Jump to content

diffrence between Na? and Mai?


SiamIAm

Recommended Posts

She speaks as well as you do but, it's just that she has never heard "got" used in this type of sentence. I told her what I said in thai. "I entered home 5 minutes ago, only". She now knows. 6 months ago her english was .. so so. Now she speaks like an australian (which maybe isn't so good).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

la

there are a few different "la"'s in thai there is la that means "each" but the la sentence final particle is a different word and can be different tone and/or vowel eg sometimes more like "lae" short,sharp and low meaning much like "just that!" or "just that!" depending on the sentence subject.

Some la use may be borrowed from chinese but

overall this is a thai particle.

be careful with "ya" this is a final particle

used by females !

jaeng kharm.you have to jaeng khwarm (notify)

something, like jaeng khwarm tamruat

notify the police.

jaeng khwarm is a verb. smile.gif" border="0

[ October 17, 2001: Message edited by: noo6 ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe that "jaeng khwarm" does not need to be used with an object. I work in an office full of Thai lawyers, and they say "jaeng khwarm" all the time without anything following it to mean "lodge a complaint with the police".

As for "la" in "loog maa nah-ruk la kup?"

I think this is actually a mistaken form of "reu" as in "sabai dee reu plao khrap" ("how are you"). In colloquial speaking, this word often comes out as "luh" or even "la". It is used as a question particle at the end of a sentence when one is expecting or hoping for a positive response.

Used alone, it means "really???", expressing a tone of semi-disbelief or surprise. In this instance, it sounds most often like "luhhh?" (rising tone).

I have definitely only heard "ya" used by women, katoeys, and effeminate men. Men would be more likely to say "tammai wa?" than "tammai ya?". Both are very informal, with "tammai wa" usually interpreted as being quite rude. It could easily cause offense if used in the wrong situation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:

Originally posted by PvtDick:

[QB]As for "la" in "loog maa nah-ruk la kup?"

I think this is actually a mistaken form of "reu" [QB]

I think you are a little bit confused by what lucky wrote.

The question mark he put there is a mistake that didn't mean to make (he quoted me incorrectly) I'm sure as ...

loog maa nah-ruk la kup... is a statement.

but, like I said before, la is also a word meaning each. You might hear it used as people toss greetings back and forth.

eg. khun la kup ... sorbai dee mai?

or phom la kup sorbai dee

which is very different from

loog maa na-rug la kup

but, in the same way, it is a sentence generated from a table tennis type conversation that has been thrown back and forth and therefore in the thai "each", it would fit very well.

When you offer someone else help, how do u say it?

"you give me help what?"

When u suggest help, what do u say?

"give help together"

The same feeling of "togetherness" goes with greetings. "each" shares the greeting over 2 people, essentially grouping together the concerned parties.

Where as...

"Hello, how are you?" .. "OK and you?"

Keeps the conversation at an arms length.

A more common way to use "each"....

Fong la, loog la, chin la... at the market.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by PvtDick:

[QB]I believe that "jaeng khwarm" does not need to be used with an object. I work in an office full of Thai lawyers, and they say "jaeng khwarm" all the time without anything following it to mean "lodge a complaint with the police".

yes understood, but in this case you know the

object is the police, as in many cases of spoken thai-if the object or subject is understood you can leave it out-If the object is not completely understood you would have to refer to whom you are notifying, because jaengkhwarm could be notifying police,phuyaaybarn,khruuyaay etc

but, agreed in most cases refers to

informing the police

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...