FSI - Thai Basic Course - Volume 1 - Student Text

THAI
BASIC COURSE Volume 1

This work was compiled and pub. lished with the support of the Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, United States

of America.

WARREN G. YATES and ABSORN TRYON

FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE

WASHINGTON, D.C.

1970

o EPA R T MEN T

o F

5 TAT E

FOR/:;ICN SERVICE INSTITUTE BASIC counSE SERIES Editedl,)'

AUGUSTUS A. KOSKI

For sale by the Superintendent or Documents, u.s. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402· Price $5 .60

PREFACE

The FSI Thai Basic Course, Volumes I and 1/, provides introductory materials in modem spoken Thai for the student who wants to learn to s peak and understand the language used by an estimated 20 to 22 million people in Thailand.

The programmed introduction to Thai phonology which occupies the first 25 fOges of Volume I is the work of Warren C. Yates, chairman of the Department of East As ian Languages at the Foreign Service Ins titute, Dr. Yates and A bs orn Tryon, Thai language tns tructor at FSI, are co-authors of the 40 lessons comprising the core of the cours e.

In the early stages of the project Richard B. Noss, then chairman of the FSI Department of East Asian Languages made valuable suggestions. The authors have made extensive use of Dr. Noss's Thai Reference Grammar in the preparation of these volumes, and users will find that they are often referred to it for fuller explanations.

Mr. Prapas Kanchanandul contributed drills and assisted in matters of Thai language usage. Mrs. Tryon re-read the entire text of both volumes in Thailand in late 1969 and suggested changes to make the materials current.

Mrs. Phongchan Nabangchang collected and organized the items in the glossaries which appear at the end of each lesson and the comprehensive glossary for both volumes which appears at the end of Volume I. Irma C. Ponce typed the camera copy of the entire text while Miss Chotchai Kambhu, Mr. Prasert Crupiti and Mr. Thawom l imreivat assisted in proofreading, having previously participated in the classroom trials of the new materials in pre-publication form. Thai language textual material was tape recorded in the FSI Language Laboratory under the direction of Cary Alley with technical assistance from lose M. Ramirez and Arthur Young.

The Foreign Service Institute gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the U.S. Office of Education which has made the preparation and publication of these volumes possible.

James R. Frith, Dean School of Language Studies Foreign Service Ins titute

Department of State

iii

THAI BASIC COURSE

PREFACE

TABLE OF CONTENTS Volume 1

..................................................

INTRODUCTORY SECTION

Introduction

.......................................

iii

x xi

Organization and Use of This Course .•..•.....••.... Instructions to the Student on Use of Programmed

Introduction to Thai Phonology xiv

Programmed Introduction to Thai Phonology ..•.....•. xvi Reference Chart of Special Symbols Used in Thai

Basic Course xxxvii

LESSON 1.

BASI C DIALOG .

Notes on the Basic Dialog ..•••....................•

Granunar No tes ..............•....•............•.....

1- 2. 3. 4.

DRILLS

The Personal Pronouns •..•............•....•.

Word Order in the Sentence .....•.....•...... The Question Word Ir,yl ...........••..•..... Final Polite Particles •.••..••.••.•••••..•..

.............................................

VOCABULARY

EXERCISES ..•.......................................

.........................................

LESSON 2.

BASIC DIALOG ••.•••••..••.....•.•••.•••••.••.....•..

Notes on the Basic Dialog .•••.••••••.••...•.•••.•.• Grarnrnar Notes •.•.••••.•.•••.•.•••••.•••••.•••..•.•.

1. 2.

3. 4.

DRILLS

The Question Word larajl .•••••••••••.•.•••.•

A '

Use of Ichaj maj ?I in Confirmation .••.••••.

Use of lmaj chajl in Disagreement •.•...•..•. Responding to Questions with Ir,yl .•••...••.

EX.ERCISES .

.............................................

VOCABULARY ••••••••.•.••••..•••••••.••••.•••••••••••

CLASSROOM EXPRESSIONS

..............................

LESSON 3.

BASIC DIALOG ....•......•........•............•.....

Notes on the Basic Dialog •.••••..•.••••.•.•.•••••••

Grammar Notes ••••..••..•••.•..•••••.•••••••••....••

iv

1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 5 6

7 8 8 8 9 9

10 10 16 17 19

20 21 21

THAI BASIC COURSE

1- 2. 3. 4.

5· 6.

7· 8.

DRILLS

Statlve Verbs .

Omission of the Subject .

Negation of the Verb .

Use of the Question Word 'maj' .

'Plurality' in the Noun .

, ' ,

jaa in Negative Request .

'nii, nan, noon' in Verbless Sentences .

'ryy' in Negative Questions .

EXERCISES .

VOCABULARY

LESSON 4.

BASIC DIALOG .•.•....................................

Grarrunar Notes ...........•...........................

1- 2. 3. 4.

5·

DRILLS

Use of Unit Classifiers .

The Classifier Phrase as a Noun Replacement .

'kh~OD' Used to Indicate 'Possessioni .

The Position of 'khraJ' in the Sentence .

How to Express 'Being' .

EXERCISES .

VOCABULARY

LESSON 5.

BASIC DIALOG ................•.......................

Notes on the Basic Dialog ....•......................

Grarrunar No te s ....•.••.....••.••.....•....•....•..•..

1. 2.

DRILLS

Ways of Expressing Negation ..............•... pen jaDDaj Meaning 'What is it like to ... ?' ••.

EXERCISES ................................•..........

VOCABULARY

LESSON 6.

BASIC

1- 2. 3. 4.

5· 6.

64 64

~ as an Intensifier of Stative Verbs 64

ke9 with Noun Phrases and Verb Phrases 64

Verbs with Obligatory Complements 65

Terms Used to Refer to People 65

Words Relating to Names of Cities and Countries 66

Another Use of khraj 66

Grarrunar Notes .

DIALOG ...................•....................

v

21 21 21 22 22 22 22 22 23 32 33

35 36 36 37 37 38 38 39 49 50

52 52 56 56 56 57 60 G2

THAI BASIC COURSE

DRILLS

EXERCISES COMPREHENSION TEST

VOCABULARY .

LESSON 7.

BASIC DIALOG

Notes on the Grarrunar Notes 1. 2. 3. 4.

5·

Basic Dialog

6.

khaaj to Indicate Past Experience ~ + Place Expressions

Lack of Verb Inflection

Omission of Subject Pronoun

Sentence + daj to Indicate Ipossibilityl or

Isuitabilityl .

Sentence + pen to Indicate 'ability to perform activityl .......•.

khaaj + pen / daj

7.

some Use of

DRILLS EXERCISES VOCABULARY

Map of Thailand Showing Some Provinces

...

LESSON 8.

BASIC DIALOG Grarrunar Notes 1. 2. 3. 4.

...

Compounds

juu + Place Expressions Responses to thamnaan araj

Difference between ~ naj and ~ th!inaj


LESSON 9.

BASIC DIALOG Grarrunar 1.

2. Function GRAMMAR DRILLS EXERCISES VOCABULARY

Notes of

'Time'

and 'Aspect'

Indicating

Means Verb

of

the

of the

Question Words

....

vi

67 79 80 82

86 86 87 87 87 87 88

88

88 89 90

109 110 113

115 115 115 118 118 118 118 129 130

135 135

135 137 139 156 158

THAI BASIC COURSE

LESSON 10.

BASIC EPISODE

Questions on Basic DRILLS

EXERCISE VOCABULARY

Episode

LESSON 11.

BASIC DIALOG Grammar 1.

Notes

Use of kan to Indicate

'Plurality' ..•.••.•• araj, khraj, and naj as Numerals ... thii with

'Mutuality'

...........

2. 3. 4.

5.

DRILLS EXERCISES

Indefinite

and

Pronouns

or

................................

Specifiers

Included Modifiers

~

~ ~ as a Pluralizer

VOCABULARY

LESSON 12.

BASIC DIALOG

..............

Notes on the Basic Dialog Grammar Notes .•...•...

1. Ordinal Numbers .

2. 3. 4.

5. 6.

7.

•••

rEEk as Ordinal

a Number

Numbers After Classifiers

Expressing 'Age' .........•........

lEEW and jaD to Express State of an Action

---- '" '" '"

~ maj ... Versus jaD maj daj .•.

Position of Classifier Phrases Referring to Pronoun Subject


LESSON 13.

BASIC DIALOG

Notes on the Grammar Notes

1. 1ik ...

2. .E§1. as DRILLS EXERCISES VOCABULARY

Basic Dialog

............

ca for Future an Indicator

Time

of Excess

with

vii

chaa and

rew

160 160 161 170 170

171 172

172 172 173 174 175 175 188 189

191 192 193 193 193 194 194 194 195

195 195 212 212

215 215 216 216 216 217 229 231

THAI BASIC COURSE

LESSON 14.

BASIC DIALOG

Grammar Notes

1. klaj and klaj

2. Extent of Distance Constructions

3. mii Indicating 'existence' DRILLS

EXERCISES

VOCABULARY

LESSON 15.

BASIC DIALOG Questions on EXERCISES VOCABULARY

.........................................

the Interview

LESSON 16.

BASIC DIALOG DRILLS EXERCISES VOCABULARY

.............. ,.

LESSON 17.

BASIC DIALOG

Grammar Notes

~ / maa used to Indicate Prepositions in Compounds

Direction

1- 2.


............

...

LESSON 18.

BASIC DIALOG

.......................

Notes on the Grammar Notes

Sentence DRILLS EXERCISES VOCABULARY

Basic Dialog

Embedding

...............

LESSON 19.

BASIC DIALOG Grammar Drills EXERCISES VOCABULARY

viii

of

Motion

........

...........

233 234 234 235 235 236 254 254

257 259 260 260

262 263 273 274

276 276 277 277 286 286

290 291 291 291 293 306 308

310 310 317 318

THAI BASIC COURSE

LESSON 20.

BASIC

EPISODE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

on the Basic Episode .••••••••

Questions EXERCISES VOCABULARY

TEXT GLOSSARY

000000

0000000

.00.00 ••••••••• 0 0.0.0 ••• 0. o. 0.00 ••• 0.0.0 •••• 0 ••

ix

319 320 322 323

G-1

THAI BASIC COURSE

INTRODUCTORY SECTION

Introduction

This is the first volume of a three-volume course designed to teach Standard Thai. Standard Thai is the national spoken language of Thailand and is the dialect of educated speakers of Bangkok and Central Thailand. Standard Thai in spoken and written form is known to some extent by nearly all Thais. There are approximately 20 million speakers.

The materials contained in the first two volumes consist

of the following:

(1) A Programmed Introduction to Thai Phonology, (2) A standard text of 40 lessons, and

(3) A text glossary.

Not included in the text but considred to be an integral part of the course are a series of tapes consisting of taped portions of the text and other supplementary materials.

These materials were designed to be used in a course of instruction where the main focus is on teaching the student

to speak and understand Thai. This is not to say that reading and writing should be ignored, but that additional materials would be required for that purpose.

Basic to the approach recommended by the authors of this text are the following tenets:

(1) In the classroom only Thai should be spoken.

(2) The teacher should be either a native speaker of Thai, or a non-native with excellent control of the language.

(3) Every effort should be made to make the instruction both in and out of class approximate 'real' use of

the language.

(4) The use of audio-visual devices of all kinds (charts, films, objects, etc.) is encouraged, but they must be used in such a way as to function as an integrated part of the instruction and not just as an interesting appendage.

x

THAI BASIC COURSE

(5) Language learning is a largely a function of the student's interest, motivation, and application; therefore, every effort ~hould be made to interest

and motivate him to make the requisite effort to

learn the language. Next to the student,the language teacher is the most important element in the learning process) it is, therefore, imperative that the teacher not be restricted to following slavishly any particular course of study. With this in mind we encourage Thai language instructors to look upon this text and the accompanying tapes as useful devices which may be modified as required and should in no sense be thought of as the sole or even the main instruments for teaching Thai.

ORGANIZATION AND USE OF THIS COURSE

1. Basic Dialog

There is a basic dialog at the beginning of each lesson. It consists of a limited number of exchanges between two or sometimes more persons. It represents a somewhat modified version of a 'real' dialog, since hesitation phenomena, false starts, and other features regularly occurring in real speech have been eliminated. It does present what two educated Thai speakers might say in a given situation if they were being particularly careful to avoid the features referred to above.

If the student has memorized the dialogs, he will have a store of language that is readily available when needed (assuming he

is in a situation comparable to that of a particular dialog).

It is, therefore, suggested that some time be spent for this purpose. Most of this time should be outside of the classroom with the tape recorder, since different students memorize at different rates, and if many class hours are used for this purpose, i~ will prove very boring to quick learners and very frustrating to slow ones.

xi

THAI BASIC COURSE

2. Notes

There are three kinds of notes in this text: notes on the dialog, vocabulary notes, and grammar notes. Notes on the dialog present some information that is useful for understanding the dialog. It is often cultural. Vocabulary notes are used to explain the meaning of a word in somewhat greater depth than is included in the lesson glossary. Grammar notes provide a general understanding of Thai grammar. They are written in such a manner as to be useful to even the most linguistically unsophisticated learner. All types of notes should be read and studied outside of class. If some points are still unclear, the instructor may clarify further by giving additional examples, paraphrasing, or by explaining in Thai.

