AB Level 1.11: Trying Thai Food

Eating in Thailand

Focus: Asking Someone they like.

• The simplest way to ask "Do you like it?" in Thai is to say just two words: ชอบไหม (châawp mǎi).

  • You could use this phrase in an informal setting if the object you are asking about was already understood from the context.
  • To form a more complete sentence, you can ask คุณชอบ…ไหม (khun châawp…mǎi), which means "Do you like …?"

• The object you are asking about will come right after ชอบ (châawp). The word order is:

  • Subject + verb + object + (yes/no question indicator).

• We can also give the answer in several ways.

  • The simplest "yes" answer would be to just repeat the verb, ชอบ (châawp).
  • To avoid sounding rude, a male can say ชอบครับ (châawp khráp), and a female can say ชอบค่ะ (châawp khâ).
  • And if you want, you can include the subject, as in ผมชอบ (phǒm châawp), meaning "I like." You can also add other words to modify the answer.

• Of course, if you don't like the object, you will have to answer in the negative, which is ไม่ชอบ (mâi châawp), which means "don't like it," or the stronger sounding ไม่ชอบเลย (mâi châawp looei), which means "don't like it at all."

  • คุณชอบเมีองไทยไหมครับ (khun châawp muueang-thai mǎi khráp)

  ➤ "Do you like Thailand?"

  • ชอบมากครับ (châawp mâak khráp)

  ➤ "Yes, I like it a lot."

  • คุณสตีฟชอบนั่งเครื่องบินไหมคะ (khun sà-dtíip châawp nâng khrûueang bin mǎi khá)

  ➤ "Do you like to ride [sitting] in airplanes, Steve?"

  • ผมไม่ชอบเลย (phǒm mâi châawp looei)

  ➤ "I don't like to at all."

• We usually use the particle สิ (sì) when giving a command or making a suggestion.

  • It adds emphasis to the suggestion.
  • We place it at the end of the sentence right before ครับ (khráp) or ค่ะ (khâ).

• Usually, we omit the subject "you" from a command, leaving the word order as

  • Verb + object + สิครับ (sì khráp) / สิค่ะ (sì khâ).
  • ดูนี่สิครับ (duu nîi sì khráp) ➤ "Look at this!"
  • ฟังคุณครูสิคะ (fang khun khruu sì khá) ➤ "Listen to the teacher!"

Vocabulary & Phrases

• <<เยี่ยมมาก (yîiam mâak)<<

  • We could translate the word เยี่ยม (yîiam) as "great," "excellent," "superb," or any number of other similar English expressions.
  • มาก (mâak) is an intensifying adjective that means "very" or "many."
  • So, put together, เยี่ยมมาก (yîiam mâak) could mean "Very great!" "Really excellent!" or "Super awesome!"
  • In the conversation, the manager was speaking to his employees after a long day of work, so we roughly translated it as "Great job!" which is what the boss intended.
  • You could use this expression in countless situations and any time you want to say something is really great.

• <<เชิญนั่ง (chooen nâng)<<

  • This phrase means "Please sit."
  • นั่ง (nâng) is the verb "to sit."
  • เชิญ (chooen) is a word we use to invite someone to do something.
  • We could translate it as "please," "go ahead," "help yourself," or "be my guest."

• <<คุณเป็นคนตลก (khun bpen khon dtà-lòk)<<

  • This is a complete sentence that translates literally as "You are a funny person."
  • The word order here is: Subject + verb + object + adjective.
  • Remember that in Thai, the order of nouns and adjectives is reversed from English, so we need to say "person funny," which is คนตลก (khon dtà-lòk).
  • "You're funny!" might be a more natural English translation.

• <<มาจาก (maa jàak)<<

  • มา (maa) ➤ "to come,"
  • จาก (jàak)  ➤ "from" or "to leave."
  • Together, มาจาก (maa jàak) is "to come from."
  • We can use it when talking about someone's country or hometown, as in มิโฮมาจากญี่ปุ่น (mí-hoo maa jàak yîi-bpùn), which means "Miho is from Japan."

• <<เมืองไทย (muueang-thai)<<

  • This is the most common way for Thai people to refer to "Thailand" in everyday speech.
  • เมือง (muueang) is a very old word that originally meant the area of one valley.
  • Historically, the Thai people occupied the river valleys when they started their first kingdoms.
  • Today, เมือง (muueang) usually means "city" in most contexts, but เมืองไทย (muueang-thai) is the one unique example where it refers to the entire country.

• <<ทุกท่าน (thúk-thâan)<<

  • This is a polite way to say "everyone."
  • ทุก (thúk)  ➤ "every,"
  • ท่าน (thâan) is a very polite pronoun that can mean "you," "he," "she," or "they."

• <<ไชโย (chai-yoo)<<

  • This is a common phrase when giving a toast or clinking glasses together, much like "Cheers!" in English.
  • โชคดี (chôok-dii), meaning "Good luck!" is another phrase we often use in the same situation.

• <<ทานกันเลย (thaan gan looei)<<

  • This phrase means "Let's eat!"
  • ทาน (thaan) is a polite form of the verb "to eat,"
  • กัน (gan) ➤ "together."
  • In this sentence, the speaker uses เลย (looei) to suggest that they should start the action immediately.

• <<ลองนี่สิ (laawng nîi sì)<<

  • This phrase means "Try this!"
  • ลอง (laawng) ➤ "to try,"
  • นี่ (nîi)  ➤ "this."
  • สิ (sì) is a particle we use in commands to add emphasis.

Learn Some Thai Table Etiquette

• People eat most food in Thailand with a spoon and fork.
  • You hold the spoon in your right hand, and you hold the fork in your left.
  • You just use the fork to push food onto the spoon, which you bring up to your mouth.
  • Thais never eat directly with a fork unless perhaps they are at a restaurant that serves European cuisine.
  • When eating soup, they use a special soup spoon. It is a Chinese-style soup spoon that is shorter and deeper than a regular spoon.
• Unlike in China and Japan, Thai only use chopsticks for eating noodles, and specifically noodles that are served in a soup.
  • Thai usually eat fried noodles with a spoon and fork just like rice.
  • When eating in a group, there are often designated serving spoons you can use to put food onto your own plate.
  • However, when eating very casually with friends and family, there is often no serving spoon, and each person just uses his or her own spoon to directly take food from the dishes in the middle of the table.
• Also, in many casual meals, it is common to eat with bare hands, especially in the northeastern and northern parts of the country, where people often eat sticky rice instead of regular, steamed white rice..

Thailand's National Pastime: It's Probably Not Baseball!

• Eating out is almost a national pastime in Thailand.
• Most small, one-room apartments don't have cooking facilities, so it is very common for students and young professionals to eat out for just about every meal.
• Eating in a group is a fun activity and is not weighted down by as much formality as in some other cultures.
• If a group of five or six people were having dinner together, they might typically order two curry dishes, a vegetable dish, a spicy salad, a soup, and a whole fish plus rice.
  • Each person takes some food from the dishes in the center of the table to put on his or her own plate.
  • Usually, each person would start with a whole serving of rice on his or her plate and a small bowl of the soup.
  • For the other items, they would just take a little at a time, no more than about two mouthfuls.
  • It would seem really greedy to scoop onto your own plate how much curry you think you'll eat for the whole meal all at once.
• The meal isn't divided into specific courses.
  • The dishes are usually brought out from the kitchen in no particular order as soon as they are ready.
• When it comes time to pay the bill, usually the person with the highest social status will pay for the entire group.
• However, if it is just a group of friends of all about the same age dining, they will usually all chip in to pay for the meal, but they usually do so rather informally without breaking out a calculator.