Learn about additional Thai pronouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Pim: สวัสดีค่ะ (sà-wàt-dii khâ) |
| Ryan: Ryan here! Beginner Season 1 , Lesson 4 - Which is the Right Thai Pronoun? |
| Pim: Hi, my name is Pim, and I am joined here by Ryan. |
| Ryan: Hello, everyone and welcome back to ThaiPod101.com |
| Pim: What are we learning today? |
| Ryan: In this lesson, you'll will learn how to use additional pronouns. |
| Pim: This conversation takes place at the dinner table of the host family James is staying with. |
| Ryan: The conversation is between James and members of his host family. |
| Pim: The speakers are of various ages, therefore the younger speakers will be speaking polite Thai to their elders. |
| DIALOGUE |
| คุณยาย: เจมส์มาเรียนอะไรที่เมืองไทยคะ |
| (khun yaai: jeem maa riian à-rai thîi muueang-thai khá.) |
| เจมส์: ผมมาเรียนภาษาไทยที่มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่ครับ |
| (jeem: phǒm maa riian phaa-sǎa-thai thîi má-hǎa-wít-thá-yaa-lai chiiang mài khráp.) |
| เจี๊ยบ: พี่เจมส์ไม่ต้องไปเรียนที่มหาวิทยาลัยหรอกค่ะ หนูสอนให้ได้ นี่คือช้อน นี่คือส้อม นี่คือแก้ว |
| (jíiap: phîi jeem mâi dtâwng bpai riian thîi má-hǎa-wít-thá-yaa-lai ràawk khâ. nǔu sǎawn hâi dâai. nîi khuue cháawn. nîi khuue sâawm. nîi khuue gâaeo.) |
| คุณพ่อ: (พูดไปหัวเราะไป)พอแล้วลูก |
| (khun phâaw: phaaw láaeo lûuk.) |
| ณิชา: เจมส์ พรุ่งนี้เราจะพาเจมส์ไปมหาวิทยาลัยนะ อยากให้เจมส์พบกับอาจารย์ท่านหนึ่ง |
| (ní-chaa: jeem phrûng-níi rao jà phaa jeem bpai má-hǎa-wít-thá-yaa-lai ná. yàak hâi jeem phóp gàp aa-jaan thâan nùeng.) |
| เจมส์: อาจารย์คนไหนครับ |
| (jeem: aa-jaan khon nǎi khráp.) |
| ณิชา: อาจารย์ สมศรี ตรีเพชรค่ะ ท่านเป็นอาจารย์ภาษาไทยของเจมส์ |
| (ní-chaa: aa-jaan sǒm-sǐi dtrii-phét khâ. thâan bpen aa-jaan phaa-sǎa-thai khǎawng jeem.) |
| เจมส์: ดีเลยครับ พวกเราจะไปกันกี่โมงครับ |
| (jeem: dii looei khráp. phûuak-rao jà bpai gan gìi moong khráp.) |
| ณิชา: เจ็ดโมงเช้าค่ะ |
| (ní-chaa: jèt moong cháao khâ.) |
| เจมส์: (เสียงตกใจ)หา...เจ็ดโมงเช้า |
| (jeem: hǎa... jèt moong cháao.) |
| Ryan: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| คุณยาย: เจมส์มาเรียนอะไรที่เมืองไทยคะ |
| (khun yaai: jeem maa riian à-rai thîi muueang-thai khá.) |
| เจมส์: ผมมาเรียนภาษาไทยที่มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่ครับ |
| (jeem: phǒm maa riian phaa-sǎa-thai thîi má-hǎa-wít-thá-yaa-lai chiiang mài khráp.) |
| เจี๊ยบ: พี่เจมส์ไม่ต้องไปเรียนที่มหาวิทยาลัยหรอกค่ะ หนูสอนให้ได้ นี่คือช้อน นี่คือส้อม นี่คือแก้ว |
| (jíiap: phîi jeem mâi dtâwng bpai riian thîi má-hǎa-wít-thá-yaa-lai ràawk khâ. nǔu sǎawn hâi dâai. nîi khuue cháawn. nîi khuue sâawm. nîi khuue gâaeo.) |
| คุณพ่อ: (พูดไปหัวเราะไป)พอแล้วลูก |
| (khun phâaw: (laughing while speaking) phaaw láaeo lûuk.) |
| ณิชา: เจมส์ พรุ่งนี้เราจะพาเจมส์ไปมหาวิทยาลัยนะ อยากให้เจมส์พบกับอาจารย์ท่านหนึ่ง |
| (ní-chaa: jeem phrûng-níi rao jà phaa jeem bpai má-hǎa-wít-thá-yaa-lai ná. yàak hâi jeem phóp gàp aa-jaan thâan nùeng.) |
| เจมส์: อาจารย์คนไหนครับ |
| (jeem: aa-jaan khon nǎi khráp.) |
| ณิชา: อาจารย์ สมศรี ตรีเพชรค่ะ ท่านเป็นอาจารย์ภาษาไทยของเจมส์ |
| (ní-chaa: aa-jaan sǒm-sǐi dtrii-phét khâ. thâan bpen aa-jaan phaa-sǎa-thai khǎawng jeem.) |
| เจมส์: ดีเลยครับ พวกเราจะไปกันกี่โมงครับ |
| (jeem: dii looei khráp. phûuak-rao jà bpai gan gìi moong khráp.) |
| ณิชา: เจ็ดโมงเช้าค่ะ |
| (ní-chaa: jèt moong cháao khâ.) |
| เจมส์: (เสียงตกใจ)หา...เจ็ดโมงเช้า |
| (jeem: hǎa... jèt moong cháao.) |
| Ryan: Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| คุณยาย: เจมส์มาเรียนอะไรที่เมืองไทยคะ |
| (khun yaai: jeem maa riian à-rai thîi muueang-thai khá.) |
| Grandmother: What did you come to Thailand to study? |
| เจมส์: ผมมาเรียนภาษาไทยที่มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่ครับ |