3. Drills

The drills in this textbook are for the purpose of providing an opportunity for the student to isolate a particular feature (grammatical or semantic) of the language and to practice it in

a limited context until he understands well how to use it and can say it with good fluency and pronunciation.

It should be clearly understood that drills of any kind are simply devices for actuating practice having a particular focus and with a limited objective, and as such they do not represent 'real communication' in language no matter how cleverly they are arranged; therefore, the instructor should be constantly alert to signs of boredom and should switch to a different type of activity before that pOint is reached.

All this is not to say that drills do not have a place in language teaching. It is probable that a certain number of drills are very helpful if not absolutely indispensable in learning to speaking language well.

Various kinds of drill (substitution, transformation, etc.) are found in this textbook. In most cases it is obvious from the format of the drill what procedure (substitution of an item in a sentence, rearrangement of a sentence, expansion of a sentence or phrase, etc.) is called for. In those instances where it might not be clear, special instructions are provided.

xii

THAI BASIC COURSE

4. Exercises

'Exercises' (as the term is used in this textbook) are distinguishable from drills mainly by the type of response they elicit. Drills are designed to elicit one particular response and any other response (even if it is correct in form and meaning) is unacceptable; whereas, the only requirement in arl 8xercise is that the response conform logically with the origina: ~equest (i.e. if you are asked where a certain building is, you don't respond with a description of it instead).

The exercises in any particular lessons in this text have two basic purposes: to provide (1) a setting in which communication of a restricted kind can take place and (2) a means for the instructor to test the ability of the students to use the material in the lesson in more realistic situations.

The exercises in the lessons are an especially important part of the lesson and should be done at the end of the lesson. If students are unable to perform well the tasks presented to them, the instructor should review any parts of the lesson that seem necessary for successful completion of those 'tasks. In no case should students go to the next lesson until they can do the exercises easily, rapidly, and correctly.

5. Lesson and Text Glossaries

At the end of each lesson there is a list of all words occurring for the first time in that lesson and at the end of the volume there is a complete list of words in the first volume.

All entries are listed in alphabetical order (English alphabet) and are written in a phone~ic transcription using Roman letters. With each noun is its unit classifier. A limited number of the more useful noun and verb compounds are included. Two examples

are given below:

m00 (khon)

doctor (medical)

maa

to enter (away from the speaker) to enter (towards the speaker)

xiii

THAI BASIC COURSE

6. Taped Material

Besides the tapes which form a major part of the Programmed Introduction to Thai Phonology, there are tapes of various kinds that accompany each lesson. The dialogs and most of the essential drills are recorded on the lesson tapes) however, they are recorded in such a manner as not to be an exact duplicate of the

way in which the drill will be conducted in class, since the purpose of the tapes is to supplement not replace classroom work. Special pronunciation drills and remarks are included on the tapes.

INSTRUCTIONS TO THE STUDENT ON USE OF PROGRAMMED INTRODUCTION TO THAI PHONOLOGY

The purpose of this material is to acquaint you with the significant features of the Thai sound system. I Significant I

as used here refers to those features which distinguish words;

for example, in English the words sit and ~ are distinguished only by the quality of the two vowels) therefore, we can say

that vowel quality is significant in English (i.e. if you say

sit instead of set, you may be misunderstood.) It is, therefore, important that yOU learn to hear and produce vowel quality. On the other hand, it doesn't matter whether you pronounce the vowel in hit long or short. You may find it a little harder to understand a Southerner who pronounces hit with a slightly longer vowel than you do, but you will not confuse it with heat, which has different vowel quality. We can see then that vowel quality is significant, but vowel length isn1t in English.

The significant features of the Thai sound system referred

to here relate to contrasts in pitch contour, length of vowels and diphthongs, aspiration of consonants, and syllable prominence.

In addition to the sound features referred to, you will be taught to read and write the special phonetic transcription which is used in the Thai Basic Course that follows this instruction.

The following procedure should be used with these materials. (1) Put tape 1 of the Programmed Introduction on the

tape recorder and proceed through it carrying out

the instructions you hear on the tape. You will

xiv

THAI BASIC COURSE

not need to refer to the text except for those portions of the material where you are asked to r-ead or write something.

(2) When you are asked to write something, write it in the text and check your answers. If you need more time than is provided on the tape for checking your answers, stop the machine.

(3) If at any time in the program, you are confused about something, stop the tape, rewind it and listen to that particular part again.

(4) Although the program was designed primarily for use before beginning lesson one in the text, all of it

or parts of it can be used profitably at later stages in the course as well.

(5) It is suggested that you do not work for longer periods of time than 30 minutes. Take a short break, and then return. All of the tapes can be completed in one day.

(6) Since almost all of the material is only on tape, it would be clearly impossible to do the program without the tapes and a tape recorder.

xv

THAI BASIC COURSE

A PROGRAMMED INTRODUCTION TO THAI PHONOLOGY

(student's Text)

1 Part I is on Tape only.

Part II, Section 1, Frames 1-10, are on ~ape only.2

Frame

Content

11

Observe the way this word is written in the special writing system used in this book:

phaa

12

The 'ph' is used to represent the initial consonant in the word, which sounds like the 'pi in 'pat' in English. The 'aa' stands for 'long a', which sounds like 'ah' in 'father'.

13

Observe the way this word is written. Notice particularly the symbol above the vowels.

ph~a

14

The 'hat' or 'circumflex accent' over the first vowel is used to indicate that the vowel is pronounced with a high falling pitch contour.

15

Pronounce this word 3 times: ph~a

After each attempt listen to the tape for confirmation.

1. The only 'frames' that are written out in this text are those where you are asked to look at how something is written) otherwise, the content of the frame is voiced only.

2. You will be notified by the tape when you are to refer to the written text. Be sure to cover the answer when doing a written frame.

xvi

THAI BASIC COURSE

Frame

Content

16

If no mark is written above the vowel, that is indication that the word is to be pronounced with a mid level pitch contour. Listen to the pronunciation of phaa.

17

Listen to the pronunciation of the following words ~nd write a mark above the vowel when necessary:

(1) phaa (2) phaa (3) phaa (4) phaa (5) phaa

Answers: (1) phaa (2) phaa (3) phaa (4) phaa (5) phaa

18 Listen to the following words and write them in the Thai transcription in the spaces below:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)


19 This word has low rising pitch. It is written phaa.

20 The mark I vI is written above the vowel to indicate that it is to be pronounced with a !£! rising pitch contour.

21 Read the following words. Check your response by the Tape.

(1) phaa (2) phaa (3) phaa (4) phaa (5) phaa (6) phaa

22 Put the tone markers on the following words after they are pronounced on the tape.

(1) phaa (6) phaa

(2) phaa (7) phaa

(3) phaa (8) phaa

(4) phaa

(5) phaa

Answers:

(I) phaa (6) phaa

(2) phaa (7) phaa

(3) phaa (8) phaa

(5) phaa

xvii

THAI BASIC COURSE

Frame Content
23 Transcribe the following wordsl
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
( 6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
(6) phaa (7) phaa (8) phaa (9) phaa (10) phaa
Part II Section 1, Drills, Frames 1-17 are on tape only.
Frame Content
18 This time look at the words below as they are
read on the tape. Note carefully how they are
written in the special writing system.
(1) naa (2) naa (3) laa (4) haa (5) khaa
(6) maa (7) phaa (8) maa (9) saa (10) thaa
(11) khaa (12) laa (13) daa (14) baa (15) '"
waa
(16) thaa (17) naa (18) phaa (19) haa (20) saa
19 This time write the words you hear on the tape
in the spaces below using the special writing
system:
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
(6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
(11) (12) (13) (14) (15)
(16) (17) (18) (19) (20)
Answers. (1) phaa (2) maa (3) thaa (4) baa (5) khaa
(6) faa (7) haa (8) phaa (9) naa (10) thaa
(11) khaa (12) laa (13) haa (14) naa (15) phaa
(16) saa (17) thaa (18) khaa (19) haa (20) maa
xviii THAI BASIC COURSE

Part II Section 2, Frames 1-10 are on Tape only.

Frame

Content

11 The symbol / '/ above the vowel is used to indicate
High pitch contour. Put the correct tone marker
above the vowel in the words below:
(1) chaar) (2) maa (3) laan (4) khaa
(1) , (2) , (3) , (4) ,
Answers: chaal) maa laan khaa
Part II, Section 2, Frames 12-20 are on Tape only. 21

Indicate the pitch contour of the following words by writing / A / for high falling pitch; /' / for High; and nothing for mid level.

(1) khaal) (2) khaal) (3) khaal) (4) khaal) (5) khaal)

Answera

22

Listen to these words and transcribe them below!

(1) (6)

(2) (7)

(3) (8)

(4)

(5)

Answers: (1) khaal) (2) khaal) (3) khaal) (4) khaal) (5) khaal) (6) khaal) (7) khaal) (8) khaal)

23 Read the following words and listen to the tape for pronunciation checka

(1) khaal) (2) khaal) (3) khaal) (4) khaal) (5) khaal) (6) khaal) (7) khaal) (8) khaal)

xix

THAI BASIC COURSE

Part II, Section 2 Drills, Frames 1-9 are on Tape only.
Frame Content
10 Read the following words:
(1) , (2) " (3) ph~at (4) ,
khaa naan maa
(5) " (6) thaa (7) , (8) maak
waa khaan
11 Write the words you hear belows
(1) (2) (3) ( 4)
(5) (6) (7) (8)
(1 ) ph~a (2) , (3) , (4 ) th~a
Answers: naam rna.a
(5) , (6) , (7 ) ma:ak (8) ,
laa naa khaan
Part II, Section 3, Frames 1-5 are on Tape only.
6 This word is written as follows phlt
7 Write this worda
Answera phlt
8 This word is written phlt
What is the pitch contour on this word? 9 Do these two words sound the same?

10 Do these two words sound the same?

11 True or false? The symbol / '/ is used to indicate low pitch contour.

Answer: True

xx

THAI BASIC COURSE

Frame Content

12 The symbol / ' / is used to indicate high falling pitch contour. True or false?

Answer: True

13 /ph/ is used to transcribe a sound that is like the rpr in the English word E1!. True or false?

Answer: True
Frames 14-17 are on Tape only.
18 This word is written khaat
19 This word is written khaat
20 Transcribe this words
Answer: kh~at 21 Transcribe this word.
Answer. khaat
22 Pronounce these words after the tape.
(1) phlt (2) khaat (3) khaat (4) phlt (5) khaat
(6) phlt (7) phlt (8) khaat (9) phlt (10) khaat 23 Read these words. Check your responses with the tape.

(1) phlt (2) khaat (3) khaat (4) phlt (5) khaat (6) phlt (7) ph1t (8) khaat (9) phlt (10) khaat

Part II, Section 3, Frames 24-30 are on Tape only.

31 Read the words below:

(1) phaa (2) maa (5) thaan (6) kh~an

(3) thaa~ (4) th~am (7) Mam (8) Ma

xxi

THAI BASIC COURSE

Frame Content
32 Write the words you hear in the space below:
(1) (2) (3) (4)
(5) (6) (7) (8)
(1) ... (2) maa (3) ... (4) kh~an
Answers: phaan phaa
(5) n~a (6) .. (7) th~a (8) thaall
phaat Part III, Section 1, Frames 1-23 are on Tape only.

24

In the special phonetic alphabet used in the Thai Basic Course, aspirated t is written th (The h stands for aspiration)~ --

25

How would you write this word in the special alphabet?

Answers

thaa

Frames 26-36 are on the Tape only.

37

The word meaning leyet is written taa in the special pqonetic alphabet.

38

Write these words in a phonetic transcription as you hear them.

1. 2. 3. 4.
5· 6. 7. 8.
Answers: 1- taa 2. thaa 3. thaa 4. taa
5. taa 6. thaa 7. taa 8. thaa
xxii THAI BASIC COURSE

Part III, Section 1 Drill, Frames 1-10 are on Tape only.
Frame Content
11 Listen to the following words as they are
pronounced on the tape:
(1) thaa (2) taa (3) tOu (4) . thfiu
(5) tii (6) thii (7) taa (8) thaa
(9) taan (10) thaan (11) tii (12) thii
(13) thaa (14) tii (15) tUu (16) thUu
(17) thaan (18) tii 12 Listen to a series of Thai words. If a word
begins with an aspirated !, write th in the
space beside its number, if it begins with
an unaspirated !, write t after its number.
1- 2. 3. 4.
5· 6. 7. 8.
9. 10.
Answers. 1. t 2. th 3. t 4. th 5· t
6. th 7. th 8. th 9. t 10. t
13 Transcribe the words you hear in the spaces below:
1. 2. 3. 4.
5· 6. 7. 8.

9. 10. ll. 12.
13. 14. 15. 16.

Answers. 1- taa 2. thaan 3. taan 4. thaa 5· thaal)
6. th1i 7. too 8. tii 9. thoo 10. taa
11- til 12. thaal) 13. thaa 14'. taan 15· thaan
16. taa
xxiii THAI BASIC COURSE

Part III, Section 2, Frames 1-4 are on Tape only.

