Learn how to ask for directions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Hello and welcome to Thai Survival Phrases brought to you by ThaiPod101.com. This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Thailand. You will be surprised at how far a little Thai will go. |
| Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by ThaiPod101.com, and there, you will find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| In today's lesson, we'll introduce you directions that will help you find the place you are looking for. Previously, we introduced, "Is there a place near here?" and "Where is there a something?" But while we can now ask, we haven't addressed understanding the answer. Today, we're going to work on understanding what is said. So today, we'll go over basic directions. First, we have, "go straight." |
| In Thai, "go straight" is dtrong bpai. |
| dtrong bpai |
| Let's break it down by syllable: dtrong bpai |
| Now, let's hear this once again: dtrong bpai |
| The first word dtrong means "straight," followed by bpai, which means "go." Altogether, dtrong bpai means "go straight." Pretty simple, hey? |
| Now, we are going to work on turning. Let's try "turn right." In Thai, "turn right" is líiao khwǎa. |
| líiao khwǎa |
| Let's hear this once again: líiao khwǎa |
| The first word líiao means "turn," while khwǎa is, as you guess, mean "right." So altogether, líiao khwǎa means "turn right." |
| Now that you can say "turn right," it's easy to say "turn left." Simply replace the word khwǎa, which mean "right" by "left," which is sáai. |
| sáai |
| So in Thai "turn left" is líiao sáai. |
| líiao sáai |
| Let’s hear this once again: líiao sáai |
| Now, let's combine what we just learned into one phrase. How about to say "Go straight, then turn left." You can accomplish this by saying dtrong bpai láaeo líiao sáai. |
| dtrong bpai láaeo líiao sáai |
| Let's hear this once again: dtrong bpai láaeo líiao sáai |
| As you may notice, I added a word in the middle of two phrases we just learned. |
| The word láaeo means "then." So this phrase literally means "Go straight, then turn left." Of course, you can do this with turning right to by saying dtrong bpai láaeo líiao khwǎa. |
| dtrong bpai láaeo líiao khwǎa |
| The next phrase that comes in handy when asks for direction is "It's on the right," and "It's on the left." In Thai, "It's on the right" is yùu thaang-khwǎa. |
| yùu thaang-khwǎa |
| Let's hear this once again: yùu thaang-khwǎa |
| The first word yùu means "at," followed by thaang, which means "way" or "direction." The last word khwǎa, you already know the meaning of, which is "right." So altogether, this phrase is equivalent to the English phrase, "It's on the right." |
| What if it's on the left? Easy. Just replace the word "right" with "left," then you are good to go. In Thai, to say "It's on the left" is yùu thaang-sáai. |
| yùu thaang-sáai |
| Let's hear this once again: yùu thaang-sáai |
| You probably noticed that I didn't add any khâ or khráp to make this phrase more polite. Well, you could if you want. But when asking for direction, it is not very common that the person who explain to you the direction to you would think about politeness as much as they would think about how to explain to you correctly. |
Outro |
| Okay. To close out today's lesson, we'd like for you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase, and you are responsible of saying it loud. You will have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so chôok-dii khâ, that's mean "good luck" in Thai. |
| Remember, khâ is for women, and khráp is for men. Okay. Here we go. |
| "Go straight." - dtrong bpai |
| dtrong bpai |
| dtrong bpai |
| "Turn right." - líiao khwǎa |
| líiao khwǎa |
| líiao khwǎa |
| "Turn left." - líiao sáai |
| líiao sáai |
| líiao sáai |
| "Go straight, then turn left." - dtrong bpai láaeo líiao sáai |
| dtrong bpai láaeo líiao sáai |
| dtrong bpai láaeo líiao sáai |
| "It’s on the right." - yùu thaang-khwǎa |
| yùu thaang-khwǎa |
| yùu thaang-khwǎa |
| "It's on the left." - yùu thaang-sáai |
| yùu thaang-sáai |
| yùu thaang-sáai |
| All right. That’s going to do it for today. Remember to stop by ThaiPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
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