Everyone who has learned Thai probably knows that “ไป” [pai] means “to go” and “มา” [maa] means “to come.” But have you ever heard a Thai person say “ไป…มา [pai…maa]” and wondered what it means?

Thai people commonly use the structure “ไป…มา [pai…maa]” when they want to say that they went somewhere or did something somewhere in the past.…

Most Thai learners probably know what “จะ” [jà] means. It means “will.” At least, most of the time it does get translated as “will,” a modal verb expressing future tense. But what you may not know is that, in spoken Thai, we also use “จะ” [jà] to say “almost,” or to express that something is going to happen in the near future or about to happen, instead of the words “เกือบ [geùab]” or “ใกล้ [glâi].” When “จะ” [jà] is used in this sense, it’s always used with the word “แล้ว” [léaw] meaning “already.”

Take a look at these example sentences below.…

The word “ต้อง” [tâwng] in Thai is equivalent of the verb “must” in English. And like “must,” apart from expressing obligation, strong recommendation or necessity, “ต้อง” [tâwng] can also be used to make a deduction or a conclusion about something that is very likely to be true. But for the latter use, we don’t just say the word “ต้อง” [tâwng] by itself, we use the structure “ต้อง…แน่(เลย) [tâwng…nâe (loei)].”

The word “แน่” [nâe] means “certain.” Sometimes we say it twice as “แน่ๆ” [nâe nâe] to intensify the meaning or to express that we are very sure of something.…

“~ให้ได้” [hâi dâai] is one of the commonly used idioms in spoken Thai. It functions as an adverb modifying a verb. Thus, it generally follows a verb and often appears at the end of a sentence.

Although this idiom doesn’t have an equivalent in English and translations of this word may vary, its overall meaning is “absolutely,” “no matter what,” “at any cost,” or “without fail.”

It’s mostly used to express one’s determination.…

The expression “…ไปอย่างนั้น(แหละ)” [pai yàang nán (làe)]” is a commonly used colloquial idiom. It’s used to imply that the action was not done for any purpose. The nearest meaning in English may be “for the sake of it” or “for no particular reason” but it can be translated in many ways depending on the context.…

Did you know that in Thai we also have a word that has a similar usage to that of the filler word “like” in English? That’s the word “แบบ” [bàep]. The formal meaning of “แบบ” [bàep] is model, style, way, form or pattern. But it’s also used in the same way as the word “like” in English when used as a filler word, that is, it does not carry any meaning but it’s simply used to mark a pause or hesitation in speech.…

When you are obsessed with something you have just obtained or something new in your life, in Thai we use the verb เห่อ “hèr” to describe the obsession. It can be used with either an object, an animal or a person, as long as they are new. Let’s take a look at the examples below.…

“ก็ต่อเมื่อ [gâw tàw mêua]” is a conjunction quite commonly used by the Thais to express that something will not happen unless something else happens or something else is true. It can be translated as “only if,” “on the condition that,” “unless” or “when,” depending on how you structure the sentence. It’s often used together with the word “เท่านั้น” [tâo nán], which is placed at the end of the sentence to emphasize the meaning.…

“สุดท้าย” [sùd táai] as an adjective means “the last,” for example, “คนสุดท้าย” [kon sùd táai] the last person, “วันสุดท้าย” [wan sùd táai] the last day, or “ครั้งสุดท้าย” [kráng sùd táai] the last time. But it can also function as a conjunction connecting words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence. In that case, the meaning of the word can be translated as “in the end” or “to end up doing something” depending on the context.…

เกรงใจ [greeng jai] is one of the Thai words that are difficult to translate into English. When someone feels “เกรงใจ [greeng jai],” they feel shy or uncomfortable to ask for/get help or things from others, especially because they don’t want to cause others trouble or difficulty, or feel afraid to do something that might make someone feel bad, disrespected or offended.…

When someone did something bad and later something bad happens to them, and you’re satisfied they got what they deserved, this is the phrase you can say to that person -> “สมน้ำหน้า [sǒm nám nâa].” It’s equivalent of the English expression “It serves you right!” A lot of times, we shorten the phrase to only “สม” [sǒm].…

There are two main situations where you can use the expression “verb + ได้แล้ว [dâi léaw],” as follows.

1. When you want to express that you or someone can now do something or that something is ready.

กินได้แล้ว [gin dâi léaw]
You can eat now. (the food is ready)

นั่งได้แล้ว [nâng dâi léaw]
You can sit now.…