Frame

Content

5

It begins with an unasyirated t (it doesnlt have a puff of air after it and it-is written tii in the special alphabet.

Frames 6-8 are on ~ape only.

9

It begins with d and is written dii


15 Ioentify the following words by writing ~, !, or th in the blank by their numbers, after you hear them on tape.

(1) ( 6)

(2) (7)

(3) (8)

(4) (9)

(5) (10)

6. th

2. th 3. th 7. d 8. t

4. t 5. d 9. th 10. d

Answers. 1. d

Part III, Section 3, Frame 1-5 are on Tape only.

6 This word is written phaa.

The Ihl after the Ipl shows that the Ipl is aspirated.

7 8

Does this word begin with an laspirated pI?

How would you write this word?:

Answer.

phaa

xxiv

THAI BASIC COURSE


19 The word meaning 'father's elder sister' is written paa in the special writing system used in the text. Listen to it.

20 The word meaning 'cloth' is written phaa

21 You will now hear several repetitions of these two words. As you hear each one, write it in transcription in the space below,

1- 2. 3. 4.
5· 6. 7. 8.
Answers: (1) A (2) A (3) phaa (4) paa
paa paa
(5) phaa (6) phaa (7) A (8) phaa
paa
Part III, Section 3 Drill, Frames 1-10 are on Tape only. 11 Listen to a series of Thai words. If a word begins with an aspirated E, write ~ in the space beside its number; if it begins with an unaspirated E, write E after its number.

2.

3. 8.

4.

5·

6.

7.

9.

10.

12

1- P 2. ph 3· ph 4. ph 5· p 6. ph 7. p
8. p 9. ph 10. P
Listen to the following words as they are pronounced
on the tape:
paaj phllu 3. , 4. A ,
1- 2. paa paa 5· paa
6. A 7. phaan 8. phaa 9. phaa 10. phaan
puu
11- paan 12. phaa 13. phaan 14. pii 15. ph}:i Answers,

xxv

THAI BASIC COURSE

Frame

Content

13

Write the words you hear in the phonetic transcrip-
tion in the spaces below:
1- 2. 3. 4.
5· 6. 7. 8.
9. 10. II. 12.
13· 14. 15. Answers: I. phaa 2. A 3. phaa 4. 5· phaan
paa paan
6. , 7. phaa 8. phaa 9· A ,
paa paa 10. paa
, 12. " 13. phuu 14. paaJ
11- phaa puu 15· phaa
9 Read the following words and check your readings
with the tape.
(1) paa (2) baa (3) paa (4) baa (5) "
paa 10 A pair of words will be spoken, if they sound the same, say ISame';- if different, say 'Different'.

11 Look at the following words as they are read on
the tape. Notice in particular the tone marks
above the vowels;
(1) pit (2) (3) baan (4) , (5) "
baJ paak paaIJ
(6) , (7) baa (8) baaIJ (9) " (10) bit
paa paa
(11) paa xxvi

THAI BASIC COURSE

Frame

Content

12

Write the words you hear on the tape in the spaces below.

(1) (6)

Answers.

1. p~a 2. b~a 6. b~an 7. paan

(3) (8)

(4) (9)

(5) (10)

,

3. paa

8. b~aI)

4. baa 5. paa 9. paat 10. paak

Note. If you didn't get most of them right including the correct tone mark, use a clean piece of paper and repeat the drill, as well as frame 11 above.

Part III, Section 4 Drill, Frames 1 and 2 are on Tape only.

3 Read the words below. Check with the tape for pronunciation.

(1) baaI) (5) ph~n (9) paan

(13) paa

(2) pet (6) b~a (10) baan (14) plaa

(3) baat (7) pii (11) baan (15) p~aj

(4) phuu (8) ph~a (12) phat

4 Write the words you hear in transcription below:

(1) (5)

(2) (6)

(9) (10)

Answers:

(1) paa (6) phaa

(2) (7 )

xxvii

(4 ) (8)

(3) (8)

(4) paa (5) pen (9) phlt (10) plaa

baan

,

phaan

THAI BASIC COURSE


Frame

Content

8

In transcription aspirated k is writthen kh. The Ihl stands for the air stream. Write the symbol for the initial sound in these words:

(1)

(2)

(4)

Answer.

To all 4: kh


13 Unaspirated ~ is written Ikl. In the spaces below write the symbol for the initial consonant sound in these words:

(1)

(2)

(4)

Answer.

In each case is k.


18 Listen to these words. If a word begins with
aspirated ~, write kh oppoRite its number; if
unaspirated ~, write k.
(1) (2) (3) (4)
(5) (6~
Answers I 1. kh , 2. k, 4. kh , 5. k, 6. kh
19 Read the words below. Check your responses with
the tape:
(1) " (2) khli (3) (4)
kaap kin kaan
(5) " (6) klaj (7) khaaI) (8) kllI)
kap
(9) kaj (10) " (11) (12) kaan
khaat khaa xxviii

THAI BASIC COURSE

Frame Content
20 Write these words.
(1) (2) (3) (4 )
(5) (6) (7) (8)
(9) (10) (11) (12)
Answers. (1) kaan (2) khaa (3) k~alJ (4) khap
(5) kh~alJ (6) khan (7) , (8) k~an
kaJ
(9) kh~alJ (10) klaJ (11) khaat (12) ,
kap
Part rIL Section 6" Frames 1-9 are on Tape only. 10

The symbol ch is used to write the initial consonant in these words. The Icl indicates the sound is made at the hard palate (Ithe ceiling of the mouthl) and the Ihl indicates that there is a stream of air after the Icl• Write the initial consonant of these words in the spaces below:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

The answer in each case above is £h. (Donlt forget: Icl for Iceilingl and Ihl for aspiration. )

11

The initial sound in this Thai word is also made with the tongue on the hard palate (i.e. Ithe ceilingl of the mouth).

12

There is no aspiration after the initial consonant.

13

This sound that is made at the hard palate and is without aspiration is written Icl• Write the initial sound of these words in the space below:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4 )

xxix

THAI BASIC COURSE

Frame

Answers to 13:

(1) c

Content

(2) c

(3) c


20 Read the following words.

(1 ) (5) (9)

(13)

chat chaat

,

cep

chaa

(2) cak (6) cuan (10) chap (14) cal)

(3) (7) (11) (15)

(4) c

cal) chaaw caak

(4) (8) (12)

chan cet cat

cam

21 Write the following words in the spaces below.

(1) (5) (9)

(13)

Answers.

(1) (5) (9)

(13)

caak

chin chol)

caan

(2) (6) (10) (14)

(2) cham (6) cam

(3) (7) (11) .

,

cet

com

(10) chaan (11) cot (14) chat

(4) (8) (12)

(4) (8) (12)

ch~at

,

cop

coom


4 You can hear the quality of this sound easily by saying ing several times. This sound is called

a velar nasal and is written ~ in phonetic writing. Please observe that ~ is like £ with a long bent tail on it.

5 The velar nasal Il)l occurs finally in many English words (bring, sing, etc.) and it also occurs medially in some words (singer, etc.), but it never occurs in initial position.

xxx

THAI BASIC COURSE

Frame

Content

6

This Thai word ends in a velar nasal like bring in English.

7

What sound do these words end in?

Answer I

IJ

8

The final sound in these words would be written IIJ/. True or false?

9

These words end in a nasal sound also but not the velar nasal. Listen to these words. What is the final sound?

10

Now you will hear some pairs of words. The first member of the pair ends in the velar nasal, the second, in £. Listen to the difference.

11

The velar nasal occurs at the beginning of some Thai words. Listen to these examples I

12

Contrast these words beginning with IIJI with those beginning with In/.

Frame 13-16 are on Tape only.
17 Read the following words.
(1) IJaa (2) IJaan (3) IJaam (4) l)an
(5) IJuu (6) IJaaj (7) IJaan (8) IJaj
18 Write the following words:
(1) (2) (3) ( 4)
Answers: (1) l)aa (2) IJaam (3) IJaaj (4) IJaj xxxi

THAI BASIC COURSE


Frame

Content

5·

If you said 'an old oak' (with clear separation between old and oak), what you said would be written phonetically as followsa

aen owld ? owk (The symbol ? represents the glottal stop)


10 Being careful to put a glottal stop at the end of each syllable, pronounce the following words when you hear the number:

(1) na

(2) s1

(3) phra

(4) ha

(5) ml

(Note. The glottal stop symbol is not usually written after short vowels since its occurrence is predictable.)

16 Listen to these words and write the final stops
(p, t, or k) in the space below:
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
( 6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
Answers. (1) p (2) t (3) k (4) p (5) k
(6) t (7 ) k (8) p (9) p (10) k xxxii

THAI BASIC COURSE


Frame

Content

5

Write the final sound of these words in the space below (use? for glottal stop):

(1) (6)

(2) (7)

(3) (8)

(4 ) (9)

(5) (10)

Answers: 1. P 2. k 3.?

8.? 9. p 10. ?

4. t

5.? 6. t 7. t


10 Write the final sound of these words below:

(1) ( 6)

(2) (7)

(3) (8)

(4) (9)

(5) (10)

Answers: 1. ~a 2. t

3. k 4. ~a 5. p 6. k 7. p

8. ~a 9. k 10. ~a

Part IV, Section 1, Frames 1-2 are on Tap~ only.

3 The diphthong is made up of two parts: ~ as in bah plus a glide like w

It would be written /haw/ in phonetic transcription.


7 The diphthong in this word could be written /aw/.

The first part is ~ and the last part is a ~ glide.

xxxiii

THAI BASIC COURSE

Frame


Content

11

The diphthong in this word could be written aaw. The first part is a long ~ and the second part is a !:!. glide.

12

The aa and the !:!. glide are about equally loud but the ~ is considerably longer than the!:!. glide. This is called a ~ diphthong.


19

Read the following words:
(1) kh~w (2) (3) ~w (4) ,
chaaw plaaw
(5) saaw (6) c~w (7) kaw (8) ,
chaaw
Write these words in the space below:
(1) (2) (3) (4 )
(5) (6) (7) (8) 20

Answers.

(1) khaaw (2) saw (3) (5) naaw (6) khaaw (7)

,

chaaw

(4) l~w (8) khaw

raw

Part IV, Section 2.

1 This word ends in a diphthong.

2 The diphthong in this word is written /aj/ which means that it begins with an ah sound and ends with an leel glide.

3 The ah sound and the ~ glide are about equally loud, but the ~ glide is longer.

XXXiiv

THAI BASIC COURSE


Frame

Content

10

The long diphthong in these words is written aaj. Write the words you hear belowa

(1) (5)

(2) (6)

(3)

(4)

Answers: 1. chaaj 2. daaj 3. naaj 4. thaaj 5. khaaj 6. baaj


14 Read the words below and check your responses with the tape:

(1) paj (5) baaj

(3) chaaj

15 Write the words you hear belowa

(1) (5)

(2) (6)

(4) (8)

(9) (10)

Answers:

1. naj 2. dEij 6. khaaj 7. jaj

3. chaaj 8. thaj

xxxv

THAI BASIC COURSE

Part IV, Section 3, Framesl-l~ are on Tape only.

Frame

Content

15

Read the following words:
(1) caak (2) , (3) fall (4) saam (5) ,
chan raan
( 6) khan (7) thaan (8) lal) (9) phaak (10) wan
Write the following words.
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
(6) (7) (8) (9) (10) 16

wall khaal) 3. , 4. ,
Answers: 1- 2. taal) phan 5· laan
6. l)aan 7. tham 8. daam 9. thaal) 10. cal)
Part V, Section 1, Frames 1-13 are on Tape only.
Part V, Section 2, Frames 1-8 are on Tape only. 9 A syllable in Thai has 4 parts to it: an initial
consonant, a vocalism, an optional final consonant
and a pitch contour. Here are examples of each of
the types of syllables.
(a) Consonant plus long vowel (phaa)
(b) Consonant plus long vowel plus nasal (phaan)
(c) Consonant plus long vowel plus glide (faaj)
(d) Consonant plus long vowel plus stop (khaat)
(e) Consonant plus short vowel plus nasal (phan)
(f) Consonant plus short vowel plus glide (paJ)
(g) Consonant plus short vowel plus stop (kat) Frames 10-14 are on Tape only.

This is the end of The Programmed Introduction to Thai Phonology.

xxxvi

THAI BASIC COURSE

REFERENCE CHART OF SPECIAL SYMBOLS USED IN THAI BASIC COURSE

When Thais write Thai they use the regular writing system, which is a rather complex system based on Sanscrit. After you have been studying the spoken language for 6 to 8 weeks, you will begin to learn to read in this system. Since it is fairly difficult to learn regular Thai orthography, it is considered inadvisable to require you to learn it in addition to learning the spoken language at the beginning) therefore, a special system of transcription is used throughout the first volume of the Thai Basic Course. In this system regular Roman letters plus a few phonetic symbols are used. The system is completely regular, and you will learn to read it rather quickly. In fact, if you have already finished the Programmed Introduction, you may already know most of it. Please keep in mind that no writing system reflects accurately and precisely the sound system of a language, so rely on your ears and not on any written symbols (including the regular Thai orthography) for the pronunciation of Thai words and sentences.

