GOO mâi chûea MUENGI don’t f—kin’ believe you!
• แม่ มึง!
mâe MUENG
Your f—kin’ mother!
Really? Eh? No? Nahh!
Similar to how we might ask, “Ya gonna go?” instead of “Are you going to go?” in English, Thais have their own short cuts for making questions. First off, the all-encompassing question word of ไหม [mǎi] should really be pronounced like it is on the street with a high tone as มั้ย [mái], sometimes written as มั๊ย. Other times ไหม [mǎi] might be pronounced as a short มะ [má] or a short ปะ [bpà]. These renditions as opposed to the written form of ไหม [mǎi], will give your question a more personable, laidback, informal flair. See the examples below and make yourself familiar with มั้ย [mái] in particular since it will be used as the default question word throughout most of this book.
• เรา ขอ เข้าไป ด้วยได้ มั้ย
rao kǎw kâo bpai dôoi dâi MÁI
Can I come along, too?
• กินข้าวเที่ยง ด้วยกัน มั้ย
gihn-kâo tîang dôoi-gun MÁI
Ya wanna do lunch together?
• น่ารักมะ
nâh-rúk MÁ
Is she cute?
• แบบว่าอยาก เข้ามหา’ลัยสุดๆ เลย ใช่ ป ะ
bàep-wâh yàhk kâo mà-hǎh-lai sòot-sòot châi bpà
You totally like wanna get into college, right?
The second big way to form a question in Thai is using หรือเปล่า [rǔebplào], which is a little more direct than just your simple มั้ย [mái]. Yet, alas, this pronunciation is fairly antiquated as well. Instead say the quicker รึเปล่า [rúe-bplào], or even cooler than that drop the L sound in the second syllable to make it รึเป่า [rúe-bpào] or รึป่าว [rúe-bpòw]. Using these requires a yes/no response. Often it’s translated as or not? in English.
• มี กิ๊ก รึเป่า
mee gíhk RÚE-BPÀO
Do you have another girl on the side or not?
• อยาก รู้ จังว่าถ้าไม่ เข้าประชุมจะ มี ผล อะไร รึเป่า
yàhk róo jung wâh tâh mâi kâo bprà-choom jà mee pǒhn ’à-rai RÚE-BPÒW
I really wanna know if I don’t go to the meeting what the effect’s gonna be?
Many questions in Thai are formed by using the word really. Colloquially this is normally written as เหรอ [rěr] or รึ [rúe], but in practice the R normally comes out as an L, and the vowel sound er sounds more like aw, like in the word law. Though I’ve never seen it spelled this way the final pronunciation would be something more like เหลอ [lěr] or หลอ [lǎw]. See below, these types of more informal questions will often come up in everyday speech:
• ไม่ ชอบ เหรอ แล้วจะ อยู่ กะ เค้าได้ ไง ล่ะ
mâi châwp LĚR láeo jà yòo gà káo dâi-ngai lâ
You don’t love her? Then how the heck ya going stay with her?
• เค้าไม่ ได้ เป็นคน ที่ ใจดี เหรอ
káo mâi dâi kohn têe jai-dee LĚR
What...he’s not a good person???
The formal way to say Have you yet? would be to use แล้วหรือยัง [láeo rǔe yung], but on the street Thais will shorten it to รึยัง [rúe-yung] or to just ยัง [yung]. The sooner you start using these shortened versions the sooner you’ll start to notice that almost everyone in Thai society speaks like that.
• กลับมา ถึงห้องรึยัง
glùp mah tǔeng hâwng RÚE-YUNG
Have you gotten back to the room yet?
• พี่ กินข้าวยัง
pêe gin-kâo YUNG
Have you eaten yet?
The fourth most popular way to phrase a question in Thai is similar to the English Ehh?, No?, Nahh? or Yeah? This is pronounced as เนอะ [nér] or sometimes as นะ [ná], and sounds very similar to no? in English.
• เค้าจ๊าบนะ
káo jáhp ná
She’s cute, yeah?
• เค้าเมา แต่ ไม ได้ ถึงขนาด ที่ ขับไม่ ได้ เนอะ
káo mao dtàe mâi dâi tǔeng kà-nàht têe kùp mâi dâi NÉR
He’s drunk, but not to the point where he can’t drive, no?
Gonna, Gotta and Dying To
Most Americans today are too lazy to fully pronounce am going to or have got to. Saying gonna and gotta just seems to flow so much easier, doesn’t it? Thais today are not much different. The slang word for กำลังจะ [gam-lung jà] (going to/about to) shortens to become the two syllable กะลัง [gà-lung].
• กะลัง ซื้อ โน๊ตบุ๊ค ช่วยแนะนำ หน่อยคับ
gà-lung súe nóht-bóok chôoi náe-nam nòi kúp
I’m gonna buy a laptop. Can ya give me some advice?
Other times though they will put the จะ [jà] back into it but with a long vowel instead like จา [jah]. This final product then is the
