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Meaning of Thai words or phrases
I am a high school teacher in the United States. A student from Thailand was enrolled into my classroom on Monday. He does not speak any english and I was looking for a list of classroom words, so at least I can try to help him.
http://www.learningthai.com/teacher.html
What is the word Temptations in Thai?
Temptation = ยั่วยวน, เครื่องล่อใจ, อบายมุข (yua yuan, krueang lor jai, a-bai-ya-mook)
Sometimes I have had people ask me something and I replied with "tam mai" meaning "why?" They usually say something that I presume is "just asking".
You can use 'choei-choei' เฉย ๆ for this, like 'just asking' ถามเฉย ๆ, 'just looking' (in a shop) ดูเฉย ๆ
- Mike
Can you help with ways to remember the months? I am OK with the days of the week as I use them a lot but I am not so good with the months.
Try this free e-book:
http://www.learningthai.com/downloads/months.exe
How to say 'when' in thai language?
I've struggled with this a bit as when is used so often in English and with different meanings, and it can't always be translated as 'meua-rai'. From what I gathered in the past tense it's 'meua' เมี่อ, as in a sentence like 'when I was ten years old....'. In situations where you could swap whenever for when and still have the sentence make sense, you can use 'waylah tee', like 'I am happy when I see you' สุขใจเวลาที่เจอกับเธอ
- Mike
Quite often at work I hear Thai people use the word "mung" at the end of sentences. It is used when they are saying something like "maybe". But I thought "aht ja" and "bang tee" means "maybe". What are the rules for "mung"?
The word "mung" มั้ง means "perhaps" or "I guess". You would use it at the end of sentences like this:
ter bai laew mung (she has already gone I guess)
เธอ ไป แล้ว มั้ง
tam-mai Lek yung mai ma? (Why hasn't Lek come yet?)
ทำ ไม เล็ก ยัง ไม่ มา
rot dtit mung (Maybe there is a traffic jam)
รถ ติด มั้ง
It is something I would say in conversation to my friends but I wouldn't usually say it to my teacher
to teacher: aht ja bai laew krap (probably already gone)
to friends: bai laew mung (I guess he has already gone)
What are the thai names for the different levels of schooling?
อนุบาล = kindergarten (anuban)
ประถมศึกษา or ประถม = primary (prathom)
ประถมต้น = grades 1-4 = prathom ton
ประถมปลาย = grades 5-6 = prathom blai
มัธยมศึกษา or มัธยม = secondary (mattayom)
มัธยมต้น = grades 7-9 = mattayom ton
มัธยมปลาย = grades 10-12 = mattayom blai