It will help you understand the summary of the transcription system that follows, if you are aware of 3 conventions that are used in it: (1) Vowel length is indicated by a doubling of the vowel symbol, (2) An Ihl after an initial consonant indicates that the consonant is laspiratedl, and (3) Pitch contours are indicated by placing certain kinds of symbols above vowels; thus ph~a refers to an laspirated pi, followpd by Ilong ai, which has a Ihigh fallingl pitch contour.

REFERENCE CHART

Symbol

Usual English Letter

Approximate Pronunciation

b

b

similar to English b in Samba.

p

p (afte:r- !!.)I

like the £ in ~

(no puff of air after p)

xxxvii

THAI BASIC COURSE

Symbol



ph

p

like the £ in ~ (puff of air after p)

d

d

similar to English £ in Sunday

t

t (after !!.)

like the ! in ~

(no puff of air after !)

th

t

like the t in tie (puff of air after !)

k

k (after !!.) k

like the k in ski

kh

like the k jn Korea

c

..

between English ~ and Chet

ch

ch

between ch in cheat and sh in sheet

r

r r as in red may be used

(rarely occurs in Bangkok dialect)

1

lIas in long

m

m m as in me

h

h h as in ben

f

f f as in fun

s

s s as in see

n

n n as need

1)

-ng (only final) like -~ in Sing

w

w w as in we

j

y ~ as in yet

xxxviii

THAI BASIC COURSE

Symbol



1

1

! in~

i1

ee, ea

ee as in see

e

e

e as in pet

ee

a, ay

a as in made

e

a

a as 1n and

ee

a

a as in fan

y

u in sugar is somewhat similar

yy

..

a

somewhat similar to -~ in baker but shorter and without 'r' quality

aa

similar to ~ but longer. British pronunciation of sir

a

u

somewhat similar to u in fun

aa

a

a as in father

u

00

00 as in look

uu

ou

ou as in you

o

o

o as in cone but shorter

00

o

o as in so

o

00

aw

aw as in law

iw

..

xxxix

THAI BASIC COURSE

51mbol Usual EnSl1sh AEEroximate Pronunciation
Letter
ew
eew
ew
aw ow ow as in cow
aaw ow ow as in cow (longer than aw)
uJ- · .
ooJ · .
oj oy EX as in toy
ooj oy 9:i.. as in~ (longer than oj)
aj y, i y.. as in !!!l.
aaj y, i y.. as in & (longer than aj)
1a ee, ie, e ee as in ~ (~ithout £)
ya · .
ua 00 00 as in Eoor (without E.)
iaw eo eo as in Leo
yaj · . xl

THAI BASIC COURSE

THAI TONE CHART

The shapes, names and symbols used for five significant pitch contours in Thai are given below:

Written Examples:

Approximate Pitch Range

Name of Contour

Symbol

khaa

,

knaa

· .

_/~

\

· .

Mid Level

Low

High Falling

High

Low Rising

· .

No Mark

v

/

\

· .

xli

THAI BASIC COURSE

LESSON ONE

1.0 BASIC DIALOG: Greeting Someone

A. sawatdil khrap Hello.
, ,
khun ~""IJu.djdii ry khrap How are you?
phom , 11m
B. sabaajdii khrap fine.
,
kh o opkhun Thank you.
, ,
le:e:w khun la khrap And you?
phom , 11m
A. sabaajdii khrap fine.
1.1 NOTE ON THE DIALOG sawatdii is a very common salute in Thailand. It may be used for greeting someone or for leavetaking. It is usually accompanied by a Iwail (waj).

The Iwail is illustrated in the picture below. The height of the hands in the Iwail is in inverse ratio to the age and social position of the participants. In the picture below the woman is older and is of equal or higher social status than the man.

1

THAI BASIC COURSE

I . 2 GRAMMAR NOTES

a) phom, dichan., khun, and khaw are pronouns in Thai. phom means III and is used by males only.

dichan or dihan (or in formal usage dichan) means III and is used only by females.

khun is a polite form for Iyoul.

khaw (in slow distinct speech khaw) means Ihe, she, or they I.

b) sabaajdii Ito be well, to be in good healthl is a verb.

The verb in Thai does not undergo changes in form, hence sabaajdii might be translated lam, is, are finel according to its subject.

c) The subject precedes the verb in Thai, hence the sentence phom sabaajdiiis the most common type of statement.

d) statements may be changed into questions by adding a question word at the end.

Statement: khun sabaajdii Ques tion: .Kh.!.!n sabaa.1 dii ryy

Iyou are well.' I Are you well? I

e) r¥y is a question word that is used to ask for verification. It may occur after words, phrases, or sentences. It is usually unstressed and may be pronounced in any of the following ways:

When sentence final:

Before khrap (kha):

,

ry,

,

ra,

,

a,

,

y

f) khrap (or khap) is a particle used as the final element

of statements or questions. It indicates that the speaker is male. It is often pronounced ha? in rapid speech.

2

THAI BASIC COURSE

g)

kha is a particle used as the final element of a statement. It indicates that the speaker is female. It may be pronounced ha in rapid speech.

h)

kha is similar in usage to kha except that it is used at the end of a question. In rapid speech ha may be used instead of kha.

i)

, A '

The omission of the polite particles khrap, kha, and kha

may result in rather abrupt-sounding or impolite speech; it is, therefore, advisable to put one in at least once in each utterance.

J) k)

l88W land' is used to connect sentences.

l88W (khun, khaw, etc.) la (khrap, kha) is a kind of echo type question; that is, it forms a question which is based on the previous statement.

Statement. pham sabaajdii

Echo questions l88W khun la khrap

'I'm fine.'

'And how are you?'

1 • 3 GRAMMAR DRILLS

a) Expansion Drill

sabaaj
sabaaj dii
pham sabaaj dii
pham ,
sabaaj dii khrap (am) fine
(am) fine
I (male) am fine.
I (male) am fine.
(am) fine
(am) fine
I (female) am fine.
I (female) am fine. sabaaj sabaaj dii

dichan sabaaj dii dichan sabaaj dii kha

3

THAI BASIC COURSE

b) Substitution Drill
Cue Pattern
phom sabaajdii ,
khrap I am fine.
,
khun khun sabaajdii khrap ~ are fine.
, , khrap ~she/they is/are
khaw khaw sabaajdii fine.
khun khun sabaajdii khrap You are fine.
phom phom sabaajdii khrap I am fine.
Repeat the drill using , / kha for phom / ,
dichan khrap

c) Substitution Drill
Cue Pattern
, ,
l88W khun la khrap And you?
, , , ,
khaw l88W khaw la khrap And he?
, ,
khun l88W khun la khrap And you?
, , , ,
khaw l88W khaw la khrap And they?
, ,
khun l88w khun la khrap And you?
d) Substitution Drill

Cue Pattern
phom , ,
sabaajdii l88W khun la khrap
, phom , , ,
khaw sabaajdii l88W khaw la khrap
phom , ,
khun sabaajdii l88W khun la khrap
, phom , , ,
khaw sabaajdii l88W khaw la khrap
khun phom , ,
sabaajdii l88w khun la khrap
Repeat the drill using dichan / kha for phom / ,
khraE' 4

THAI BASIC COURSE

e) Transformation Drill (Change into questlons with ryy)

statement Question
khun sabaajdii khun sabaajdii v Are you well?
EJU..
~ ~ sabaajdii v Is she well?
khaw sabaajdii khaw EJU..
khun sabaajdii khun sabaajdii v Are you well?
EJU..
~ ~ ryy
khaw sabaajdii khaw sabaajdii Are they well? f) Dialog Variation Drill

If there are female members of the class, repeat the basic dialog using female pronouns and polite words.

1.4 EXERCISES

a) Each person inquires about the health of the person next to him, to which that person replies that he is fine.

b) The instructor asks each student how he is, and each student replies.

c) Each student asks the instructor how he is, and the instructor responds.

d)

The instructor has student A ask student B how student

- -

CiS health is, to which student B replies that it is

good. (The instructor should continue this exercise until every student has asked and responded at least once. )

5

THAI BASIC COURSE

1.5 VOCABULARY

dichanJ dichan dii

khaJ ha kha , ha khaw J khaw

khoopkhun

knr-ap , ha ?; khap

khun la lS8W

phom

ryy, rYJ lyy, ly sabaajdii sawatdii

I (female speaker) (to be) good

polite particle, statement by a female polite particle, question by a female

he, she; they (third person, singular and plural). It does not refer to things.

thank you

polite particle, used in statements and

questions by males

you (singular only) polite form question word

and (sentence connective) I (male speaker)

question word

to feel well, be in ~ood health

hello (used for greeting or leavetaking)

6

THAI BASIC COURSE

LESSON TWO

2.0 BASIC DIALOG I Finding Out Someone's Name

Prabas: sawatdii khrap

phom chyy praphaat kh~~th8ot, khun chyy araj khrap.

John: phom chyy c~~n khrap

Prabas: kho~th8ot, khun chyy araj nakhrap

karunaa phuut lik thii, daj maj khr ap

Johnl phom chyy c~~n khrap kho~th8ot, khun praphaat naamsakun araj khrap

Prabasl phom naamsakun rakthaj khrap

kho~th8ot, khun c~~n naamsakun sam1t, chaj maj khnap

Hello.

My name is Prabas. Excuse me. What's your name?

My name's John.

Excuse me. What's your

name?

Could you please repeat that?

My name's John. Excuse me, Mr. Prabas what? (family name)

My family name's Rakthai.

Excuse me, Mr. John Smith, isn't it?

NOTE: For female members of the class use Mary (mssr!i) and the appropriate pronouns and particles instead of John. If the instructor is female, mall may be used instead of

" -

praphaat with appropriate changes.

7

THAI BASIC COURSE

maj chaj ~ it isn't.
Johnl khrap No,
phom naamsakun braawn My family name's Brown.
Yrabasl coon braaw rekhrap John Brown, huh?
~ That's right.
Johnl khrap 2.1 NOTES ON THE DIALOG

a) chYy means 'name' 0r 'to be named' but refers only to the first or given name.

b) naamsakun means 'family or last name'.

c) khooth6ot means 'excuse me' or 'pardon me' and is used in the same way as the English words.

d) karunaa means 'please, kindly ..• ' and is followed by a request form.

e) 1ik thii 'again' means literally 'an additional time.'

f) ~ is a polite title that may be used with names of either sex. It is normally put before a person's given name, since that is the name that one is usually addressed by in Thailand.

khun aaril 'Miss Aree', khun thaawoon 'Mr. Thaworn', khun n09khraan 'Mrs. Nongkran'

khun may be placed before the family names of foreigners, thus khun braawn 'Mr. Brown'.

2.2 GRAMMAR NOTF~

a) The word '~'what?' occupies the same position in the sentence ~ the word it refers tOI

Questions ~~un chYy araj Answerl phom chYy ~

'What's your name?' !My name's John.'

8

THAI BASIC COURSE

b)

A '

When chaj maj is added to a statement, it becomes a

question. It is used when the speaker is seeking confirmation of something. It is very similar in usage to ryy (see 1.2e) wh;ch it can replace in many situations.

Question. khun chYy thaaw00n,

A' ,

chaj maj khrap

'Your name's Thaworn, isn't it?

Affirmative response.

A '

chaj khrap

t Yes, it is.'

Negative response.

maj chaj khrap

'No, it isn't.'

c) If one wishes to disagree with a question with chYy and give additional information, it can be done in either of the following ways.

Question: khun chYy samsak,

A' ,

chaj maj khrap

'Your name's Somsak, isn't it?'

Negative response 1.

A A '

maj chaj khrap

y: A 1

~ ~ prichaa

maj chaj samsak

'No, it's not.'

'My name's Pricha.r lIt isnlt Somsak.1

Negative response 2.

pham chYy prichaa pham maj daj chYy samsak

'My name's Pricha.r '11m not named

Soms ak , I

Observe that maj chaj can occur before a name (a noun) but not before chyy (a verb). maj daj must be used before chYy. --

1

Do not use contrastive stress as you would in English

('My name's Prichaa. It isnlt Somsak.').

9

THAI BASIC COURSE

d)

Questions ending with ryy are normally answered affirmatively with khrap, which indicates that what the speaker assumed to be true is indeed true.

Question. khun chYy praphaatrYkhrap

IYoulre named Prapas?1

Affirmative response: khrap

I Tha tis right. I

The usual negative response to questions with ryy is maj chaj, thus

Question. khun chyy priichaa rYkhrap

I(Youlre) Pricha?1

Negative response:

A '" '

maj chaj khrap

( phcm , . . chYy ... )

INo, 11m not. I I 1m ...

If one wishes to register strong disagreement with a ryy question, he may respond with plaaw.

Question.

