Learn how to use questions that ask "how"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Ohm: สวัสดีครับ |
| Ja: Hello, and welcome back to ThaiPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 19: “How is the Thai Food in This Restaurant?” I'm Ja. |
| Ohm: And I'm Ohm. What are we going to learn in this lesson? |
| Ja: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask about the condition or quality of objects and the way an action is performed. |
| Ohm: This conversation takes place at a restaurant. |
| Ja: And it’s between two friends, Nok and Dao. |
| Ohm: The speakers are friends, so they'll be using casual Thai. |
| Ja: Alright, let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| ดาว : ข้าวมันไก่เป็นยังไง อร่อยมั้ย |
| นก : อร่อยดี |
| ดาว : ว่าแต่เธอมายังไงน่ะ ทำไมมาสาย |
| นก : ขี่มอเตอร์ไซค์มา แต่เขาปิดถนนให้รถนายกฯ ผ่าน |
| ดาว : ไม่เป็นไร ในกรุงเทพฯ ยังไงรถก็ติด |
| Ja: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| ดาว : ข้าวมันไก่เป็นยังไง อร่อยมั้ย |
| นก : อร่อยดี |
| ดาว : ว่าแต่เธอมายังไงน่ะ ทำไมมาสาย |
| นก : ขี่มอเตอร์ไซค์มา แต่เขาปิดถนนให้รถนายกฯ ผ่าน |
| ดาว : ไม่เป็นไร ในกรุงเทพฯ ยังไงรถก็ติด |
| Ja: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| ดาว : ข้าวมันไก่เป็นยังไง อร่อยมั้ย |
| Ja: How's the chicken rice? Is it tasty? |
| นก : อร่อยดี |
| Ja: It's delicious. |
| ดาว : ว่าแต่เธอมายังไงน่ะ ทำไมมาสาย |
| Ja: By the way, how did you get here; why are you late? |
| นก : ขี่มอเตอร์ไซค์มา แต่เขาปิดถนนให้รถนายกฯ ผ่าน |
| Ja: I drove a motorcycle, but they closed the street for the Prime Minister’s car to pass. |
| ดาว : ไม่เป็นไร ในกรุงเทพฯ ยังไงรถก็ติด |
| Ja: It's okay. In Bangkok, no matter what there are traffic jams. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Ja: Do police in Thailand often stop all of the traffic to let a VIP motorcade pass? |
| Ohm: Yes, it's pretty common, especially in Bangkok, because various members of the royal family go to so many different events all the time. |
| Ja: So if you drive in Bangkok often, there's a chance you might have to stop. |
| Ohm: That’s right. All pedestrians have to stop sometimes too. |
| Ja: Really? Why is that? |
| Ohm: Well, if you’re walking across a pedestrian bridge while a member of the royal family drives below you, it’s considered very disrespectful on your part. |
| Ja: I see. Well, I guess it's just a minor inconvenience considering that Bangkok traffic is usually so slow anyways. |
| Ohm: That’s a good point. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Ja: Let's review the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word is... |
| Ohm: ยังไง [natural native speed] |
| Ja: how |
| Ohm: ยังไง [slowly - broken down by syllable] ยังไง [natural native speed] |
| Ja: Next we have... |
| Ohm: อร่อย [natural native speed] |
| Ja: delicious |
| Ohm: อร่อย [slowly - broken down by syllable] อร่อย [natural native speed] |
| Ja: The next word is... |
| Ohm: มาสาย [natural native speed] |
| Ja: to arrive late |
| Ohm: มาสาย [slowly - broken down by syllable] มาสาย [natural native speed] |
| Ja: Next... |
| Ohm: มอเตอร์ไซค์ [natural native speed] |
| Ja: motorcycle |
| Ohm: มอเตอร์ไซค์ [slowly - broken down by syllable] มอเตอร์ไซค์ [natural native speed] |
| Ja: Next we have... |
| Ohm: ปิดถนน [natural native speed] |
| Ja: to close the road |
| Ohm: ปิดถนน [slowly - broken down by syllable] ปิดถนน [natural native speed] |
| Ja: The next one is... |
| Ohm: นายกฯ [natural native speed] |
| Ja: Prime Minister |
| Ohm: นายกฯ [slowly - broken down by syllable] : นายกฯ [natural native speed] |
| Ja: Next... |
| Ohm: ผ่าน [natural native speed] |
| Ja: to pass |
| Ohm: ผ่าน [slowly - broken down by syllable] ผ่าน [natural native speed] |
| Ja: The next word is... |
| Ohm: กรุงเทพฯ [natural native speed] |
| Ja: Bangkok |
| Ohm: กรุงเทพฯ [slowly - broken down by syllable] กรุงเทพฯ [natural native speed] |
| Ja: Next we have... |
| Ohm: ก็ [natural native speed] |
| Ja: also, and, then, well |
| Ohm: ก็ [slowly - broken down by syllable] ก็ [natural native speed] |
| Ja: And our last word is... |
| Ohm: รถติด [natural native speed] |
| Ja: traffic jam |
| Ohm: รถติด [slowly - broken down by syllable] : รถติด [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Ja: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word we'll look at is… |
| Ohm: ปิดถนน |
| Ja: This phrase means "to close the road," and it's made up of two words. |
| Ohm: ปิด (bpìt) is the verb meaning "to close," and ถนน (thà-nǒn) is a noun meaning "road." |
| Ja: So, whenever a road is closed off for construction or for special use, you can use this phrase. The example from the conversation is... |
| Ohm: เขาปิดถนนให้รถนายกฯ ผ่าน (khǎo bpìt thà-nǒn hâi rót naa-yók phàan.) |
