AB Level 1.18: Animals in Thailand

Let’s Go See Animals in Thailand!

Focus: ต้อง

• We can state that some action "needs to" or "must" happen by using the word ต้อง (dtâwng). It comes directly in front of the verb that it modifies in the sentence.

  • ดิฉันต้องทำการบ้าน (dì-chǎn dtâwng tham gaan-bâan.)

  ➤ "I need to do my homework."

  • คุณต้องล้างมือก่อนทานข้าว (khun dtâwng láang muue gàawn thaan khâao)

  ➤ "You must wash your hands before you eat."

• To say that some action is "not necessary," all we need to do is put the negative particle ไม่ (mâi) in front of ต้อง (dtâwng).

• This makes the phrase ไม่ต้อง (mâi dtâwng), which means "not need to" or "is not necessary." Make sure you don't confuse it with "must not."

  • ดิฉันไม่ต้องทำการบ้าน (dì-chǎn mâi dtâwng tham gaan-bâan.)

  ➤ "I don't need to do my homework."

  • รู้แล้ว ไม่ต้องพูด (rúu láaeo. mâi dtâwng phûut.)

  ➤ "I know already. You don't have to say it."

Focus: Animal Vocabulary

• The Thai word for "animal" is สัตว์ (sàt), which comes from the Sanskrit word sattva, meaning "being." The general classifier for animals is ตัว (dtuua), which means "body."

  • When you want to talk about the number of some type of animal, the general pattern is:
  • Type of animal + number + ตัว (dtuua)

• In English, we generally don't use classifiers with animals. Instead, we just use the name of the type of animal.

  • But there are some cases where we use classifiers in English, such as for cattle. Compare the Thai and English in this example.

  • คุณแดงมีวัวหกสิบตัว (khun daaeng mii wuua hòk-sìp dtuua.)

    ➤ "Daeng has sixty head of cattle."

• We also need the classifier ตัว (dtuua) when using the adjectives "this" and "that" with animals.

  • แมวตัวนั้นน่ารักมาก (maaeo dtuua nán nâa-rák mâak.)

  ➤ "That cat is very cute."

  • หมาตัวนี้ชื่ออะไรครับ (mǎa dtuua níi chûue à-rai khráp.)

  ➤ "What is this dog's name?"

• Elephants are one type of animal that is very special in Thai culture. We can use the general classifier ตัว (dtuua) for elephants in the wild.

  • However, we should count trained elephants with the classifier เชือก (chûueak) instead.

  • ช้างเชือกนี้เป็นช้างที่ใหญ่ที่สุดในเมือง

    • (cháang chûueak níi bpen cháang thîi yài thîi-sùt nai muueang.)

    ➤ "This elephant is the largest elephant is the city."

• When talking about animals in Thai, it is of course very helpful to know the Thai words for the names of the animals.

Vocabulary & Phrases

• <<ไม่ทราบว่า… (mâi sâap wâa…)<<

  • This is a very polite way to begin a question. ทราบ (sâap) is a polite form of the verb "to know."

  • The phrase would literally translate as "I don't know that…"

  • This will be followed by a complete question though, so it is really just flowery language that isn't essential to the meaning.

  • Therefore, we usually would just omit it when translating a sentence into English, as in this example:

  • ไม่ทราบว่าคุณชื่ออะไรคะ (mâi sâap wâa khun chûue à-rai khá.)

    ➤ "What is your name?" or “I don’t know what is your name yet.“

• <<เกินไป (gooen bpai)<<

  • When ไป (bpai) follows an adjective, it means "too much."

  • เกิน (gooen) ➤ "to exceed" or "beyond."

  • When both words follow an adjective, they strengthen the degree of "too much."

  • So we might translate เกินไป (gooen bpai) as "excessively," "exceedingly," or something similar.

  • Example:

  • วันนี้ร้อนเกินไป (wan-níi ráawn gooen bpai.)

    ➤ "It's too incredibly hot today!"

• <<บ้าง (bâang)<<

  • This word can mean "some" or "any."

  • It will usually follow directly after a question word such as ที่ไหน (thîi-nǎi), meaning "Where?" or อะไร (à-rai), meaning "What?"

  • When บ้าง (bâang) is part of a question, the answer should usually contain a list of items.

  • In this type of question, we can often translate บ้าง (bâang) as "all," as in this example:

  • เวลาว่างคุณชอบทำอะไรบ้าง (wee-laa wâang khun châawp tham à-rai bâang.)

    ➤ "What all do you like to do in your free time?"

• <<จริงๆแล้ว… (jing-jing láaeo…)<<

  • This phrase means "to tell you the truth…," "actually…," or "as a matter of fact…"

  • จริงๆ (jing-jing) ➤ "really" or "truly."

  • The word แล้ว (láaeo), which means "already," adds a sense of finality that the speaker has now already arrived at the real truth.

