20 Common Thai Verbs You Should Know
Learning a new language is understandably daunting. There are so many intricacies that you will need to learn and memorize before you can even form start forming sentences. Then, you face the challenge that is vocabulary. There are so many words you need to know and use on a regular basis, so how would you even begin? Well, one place I recommend is with some of the more common verbs. Here we have put together a list of the more common Thai verbs you will likely need for those of you looking to learn Thai or just prepare for your visit on your next holiday,
What Do You Define As Common Thai Verbs?
As a reminder, verbs are the ‘doing words’ in a sentence that explain the action that the subject of a sentence is performing. There are a whole variety of different verbs that you will need to learn. The idea of ‘common’ Thai verbs are those that you will be using often or even on a daily basis in the country.
What is classed as common may differ between each country based on their culture and how their sentences are formed. For example, verbs are particularly important in Thai as they are often used as a way to say yes or as a way to respond in agreement when answering a question. Overall, they are some of the more useful vocabulary you can learn. This includes words like eat, drink, want, and more.
As you can imagine, this knowledge would be very useful to know when speaking with locals like when ordering food. Travellers should also take note of these words if they plan to visit the kingdom as it will make things go much more smoothly. Besides, Thai people will appreciate that you have taken the time to learn so of their language. If that isn’t reason enough to practice your common thai verbs, then i don’t know what is.
Common Thai Verbs
So let’s just jump right into the list of 20 common Thai verbs — in no particular order:
Examples
Here are a few examples of these verbs being used so that you can get an idea of how to use them in sentences of your own. As a note, Thai sentence structure generally follows an SVO word order. This is where the subject (the thing that the sentence is about) comes first, followed by the verb (the ‘doing’ word), and ending with the object (what the verb is being done to). It is not uncommon however to drop the subject part of the sentence if it is obvious from the context.
To Sleep
I couldn’t sleep the whole night
chán nɔɔn mâi-làp táng-kʉʉn kà
ฉัน นอน ไม่หลับ ทั้งคืน ค่ะ
To Use
We can use the microwave
rao chái mai-kroo-wép dâi
เรา ใช้ ไมโครเวฟ ได้
To Watch A Movie
I watched a movie with my friends
pǒm duu-nǎng gàp pʉ̂ʉan
ผม ดูหนัง กับ เพื่อน
To Say
Don’t say that
yàa pûut yàang-nán ná chán sâo mâak ná
อย่า พูด อย่างนั้น นะ ฉัน เศร้า มาก นะ
To Run
She runs
təə wîng
เธอ วิ่ง
To Have
I have one younger brother
chǎn mii nɔ́ɔng-chai nʉ̀ng kon
ฉัน มี น้องชาย ๑ คน
To Learn
I learn German
chǎn riian paa-sǎa yəə-rá-man
ฉัน เรียน ภาษา เยอรมัน
To Eat
I eat rice
chǎn taan kâao
ฉัน ทาน ข้าว
To Read
He reads a Chinese book
kǎo àan nǎng-sʉ̌ʉ paa-sǎa jiin
เขา อ่าน หนังสือ ภาษา จีน
To Drink
She drinks hot coffee
təə dʉ̀ʉm gaa-fɛɛ rɔ́ɔn
เธอ ดื่ม กาแฟ ร้อน
To Buy
I buy bread
chǎn sʉ́ʉ kà-nǒm-bpang
ฉัน ซื้อ ขนมปัง
To Weigh
I weigh 41 kilograms
chǎn nàk sì-sìp-èt gì-loo-gram
ฉัน หนัก 41 กิโลกรัม
To Listen
I listen to a Chinese song
chǎn fang pleeng jiin
ฉัน ฟัง เพลง จีน
To Sing
I can sing
chǎn rɔ́ɔng-pleeng bpen
ฉัน ร้อง เพลง เป็น
To Dance
Would you like to dance?
kun yàak dtên mǎi
คุณ อยาก เต้น ไหม
To Draw
The boy draws an apple
dèk-pûu-chaai wâat-rûup ɛ́ɛp-bpə̂ən
เด็กผู้ชาย วาด รูป แอปเปิ้ล
To Like
I like swimming
chǎn chɔ̂ɔp wâai-nám
ฉัน ชอบ ว่ายน้ำ
To Want
I want to report a car accident
chǎn dtɔ̂ɔng-gaan jɛ̂ɛng ù-bàt-dtì-hèt taang rót-yon
ฉัน ต้องการ แจ้ง อุบัติเหตุ ทาง รถยนต์
To Love
I love you
chǎn rák kun
ฉัน รัก คุณ
A Great Starting Point
As stated, knowledge of these common Thai verbs will prove to be very useful in day to day life. You can take it a step further too by learning to read Thai writing. Anything attempt you make in improving your Thai ability would be greatly appreciated by the locals in the country so we highly recommend you give it a try. For that, you are the right place too.
Try the Ling Thai app which will help to walk you through the common Thai verbs, as well as the less common ones that you may come across. Start working on your language learning skills by testing your abilities with Ling.
Originally published at https://ling-app.com on May 28, 2020.
