shotover Posted July 21, 2002 Report Share Posted July 21, 2002 How do say in Thai you are not good at doing something? I understand "mai dee" is used to describe a person who or action which is bad. Would you say "I play basketball mai dee"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 21, 2002 Report Share Posted July 21, 2002 "How do say in Thai you are not good at doing something? I understand "mai dee" is used to describe a person who or action which is bad. Would you say "I play basketball mai dee"?" I'll have a shot at this, though I will expect some other opinions as it's possibly a bit of a 'grey' area... But to answer your immediate question the answer is 'no', you definately wouldn't say it like that. You would have to clarify that it's your ability that's not up to scratch. If you said 'len basketball mai dee', or 'len pool mai dee' you are actually stateing that the 'playing' of basketball is not a good thing. Or if you used the personal pronoun phom in the start, such as 'phom len basket-bon mai dee' you are in effect saying that you play basket-ball not fairly or against the rules perhaps - however a Thai would express it differently. The basic rule to follow is to use 'mai-dee' as an adjective and not an adverb. The way you are talking about using it, is as an adverb, i.e. to give more information regarding your verb 'play'. So, in actuality a car (or any other noun) can be 'mai dee', a person can be 'mai dee' but an action cannot - unless you are thinking of it in its gerund form .eg. the swimming, the running, the speaking. Incidently you can say 'pood mai dee' but this wouldn't actually be referring to the action of speaking but the 'thoughts' behind what is being said. Now, to answer your original question: 'How do say in Thai you are not good at doing something?'. You have to state that you do something with a certain amount of ability. eg. "I don't play well" / "I can't play basketball very well - "phom len mai keng" / "phom len basketbon mai koi keng". Furthermore, if you have NO ability whatsoever then you'd say "phom len mai bpen", though in real speech people will sometimes say "phom len mai dai". This will be understood for the same meaning but it could actually be construed as meaning you can't (mai dai) play because of some other circumstance other than ability , eg., you don't have a basketball. Well, a bit of a long-winded reply, I hope I've not misled or confused you any.... Cheers, FF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 21, 2002 Report Share Posted July 21, 2002 Good explaination, but a bit long and therefore confusing perhaps. I can't play .... (referring to ability) = Pom len .... mai bpen. I can't play .... (referring to availability) - Pom len ... mai dai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markle Posted July 22, 2002 Report Share Posted July 22, 2002 Let me have a go. 'pom len bart (basketball) mai dee' would suggest that although you are able to play well you did not play well at the time, think Andre Agassi after losing a game, no-one questions his ability but he didn't play well. 'pom len bart mai keng' - I can play but not very well 'pom len bart mai pen' - I am unable to play at all. 'pom len bart mai dai' - I can play but there is some other reason I can't play, -injury, no time,etc. To say that playing basketball is not good you have to say 'karn len bart pen sing mai dee' literally - the playing of basketball is a bad thing. "How do say in Thai you are not good at doing something?" 'pom ...(activity).. mai keng' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shotover Posted July 22, 2002 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2002 Thanks for the answers and great explanations. I'm impressed at how many board members understand intricacies of the Thai language, and how descriptive the language can be. I can say about a dozen Thai phrases, but I'm sure I screw up the tones most of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pescator Posted July 22, 2002 Report Share Posted July 22, 2002 >Phom Len .... Mai Dai. Which could also mean that you are not *allowed* to play. Hua Nguu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boo Radley Posted July 22, 2002 Report Share Posted July 22, 2002 Hi, I think you can also use MAI THA-NAT äÃ趹Ѵ for 'not good at (something)' in some contexts too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bibblies Posted July 23, 2002 Report Share Posted July 23, 2002 If you wanted to soften it a little (i.e. you were being a bit modest about your abilities), you could say "phom len mai geng thawray" - I don't play that well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markle Posted July 23, 2002 Report Share Posted July 23, 2002 'mai tah-nat' would be mostly used in a context where you are doing something akwardly or badly because you are hampered by some internal or external impediment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boo Radley Posted July 23, 2002 Report Share Posted July 23, 2002 Hi, Here's a couple of examples I came across from various Thai sources: à ¢ÒäÃ趹Ѵ㹡ÒÃà ¢Õ¹ËÑÇà ÃÕèç KHAO MAI THA-NAT GAHN KHIAN HUA REUANG çÓHe is not clever (good) at writing headlines. (Sethaputhra) à ¢Ò¶¹Ñ´à Åè¹ÅäÃÃÒ¡¡ÇèÒÃéÃ§à ¾Å§ KHAO THA-NAT LEN LAKHAWN MAHK GWA RAWNG PHLENG He's a better actor than singer. I'm not sure if its use is more literary than colloquial? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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