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Thai language: adjectives
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This blog will focus on adjectives and how to use them in Thai sentences.
Some common and useful adjectives:
soo-waay = to be beautiful
law = to be handsome
nag-lee-yud = to be ugly
oowan = to be fat
bum-boo-ey = to be fat (playful)
pawm = to be thin
suung = to be tall
dtee-ya = to be short
(Note: it’s not really polite to call someone dtee-ya. Thais tend to be a bit less direct, preferring to say for example mai suung — not tall — or mai koy suung — not very tall. This applies to most un-flattering adjectives.)
(Note #2: if you know a positive adjective (like soo-waay — beautiful) but you don’t know the opposite word (in this case nag-lee-yud — ugly) you can usually get away with putting the word mai (not) in front. So, you can simply say that the girl is mai soo-waay — not beautiful. This will work for almost any positive adjective in Thai, but don’t try to use it with negative adjectives. For example mai nag-lee-yud will not translate properly)
chalad = to be clever or smart (following the rule above, the opposite description is best rendered as mai chalad or mai koei chalad, even though there is an adjective for ’stupid’)
geng = to be talented or intelligent
kayann = to be hard-working
kee-gee-yat = to be lazy
dee = to be good
paang = to be expensive
toog = to be cheap
yung = to be busy
wang = to be free
nu-ay = to be tired
ngawn nawn = to be sleepy
mak or mak mak = very or a lot or a lot of
mai koy + adjective = not very adjective
mai + adjective + loei = not adjective at all
sanuk = to be fun or enjoyable
beua = to be bored
na-beua = to be boring
sonjai = to be interested
na-sonjai = to be interesting
sa’aad = to be clean
sog-a-brok = to be dirty or messy
toog or toog-tawng = to be correct or right or exactly right
pid = to be wrong
jai dee = literally ‘good heart’ ; to be kind
jing = to be true or really
nid noi = a little bit
hew = to be hungry
im = to be full (not hungry)
aroi = to be delicious
now = to be cold
yen = to be cool or cold
lawn = to be hot
meuan-gan = to be the same
na-rag = to be cute or nice
mao = to be drunk
naag = to be heavy
bow = light or not strong
kang rang = strong
kang = hard
In English, we use adjective + noun to form sentences:
She’s a nice girl.
I bought a blue shirt.
Thailand is a great country.
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In Thai, this is reversed, and we use noun + adjective to form sentences.
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Also, in Thai you don’t need to add the verb “to be” because it is part of the adjective. In other words, in Thai, you don’t say “she is a nice girl” you say “she girl nice” because the adjective ‘nice’ will be traslated as ‘is nice’.
Kao pu-ying na-rag = She is a nice girl
Khun su-aay = You are beautiful
Hawng nee lawn mak mak = This room is very hot (”Room this hot very”)
Khao suung mai = Is he tall?
Pizza mai aroi = Pizza is not delicious
Bia nee mai yen = This beer is not cold
Chan mao mak mak = I am very drunk
Pom naag mai = Am I heavy?
Pu-shai nan oo-an mak = That man is very fat
Seua nee paang mak = this shirt is very expensive
maew khun hew = your cat is hungry (”cat your is-hungry”)
Khun paw kang rak = father is strong
Nong-sao khun geng mak = your younger sister is very talented
Okay, I hope that helps you understand some Thai adjectives
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Remember the word order is the opposite of English; in Thai we say noun + adjective (shirt blue)
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You can make the opposite of a ‘positive’ adjective’ by saying mai + adjective (mai geng or mai soo-waay)
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Thai adjectives have the verb ‘to be’ (am, is, are) attached to the adjective, so you don’t need to add the verb ‘to be’ in the sentence. (In English we say “That is a blue shirt” but in Thai we say “That shirt blue” and the word ‘is’ gets inserted automatically attached to the adjective)
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One response so far
July 9th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Great stuff werewolf! Good for a beginner like me. Gives me vocab! Thanks.