Learn how to use classifiers in Thai to count items
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Pim: Sawasdee Ka. |
| Ryan: Ryan here! Thai Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 12 - Don't Shop in Thailand When You're Hungry! In this lesson you'll learn how to use some common classifiers in Thai. |
| Pim: "ใช่ค่ะ(châi khâ)" "That's right!" |
| Ryan: So, "Khruu" Pim, where does this conversation take place? |
| Pim: ที่ร้านสะดวกซื้อค่ะ(thîi ráan sà-dùuak súue khâ) which is at a convenient store. Steve is buying some food and drinks before going to the hotel. "เอาล่ะค่ะ ไปฟังบทสนทนากันเลยดีกว่า(ao lâ khâ bpai fang bòt sŏn-thá-naa gan looei dii gwàa)" "Let's listen to the conversation!" |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| พนักงานร้าน: ยินดีต้อนรับค่ะ (yin-dii dtâawn-ráp khâ) |
| พนักงานร้าน: น้ำเปล่า 3 ขวด, น้ำส้ม 1 ขวด กาแฟ 1 กระป๋อง รับอะไรเพิ่มไหมคะ (náam-bplàao sǎam khùuat náam-sôm nùeng khùuat gaa-faae nùeng grà-bpǎwng. ráp à-rai phôoem mái khá) |
| สตีฟ: (สังเกตเห็นอาหารในตู้ข้างๆ) นั่นอะไรครับ ((sǎng-gèet hěn aa-hǎan nai dtûu khâang khâang) nân à-rai khráp) |
| พนักงานร้าน: ซาลาเปาค่ะ อร่อยนะคะ (saa-laa-bpao khâ. à-ràuy ná khá) |
| สตีฟ: อืมมมมมมมมมมม (uuemmmmmmmmmmm) |
| English Host: Once again slowly. |
| Pim: อีกครั้ง ช้า ๆ (ìik khráng cháa cháa) |
| พนักงานร้าน: ยินดีต้อนรับค่ะ (yin-dii dtâawn-ráp khâ) |
| พนักงานร้าน: น้ำเปล่า 3 ขวด, น้ำส้ม 1 ขวด กาแฟ 1 กระป๋อง รับอะไรเพิ่มไหมคะ (náam-bplàao sǎam khùuat náam-sôm nùeng khùuat gaa-faae nùeng grà-bpǎwng. ráp à-rai phôoem mái khá) |
| สตีฟ: (สังเกตเห็นอาหารในตู้ข้างๆ) นั่นอะไรครับ (sǎng-gèet hěn aa-hǎan nai dtûu khâang khâang) nân à-rai khráp) |
| พนักงานร้าน: ซาลาเปาค่ะ อร่อยนะคะ (saa-laa-bpao khâ. à-ràuy ná khá) |
| สตีฟ: อืมมมมมมมมมมม (uuemmmmmmmmmmm) |
| English Host: Once again with the English. |
| พนักงานร้าน: ยินดีต้อนรับค่ะ (yin-dii dtâawn-ráp khâ) |
| Ryan: Welcome, sir. |
| พนักงานร้าน: น้ำเปล่า 3 ขวด, น้ำส้ม 1 ขวด กาแฟ 1 กระป๋อง รับอะไรเพิ่มไหมคะ (náam-bplàao sǎam khùuat náam-sôm nùeng khùuat gaa-faae nùeng grà-bpǎwng. ráp à-rai phôoem mái khá) |
| Ryan: Three bottles of water, one bottle of orange juice, one can of coffee. What else would you like? |
| สตีฟ: (สังเกตเห็นอาหารในตู้ข้างๆ) นั่นอะไรครับ ((sǎng-gèet hěn aa-hǎan nai dtûu khâang khâang) nân à-rai khráp) |
| Ryan: (notices food in a steam cabinet close to the counter) What is that? |
| พนักงานร้าน: ซาลาเปาค่ะ อร่อยนะคะ (saa-laa-bpao khâ. à-ràuy ná khá) |
| Ryan: Steamed buns. They're delicious. |
| สตีฟ: อืมมมมมมมมมมม (uuemmmmmmmmmmm) |
| Ryan: Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Ryan: I'm kind of thirsty. |
| Pim: สวัสดีค่ะไรอัน(sà-wàt-dii khâ rai-ân) Why don't you go get a cola from the venting machine over there? |
| Ryan: I'd like to but it's out of service. |
| Pim: Then you should go buy one at Seven-Eleven, a convenient store near the building. |
| Ryan: Do they have anything good to eat there too? I haven't had lunch yet. |
| Pim: Sure. Like Seven-Eleven in other parts of the world, you can find hotdogs, bread and frozen food, some things like that. It also has lots of everyday necessities like shampoo, razors and batteries. |
| Ryan: That's convenient. |
| Pim: Not only that, but you can also make payments for your mobile phone or electricity bills. |
| Ryan: Wow, are there a lot of them in Thailand? |
| Pim: Everywhere in Bangkok. In other cities, you can also find them, but they are fewer until you work. We usually call them by only เซเว่น(see-ŵen) for short. |
| Ryan: Okay, I'll go to Seven after this lesson. |
| Pim: No, no, no. If you want to talk like a Thai native, you should pronounce it as เซเว่น(see-ŵen), not Seven. |
| Ryan: Ah, I got it. I'll go to เซเว่น after this lesson. |
| Pim: Good all right. Onto the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Ryan: Let's take a look at the vocabulary and phrase list for this lesson. The first word is: |