| (jeem: phǒm maa riian phaa-sǎa-thai thîi má-hǎa-wít-thá-yaa-lai chiiang mài khráp.) |
| James: I came to study Thai at Chiang Mai University. |
| เจี๊ยบ: พี่เจมส์ไม่ต้องไปเรียนที่มหาวิทยาลัยหรอกค่ะ หนูสอนให้ได้ นี่คือช้อน นี่คือส้อม นี่คือแก้ว |
| (jíiap: phîi jeem mâi dtâwng bpai riian thîi má-hǎa-wít-thá-yaa-lai ràawk khâ. nǔu sǎawn hâi dâai. nîi khuue cháawn. nîi khuue sâawm. nîi khuue gâaeo.) |
| Jiap: You don't have to go to the University to study. I can teach you. This is a spoon. This is a fork. This is a glass. |
| คุณพ่อ: (พูดไปหัวเราะไป)พอแล้วลูก |
| (khun phâaw: phaaw láaeo lûuk.) |
| Father: (laughing while speaking) That's enough, child. |
| ณิชา: เจมส์ พรุ่งนี้เราจะพาเจมส์ไปมหาวิทยาลัยนะ อยากให้เจมส์พบกับอาจารย์ท่านหนึ่ง |
| (ní-chaa: jeem phrûng-níi rao jà phaa jeem bpai má-hǎa-wít-thá-yaa-lai ná. yàak hâi jeem phóp gàp aa-jaan thâan nùeng.) |
| Nicha: James, tomorrow I'll take you to the university. I want you to meet one professor. |
| เจมส์: อาจารย์คนไหนครับ |
| (jeem: aa-jaan khon nǎi khráp.) |
| James: Which professor? |
| ณิชา: อาจารย์ สมศรี ตรีเพชรค่ะ ท่านเป็นอาจารย์ภาษาไทยของเจมส์ |
| (ní-chaa: aa-jaan sǒm-sǐi dtrii-phét khâ. thâan bpen aa-jaan phaa-sǎa-thai khǎawng jeem.) |
| Nicha: Professor Somsi Triphet. She's your Thai language professor. |
| เจมส์: ดีเลยครับ พวกเราจะไปกันกี่โมงครับ |
| (jeem: dii looei khráp. phûuak-rao jà bpai gan gìi moong khráp.) |
| James: Great. What time will we go? |
| ณิชา: เจ็ดโมงเช้าค่ะ |
| (ní-chaa: jèt moong cháao khâ.) |
| Nicha: Seven A.M. |
| เจมส์: (เสียงตกใจ)หา...เจ็ดโมงเช้า |
| (jeem: hǎa... jèt moong cháao.) |
| James: (surprised) Huh...seven A.M.? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Ryan: Hey Khruu Pim, did I tell you that I have a Thai nephew? |
| Pim: Yes, I think you mentioned that your wife’s sister has a little boy. |
| Ryan: He’s really cute, but kind of strange sometimes. I think he watches too many cartoons because the last time I talked to him he kept calling himself a mouse. |
| Pim: You mean “nuu”? |
| Ryan: Yes. That’s the Thai word for mouse, right? |
| Pim: He wasn’t really calling himself a mouse. He was just using “nuu” as a pronoun instead of “phom”. |
| Ryan: Oh, I get it. So in a non-formal situation I could use “nuu” instead of “phom”? |
| Pim: Only if you want to sound like a 3 year-old kid! For adults, if you want to sound more casual you could pick a different pronoun like “rao”, but you have to keep in mind who you’re speaking to and adjust your politeness level accordingly. |
| Ryan: So we have more pronouns to learn? In that case, let’s move on to the vocabulary section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Ryan: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Pim: เรียน (riian) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: to study |
| Pim: เรียน [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Pim: เรียน [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Pim: มหาวิทยาลัย (má-hǎa-wít-thá-yaa-lai) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: university |
| Pim: มหาวิทยาลัย [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Pim: มหาวิทยาลัย [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Pim: หนู (nǔu) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: mouse, rat, I (child), you (child) |
| Pim: หนู [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Pim: หนู [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Pim: สอน (sǎawn) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: to teach |
| Pim: สอน [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Pim: สอน [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Pim: ช้อน (cháawn) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: spoon |