, A

khaw ~ priichaa

rYkhrap

IHeis named Pricha?1

Negative response.

plaaw khrap, khaw maj daj chYy priichaa khaw chYy somsak

INo, hels not named Pricha. Hels Somsak.1

2.3 GRAMMAR DRILLS

a) Expansion Drills

araj

araj khrap

chyy araj khrap

10

THAI BASIC COURSE

khun chyy ,
araj khrap
kho~th6ot, khun chyy ,
araj khrap
c~~n
,
c~~n khrap
chyy ,
c~~n khrap
phom chyy ,
c~~n khrap
araj
,
araj khrap
chyy ,
araj khrap
, chyy ,
khaw araj khrap
,
dik
, ,
dik khrap
chyy , ,
dik khrap
, A' ,
khaw chyy dik khrap
b) RecoSinition and Familiarization Drills 1.

AI kho~thoot, khun chyy ,
araj khrap
John. phom chyy c~~n khrap
A: araj khrap
Mary: ' A A A
dichan chyy meerii kha
A: araj khrap
Billa phom chyy bin khrap
AI araj khrap
George. phom chyy c6~n khrap
A: kho~th6ot, khun chyy ,
araj khrap
Dickl phom chyy dlk khrap 2.

3·

4.

5·

1

Whenever masculine pronouns and polite forms occur, the

instructor may replace them with the equivalent feminine forms. To save space generally only the masculine forms will be given.

11

THAI BASIC COURSE

c) Response Drill

The teacher asks the question khun chYy araj (What's your

r.ame?) and each student responds with phom chYy __

(My name is .) giving his correct name.

d) Response Drill

The teacher has each student address the following question to him: khun chYy araj and the teacher responds with his correct name.

e) Response Drill

Teacher asks each student the following question: khoothoot, khun chYy araj and each student responds with his

correct name. phom chYy __

f) Response Drill

Pairs of students take turns asking and answering the question: khoothoot khun chYy araj

g) Response Drill

Each student asks another student his name using an incorrect name, to which the student responds by giving his correct name.

h) Response Drill

The following question is to be asked using the real names of the students:

Question: khun chYy (!), chaj maj khrap?

Answer: chaj khrap, phom chYy (X)

i) Response Drill

Question. khun chYy (X), chaj maj khrap Answer: maj chaj khrap, phom chYy (Y)

12

THAI BASIC COURSE

j) Response Drill

The question following may be used with the correct or incorrect name of the student addressed. The answer given will depend on the question.

Questions knun chyy (x}, A ' ,
chaj maj khrap
maJ chaj , phom chyy (~)
Answer. khrap,
chaj , phom chyy (X) •
khrap,
DrJlls !2_, 1:., and J., may be repeated with khD~th6ot
preceding each question if desired. k) Response Drill

The teacher has each student address to him the question khun chyy (X), chaj maj using an incorrect na.me to which he gives the following response:

A A '

maj chaj khrap

phom chyy (Y) maj chaj (X)

That's not right, my name is Y.

It isn1t x.

or

phom chyy (Y)

phom maj daj chyy (X)

My name is Y.

My name isn1t X.

1) Transformation Drill (Use actual names of students.)

Student 1

Student 2

phom chyy c~~n dichan chyy m88r!i

sawatdii khrap, khun c~~n

or

, ,

sawatdii khrap, khun m88r!i

sawatdii kha, khun m88r!i

13

THAI BASIC COURSE

m) Substitution Drill

Have the students (in pairs) participate in short dialogs like the model below using their actual names:

chyy ,
8-1: khun araj khrap
S-2: pham chyy coon
S-l: ~ rakhrap
maj chaj _, rakhrap
cooc
8-2t maj chaj ,
khrap n) Expansion Drill

nakhrap

araj nakhrap

chyy araj nakhrap

nakhrap

araj nakhrap

naamsakun araj nakhrap

nakhrap

araj nakhrap

A '

waa araj nakhrap

phuut waa araj nakhrap

khun phflut waa araj nakhr-ap

14

What's your name? My name's John.

It's John, is it? It isn't George? No, it isn't.

(Question) What?

What is your name?

(Question) What?

What's your family name?

(Question) What?

...

What did (you) say? What did you say?

THAI BASIC COURSE

0) Progressive Substitution Drill

CUE'

Pattern

naamsakun kh'60thoot, khun chYy

khun chYy araj nakhrap khaw chYy araj nakhrap

khaw naamsakun araj nakhrap

kh'60thoot, khun naamsakun araj nakhrap khun chyy araj nakhrap

khaw chyy araj nakhrap

khaw naamsakun araj nakhrap

kh'60thoot, khun naamsakun araj na~1rap

A '

khun ~ araj nakhrap

naamsakun kh'60thoot, khun chYy

khaw

p) Transformation Drill (Asking for repetitions)

MODEL: Instructor: phom chYy praphaat khrap

Student: kh'60thoot, khun chyy araj nakhrap karunaa phQut 1ik thii, daj maj khrap Instructor: ph om chyy praphaat khrap

, chyy prichaa.
Cue: 1- khaw
,
2. dichan naamsakun kamphuu
3. , ,
khaw naamsakun rakthaj
4. phom chYy somsak 15

THAI BASIC COURSE

q) Response Drill

Affirmative. Instructor:
brawn r~khrap
Yes.
Student.
/
khrap
Negative. Instructor:
brawn rekhrap
No.
Student:
rnaj chaj /
khrap
Cue Question
yes chyy C00n rekhrap
no khun thaaw00n rekhrap
yes khaw aa khr ap
no samlt aa khrap
/ rekhrap
yes naamsakun samit It's Brown, is it?

Yes (It is).

It's Brown, is it?

No (It isn't).

Response khrap

maj chaj khrap khrap

maj chaj khrap khrap

'2.4 EXERCISES (Students are to take the roles below:)

a) Mr. Jones meets Mr. Smith on the street. They greet each other and inquire about each other's health.

b) Mr. Wlchai meets Miss Nongkhraan and says, 'Excuse me.

Isn't your name Absorn'. Miss Nongkhraan says that is not correct but that her correct name is Nongkhraan.

c) Mr. Prichaa sees Mr. Wichai and says, 'Hello, Mr. Somsak.' Mr. Wichai says, 'Excuse me.' My name is not Somsak. It's Wichal' .

16

THAI BASIC COURSE

d) Mr. Smith meets a Thai at the Embassy and says, 'Excuse me. What is your name?' The man says, 'My name is Prichaa. What's yours?' Smith gives his name.

e) Miss Nongkhraan accidentally bumps Mr. Wichai and asks his pardon.

The teacher asks the students to bring in pictures of well-known persons. In class the students ask each other the names of the persons pictured, sometimes intentionally using the incorrect name.

2·5 VOCABULARY
araj
1ik
1ik thii
bin
braaw{n)
cha.j
chaj ,
maj
chyy
,
C;);)C
c;);)n
" '
daj maj
,
dik
kamphuu
karunaa
kho;)thoot
khun
,
mali
maj chaj what (question word) in addition, more again, one more time Bill (name)

Brown (name)

to be so, to be it, be the one (meant, intended)

Isn't it so? Isn't it the one?

name, to be named George (name) John (name)

Can (you)? Could (you)?

Are (you) able to?

Dick (name)

Kambhu (Thai family name) please, kindly

excuse me

Mr, Mrs., Miss (a polite title) Malee (Thai girl's name)

It is not so. It is not the one (meant). (Negative response)

17

THAI BASIC COURSE

,

na, na

question word Mary (name)

particle used to make the question

sound less abrupt

family name

to speak, talk, say

No (it isn't so). Particle indicating strong disagreement with the information content of the question)

Prabas (Thai male first name)

Pricha (Thai male first name) Rakthai (Thai family name) Smith (name)

Thaworn (Thai male first name) instance, case, time

that (when used with verbs like phuut)

naamsakun phuut plaaw

praphaat prichaa rakthaj samit thaawoon

thii

"-

waa

18

THAI BASIC COURSE

CLASSROOM EXPRESSIONS

phuut iik thii

Please repeat.

phuut taam phom/dichan

Please repeat after me.

faIJ
khun phuut phlt
phuut thuuk ~
khW1 lc;c;w
looIJ phuut iik thii
slaIJ khun phlt
slaIJ ,
khun thuuk Please listen.

You said it wrong.

You said it right.

Try to say it.

Your tone is wrong.

Your tone is right.

phuut phaasaa thaj

Please speak in Thai.

Donlt speak English.

A ~

phuut phroom kan

Please say it in chorus

tDOP thii la khon

Answer one at a time.

Speak louder.

Open your book.

Close your book.

, ~ v

jaa duu naIJsyy

Don't look at your book.

19

THAI BASIC COURSE

LESSON THREE

3.0 BASIC DIALOGI Identifying Objects

A: khun mii ph88nthti maj khrap B: mii khrap

A: dii maj khrap B: dii khrap

A: nti araj khrap BI nan ruup khrap

A:

A ,
ruup araj khrap
A , ,
ruup wat khrap
suaj , ,
maj khrap
suaj ,
khrap BI

AI

B.

AI IS8w nti rtak waa araj khrap B: rtak waa naataaD khrap

A: khoothoot, jaa peat naataaD khrap

B: khoothoot, khun phuut waa araj khrap

phom maj khawcaj

karunaa phuut chaa chaa nooj, daj maj khrap

AI phom phuut waa jaa peat naataaD

Do you have a map? I do.

Is it good? It's good.

What's this? That's a picture.

A picture of what?

A picture of a temple.

Is it pretty? It's pretty.

And what's this called? It's called a 'window'. Excuse me. Don't open the window.

Excuse me. What did

you say?

I didn't understand. Could you please speak slowly.

I said, 'Don't open the window.'

NOTE: The instructor should have the objects referred to before him and should point to them when necessary.

20

THAI BASIC COURSE

3.1 NOTES ON THE DIALOG

a) wat is used to refer to the Buddhist temple compound.

This includes the temple and other related buildings in the compound (usually fenced in with a gate). It may be translated as 'church, etc.' when referring to places of worship for other religions.

b) naaw means 'cold' when referring to the weather or a person's feeling about the weather.

c) chaa means 'slow(ly)'. It is repeated for emphasis.

d)

n!i refers to a place near the speaker; nan away from

A ---

the speaker; and ~, still farther away from the

speaker, but within view.

3.2 GRAMMAR NOTES

a) dii, suaj, naaw, and r00n are called stative verbs in Thai. They can be translated as 'to be good', 'to be be pretty', 'to be cold', and 'to be hot'.

b) When the meaning is clear the subject of the sentence may be omitted, thus&

Questiona mii to maj khrap Answer. mii khrap

Do (you) have a table? (I) do.

c) A negative sentence is formed by repeating maj before the main verb:

maj mii maj dii

'don't have'

'(is) not good', etc.

d) maj (in slow speech maj) is a question word that is used wher. a simple YES or NO answer is expec ted. The affirmative answer is a repetition of the main verb&

Question: mii naDsyy maj khrap Do you have a book?

Answer: mii khrap I do.

21

THAI BASIC COURSE

In the ne ga ti ve answer mElj is repea t e d before tne main verb:

Question: mii naDsyy maj Answer; rnaj mii khrap

Do you have a book? (No) I don't.

e) There is no distinction in form between the singular and plural of nouns in Thai, thus to means 'a table' or 'tables' (in general).

However, plurality in general may be indicated by other forms in the Noun Phrase, thus.

to dii dii

'some good tables'

where repeating the stative verb dii serves this purpose.

f) When jaa tdon't' is repeated before a command or request form, it is changed into a negative command or request.

peat pratuu khrap jaa peat pratuu khrap

Open the door.

Don't open the door.

g) After verbs like phuut 'to say', riak 'to be called', etc. waa must be used.

phom phuut waa jaa peat pratuu

'I said, "Don't open the door. '"

h) When nii 'this', nan 'that', or noon 'that one over there' is the subject, the sentence has ~ verb expressed.

n!i to

'This (is) a table.'

(Note: In rather formal usage ~ 'to be' could be used.)

i) When Yes-No type questions are asked in the negative, ryy is the question word used. maj can not be used.

22

THAI BASIC COURSE

Negative question.

roo~rian maj dii ryy

'Isn't the school any good ?'

Confirmatory response: khrap

'No, it isn't.'

Since khrap is used to indicate that the information in the question is correct, and the information was given

in the negative, it must be translated as 'No, it isn't.' plaaw as a response would indicate that the information in the question was incorrect, and it would be translated something like 'On the contrary'. plaaw is usually followed by a sentence giving the correct information:

Negative question.

aahaan maj dii rekhrap

'The food isn't any good, huh?'

Contradictory response: plaaw khrap, dii

'On the contrary it's good. ,

3·3 GRAMMAR DRILLS
a) Substitution Drill
Cue Pattern
nan araj , What's
khrap that?
A , (over
noon noon araj khrap What's that there)?
n!i n!i , What's
araj khrap this?
A A , What's
nan nan araj khrap that?
A noon araj , What's (over there)?
noon khrap that
n!i n!i araj , What's
khrap this?
A nan araj , What Is
nan khrap that? 23

THAI BASIC COURSE

b) Recognition and Familiarization Drill

Question

1) nan araj khrap

2) nan araj khrap

3) nan araj khrap

4) nan araj khrap

5) nan araj khrap

6) nan araj khrap

7) nan araj khrap

8) nan araj khrap

9) nan araj khrap

Answer

{nan} pratuu khrap 'door'

(nan) naataa~ khrap 'window'

(nan) to khrap 'table'

(nan) na~syy khrap 'book'

(nan) samut khrap 'notebook'

(nan) ph88nthii khrap 'mapl

(nan) kradaandam khrap 'blackboard'

(nan) dinsoo khrap 'pencil'

'pen'

Note: The instructor points at the object referred to during the drill.)

c) Response Drill

While pointing at the objects referred to in Drill ~J the instructor asks questions and the students respond as in the following example:

Instructor: nii araj khrap

d) Recognition and Familiarization Drill

Question

1) nan riak waa araj khrap

2) nii riak waa araj khrap

3) noon riak waa araj khrap


5) nan riak waa araj khrap



Answer pratuu khrap na~syy khrap kradaandam khrap to khrap naalikaa khrap paakkaa khrap kawii khrap

Note: The instructor pOints at the object referred to during the drill.