| Pim: น้ำเปล่า (náam-bplàao) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: Plain water. |
| Pim: น้ำเปล่า (náam-bplàao) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. น้ำเปล่า (náam-bplàao) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: Next. |
| Pim: น้ำส้ม (náam-sôm) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: Orange juice. |
| Pim: น้ำส้ม (náam-sôm) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. น้ำส้ม (náam-sôm) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: Next. |
| Pim: กาแฟ (gaa-faae)[natural native speed] |
| Ryan: Coffee. |
| Pim: กาแฟ (gaa-faae) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. กาแฟ (gaa-faae) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: Next. |
| Pim: ซาลาเปา (saa-laa-bpao) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: Steamed bun. |
| Pim: ซาลาเปา (saa-laa-bpao) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. ซาลาเปา (saa-laa-bpao) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: Next. |
| Pim: อร่อย (à-ràuy) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: Delicious. |
| Pim: อร่อย (à-ràuy) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. อร่อย (à-ràuy) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: Next. |
| Pim: ขวด (khùuat) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: Bottle. |
| Pim: ขวด (khùuat) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. ขวด (khùuat) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: Next. |
| Pim: กระป๋อง (grà-bpǎwng) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: Can. |
| Pim: กระป๋อง (grà-bpǎwng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. กระป๋อง (grà-bpǎwng) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: Next. |
| Pim: นั่นอะไร (nân à-rai) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: What's that? |
| Pim: นั่นอะไร (nân à-rai) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. นั่นอะไร (nân à-rai) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: Next. |
| Pim: รับอะไรเพิ่มไหม (ráp à-rai phôoem mái) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: Would you like anything else? |
| Pim: รับอะไรเพิ่มไหม (ráp à-rai phôoem mái) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. รับอะไรเพิ่มไหม (ráp à-rai phôoem mái) [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Ryan: Let's take a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. And the first phrase is? |
| Pim: นั่นอะไร(nân à-rai) |
| Ryan: "What's that?" |
| Pim: นั่น(nân) is a pronoun meaning "that" and อะไร(à-rai) means "what". This phrase is very useful. When you don't know what something is and want to ask about it, you can just point at it and say นั่นอะไร(nân à-rai), meaning "what's that?" |
| Ryan: Can we hear this phrase again? Please repeat after Khruu-Pim. |
| Pim: นั่นอะไร(nân à-rai) [pause] |
| Ryan: Next, we have another phrase. |
| Pim: รับอะไรเพิ่มไหม(ráp à-rai phôoem mái) |
| Ryan: "Would you like anything else?" |
| Pim: Although this phrase is long, I really recommend you to memorize it as a set phrase because you might hear it from store staff. |
| Ryan: Like in what situation? |
| Pim: For example, at a convenience store you will be definitely asked รับอะไรเพิ่มไหม(ráp à-rai phôoem mái) when paying at the cashier. At a restaurant, when a waiter notices that you've finished your dishes, he may ask you the phrase if you want to order more. |
| Ryan: What should I say if I want to answer "yes" to the question? |
| Pim: You can just reply with ครับ(khráp) or ค่ะ(khâ), and followed by things you want. But if you don't want anything, you can say ไม่(mâi) meaning "no" or ไม่เป็นไร(mâi bpen rai) meaning "I'm fine". |
| Ryan: OK, please repeat our phrase after Khruu-Pim. Would you like anything else? |
| Pim: รับอะไรเพิ่มไหม(ráp à-rai phôoem mái) [pause]. On some occasions, you might not hear this exact phrase. Some staff members may recommend specific things and ask whether you want them. In those cases, อะไร is replaced by that specific thing. For example, Seven-Eleven staff always ask you รับซาลาเปาเพิ่มไหม(ráp saa-laa-bpao phôoem mái) would you like a steamed bun? |