| Ja: "They closed the street for the Prime Minister’s car to pass." What's the next item? |
| Ohm: กรุงเทพฯ |
| Ja: This is the Thai name for the city that the rest of the world calls Bangkok. |
| Ohm: That's right. กรุง (grung) means "city," and เทพ (thêep) means "god" or "angel." |
| Ja: So it means something like the "City of Angels." |
| Ohm: That's right. |
| Ja: Okay, what's the next vocabulary? |
| Ohm: ก็ |
| Ja: This adverb means "also." In a sentence, it goes in between a noun and a verb. |
| Ohm: That's right. For example I could say, บริษัทของลูกค้าของผมก็ตั้งอยู่ในตัวเมือง (baaw-rí-sàt khǎawng lûuk-kháa khǎawng phǒm gâaw dtâng yùu nai dtuua muueang). |
| Ja: Which means "My client's company is also located downtown." |
| Ohm: The key words in this sentence are บริษัท...ก็...อยู่ (baaw-rí-sà...gâaw...yùu). |
| Ja: And what do those mean? |
| Ohm: บริษัท (baaw-rí-sàt) is a noun meaning "company," and อยู่ (yùu) is the verb "to be located." |
| Ja: So these three words mean "the company is also located?" |
| Ohm: Right. ก็ (gâaw) actually has many, many uses. It is also a conjunction meaning “then” or “and”, showing a connection between 2 sentences. |
| Ja: For example? |
| Ohm: พอเข้ามาในร้านอาหารก็หิวข้าวทันที |
| Ja: “Once I got into the restaurant, then I suddenly became hungry.” In English, we often connect these sentences without the word “then”. |
| Ohm: That’s right. Finally, you might also hear ก็ (gâaw) |
| at the beginning of a sentence. It means “well”, or vaguely “because”. |
| Ja: Sometimes it is used only as a filler word. |
| Ohm: Right. For example, if you ask me why I came late, I could say ก็รถมันติด. |
| Ja: “Well, there was a traffic jam.” Okay, now on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Ja: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to form questions that ask "how?" |
| Ohm: Thai has two words for asking the question "how” - อย่างไร (yàang-rai) and ยังไง (yang-ngai). |
| Ja: How are they different? |
| Ohm: The first one, อย่างไร (yàang-rai), is considered more formal. |
| Ja: So it's used in writing and in formal language? |
| Ohm: That's right. The second one, ยังไง (yang-ngai), is a simplified pronunciation of อย่างไร (yàang-rai), and it’s used in regular everyday speech. |
| Ja: I see. So they both act the same in a sentence, right? |
| Ohm: Yes. They're treated as adverbs and should usually follow a verb or verb phrase. |
| Ja: This is different from English, where "how" is placed at the beginning of a sentence in most cases. |
| Ohm: Yes, that's good to point out. Take the first sentence from the conversation as an example. ข้าวมันไก่เป็นยังไง (khâao man gài bpen yang-ngai.) |
| Ja: "How's the chicken rice?" This sentence is a good one to look at because it basically has three parts. |
| Ohm: First is the subject ข้าวมันไก่ (khâao man gài) meaning "chicken rice." |
| Ja: That's followed by the verb "to be." |
| Ohm: เป็น (bpen) |
| Ja: Then after the verb comes the adverb "how." |
| Ohm: ยังไง (yang-ngai) |
| Ja: This changes the verb from a definitive statement, using "is," to a question that uses "how is?" And which version of "how" did we use again? |
| Ohm: This sentence uses the informal version ยังไง (yang-ngai) because the conversation is between two friends. The meaning would be exactly the same if we used อย่างไร (yàang-rai), but it would sound unnaturally formal in this situation. |
| Ja: I see. We can also use "how" with action verbs, right? |
| Ohm: Yes, we can. For example, มา is the verb “to come.” In the conversation, we had the sentence, ว่าแต่เธอมายังไงน่ะ (wâa dtàae thooe maa yang-ngai nâ). |
| Ja: "By the way, how did you get here?" Can we break this down? |
| Ohm: ว่าแต่ means "by the way." Then, the subject เธอ (thooe) is "you." The verb มา (maa) means "to come," and the adverb ยังไง (yang-ngai) is "how." So the main part of the sentence is เธอมายังไง (thooe maa yang-ngai). |
| Ja: Meaning, "How did you come?" Or, "How did you arrive?" Can you think of another example using a different verb? |
| Ohm: Sure. How about this sentence? เขาทำได้ยังไง (khǎo tham dâai yang-ngai.) |
| Ja: "How did he do it?" |
| Ohm: In this sentence, we have a verb pair made up of ทำ (tham) meaning "to do," and ได้ (dâai) meaning "to be able." They’re followed by the adverb ยังไง (yang-ngai) to construct a question เขาทำได้ยังไง (khǎo tham dâai yang-ngai). |
| Ja: Which means "How was he able to do it?" Or, "How did he do it?" |
Outro |
| Ohm: Well, that's all the time we have for this lesson. |
| Ja: Be sure to check out the lesson notes for more examples and explanations. |
| Ohm: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you in the next lesson. |
| Ja: See you next time! |
| Ohm: แล้วเจอกันครับ สวัสดีครับ |
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