuming 'khun' is a more formal way of saying 'ai', but I'm not sure.”

“The mind baffles”

 

Mr Ennui

 

You are correct that “khun” is a more formal (polite) way, like ending with Khap or Khap Phom.

Don’t flame me if I wrong but when seeing your posts in the recent days on the subject of language, I have the impression that you are mixing up Thai and the Lao dialect as spoken in the North-East of Thailand.

It’s not my intention to insult you, but could I suggest in taking a speed-course Thai, readily available everywhere.

[sky brow]

Hi Mr Ennui,

To answer part of your question.

Pronounce rawn as in bonfire,but draw the word out slightlyYou cant use rawn if the food is spicy,only if it is hot as in temperature.Spicy hot,use the word phet.Pronounce the same as pet as in dog,I hope this makes sense?

FLO from OZ.

[sky brow]

I think I just realized what the word ai is.If it is pronounced like the letter E,then it possibly is Esarn dialect,It means something to the effect of khun,I would stay away from using this word,use khun at all times.Using ai instead of khun and then the persons name may not make you to many friends,I have heard plenty of Esarn girls use it in this way in Thailand but the girls here at home dont use it much and say it is low class Thai,used on the farm.i hope I am on the right track,someone correct me if I am wrong.

FLOfrom OZ

[Guest]

ai as a prefix to a male name and ee for a female name, used much the same as khun. If used incorrectly impolite. These words arent

issarn dialect but used all over thailand.

It would be very rare for a farang to use

these words without sounding silly, but

good to know when hearing thais speak to each other

[Guest]

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

So that leaves just one more thing for me...

 

When asking questions in Thai, do you ask with a questioning tone at the end?

Mr Ennui

[whosyourdaddy]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mr Ennui:

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

So that leaves just one more thing for me...

 

When asking questions in Thai, do you ask with a questioning tone at the end?

Mr Ennui

---

 

no there is no intonation or stress patterns anywheres in thai. except for the tones. say it all with a flat constant voice. ie dont raise your tones at the end of a question.

[coops]

Tones are the difficult part of the language, otherwise it's a pretty simple one.... and it's because of tones that most farangs speaking thai will not be understood unless they can guess what on earth you're trying to say.

Intonation in english etc can change the sense of a sentence, expressing question or surprise BUT this is not the case with thai. There are words to express questions etc - however each word has tones associated with it. 5 tones altogether (fortunately not all words exist in the 5 tones). A different tone results in a completely different word.

My favourite is :

klay (no tone, ie flat) = far

kl^ay (rising tone) = near

to a thai these two words are easy to distinguish.. heh heh.

have fun

coops

[Lamock Chokaprret]

Mr Ennui asked:

quote:

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When asking questions in Thai, do you ask with a questioning tone at the end

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My experience is that Thais who have some experience with English will understand a questioning tone (rising inflection on the end of a sentence), even to the extent of inadvertantly dropping the 'mai.' Is this correct Thai? The answer is probably no as posted earlier, because that poster is correct that the only proper intonation is what should be applied to the individual words. If you try to ask a question of a Thai speaker who knows no English by using a rising tone and dropping the 'mai' they probably will have no clue what you are saying.

But further experience suggests that no matter how good your vocabulary and pronunciation, you're likely to get a 'huh' kind of response when you speak to many Thais, especially if you're farang. They just don't expect a farang to speak their language so 'listen' in English. This I've found to be more true among younger (and most likely less experienced) Thais.

[Guest]

quote:

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My experience is that Thais who have some experience with English will understand a questioning tone (rising inflection on the end of a sentence), even to the extent of inadvertantly dropping the 'mai.'

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Sometime they will understand but usually not. When you use the rising inflection to indicate a question, you give the last word in the sentence rising tone which in most cases will completely change its meaning. A question "Is this the street where you live?" may become a statement "This is the street where you Thursday."

Conversely, Thais will sometimes add 'mai' at the end of English sentences. A hotel receptionist asked me once, "You like to see the room mai?" I answered, "like."

[ August 30, 2001: Message edited by: none ]