| Ryan: Hahaha. Okay, I will remember that. Now, let's move on to the grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
| In this lesson, we will learn about the usage of classifiers when using numbers with nouns. |
| Pim: In Thai, we always use classifiers when dealing with amount of any noun. The usual pattern is a noun followed by a number and then a classifier. And the classifiers are different depending on the type of a noun. |
| Ryan: How many classifiers are there in Thai? |
| Pim: I'm sorry to say that there are many, maybe a few dozen. Anyway here, I'll mention some of them that are most likely to be used in your daily life. The first one is a classifier that is used with humans. คน(khon). |
| Ryan: It means "people" or "person." |
| Pim: คนอเมริกา(khon a-mee-rí-gaa) is "American(săam)." And สาม is "three." So three Americans should be? |
| Ryan: คนอเมริกาสามคน(khon a-mee-rí-gaa săam khon) |
| Pim: That's right. The next one is for any animals, ตัว(dtuua). For example นกห้าตัว(nók hâa dtuua) means, "five birds," where นก(nók) is "bird" and ห้า(hâa) is "five." ตัว(dtuua) is not only used with animals, but we also use it with any clothes such as shirts, trousers, skirts or shorts. |
| Ryan: What about the classifier for machines or electronic devices? |
| Pim: We use เครื่อง(khrûueang) for any electronic machines such as computers, televisions and so on. |
| Ryan: Next, what about a classifier for vehicles? |
| Pim: For any land vehicles such as cars, bicycles and motorcycles, we use คัน(khan) but for airplanes, rockets, ships and boats, we use ลำ(lam) instead. |
| Ryan: What about things that come in pairs like a pair of earrings? |
| Pim: In that case, we use คู่(khûu). Anyway, you have to be careful because some nouns that are considered as pairs in English are not considered pairs in Thai. For example trousers and eyeglasses are not considered as pairs, whereas chopsticks, shoes and a spoon and a fork are. |
| Ryan: That's very interesting. |
| Pim: The next one is also very useful. A classifier for glasses is แก้ว(gâaeo). For example, we say หนึ่งแก้ว(nùeng gâaeo) for a glass of water where หนึ่ง(nùeng) means, "one." |
| Ryan: How am I supposed to remember all of them? There are a lot. |
| Pim: Actually there is a classifier อัน(an) which is usually used with some noun with small sizes such as eyeglasses, a remote control and a basket. But in a situation that you can't recall the proper classifier that should be used with a particular noun, you can use อัน(an) instead. |
| Ryan: Now, let's review. How would you say three mobile phones where a mobile phone is โทรศัพท์มือถือ(thoo-rá-sàp muue-thǔue)? Khruu Pim, the answer is? |
| Pim: Because the mobile phone is an electronic device, we should use เครื่อง(khrûueang). So โทรศัพท์มือถือสามเครื่อง(thoo-rá-sàp muue-thǔue săam khrûueang). |
| Ryan: How would you say two pairs of socks where two is สอง(sǎawng) and socks is ถุงเท้า(thŭng-tháao)? Khruu Pim, the answer is? |
| Pim: Because socks come in a pair we should use คู่(khûu). It should be ถุงเท้าสองคู่(thŭng-tháao sǎawng khûu). |
| Ryan: And the last one, how would you say a pair of trousers where trousers is กางเกง(gaang-geeng)? Khruu Pim, the answer is? |
| Pim: Although in English trousers are considered as a pair. In Thai, they are not. And because trousers are clothes, we should use ตัว(dtuua). It should then be กางเกงหนึ่งตัว(gaang-geeng nùeng dtuua). |
| Ryan: Okay. That's all for today's lesson. |
| Pim: มีคำถามอะไรไหมคะ(mii kham-thăam a-rai mái khá) |
| Ryan: Do you have any questions? |
| Pim: If you do, please let us know in the comment section. แล้วพบกันใหม่ค่ะ(láaeo phóp gan mài khâ) |
| Ryan: See you next time. |
Comments
HideDo you end up buying more food than you can handled when you are hungry?