24

THAI BASIC COURSE

e) Response Drill

While pointing at the objects in Drill £, the instructor asks questions and the students respond as in the following example:

Instructor: nan rtak waa araj khrap

What's that called?

Student: nan riak waa kradaandam khrap

That's a blackboard.

f) Substitution Response Drill

The instructor points at one of the objects previously named, and two students carryon an exchange like the following:

Instructor: (Pointing at the door of the classroom)
Student 1: nan riak waa ,
araj khrap
,
Student 2: pratuu khrap
Student 1: (nan) riak waa 12ratuu rakhrap
,
Student 2: khrap g) Substitution Drill

Cue Pattern
khun mii 12h8snthii maj khrap Do you have a map?
, v na!lsl.:l maj khrap
na!ls.:l.:l khun mii Do you have a book?
, , , ,
samut khun mii samut maj khrap Do you have a notebook?
dinsoo khun dinsDo maj ,
mii khrap Do you have a pencil?
, ,
naaliicaa khun mii naalikaa maj khrap Do you have a watch?
, burli maj khrap
burii khun mii Do you have a Cigarette?
, khrap
!laan khun mii !laan maj Do you have money?
, " , , ,
nags.:ln~him khun mii na!lsl.:l12him maj khrap Do you have a newsEaEer?
, kradaat , ,
kradaat khun mii maj khrap Do you have paEer?

25 THAI BASIC COURSE

h) Response Drill

Cue

yes

no

yes

no

yes

no

no

Pattern

khun mii naDsyy maj khrap khun mii kradaat maj khrap khun mii samut maj khrap khun mii dinsoD maj khrap khun mii ph8Enthti maj khrap khun mii burli maj khrap khun mii ruup maj khrap

i) Response Drill

Cue

yes

no

yes

no

yes

no

yes

no

Question

khaw dii maj khaw dii maj rooDrian dii maj khun rODn maj aakaa t nibw maj aahaan dii maj

A V '

ruup suaj maj

, v '

naDsyy dii maj

j) Substitution Drill

Cue Pattern

, v

naDsyy

khaw rooDrian khruu paakkaa

ph8Enthti dii maj naDsyy dii maj khaw dii maj rooDrian dii maj khruu dii maj paakkaa dii maj

26

Response

mii khrap m~U mii khr ap mii khrap maj mii khrap mii khrap maj mii khrap maj mii khrap

Response

dii khrap maj dii khrap dii khrap maj rODn khrap naaw khrap maj dii khrap

v '

suaj khrap

maj dii khrap

Is the map good?
Is the book good?
Is he good?
Is the school good?
Is the teacher good?
Is the ~n good? THAI BASIC COURSE

dinsoo dinsoo dii ,
maj Is the pencil good?
, the
kradaandam kradaandam dii maj Is blackboard good?
, the
naalikaa naalikaa dii maj Is watch good?
, , ,
kradaat kradaat dii maj Is the Ea2er good?
aahaan aahaan dii maj Is the food good?
k) Progressive Substitution Drill

Cue Pattern
, The weather's
aakaat dii good.
naaw , naaw weather's
aakaat The cold.
Ehom Ehom naaw I'm cold.
, khaw naaw TheY're
khaw cold.
suaj khaw suaj They're pretty.
" ruuE suaj The picture's pretty.
ruuE
Eaakkaa , suaj pen's
Eaakkaa The pretty.
dii paakkaa dii The pen's good.
aahaan aahaan dii The food's good.
, aahaan , food's
roon roon The hot.
, , , He's
khaw khaw r ocn hot.
dii , He's
khaw dii good. 1) Transformation Drill
Statement
rooI)rian dii
ruup suaj
wat suaj
, naaw
aakaat
aahaan dii
,
khun r oon (Change statements into questions)

Question

rooI)rian dii maj

" v '

ruup suaj maj

, " '

wat suaj maj

, v '

aakaat naaw maj

aahaan dii maj khun roon maj

27

THAI BASIC COURSE

m) Transformation Drill

Statement

rooI:)rian dii aakaat naaw

, ,

khaw r oon

aahaan dii

ruup suaj

khruu dii

(Change statements into the negative)

Negative

rooI)rian maj dii aakaat maj naaw

, A '

khaw maj roon

aahaan maj dii ruup maj suaj khruu maj dii

n) Transformation Drill (Change from Negative Statement to Negative Questionr)

Negative Statement

1. rooI:)rian maj dii

2. aakaat maj naaw

3. khaw maj roon

4. ruup maj suaj

5. khruu maj dii

Negative Question

rooI:)rian maj dii ryy
aakaat maj naaw ryy
, maj , ryy
khaw roon
A maj suaj ryy
ruup
khruu maj dii ryy 0) Transformation Drill (Change the statements into questions)

Statement

khaw dii khaw maj dii

khaw roan

,

aahaan maj roon

ruup maj suaj rooI:)rian dii khruu dii phssnthti maj dii aahaan maj dii

, v

khaw suaj

Questions

khaw dii maj khrap

khaw maj dii re khr-ap khaw roon maj khrap aahaan maj roon rakhrap ruup maj suaj rekhrap rooI:)rian dii maj khrap khruu dii maj khrap phssnthti maj dii rakhrap aahaan maj dii rakhrap khaw suaj maj khrap

28

THAI BASIC COURSE

p) Response Drill

Students will indicate they are in agreement with the instructor's questions.

Question

1) naalikaa dii rekhrap

2) roo~rian maj dii rekhrap

3) khun naaw rekhrap

4) aahaan maj dii rekhrap

5) ruup suaj rekhrap

q) Response Drill

ResEonse
, (dii)
khrap
, (maj dii)
khrap
, (naaw)
khrap
, (maj dii)
khrap
, (suaj)
khrap Students will indicate they are in strong disagreement with the instructor's question.

Question ResEonse
1) rekhrap , , (maj dii)
naalikaa dii plaaw khrap
2) roo~rian maj dii rekhrap , , (dii)
plaaw khrap
3) khun naaw rekhrap plaaw , (maj dfaw)
khrap
4) aahaan maj dii rekhrap plaaw , (dii)
khrap
5) ruup suaj rekhrap , , (maj suaj)
plaaw khrap r) Transformation Drill (Change the sentences into Noun Phrases - Noun + Modifier).

Sentence

BECOMES

, v

na~syy dii

'The book(s) is/are good.'

1) phEEnthii dii

2) aahaan dii

3) paakkaa dii

29

Noun Phrase

, v

na~syy dii dii

'(some) good books'

phsEnthii dii dii aahaan dii dii paakkaa dii dii

THAI BASIC COURSE

4) rooDrian dii

5) ruup suaj

6) khrllU dii

s) Expansion Drill

rooDrian dii dii ruup suaj suaj

khruu dii dii

The instructor has the students give an expanded form of the noun; for example J paakkaa becomes paakkaa dii

d l i , etc.

Cue

khun mii paakkaa maj khun mii dins~o maj khun mii khruu maj khun mii rooDrian maj

'" '

khun mii phyan maj

khun mii ruup maj khun mii naDsyy maj

t) SUbstitution Drill

Expanded Form

khun mii pa akkaa dii dii maj khun mii dins~o dii dii maj khun mii khruu dii dii maj khun mii rooDrian dii dii maj khun mii phyan dii dii maj khun mii ruup dii dii maj khun mii naDsyy dil dii maj

Cue Pattern (Request Form)

peat pratuu khrap peat naDsyy khrap peet faj khrap peet naataaD khrap peet samut khrap peet pratuu khrap

, v

naDsyy

faj

'" '

naataaD

samut

pratuu

Open the door.

Open (your) book(s). Turn on the lights. Open the window.

Open (your) notebook. Open the door.

Note to the instructor: Have the students perform some of the actions referred to above.

30

THAI BASIC COURSE

u) Transformation Drill

Reg,uest Form
, A' ,
paat naataaD khrap
pit ,
faj khrap
duu ' v '
naDsyy khrap
,
duu naalikaa khrap
pit ,
pratuu khrap
v) Transformation Drill Pattern I

, , , v

jaa paat naDsyy

jaa peat pratuu ili faj

pit naataaD

(Change the request forms into the negative.)

Ne6ative Reguest Form
jaa peat A ' ,
naataaD khrap
jaa pit ,
faj khrap
jaa duu , ,
naDsyy khrap
, ,
jaa duu naalikaa khrap
jaa pit ,
pratuu khrap (Change the sentences below to others having similar meaning, egs. don't opens close.)

Pattern 2

pit naIJsyy ill pratuu jaa peat faj

jaa peat naataaIJ

Drills t, u, and v may be repeated with karunaa 'kindly' or proot 'please'-before the affirmative and negative requestion forms. This will result in more polite forms.

1) jaa pit pratuu

2) peat faj

becomes

karunaa jaa ili pratuu proot peat faj

becomes

The forms with karunaa, can be made even more formal and

A' ,

polite by adding daj maj khrap:

1) £1! pratuu becomes karunaa pit pratuu (no0j), daj

maj khrap 'Would you be so kind as to close the door'.

31

THAI BASIC COURSE

w) Response Drill

The,instructor asks the question: khun phuut waa araj khrap 'What did you say?' and gives the cue sentences. The student combines pham phuut waa ... 'I said' with the cue sentence.

Cue

jaa peat naataaI) jaa duu naI)syy pit naI)syy

phuut taam khruu

phuut chaachaa n~~j pham naaw

3.4 EXERCISES

Response

pham phuut waa jaa peat naataaI) pham phuut waa jaa duu naI)syy

pham phuut '" pit ,
waa naI)syy
pham phuut " phuut taam khruu
waa
(phuut taam 'repeat after')
pham phuut " " ' , ,
waa phuut chaa chaa rioaj
pham phuut " pham naaw
waa a) Find out from some of the other students or the instructor what the names of some of the objects in the classroom are.

b) Ask some of the other students or the instructor about their possessions (i.e. what they have).

c) Get an opinion (whether something is 'good' or 'beautiful') about some of the objects in the room.

d) Tell another student that you are either cold, beautiful, or hot and find out if he (or she) is hot-;t)eautiful, or cold.

e) Ask another student to perform certain acts (close the door, etc.) for you. Use different kinds of request forms.

f) Ask another student not to do certain things.

32

THAI BASIC COURSE

g) The instructor asks a student if he has a (watch, etc.).

If the student says he does have a (watch, etc.), the instructor says, 'This is your (watch, etc.), isn1t it? (pointing at a watch). The student responds to the question.

3.5 VOCABULARY
aakaat
aahaan
,
burii
,
chaa
dins~o
duu
faj (faa)
kaw!i
khawcaj
khruu
kradaandam
kradaat
jaa
mii
naalikaa
A '
naataa!J
naaw
nan
, v
na!Jsyyphim
n!i
"
noon
nooj
!Jaan weather, air food cigarette slow(ly) pencil

to look at

electric light, electricity chair

to understand teacher blackboard

paper

don't (negative request form) to have

watch, clock

window

(to be) cold

that (one), there

newspaper

this (one), here

that (one) over there, over there here no oj is used to make the request

less abrupt

money

33

THAI BASIC COURSE

paakkaa paet

pit ph8E:nthii phuut phuut taam phyan pratuu proot

riak waa rool)rian

pen

to open, turn on (lights) to close, turn off (lights) map

to say, speak to repeat after friend

door, gate

please (request form) to be called

,

r oon

school

to be hot (temperature) picture

notebook

(to be) pretty, beautiful table, desk

temple, temple compound

A

ruup

samut suaj to welt

34

THAI BASIC COURSE

LESSON FOUR

4.0 BASIC DIALOG: Establishing Identity and Ownership of Objects.

A: chuaj sOD naDsyy lem nan

haj pham n~~j, daj maj khrap

B: daj khrap

naDsyy lem nii dii

khD~D khraj khrap

khD~D phyan pham khrap phyan khun chyy araj khrap

AI

B:

A:

(khaw chyy) c~~n khrap khon naj chyy c~~n khrap

Be

A:

khon noon khrap

ISEw nan khraj khrap

B:

A:

B:

phuujlD ry phuuchaaj khrap

A '

phuuchaaj khrap

A:

nan nakrian khrap

khun ruucak khaw maj khrap

BI

A:

ruucak khrap

khaw pen khraj khrap

khaw pen phyan phom khrap

B:

A:

35

Could you hand me that book?

