อย่าว่าแต่ . . เลย [yàa wâa tàe . . loei] means “not just” or “not only”. Usually, it is used in a sentence consisting of two clauses where the other clause often begins with “ขนาด” [kanàat] or “แค่” [kâe]. The sentence, thus, generally expresses the idea of “Not only…, even… ” For example, อย่าว่าแต่คุณเลย ขนาดผมก็ยังอยากไป [yàa wâa tàe khun loei, kanàat phŏm kâw yang yàak pai] Not only you, even I want to go. Sometimes, it could also be translated as “let alone” but it is different from the expression “let alone” in that it is usually used to begin a sentence e.g. อย่าว่าแต่เมืองนอกเลย แค่ต่างจังหวัดก็ไม่กล้าไปคนเดียวแล้ว [yàa wâa tàe meuang nâwk loei, kâe tàang jang wát gâw mâi glâa pai kon diaw léaw] I don’t have the courage to travel by myself outside of Bangkok, let alone outside of Thailand. อย่าว่าแต่จดหมายเลย แค่อีเมลยังไม่เคยเขียนมาหาสักฉบับ [yàa wâa tàe jòtmăai loei, kâe Email yang mâi koei kiăn maa hăa sák chabàb] She has never written me a single email, let alone a letter.

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