Thai Foundation

Day 1

building on our sentences (exercise 2)

Well done if you got most of the answers correct in the first exercise! Hopefully, learning to speak Thai is easier than you thought. You should be pleased with yourself if you’re now making short sentences. On to the next lesson …

You will notice below that the same word is used for both subject and object – the personal pronoun doesn’t change. With these new verbs we can add an object to our sentences, like this:

subject+verb+object=sentence
khăo+châwp+ther=khăo châwp ther
he+likes+her=he likes her
ther+khâo jai+khăo=ther khâo jai khăo
she+understands+him=she understands him

phŏm/chăn châwp khun

I like you

chăn rák khun

I love you

khăo rúu jàk phûuak rao

he knows us

khăo khâo jai chăn

he understands me

khun thoo-hǎa ther

you call her

ther jam phŏm

she remembers me

phûuak rao hĕn man

we see it

chăn dâi yin khun

I hear(d) you

phŏm fang khun

I listen to you

phŏm bpai Karon

I go to Karon

khun maa Phuket

you come to Phuket

We can mix things up a bit, like this …

Peter châwp Jane

Peter likes Jane

Jane rák phŏm

Jane loves me

Jane thoo-hǎa khăo

Jane calls (called) him

fang chăn

listen to me

phŏm dâi yin

I heard

Peter rúu jàk Jane

Peter knows Jane

We can even use two verbs, where one helps the other. Compare these …

Jane châwp pizza

Jane likes pizza

Jane châwp gin pizza

Jane likes to eat pizza

Peter châwp beer

Peter likes beer

Peter châwp dèuum beer

Peter likes to drink beer

phûuak rao châwp wâai nám

we like to swim

ther châwp àan

she likes to read

As you can see, with just some pronouns and a few verbs we can already make some sensible sounding sentences. Listen to the examples again in the video, then have a go at the exercise.

Exercise 2

1I like2you write
3you love4they see
5he understands6it listens
7she phones8I hear
9he likes you10she loves me
11he understands her12she called him
13I wait for Peter14we see them
15I go to Rawai16he likes to come to Phuket
17Peter likes to sleep18Jane likes to eat pizza
19Peter phoned Jane20I know Peter
21he likes to swim22she likes to read
23I like beer24I drink beer
25I like to drink beer26she sees it
27she went to Karon28I like to come to Patong
29I heard you30you listen to me
31he knows Peter32she knows Patong
33I know Phuket34he knows
35you sit (and) wait