B Level 2.1: This, That and Those in Thai

Study Focus: นี่, นั่น, โน่น

• Thai has a set of three demonstrative pronouns and a matching set of adjectives that are based upon the relative distance from the speaker of the object one is referring to.

• The pronouns are:

  • นี่ (nîi) ➤ "this"

  • นั่น (nân) ➤ "that"

  • โน่น (noon) ➤ "that over yonder"

• They all use the falling tone.

• The adjectives that correspond to these three differ only in their tone, which is high.

• Examples:

  • นี่อะไร (nîi à-rai) ➤ "What's this?"

  • อันนี้คืออะไร (an níi khuue à-rai) ➤ "What is this thing?"

  • นั่นใคร (nân khrai) ➤ "Who's that?"

  • คนนั้นเป็นใคร (khon nán bpen khrai) ➤ "Who is that person?"

  • โน่นเป็นโรงเรียนของผม (nôon bpen roong-riian khǎawng phǒm)

    ➤ "That, over there, is my school."

  • โรงเรียนของผมคือตึกโน้น (roong-riian khǎawng phǒm khuue dtùek nóon)

    ➤ "My school is that building over there.

• As you can see, the adjective forms of "this," "that," and "that, over there" always directly follow a classifier for some type of noun.

• The pronoun forms can also combine with "at" to form the words "here" ที่นี่ (thîi-nîi), "there" ที่นั่น (thîi-nân), and "over there" ที่โน่น (thîi-nôon).

Vocabulary & Phrases

• กระเป๋าใบนี้ (grà-bpǎo bai níi)

  • In Thai, nouns need to have classifiers not only when counting how many of something there are, but also when using the adjectives "this" and "that."

  • The word for "bag" is กระเป๋า (grà-bpǎo) and the classifier for bags is ใบ (bai).

  • The adjective is directly connected to the classifier. The same pattern works for other adjectives.

  • So to say "the small bag" you'd say กระเป๋าใบเล็ก (grà-bpǎo bai lék).

• ผมถือเองได้ (phǒm thǔue eeng dâai)

  • The helping verb, ได้ (dâai), can come after any verb or at the end of a statement to say that something is possible or that it can be done.

  • ถือ (thǔue) is the verb "to carry," and เอง (eeng) means "oneself" or in this case "by oneself."

  • So the meaning of the whole phrase is "I can carry it by myself."

• ...อยู่ทางโน้น (...yùu thaang noon)

  • This phrase means "It's way over there" or "It's over that way."

  • อยู่ (yùu) is the verb "to be located"

  • ทาง (thaang) means "way" or "path"

  • โน้น (noon) means "over there"

  • โน้น (noon) is the second form of "that." It indicates a greater distance from the speaker than the word นั้น (nán).

Calling Other People's Parents Mother and Father?

• The word คุณ (khun) can be used as a polite pronoun meaning "you."

• It is also used before a name to mean "Mr." or "Ms."

• Additionally it is used before relationship titles to show added respect.

• The most common ones are khun phâaw and khun mâae, "father" and "mother."

• This pattern is used not only when speaking to your own parents, but also when speaking about or speaking to anyone else's parents as well.