  • จริงๆแล้วเขาถ่ายรูปไม่เก่งเลย (jing-jing láaeo khǎo thàai rûup mâi gèeng looei.)

    ➤ "Honestly, he's not very good at taking pictures at all."

• <<เช่น (chên)<<

  • We use this word to mean "for example" or "such as."

  • It will come right before an object or a list of objects that the speaker is giving as examples.

  • ดิฉันชอบอาหารเผ็ด เช่นส้มตำ

    • (dì-chǎn châawp aa-hǎan phèt, chên sôm-dtam.)

    ➤ "I like spicy foods, such as spicy papaya salad.

  • เขาอยากไปเที่ยวที่ประเทศในยุโรป เช่นสเปน ฝรั่งเศส หรือ อิตาลี

    • (khǎo yàak bpai thîiao thîi bprà-thêet nai yú-ròop, chên sà-bpeen fà-ràng-sèet rǔue ìt-dtaa-lîi.)

    ➤ "He wants to travel to a country in Europe: for example, Spain, France, or Italy."

• <<เมื่อกี้ (mûuea-gîi)<<

  • This is a phrase that means "a moment ago."

  • Like most time words, we would usually use it at the beginning of a sentence.

  • But it can appear elsewhere when we use it to modify the object of a preposition, as in the first example below.

  • ผมลืมชื่อของเพื่อนคุณที่เราพบเมื่อกี้

    • (phǒm luuem chûue khǎawng phûuean khun thîi rao phóp mûuea-gîi.)

    ➤ "I forgot the name of your friend that we met just a minute ago."

  • เมื่อกี้คุณพูดว่าอะไร

    • (mûuea-gîi khun phûut wâa à-rai.)

    ➤ "What did you just say?"

• <<ประมาณ (bprà-maan)<<

  • This is a word that means "approximately," "about," or "around."

  • It will come right before an amount or a time.

  • ดิฉันจะกลับบ้านประมาณหกโมงเย็น (dì-chǎn jà glàp bâan bpra-maan hòk moong-yen.)

    ➤ "I'm going to return home around six in the evening."

  • คุนแม่ซื้อมะม่วงประมาณยี่สิบลูก (khun-mâae súue ma-mûuang bprà-maan yîi-sìp lûuk.)

    ➤ "Mother bought about twenty mangos."

• <<ชนิดอื่น (chá-nít ùuen)<<

  • This phrase means "another type."

  • ชนิด ➤ "type," "kind," "style," "sort," or "species."

  • อื่น ➤ "other," "another," or "different."

  • The example from the conversation was:

  • มีสัตว์ชนิดอื่นด้วย (mii sàt chá-nít ùuen dûuai.)

    ➤ "There are other types of animals as well."

How to See All of Thailand in a Day

• The Ancient City, or เมืองโบราณ (muueang booraan), is a large outdoor museum not too far from Bangkok, in Samut Prakan province.
• It was laid out in the shape of Thailand and takes up two hundred acres.
• On the grounds of the Ancient City are replicas of famous monuments and historical buildings from Thailand placed to correspond with their actual geographical locations.
• There are 116 historical replicas in all. Some of them are scaled-down models, while others were built to actual size.
• The structures include such things as the former Grand Palace of Ayutthaya, the temple buildings of Sukhothai and Chiang Mai, a northern village, and the Khmer stone temples of Phimai and Phanom Rung.
• You can rent a golf cart or bicycle and do a quick tour of the whole country in just a couple hours.

Will You Find Tigers in That Thai Temple?

• The Tiger Temple, also known as Wat Pa Luangta Maha Bua, is a Buddhist temple and animal sanctuary located near Myanmar in the province of Kanc~~dtu~~hanaburi.
  • It started taking care of tigers in 1999 when a cub was discovered by villagers.
  • More tigers were brought to the temple, mostly cubs whose parents were killed by poachers.
  • Since then, the temple has bred more tigers, and now has around fifty of them.
• Every day between noon and 4 P.M., visitors are allowed to have their pictures taken with the tigers at a small quarry.
  • During this time, the tigers are secured on short chains for safety, and staff and volunteers lead visitors into the area to take photos with the tigers.
  • The abbot of the temple also joins the tigers during this time.
  • The temple charges an entry fee of 600 baht, which helps cover the costs of feeding and caring for the tigers.
  • The temple has also constructed a large natural enclosure for the upcoming generation of tiger cubs to grow up in, allowing them to develop their hunting and survival instincts before being released into the wild.
• The tigers are known to be calm around visitors because they were raised by the monks since they were cubs.
  • They are accustomed to human presence and are mostly lying around during the afternoon visiting hours due to their natural nocturnal behavior.
  • The temple claims that there have been no tiger attacks since its opening.
• In addition to tigers, a number of other animal species live on the temple's large, wooded grounds. These include deer, water buffalo, wild boar, camels, and peacocks.
• The tigers were moved in 2016.