| Posted in: thailand in kentcmb's Blog |
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Useful Thai Phrase: Learning how to express Can and Cannot in Thai
Dai means can and Mai dai means cannot.
To express that you can do something in Thai, you can use the word "Dai" which means, can. If you would like to express that you can't do something, simply negate the verb dai with "Mai".
Dai krap/ka. Yes, I can.
Mai dai krap/ka. No, I can't
In Thailand, you would use the polite particle krap at the end of your sentence if you're male and ka if you're female. The purpose of using krap or ka is to make the sentence polite, much like Japanese's version of -masu.
Let's say you want to ask someone if he can speak Thai. How would you ask him in Thai?
Koon poot passa Thai dai mai? Can you speak Thai?
Koon is you, Poot means speak, and passa is langauge. Literally, the above sentence would mean "You speak language Thai can?"
Mai, before a verb = no / do not After a verb = question marker
As you have noticed, mai, when used before a verb, means no or do not. If it is used after a verb, it acts like the Japanese version of ka - a question marker.