| Pim: ช้อน [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Pim: ช้อน [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Pim: ส้อม (sâawm) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: fork |
| Pim: ส้อม [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Pim: ส้อม [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Pim: แก้ว (gâaeo) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: glass, crystal |
| Pim: แก้ว [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Pim: แก้ว [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Pim: เรา (rao) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: I, we |
| Pim: เรา [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Pim: เรา [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Pim: ท่าน (thân) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: you, he, she, person (polite) |
| Pim: ท่าน [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Pim: ท่าน [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Pim: อาจารย์ (aa-jaan) [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: professor |
| Pim: อาจารย์ [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Pim: อาจารย์ [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Ryan: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Pim: The first word/phrase we’ll look at is.... |
| Pim: ไม่ต้อง (mâi dtâwng) |
| Ryan: “It’s not necessary” or “don’t need to”. |
| Pim: As we know, ไม่ (mâi) means “not”. And ต้อง (dtâwng) is a verb that means “must” or “to be necessary”. So together, ไม่ต้อง (mâi) dtâwng means “not necessary”. It should come before another verb in the sentence. For example, ไม่ต้องไป (mâi dtâwng bpai) means... |
| Ryan: “It’s not necessary to go”, or “You don’t need to go”. What’s the next phrase? |
| Pim: พอแล้ว (phaaw láaeo) |
| Ryan: It literally means “enough already”. พอ (phaaw) is “enough” or “sufficient”, and แล้ว (láaeo) means “already”. |
| Pim: You can use this in a polite way, for example if your host mother is scooping rice on to your plate, when there’s enough on the plate you can tell her to stop by saying พอแล้วค่ะ (phaaw láaeo khâ) |
| Ryan: And this phrase can also be used to lightly scold someone or get them to stop talking just like saying “That’s enough already!” What tone of voice would you use if someone won’t stop talking and you want to tell them “Hey, enough already!”? |
| Pim: พอแล้ว (phaaw láaeo) |
| Ryan: Good job khru Pim, you sound like someone’s really annoying you. How about we hear that again, and this time, listeners please repeat after khru Pim. “That’s enough already!” |
| Pim: พอแล้ว (phaaw láaeo) |
| Ryan: OK, now onto the grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Ryan: The focus of today's grammar is pronouns. |
| Pim: Thai has a lot of different pronouns you can use depending on the situation. Different pronouns show different levels of politeness, closeness, and formality. |
| Ryan: Also, many of the pronouns are flexible in their use. The same pronoun might mean “you”, “me”, “he” or “she” depending on the context. |
| Pim: One thing that’s easy about Thai pronouns is that the same word can be used as a subject or object. |
| Ryan: That’s a good point. In English we have pairs like “I” and “me” or “he” and “him”. But in Thai ผม phǒm can mean both “I” or “me” depending on its position in the sentence. Well, there’s a lot of pronouns we could talk about, so let’s start with the first-person. |
| Pim: We’ve already learned ผม (phǒm) for males and ดิฉัน (dì-chǎn) for females. These are very polite and the best to use with a stranger or when meeting someone for the first time. |
| ดิฉัน (dì-chǎn) can be shortened to ฉัน (chǎn) to make it more casual. |
