Kat Teaches Thai

On the last episode, I taught you how to say color words, or see (rhymes with we).  There are more color names but those are the basic ones and we will learn the harder ones in the future.  Today, we will be learning how to put the word see in the sentences.

Here’s a little introduction on Thai grammar.  In English, the word order in a sentence usually goes from subject, verb, adjective, to object.  For example, Emma eats blue popsicle.  The subject is Emma; eats is verb; blue is adjective; and popsicle is object.  In Thai, the word order in a sentence usually goes from subject, verb, object, to adjective.  The word orders are similar, but we swap between adjective and object.  So in Thai, we would say Emma-kin-popsicle-see-fah or Emma eats popsicle blue.  Direct translation between languages usually sounds funny, so it’s important to know the basic grammar of the language you are trying to learn.  As a reminder, the word order goes from subject, verb, object, to adjective. Notice how I will use the word see in front of every color word.

Here is the first sentence.

Robert-mee-rode-see-dang

Mee (Sounds like me) =  has or have = VERB

So a direct translation would be Robert has car red, which is an equivalent of Robert has red car.

You can practice changing the name of the subject and the color word to form new sentences.

For example:

Linda-mee-rode-see-chome-poo or Linda has pink car

Here is the second sentence example on how to use the color word

Jack-arn-nung-sue-see-keow

Arn (Rhymes with barn) =  read = VERB

So a direct translation would be Jack reads book green, which is an equivalent of Jack reads green book.

Again, we can swap out the subject and the color word to form new sentences.

Linda-arn-nung-sue-see-chome-poo or Linda reads pink book.

We will learn how to replace more vocabulary into our sentence structure on the future episodes.

On the last episode I taught you how to say, "Koon-cheu-a-rai", which means, "What is your name?"  To reply to the question, male speaker would say: Pome-cheu....(name).  Female speaker would say: Chun-cheu.....(name). I also taught you how to swap out different pronouns in the question and the response.  I hope you have been practicing them all!

On this episode, I teach you how to say See (with a higher tone), which means color.  You are learning 14 different color words.  When you want to say a color name, you always say the word SEE in front of the color name.

See Chome Poo (Chome rhymes with home, poo rhymes with boo) = pink color

See Dang (Dang rhymes with bang) = red color

See Dum (Dum rhymes with gum) = black color

See Fah (Fah uses the a sound in car) = light blue color

See Keow (Keow rhymes with meow) = green color

See Kow (Kow pronounces like Carl but without L sound) = white color

See Leurng (Leurng uses the er sound in learn, ng sound in sing) = yellow color

See Muong (Say “moo” and “wong” together really fast) = purple color

See Ngern (Ngern uses the ng sound in sing, the word rhymes with learn) = silver color

See Num Tharn (Num like number, th sound in thumb, a sound in car) = brown color

See Num Ngern (Num like number, ng sound in sing, the word rhymes with learn) = dark blue color

See Some (Some rhymes with home) = orange color

See Tao = gray color

See Tong = gold color

We will learn how to incorporate these color words into sentences on another episode.

My friend Nate and his family came by the restaurant one day and gave me the idea to teach color words.  Unfortunately we are not doing that today and I promise you I will do that on the next episode instead. 

In this episode, I teach you how to respond to the questions, "ma-jarg-nai" and "ma-narn-reur-young." 

On the last episode, I taught you how to say kob-koon, which means thank you.  I also taught you how to say pobe-gun-mai, which means to meet again.  Remember not to get the two words of mai and mai confused.  One has a lower tone and means new.  The other one has a higher tone and you add it at the end of the sentences to form questions.

As a recap from last episode, I taught you how to say sa-wad-dee, which means hello and good bye.  I also taught you how to say sa-bye-dee-mai, which means how are you? 

I became interested in teaching Thai when I made friends with Miss Antoinette who happens to be a regular customer at the restaurant that I work in.  One day, Miss Antoinette told me she wanted to learn Thai.  I then started to teach Thai words and phrases to my customers.