VERBS - คำกริยา

Language tips by Ajarn Richard (English teacher, Sriwittayapaknam School)

When it comes to learning English, I think verbs and the tenses create the most problems for my students. Let's face it, English can be so complicated when you have to change words according to their situation.

For example:
We play football > She plays football > I played football > I am playing football > I shall play football

The good news for learners of Thai is that verbs don't change according to tense. By the time you have finished reading this page you will be able to construct basic sentences.

In case you haven't read my lesson on sentence structure, I will repeat first that the basic Thai sentence is: subject - verb - object

There are only three tenses in Thai: present, past and future.

Present Tense - ประโยค ปัจจุบันกาล

Notice in the following examples that the Thai word "gin" (which by the way has a hard "g") doesn't change unlike the English "eat".

For example:
I eat rice = ผม กิน ข้าว - phom gin khao
She eats rice = เธอ กิน ข้าว - ter gin khao
We eat rice = พวก เรา กิน ข้าว - phuak rao gin khao

In English, if someone asks:

"What are you doing?" You would answer: "I am eating rice."

In Thai, you would still say: ผม กิน ข้าว - phom gin khao

(As noted before, it is perfectly OK to speak with what to us sounds like "broken Thai". So, just reply with "gin khao". You really only see long sentences like that in books that try to teach you Thai. In real life, everyone speaks "broken Thai".)

If you need to talk about an on-going event you just use gamlang before the verb.

For example:
I am eating rice = ผม กำลัง กิน ข้าว - phom gamlang gin khao

This is a bit like a combination of is/am/are with -ing. In truth, you don't really need to use this word if it is obvious what is going on. A good example where it is accepted is if you ring someone to ask if they have eaten yet. Then, if they are in the process of eating then they would reply, "gamlang gin khao".

Past Tense - ประโยค อดีตกาล

The usual way to show that an action is completed is by placing the word laew at the end of the sentence.

For example:
I ate rice = ผม กิน ข้าว แล้ว - phom gin khao laew.

It is also possible to show past tense by adding a "time word". For example, "yesterday' or "last year".

For example:
Yesterday, I saw a movie = เมื่อวาน นี้ ผม ดู หนัง - mua-wan nee phom doo nung.

What is important to note is that the verb never changes.

Future Tense - ประโยค อนาคตกาล

For events to take place in the future all you need to do is add ja before the verb.

For example:
I shall eat rice = ผม จะ กิน ข้าว - phom ja gin khao.

Now that you have a general idea on how verbs are used in sentences I will finish now with a word list. Use these verbs to make up your own sentences. This list of verbs comes from Thai/English Flashcards which can be bought at thaihypermarket.com.

* Don't forget, the Thai word "phom" which is used for "I" is only used by men. Please visit the Women's Page for more information.

Read more Language Tips from Ajarn Richard.

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