| Ryan: And actually ฉัน (chǎn) is sometimes used by men as well. When you listen to Thai pop music the singer almost always uses ฉัน (chǎn) for “I” and “me”. It’s true for both male and female singers. |
| Pim: Earlier we mentioned หนู (nǔu) can be used by children. Adults can also use this as a pronoun meaning “you” when they are speaking to a child. |
| Ryan: Next we have เรา (rao). It can mean “we” or “us” but it can also mean just “I” or “me”. When used in a singular sense to mean “I” it is more casual sounding than ผม (phǒm) or ดิฉัน (dì-chǎn) and so shouldn’t be used when speaking to superiors. |
| Pim: Right. เรา (rao) will often be used by friends or people the same age. If you want to be very clear that the meaning is plural, you can use พวกเรา (phûuak-rao) to mean “we” or “us”. |
| Ryan: พวก (phûuak) means a “group”. So you can attach this to other pronouns to make them plural. For example เขา (khǎo) means “he” or “she” and พวกเขา (phûuak-khǎo) means “they”. |
| Pim: There is a very respectful way to say “you”, which is ท่าน (thân). This same word can also mean “he” or “she”. |
| Ryan: Another one that has two uses is เธอ. It can be used as a polite way to say “she”, and it also can mean “you” when speaking to someone you feel close to like a boyfriend or girlfriend. |
| Pim: เธอ (thooe) is also the word for “you” that’s usually used in pop music. For example, if the singer wants to say “I love you” they’ll sing ฉันรักเธอ (chǎn rák thooe). |
| Ryan: Hey that’s a good phrase to know. Can we hear it again so the listeners have a chance to repeat it? |
| Pim: ฉันรักเธอ (chǎn rák thooe) |
| Ryan: Great, just make sure you only use this when it’s really appropriate. Khru Pim, is there are word that means “it”? |
| Pim: มัน (man) is the word for “it”. We use มัน (man) for inanimate objects and also for animals. But sometimes if someone is really angry they might use this for another person to call them “it”. |
| Ryan: Ouch, that sound harsh, but I guess it’s good to learn in case you ever hear it such as when watching a movie or TV program. |
| Pim: There are two more pronouns that are good to learn the meaning of because you might hear them, but because they are considered rude you shouldn’t use them yourself. |
| Ryan: What are those? |
| Pim: กู (guu) means “I” or “me”, and มึง (mueng) means “you”. They are actually fairly common, especially when village men talk to each other. So if you make friends with some Thai guys and you go out drinking together, they might use กู (guu) and มึง (mueng). But generally, you don’t want to make a habit of using these words because if you use them at the wrong time there could be trouble. |
| Ryan: Got it. We covered a lot of pronouns today, so be sure to check out the lesson notes where the meaning and use of each one is explained further. |
Outro |
| Ryan: That just about does it for today. |
| Ryan: Listeners, do you know the reason flashcards are so popular? |
| Pim: It's because they work! |
| Ryan: We've taken this time-tested studying tool and modernized with My Wordbank Flashcards! |
| Pim: Learn vocabulary using your eyes and ears! |
| Ryan: It's simple and powerful. Save difficult and interesting words to your personal vocabulary list called My Wordbank. |
| Pim: Master words in your My Wordbank by practicing with Flashcards. |
| Ryan: Words in My Wordbank come with audio, so you learn proper pronunciation. |
| Pim: While you learn to recognize words by sight! |
| Ryan: Go to ThaiPod101.com now, and try My Wordbank and Flashcards today! |
| Ryan: See you next time! |
| Pim: แล้วพบกันใหม่ค่ะ (láaeo phóp gan mài khâ) |
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