Yes.

This book is good. Whose is it?

A friend of mine.

What's your friend's name?

His name's John.

Which person is named John?

That person over there. Then who's (that) there?

The woman or the man? The man.

That's a student.

Do you know him?

Yes, I do. Who is he?

He's my friend.

THAI BASIC COURSE

4.1 GRAMMAR NOTES

a) The following type of construction is used to indicate the number of items when referring to concrete nounSI

Noun Number + Unit Classifier 1
+
, v s'6og lem , two books'
nags:i:i
, s'60IJ khon 'two students'
nakrian
kawti s'6oIJ tua 'two chairs' When specif:iing a particular noun in a class, the fullowing type of construction is used:

Noun + Unit Classifier + Determiner

phyan samut paakkaa

khon

,

nan

nii

'That friend' 'This notebook' 'which pen? I

A unit classifier is one of a special class of nouns which are used in constructions to enumerate or specify concrete nouns. There are about 200 unit classifiers in Thai, and each of them is normally used with a large number of concrete nouns of very different meanings.

Since the unit classifier must be used in any situation in which you wish to indicate the number of items (of concrete nouns) or wish to specify a particular item out of a group (of concrete nouns), you will have to learn which unit classifier is used with each noun. Since there is usually no obvious connection between the classifier and its Noun, using the correct one will be a matter of having learned it.

There are a few classifiers for which noun reference is relatively predictable I

1

For a full treatment of unit classifiers, see Noss, Richard

B., Thai Reference Grammar, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1964, pp. 104, 105.

36

THAI BASIC COURSE

Unit Classifier

Noun Reference

khon

People (professions and positions held by people)

tua

animals, objects with arms and legs

flat objects

containers

sticks

b) After a noun has been mentioned or otherwise identified~ Classifier+Determiner or Number+Classifier can replace it in sentences following immediately:

1) A: nii naDsYy ~ lem x

lem naj khoo9 khun x

'Here are 2 books.

Which is yours?'

'That one'.

2)

A:

, v '

mii naDsyy maj

'Do you have any books?'

x

B. mii SOOD lem khrap x

'I have two.'

The classifier functions like a substitute word here, but it can not occur without either a number before it or a determiner after it.

c) khOOD 'of' or 'belonging to' is used to indicate 'possession'. It occurs after the thing possessed and before the possessor. Its occurrence in the Noun Phrase is optional when the head noun (thing possessed) is present, thus:

;" v ')( ;"

naDsyy kh'-!oD khaw

Ihis book'

37

THAI BASIC COURSE

'his book'

but the occurrence of kh00D is obligatory when the head noun is not present, thus:

'his'

The head noun can be omitted only after it has been identified since kho09 khaw acts as a replacement for the whole Noun Phrase.

d) khraj like araj (see 2.2a) has the same position in the sentence as the noun it refers to, thus:

, (lit: who )
Question. khaw pen khraj he is
Who is he?
, phyan pham 'He's
Answer. khaw pen my friend.'

Question. khun C00n pen khraj (lit: John is who)
What is John?
Answer. khun C00n pen khruu 'John's my teacher. ,
pham When the main verb in the sentence is pen, khraj normally occurs in the predicate. Observe that it may be translated 'what' in some situations.

e) The verb 'to bel is translated differently according to its subject and complement. Observe the following examples:

Subject

Verb

Complement

ntl

(khyy)

phyan khaw khruu pham

khun C00n khaw

pen chyy

c00n

'This is his friend.' 'John is my teacher.' 'He is (named) John.'

THAI BASIC COURSE

4.2 GRAMMAR DRILLS

a) Response Drill

The instructor points at a student as he asks the question and gives the actual name of the student as the cue. He asks every student the question.

Questions: nan/nii khraj khrap Cue: (actual name of student pointed at)

Anawer-s s nii/nan khun (Joe) khrap

b) Response Drill

Who is that/this?

This/tha t Ls (Joe).

The instructor gives a cue and points at a student. One student asks and another answers questions like the following:

Instructor. khun th~awoon (pointing at a student)

Student 1: nan/nii khun th~awoon, chaj maj khrap

Student I. nan/nii khraj khrap

Student 2. (nan/nii) khun __

That/this is Mr.

Thaworn, isn't it?

No, it isn't.

Who is that/this?

(That/this is) __

1- khun cim 4. khun coon
,
2. khruu 5· khruu khaw
3· khun mEErii 6. khun prasaat
Repeat the drill using actual names of students in the class. 39

THAI BASIC COURSE

c) Substitution Drill

Cue Pattern

naalikaa dinsoo

A

ruup

kawii paakkaa

, v

naIJsyyphim

burli

,

naalikaa khraj khrap

dinsoo khraj khrap

A '

ruup khraj khrap

kawii khraj khrap paakkaa khraj khrap

, v '

naIJsyyphim khraj khrap

burli khraj khrap naIJsyy khraj khrap

d) Response Drill

Whose book (is it)? Whose watch (is it)? Whose pencil (is it)? Whose picture (is it)? Whose chair (is it)? Whose pen (is it)?

Whose newspaper (is it)? Whose cigarette (is it)? Whose book (is it)?

The instructor points at an object near a student and asks him whose is it. The student's response indicates the actual owner.)

MODEL: Instructor: nan/nii naIJsyy khraj khrap 'Whose book is that/this?'

Student: khooIJ phom/khaw/khun eim 'Mine/his/Jim's' .

dinsoo 4. , 7· , v
1- paakkaa naIJsyy
, 8. burli
2. naalikaa 5· samut
" 6. , kawii
3· ruup naIJsyyphim 9· This drill may be repeated one time with students repetating the thing referred to in the answerl naIJsyy khOoIJ pham and one time with students repeating the thing referred to and nan / nii: nii naIJsyy pham

40

THAI BASIC COURSE

e) Expansion Drill

Cue EX2ansion
1) khooIJ , Whose?
khraj khrap
, v naIJsyy khooIJ khraj , Whose
naIJsyy khrap book?
A nan naIJsyy khooIJ khraj ,
nan khrap Whose book is that?
2) khooIJ khraj , Whose?
khrap
, paakkaa khooIJ khraj ,
paakkaa khrap Whose pen?
A " ' khooIJ , Whose
nan nan paakkaa khraj khrap pen is that?
3) khooIJ , Whose?
khraj khrap
, , khooIJ , Whose
samut samut khraj khrap notebook?
nii nii samut khooIJ khraj ,
khrap Whose notebook is this?
4) khooIJ khraj khrap Whose?
dinsoo dinsoo khooIJ khraj , Whose
khrap pencil?
" nan dinsoo khooIJ khraj khrap Whose pencil is that?
nan f) Reduction Drill (Change from Pattern 1 to Pattern 2)

Pattern 1

Pattern 2

naIJsyy khooIJ khraj paakkaa khooIJ khraj phyan khooIJ phom kawii khooIJ khraj samut khooIJ nakrian

, v

naIJsyy khraj

paakkaa khraj phyan phom kawii khraj samut nakrian

Whose book?

Whose pen?

My friend.

Whose chair. Student's notebook.

phanrajaa kh60IJ khun coon phanrajaa khun coon John's wife.

khruu khooIJ raw khruu raw Our teacher.

saamii khooIJ khaw saamii khaw Her husband.

41

THAI BASIC COURSE

g) Recognition and Familiarization Drill

Question

Response

khan nan khrap

khan noon khrap

khan naj chyy mEE!'ii khan nan khr ap

khan naj pen phyankhun khan noon khr-ap

khan n~ij pen khruu khan nan khr-ap

khan n~lj pen nakr Lan khan nan khr-ap

Which person is named John? That one.

Which person is named Jim? The one over there.

Which person is named Mary? That one.

Which person is your friend? The one over there.

Which person is the teacher? That one.

Which person 1s a student? That one.

h) Response Drill (The instructor asks the names of students.)

Instructor, khan naj chyy

---

(actual name)

Student, khan nli/nan (pointing to the student):

i) Expansion Drill

1) n~lj
khan naj
/ naj
nakrian khan
nakrian phuuchaaj khan naj
2) ,
nii
,
khan nii
phuujlIJ ,
khan nii
, phuujlI) khan ,
nakrian nii 42

Which person is named

?

---

This/that person.

Which?

Which one (person)? Which student? Which male student?

This

This one (person). This female.

This female student.

THAI BASIC COURSE
3) , That over there.
noon
, That one over there.
khon noon
, That teacher over there.
khruu khon noon
khooI) khun , That teacher of yours
khruu khon noon
over there.
4) , That.
nan
, That (person) •
khon nan one
phyan , friend.
khon nan That
phyan khooI) khun , friend
khon nan That of yours.
phyan phuujrI) khOoI) khun khon , female
nan That friend of
yours. j) Expansion Drill

1)

nakrian

phuuchaaj

2)

phyan phom

3)

khon n~lj chyy coon

coon

nakrian phuuChaaj khon n~ij chyy coon

khon nan chyy nOI)jaw

phyan phom khon nan chyy nOI)jaw

phyan phuujrI) phom khon

, A

nan chyy nOI)jaw

, v '" '

naI)syy lem nan dii

naI)syy khooI) khun lem nan dii

43

Which person is named John?

Which student is named John?

Which male student is named John?

That person is named Nongyaw.

That friend of mine is named Nongyaw.

That female friend of mine is named Nongyaw.

That book is good. That book of yours is good.

THAI BASIC COURSE

4)

phuujlIJ

,

khon nan suaj

,

phyan khon nan suaj

phyan kh~oIJ khun khon

, v

nan suaj

phyan phUUjlIJ kh~oIJ khun khon nan suaj

k) Transformation Drill

Pattern 1

khon naj chyy praphaat

khon naj chyy prasaet

khon naj chyy nutchanan

khon naj pen khruu kh~oIJ khun

khon naj pen phanrajaa khun thaawoon

khon naj pen saamii khun mE:E:rti

Pattern 2

khun cim, khon naj

khun praphaat, khon
naj
khun prasaet, khon
naj
khun nutchanan, khon
naj khruu kh~oIJ khun, khon naj

phanrajaa khun thaawoon, khon naj

saamii khun mE:E:rti, khon naj

44

That one (person) is pretty.

That friend is pretty. That friend of yours is pretty.

That female friend of yours is pretty.

Which one (person) is Jim?

Which one is Prabas?

Which one is Prasert?

Which one is Nuchanan?

Which is your teacher?

Which one is Thaworn1s wife?

Which one is Mary1s husband?

THAI BASIC COURSE

1) Recognition and Familiarization Drill

Question

Response

phuujlQ ry phuuchaaj

phuuchaaj khrap

Woman or man? Man.

chyy c~~n ry cim

cim khrap

Is (he) named John or Jim? Jim

" ,

khon nan ry khon noon

khon noon khrap

That one or the one over there? The one over there.

khaw pen khruu ry nakrian

nakrian khrap

Is he teacher or a student? A student.

,

dii ry maj dii

dii khr ap

(Is it) good or not? (It1s) good.

,

suaj ry maj suaj

maj suaj khrap

(Is she) pretty or not? (She is) not (pretty) .

Yours or his? His.

m) Response Drill

(Pairs of students engage in an exchange of the following kind using actual names of other students).

Student 1: khaw chyy

----

(actual name)

Student 2: khraj khrap~ khon nii ry

khon nan (pointing at students)

Student 1: khon nii/nan khrap

THAI BASIC COURSE

n) Response Drill

Cue

Question

cim

chyy c ocn ry cim

khon nan ry khon noon

,

noon

khruu

A '

pen phyan ry pen }chruu

khDOD khun ry khDOD pham

phuujlD khon nan suaj ry maj suaj

A' ,

chyy nii dii ry maj dii

khun

suaj maj

0) Response Drill

Cue
chyy ,
cim khaw pen khraj
pen phyan pham ,
khaw pen khraj
chyy pen phyan ,
cim, khon nan pen khraj
pham
chyy mEEr!i, ,
pen khaw pen khraj
phanrajaa khun coon
chyy praphaat ,
khaw pen khraj
pen khruu pham ,
khaw pen khraj
chyy praphaat, /
pen khaw pen khraj
khruu pham
chyy khun , , ,
chotchooj khon nan pen khraj
,
pen khruu khon noon pen khraj
chyy coon, ,
pen khon nii pen khraj
phyan pham 46

Response

(ChYY) cim khrap khon noon knrap (pen) khruu khrap khDOD khun khrap suaj khrap

maj dii khrap

khaw chyy cim

khaw pen phyan pham khaw chyy cim, pen phyan pham

khaw chyy mEErii, pen phanrajaa khun coon khaw chyy praphaat khaw pen khruu pham khaw chyy praphaat pen khruu pham

khaw chyy chotch6oj khaw pen khruu

khaw chyy coon, pen phyan pham

THAI BASIC COURSE

p) Recognition and Familiarization Drill

'I'he instructor po l n t s at two or mor-e of the objects as he asks the question and sf?lects one of them as he give::.:; tile response.

Question

Response

'" ~

lem nan

Which book 1s ~ood? That olle.

daam nii

Which pen is good? '1'his one.

Which pencil is good? 'I'n i s one.