Hello Jethro,
Thank you. It’s related to how the keyboard works, not the language rules. When typing Thai, if you have a vowel around or after a consonant with tone marks, you should type the tone mark first. For example, น่า, เน่า, หน้า, น้ำ, and ข้าว all require the tone mark to be placed correctly to ensure the tone mark appears in the right position. I hope that helps. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out. I would be happy to assist.
สวัสดีค่ะ sa-wat-dii kha
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
I have a question regarding typing in Thai.
I failed a couple of the questions in the writing test, despite my answer appearing identical to the correct answer. What I realised was that when typing น้ำเปล่า, that น้ำ is correct, but นำ้ is incorrect. The difference is that in the first one I typed น + ้ + ำ, but in the second I typed น + ำ + ้.
By that I assumed that typing consonant + tone mark + vowel is correct.
However in นั่นอะไร, นั่น is correct (consonant + vowel + tone mark), where as น่ัน (consonant + tone mark + vowel) is obviously incorrect.
Are there any rules for typing in Thai when there is a vowel and a tone mark? Is ำ just an outlier because it appears above and after the consonant, and should be treated as after the consonant (like with า, for example)?
Hello nayila,
Thank you.The classifier is placed at the beginning of the sentence as a response to the question. For example:
Staff: khun ja ao gaa-faae gii gaaeo kha คุณจะเอากาแฟกี่แก้วคะ = How many cups of coffee do you want?
customer: gaaeo nueng kha แก้วหนึ่งคะ = 1 cup/glass please. If you want 2 or more cups of coffee, the number will be at the beginning: " saawng gaaeo kha สองแก้วคะ / saam gaaeo kha สามแก้วคะ / สี่แก้วคะ sii gaaeo kha
Hope that helps. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I will be glad to help.
สวัสดีค่ะ sa-wat-dii kha
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
Hello, I have question about word order in classifiers. Why is the classifier sometimes placed at the beginning of a sentence and sometimes at the end ?
สวัสดีค่ะ Michael,
ขอบคุณสำหรับคำถามค่ะ น้ำ nám Low class consonant + ไม้โท máai-thoo " ้ " tone mark equal to high tone and ส้ม sôm high class consonant + + ไม้โท máai-thoo " ้ " tone mark equal to falling tone. The difference is the class of consonant.
A syllable beginning with Middle class and high class have the same rules.
mái-èek gives low tone
mái-thoo gives falling tone
mái-dtrii gives high tone
mái-jàt-dtà-waa gives a rising tone.
A syllable begins with low class consonants. It is a bit different.
mái-èek gives falling tone
mái-thoo gives high tone
Hope that helps. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I will be glad to help.
สวัสดีค่ะ
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
สวัสดีครับ ครุปริษา
I must have overseen some rule regarding tones.
Could you explain why the first syllable (น้ำ nám) is high tone an the second (ส้ม sôm ) one is falling in the following example?
น้ำส้ม nám-sôm
Both syllables are marked with a siang too (้) but have different tones.
Maybe I am missing something?
