To say “I can’t wait to do something.”, in Thai, we use the expression “แทบจะรอ..ไม่ไหว” [tâb jà ror .. mâi wăi] and you might also add “แล้ว” (léaw) or “อยู่แล้ว” (yùu léaw) at the end to emphasize the impatience e.g. I can’t wait to see you ผมแทบจะรอพบคุณไม่ไหวอยู่แล้ว [phŏm tâb jà ror phóp khun mâi wăi yùu léaw] but if you want to say something like “I can’t wait until tomorrow” or some other time-related nouns like Sunday or next week, then you would need to say “แทบจะรอให้ถึง..ไม่ไหว”…
Continue reading “I can’t wait!”Free & Fun Lessons
When you want to explain that something is not like how somebody thinks or correct somebody’s misunderstanding, in English you would say “it’s not that….” In Thai, to express the same idea, we use the expression “ไม่ใช่ว่า” [mâi châi wâa] e.g. ไม่ใช่ว่าฉันไม่อยากทำ ฉันแค่ยังไม่พร้อม [mâi châi wâa chán mâi yàak tam, chán kâe yang mâi próm] “It’s not that I don’t want to do it, I’m just not ready for it yet”.…
Continue reading “It’s not that..”When you want to say that’s why something is the way it is or that’s why something happened, in Thai you use the expression “ถึงได้” [teŭng dâi]. For example, “รู้อยู่แล้วว่าเธอต้องเสียใจเราถึงได้ไม่อยากบอก” [rúu yùu léaw wâa ter tông siă jai, rao teŭng dâi mâi yàak bòrk.] “I knew you would get sad, that’s why I didn’t want to tell you”.…
Continue reading “That’s Why!”For “to depend on something (n.) or someone (pron.)”, we say “ขึ้นอยู่กับ” [keûn yùu kàp] in Thai. For example, “ทุกอย่างขึ้นอยู่กับการตัดสินใจของเธอ” [túk yàang keûn yùu kàp kaan tàt sĭn jai kŏng ter] Everything depends on your decision. When it’s not just a noun or a pronoun, we use “ขึ้นอยู่กับว่า” [keûn yùu kàp wâa] e.g.…
Continue reading “It Depends.”When you want to express that you don’t care about something, you can say “ฉันไม่สน” [chán mâi sŏn] or “ฉันไม่แคร์” [chán mâi kae] which means “I don’t care”. You can also say “ช่างมัน” [chàng man] or “ช่างหัวมัน” [chàng hŭa man] which mean “whatever”, “let it be”. Literal meaning: ignore it, leave it.…
Continue reading “Who Cares?”One word that might still sound unfamiliar even to advanced learners is the word “กะ” [gà], which is an informal counterpart of the verb “ตั้งใจ” [tâng jai]. Thai learners are often taught to use “ตั้งใจ” [tâng jai] for “To plan/to intend to do something”, but in an informal spoken language, most of the time, we use “กะ” [gà].…
Continue reading กะ(ว่า)(จะ)… “gà (wâa)(jà)…”In colloquial Thai language, we use the expression “อย่าง .. หรือ .. อะไรแบบนี้” [yàang .. rěu .. arai bàep níi] when we want to list examples of things that belong to the same unofficial category.
“อย่าง” [yàang] in this context means “like” as a preposition or “for example” and “อะไรแบบนี้” [arai bàep níi] translates to “something like that.”…
Continue reading อย่าง .. หรือ .. อะไรแบบนี้ “yàang .. rěu .. arai bàep níi”“ไหนๆก็ [năi năi gâw] A, B” means since it is A, it would be better to do B. You can sometimes translate it as “might as well”. For example, “ไหนๆเขาก็ขอโทษแล้ว ก็ให้อภัยเขาเถอะ” [năi năi káo gâw kăw tôde léaw, gâw hâi apai káo tèr] “Since he has already apologized, you might as well forgive him”.…
Continue reading ไหนๆก็ “năi năi gâw”The sense of the expression “ไม่ถึงกับ” [mâi teǔng gàp] or “ไม่ถึงขนาด” [mâi teǔng kanàat] is similar to “not to the point where..” but in some cases, it could be best translated as “not exactly”, implying that something is not quite some way but close to being so. For examples: “เขาหน้าตาดีนะ แต่ไม่ถึงกับสวย” [káo nâataa dii ná tàe mâi teǔng gàp suăi] “She’s pretty good-looking but not exactly beautiful”.…
Continue reading ไม่ถึงกับ “mâi teǔng gàp”“ไม่เอา” is usually used when you want to refuse an offer or to say that you do not want something. However, if you add the particle “น่า”, of which the tone generally changes from falling [nâa] to low [nàa] when spoken, at the end of the phrase, it means something along the lines of “Come on!…
Continue reading ไม่เอาน่า “mâi ao nâa”The expression “ก็ว่าไปอย่าง” [kôr wâa pai yàng] is used to express that the consequence would be different, usually better or more understanding, if the situation was different from how it is in reality. The literal meaning is “then I would say differently”. For examples, แกไปชอบเขาทำไม ถ้านิสัยดีก็ว่าไปอย่าง แต่นี่… [gae pai chôrb káo tummai.…
Continue reading ก็ว่าไปอย่าง “kôr wâa pai yàng”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.…
Continue reading อย่าว่าแต่ . . เลย “yàa wâa tàe . . loei”“เอาอีกแล้ว” [ao ìik léaw] could translate as “There he goes again!” (you can replace “he” with any other pronouns but “I” and “we”). This expression is generally exclaimed when somebody just repeated the same action that he had done before and it is not a good thing or he had better not do it for some reason.…
Continue reading เอาอีกแล้ว “ao ìik léaw”“เลยตามเลย” [loei taam loei] is used as an idiom meaning to “leave it like that.” or to “let it keep going.” It is generally used when someone makes a mistake or does something that makes some situation become difficult to fix so he has to just leave or accept the situation as it is without trying to change it.…
Continue reading เลยตามเลย “loei taam loei”“ไหน” [năi] comes from “ที่ไหน” [tîi năi], which means “where”. However, in colloquial language, it is used in many more contexts than just asking about location. For example: “ไหน บอกมาซิ” [năi bàwk maa sí] Tell me! tell me! “ไหน ขอดูหน่อยซิ” [năi kŏr duu nòi sí] Let me see! let me see!…
Continue reading ไหนบอกว่า “năi bàwk wâa..”