,

tua nan

Which chaIr Is good? That one.

pheeri ni i

Which map 18 Good? This one.

q) Response Drill (Selecting two each of the objects listed below, the instructor asks questions about ownership using the following model):

Which (one) is yours?

Student: 1em nii/nan

This one/that one.

1) kawii

2) s arnu t

3) dinsoo 4 ) pa akkaa

5) naalikaa

In the question khun may be replaced by khaw or phom / dichan.

THAI BASIC COURSE

r) Substitution Drill

Cue

samut
,
paakkaa
dinso;)
, (tua)
to
phE8nthii
ruup (baj)
,
nakrian
khruu
naalikaa
, "
naIJsyy
s) Substitution Drill
Cue paakkaa, noon

" '

ruup, nan

phE8nthti,

'" '

naIJsyy, noon

,

nan

Pattern

~ V A. '

naIJsyy lem nii dii

samut lem nil d1i

paakkaa daam nii dii dins~;) thEIJ nii dii to tua nii dii

-----

phE8nthti phg8n nii dii

" '

ruup baj nii dii

nakrian khon nii dii

,

khruu khon nii dii

naalikaa ryan nii dii

, v »; '

naIJsyy lem nii dii

Pattern
chuaj , , v " , haj phom
sOIJ na!Js;z;Z lem nan
, daj , ,
n;);)j, maj khrap
chuaj , paakkaa daam , haj phom
SOIJ noon
, daj , ,
n;);)j, maj khrap
chuaj , " baj , haj phom
sOIJ ruup nan
--
, daj , ,
n;);)j, maj khrap
chuaj , phE8nthti , , haj phom
sOIJ ph88n nan
nO;)j, daj , ,
maj khrap
chuaj , , v " , haj phom
sOIJ naIJsyy lem noon
, daj , ,
n;);)j, maj khrap 48

THAI BASIC COURSE

dinso;), , chuaj , dinso;) th8IJ , haj phom
nan sOIJ nan
, daj , ,
riooj , maj khrap
, chuaj , naalikaa ryan , haj phom
naalikaa, nan S.OIJ nan
, daj , ,
n;);)j, maj khrap 4.3 EXERCISE

a) One student points at an object and asks who it belongs to. Another student (the actual owner) says that it's his. Continue until ownership has been established for all the objects the students are familiar with.

b) Find out the names of all the students by asking questions like this. What's the name of that person? A student will respond with the real name.

c) Find out the names of all the students by asking questions

like this: Who is named ? (using the names of

students). The student with the name will respond. I am (named)

d) One student will pOint to an object and will ask another student if it's his. He will respond that it is.

e) Find out if other students think various objects in the room are good or beautiful.

f) Ask someone to pass you something. He pretends he isn't sure which one you want and asks, 'This one or that one'. You indicate which one and he passes it. You thank him.

THAI BASIC COURSE

L[.4 VOCABULARY
baj
cim
, ,
chotch;);)j
chuaj
daam
daj
haj
1
khon (khon)
kho;)IJ
khraj
lem
nOIJjaw
, (khon)
nakrian
, "'-
nan, nan
naj
nii, nti n~tchanan

classifier for 'picture', etc. Jim (name)

Chotchoi (Thai female first name) please

classifier for 'pen', etc. can, could, be able

for (the benefit of)

people, also classifier for humans of, belonging to

who, what (in some constructions) classifier for 'book'

Nongyaw (Thai female first name) student, pupil

that (determiner)

which (one(s)) (determiner) this (determiner)

Nuchanan (female first name) the one over there (determiner) to be

, "

noon, noon

pen

phanrajaa, pharijaa, wife (elegant term) phanjaa (khon)

phuuchaaj (khon) phuujlIJ (khon)

classifier for 'map, picture, paper' sheet-like

man, boy (male human of any age) woman, girl (female human of any age)

IThe unit classifier for each noun is given after the noun.

50

THAI BASIC COURSE

prasaat

raw

ruucak

,

ryy, ry, etc.

ryan

saamii (khan)

,

sal)

s~Ol) tua

Prasert (male first name)

we, our, us

to know, to be acquainted with, to be familiar with

or

classifier for 'watch, clock' husband (elegant term)

to pass, to hand (someone something) two

classifier for 'animals, objects with legs (chairs, tables, etc.)'

classifier for 'pencil', etc.

51

THAI BASIC COURSE

LESSON FIVE

5.0 BASIC DIALOG: Social Formulae

sawatdii ,
A: khrap, khun prichaa
sawatdii , samsak
B: khrap, khun
baaI) ,
pen jaI)I)aj khrap Hello, Pricha. Hello, Somsak. How are you?

ko ryaj '" ,
A: ryaj khrap
'" ,
B: 00, khun prichaa khrap
nti khun coon,
A khun mEErti,
nan
phanrajaa khun coon O.K. (so, so) Oh, Prichaa This is John. Tha tIs Mary. John's wife.

A: sawatdii khrap Johnl sawatdii khrap Mary. sawatdii kha

Hello. Hello. Hello.

(10 minutes later)

A: khoothoot, pham paj koon na khrap BI cheen khrap, phop kan maj khrap

Excuse me, I must go. All right, I'll see you again.

5. 1 NOTES ON THE DIALOG

a) The particular form used by one Thai when greeting another is dependent on the social status and age

of the two participants. Within this framework three groups can be distinguished: (1) Equals, (2) Superiors, and (3) Inferiors. Equals are persons of the same status and greater age. Inferiors are persons of lower status, or of equal status and lesser age. Within these social groups there are formal and informal types of discourse.

52

THAI BASIC COURSE

Observe the following examples:

1. GREETINGS

a) Between Equals

i) Formal

A: sawatdii khrap BI sawatdii khrap

(The exchange may continue as in 1.0)

ii) Informal (especially between intimates)

or

(sa) wat ,
AI dii khrap
B. (sa) wat dii khrap
(ja!)) baa!) ,
AI pen !)aj khrap
BI ko ryaj ryaj
B: jEE
naj ,
A. paj khrap or

or

B:

paj {thta~ thura

or

AI paj naj maa khrap

BI

paj {thta~ thura

maa khrap

53

How are you? So so. Terrible.

Where are you going?

Out for pleasure. Out for business.

Where are you coming from?

From pleasure. From business.

THAI BASIC COURSE

b) Inferior or Superior

i)

Formal

Inferiorl saw~tdji khr~p

(accompanied by a wai (waj). See 1.1)

(sometimes only wais in return.)

Superior: (sawatdii)

NOTE: The hejght of the hands when waiin~ is ill inverse ratio to the a~e and social posit jon of the participants.

or Inferior: thaan sabaaJdii ~a khr~p Superior: sabaajdii, khoopcaj

ii) There is no informal greeting from inferior to superior.

c) Superior to Inferior

i) Informal

Superior: pen (jaD) Daj baaD Inferior: sabaajdii khr~p

ii) There is no formal greeting from superior to inferior.

NOTE: A greeting, between superior and inferior may be no more than an exchange of wais with the inferior waiing first.

2 INTRODUCTIONS

a) Between Equals

A: khun somsak khr~p nti khun prichaa

soms~k: saw~tdii khr~p prichaa: saw~tdii khr~p 54

THAI BASIC COURSE

b) Between Inferiors and Superiors

(An inferior is always introduced to a superior) A: khun (name of inferior) khrap

nii than (rank, position)

khun (name)

Inferior: sawatdii khrap (accompanied by a wai)

NOTE: jindii thii daj ruucak 'glad to know (you)' is added after sawatdii in many social groups. Among equals

a woman is introduced to a man. The woman usually wais before the greeting. If one woman is introduced to another, the wai is not necessary but is considered as polite.

3. LEAVETAKING (at all levels)

A: khoothoot, phom paj koon na khrap

'Excuse me, I must go.'

B: chaan khrap, phop kan maj khrap

'All right, I'll see you again.'

4. INVITATION

chaan khrap is used as an invitation to a person.

a) to take some action which is beneficial to himself (eat food, come in, sit down, etc.)

or b) to do something the person has already indicated he wants to do (take leave, etc.).

Special Note to the Student:

a) Social status and age are very important in Thailand.

Most Thais are very conscious of the social status and age of the people they meet, and act accordingly. The American who has been assigned to work in Thailand may

55

THAI BASIC COURSE

not be aware of his social position. Depending on his age and the position he holds in the government agency

his status will vary from high to very high; consequently, he should use the forms de sLgna ted as 'between equals' for most of the Thais he meets in his work and reserve the 'inferior to superior' forms for greeting higher ranking officials. With taxi drivers and servants he might choose to use the 'superior to interior' forms. If he should meet the King of Thailand or a Buddhist priest, none of

the forms given would be correct.

b)

The following are some common titles and forms of address:

1) than It replaces khun when speaking to a superior.
than + Title (position): than thuut 'Mr. Ambassador'
2) m;So: (khun) + m;So + Name IDoctor XI (M.D)
3) , '" ' A Name IDoctor yl (Ph.D. )
doktee: doktee +

4) aacaan: aacaan + Name IMr ./Mrs. , (College teacher)

5) khruu: khruu + Name IMr./MrS. I (teacher)

5·2 GRAMMAR NOTES a)

1 There are several ways to indicate negation in Thai.

The choice of ways is determined by (1) the form class (noun, verb, etc.) of the thing to be negated and (2) the kind of negative meaning to be expressed.

1. maj 'not, the contrary, etc.1 is used to negate all types of verbs (stative, modals, motion, etc.)

, '" '

aakaat maj roon

phom maj mii naalikaa

IThe weather isn't hot.1 II donlt have a watch. I

2. maj daj Inot, not as assumed to bel is used to negate verbs of motion, action verbs, and pen and chYy. It is used often in past situations and in present situations that are contrary to expectations.

ISee Noss, 138-143 for a fuller treatment. 56

THAI BASIC COURSE

pham maj daj pit faj 'I didn't turn off the lights.'

khaw maj daj chyy samsak 'He's not named Somsak.r

3. maj chaj rnot a case of' is used most frequently to negate Noun Phrases as complements in Equational sentences (sentences without verbs).

nti maj chaj dinsoo khaw

'This isnrt his pencil'. rThis watch isn't yours.r

, " "

naalikaa ryan nii maj chaj

khooI) khun.

I~ sentences with pen as the connective verb (khaw pen nakrian, etc.) either of two types of negation may occur according to the situation.

As an initial statements

, '" A '

khaw maj daj pen nakrian

rHe isnrt a student.'

As a response to a question:

khaw pen khruu (khaw) maj 'Hers the teacher. He

" '

chaj nakrian

isn't a student. r

b)

pen jagI)aj rHow is/are ... ?' like aakaat, etc.

aakaat pen jagI)aj 'How's the weather?'

can be used with subject

(kaan) rian phaasaa thaj pen jaI)gaj 'How is studying Thai?'

5.3 GRAMMAR DRILLS

a) Response Drill

Have pairs of students practice the following exchange (with accompanying wai when appropriate):

B:

pen (jaI)) I)aj baaI) khrap

{ k~ ryaj ryaj

jEE

1. A:

57

THAI BASIC COURSE

nl:U ,
2. A: paj khrap
BI paj {thta~ khrap
thura
n~ij maa ,
3. AI paj khrap
BI paj {thta~ maa khrap
thura b. Response Drill

Have sets of 3 students participate in the following
exchanges (with wai when appropriate):
1- AI khun (name of student)
nii khun (name of student)
sawatdii ,
Student 1: khrap
21 , ,
Student sawatdii khrap
2. A: khun (name of a student)
nii khun (name of student)
Student 1: sawatdii khrap
jindii thii daj , , (khun)
ruucak
Student 2: sawatdii khrap
jindii thii daj , , (khun)
ruucak THAI BASIC COURSE

3. Have one student take the part of Foreign Minister, Thanat Khoman.

AI khun (name of student) nti khun thanat kh~~manl

Student: sawatdii khrap

c) Response Drill

Have pairs of students practice the following exchange:

A: kh~~thoot, phom paj k~~n nakhrap B: cheen khrap, phop kan maj khrap

d) Substitution Transformation Drill

Cue Pattern 1 Pattern 2
, , chyy , maj daj chyy ,
praseet khaw prichaa khaw praseet
, chyy , maj daj chyy
c~~n khaw cim khaw c~~n
praphaat , chyy , , maj daj chyy praphaat
khaw wichaj khaw
, chyy , maj daj chyy
kaandaa khaw waanii khaw kaandaa 1 ~ A '

nf L than ra tthamontrii kr-as uarj

taaI) pratheet

'Mr. Foreign Minister'"

or nti than ratthamontrii kr-asuar; taaI) pratheet, khun thanat kh~~man

'Mr. Foreign Minister, Mr. Thanat Khoman' might be used.

59

FSI - Thai Basic Course - Volume 1 - Student Text

Transféré par

Informations du document

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

FSI - Thai Basic Course - Volume 1 - Student Text

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

THAI

BASIC COURSE Volume 1

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi

FSI - Thai Basic Course - Volume 1 - Student Text

Transféré par

Informations du document

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

FSI - Thai Basic Course - Volume 1 - Student Text

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

﻿THAI

BASIC COURSE Volume 1

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi

THAI