Hello A,
Thank you. There is a different between. ตัว dtuua mid-tone classifiers for "animals" and ตั๋ว dtǔua rising-tone classifiers for "tickets", check for a tone-mark for "ตั๋ว dtǔua rising -tone in Thai spelling". Hope that helps. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I will be glad to help.
สวัสดีค่ะ sà-wàt-dii-khâ
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
Hi,
How come the same word ตัว(dtuua) is used for movie tickets and animal classifier? It's confusing... is there a way to easily dispel the confusion?
Hello Thomas,
Thank you. That is a good idea. I will suggest. For the moment, you could take a short note. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I will be glad to help.
สวัสดีค่ะ sà-wàt-dii-khâ
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
(general comment) - it would be nice to have some markers when we listen to the full lesson - what I mean is that in the Lesson transcript, it would be nice to have the time - the full lesson is 14:45 - but sometimes I would like to listen to a specific part, and I have to guess where to place the cursor for the time.
PS: thank you for the reply on the Thai font size / I already increase the size for the entire website, but when following the entire lesson, we have to scroll fast. anyway, thank you for the reply.
Hello Thomas,
Thank you. I suggested but we didn't have plan for it at the moment. The best way for now is to zoom in on our website to make Thai letters bigger. I will suggest again. Hope that helps. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I will be glad to help.
สวัสดีค่ะ sà-wàt-dii-khâ
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
(General comment) - it would be so nice if you could have the font size of the Thai letters much larger - it would help read it and learn it at the same time.
สวัสดีค่ะ Alexey,
ขอบคุณค่ะ 555+ เหมือนกันค่ะ ซื้อเยอะกินไม่หมด แล้วก็วันต่อมาไม่กินแล้วนะคะ เพราะเบื่อไม่อยากกินแล้ว เอาให้คนอื่นกินหรือให้น้องหมากิน เสียดายของมากค่ะ พยายามแล้วนะคะ ซื้อของแค่พออิ่มหิวก็ไปซื้อใหม่ ฉันชอบซื้อผักสลัดมาไว้ในตู้เย็นเยอะนะคะ มันบังคับให้ฉันกินผักแล้วผักสลัดก็อร่อยกินง่ายมากสำหรับฉัน มีความสุขกับการกินมากๆ น้ำหนักขึ้นมา 10 กิโล😁😁😁 อย่าเป็นเหมือนฉันนะคะ
สวัสดีค่ะ
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
สวัสดีครับ, ครุปริษา
ผมซื้ออาหารมากกว่าผมกินได้บ่อยๆ (I often buy more food than I can eat)
ขอบคุณครับ
Hi Michael Marichalar,
Thank you for your message.
Do you mean if you could add them to your Flashcards or Word Bank? Yes, it is possible, just select the words and choose one of the related buttons below the list.
Or do you mean if words which aren't in the current list could be added to the vocabulary list?
Unfortunately, that's not possible as we design these lessons with a set number of vocabulary.
If you're looking for more, please use our free dictionary:
www.thaipod101.com/thai-dictionary/
You can add words from there to your Word Bank as well. 👍
Have a great day!😄
Cheers,
Lena
Team ThaiPod101.com
Hi Michael Marichalar,
Thank you. I will suggest and see what we could do. Hope that helps. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I will be glad to help.
สวัสดีค่ะ sà-wàt-dii-khâ
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
Can maybe a list of key words and phrases used in the lesson be added as list below vocabulary section to help when reviewing lesson quickly.
Hello Sam,
Thank you. สังเกตเห็น to notice อาหาร the food ใน in ตู้ cupboard ข้างๆ next to. Notice the food in a cupboard next to him or her. เครื่อง ingredients, items, stuff, material ดื่ม to drink = เครื่องดื่ม beverage; drink; refreshment. Hope that helps. Please feel free to let me know if you have any future questions. I will be glad to help.
Have a good day.
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
Why is เครื่อง: krʉ̂ʉang used in
เครื่องดื่ม: krʉ̂ʉang-dʉ̀ʉm - drink?
What is the English translation of
สังเกตเห็นอาหารในตู้ข้างๆ
Please?