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LESSON 19.A. CONVERSATION
19.A.1. The Passive Voice.

  1. The passive voice is generally used in Thai only when referring to events of a violent or unpleasant nature.

    When used it is denoted by the addition of the word TOOK (ถูก) in front of the verb.

    This is the same word TOOK as you have already had meaning “cheap” in Lesson 10.


    		 MAH TOOK JEP DOY ROT SAHMLOR
    The dog was hurt by the samlor.
    หมาถูกเจ็บโดยรถสามล้อ

    		DEK TOOK MAH GUT
    เด็กถูกหมากัด
    		 The child was bitten by the dog.

    The second example given above is the more common form of construction and should be particularly noted, as the word order:


    		 Subject-TOOK-Agent-Verb.

    is a little confusing at first and difficult to get used to.

  2. In most other cases the passive voice is treated by turning the sentence round to put the verb in the active voice.


    		 NUK REE-AN TOOK KON AHN NUNGSEU LAAW
    The book has been read by all the students.
    (All the students have read the book.)
    นักเรียนทุกคนอ่านหนังสือแล้ว

    		NUNGSEU LEM NEE NAI SOMPONG KEE-AN
    This book was written by Nai Sompong.
    (This book Nai Sompong wrote.)
    หนังสือเล่มนี้นายสมพงศ์เขียน

    or; by neglecting the passive voice altogether and relying on the context to make the meaning clear, which in most cases it does.


    		 JOTMAI SONG PY MEU-A WAHN NEE LAAW
    The letter was posted yesterday.
    จดหมายส่งไปเมื่อวานนี้แล้ว

    		NUNGSEU KEE-AN DOY NAI PRASERT
    The book (which was) written by Nai Prasert.
    หนังสือเขียนโดยนายประเสริฐ

  3. There are a few words in Thai such as DTAAK (แตก) “to be broken”, HAI (หาย) “to be lost” etc. which can only be used in the passive voice.

    If you want to say “I broke it” or “I lost it”, you must say “I made it to be broken”, “I made it to be lost” etc.


    		 TOO-AY DTAAK LAAW
    ถ้วยแตกแล้ว

    		 The cup is broken.

    		KRY TUM TOO-AY DTAAK
    Who made the cup to be broken? (Who broke the cup?)
    ใครทำถ้วยแตก

    		POM TUM NUNGSEU LEM NUN HAI
    I have lost that book. (I have made that book to be lost.)
    ผมทำหนังสือเล่มนั้นหาย

    		TUM TOO-AY GAAW HY SA-AHT
    Clean the tumbler. (Make the tumbler to be clean.)
    ทำถ้วยแก้วให้สะอาด


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