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”. ไม่ใช่ว่าเขาเป็นคนไม่ดี แต่แค่เรายังเชื่อใจเขาไม่ได้ [mâi châi wâa káo pen kon mâi dee, tàe kâe rao yang chêua jai káo mâi dâi] “It’s not that he’s a bad guy, it’s just that we can’t trust him yet.” Moreover, It also gets used in sentences like this, “ไม่ใช่ว่าไม่ชอบก็จะไม่ทำ มันเป็นหน้าที่ ชอบไม่ชอบก็ต้องทำ” [mâi châi wâa mâi chôrb kôr jà mâi tam, man pen nâa tîi chôrb mâi chôrb kôr tông tam] “You can’t just not do it because you don’t like to do it. It is your duty, you have to do it whether you like it or not”.

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