NUNG (หนัง) and PAHP-PA-YON (ภาพยนตร์) both mean “the movies” or “the cinema” and both are in general use in conversation though PAHP-PA-YON is a little more formal and is used more in writing. In Thai we cannot say “go to the movies” but must say;

PY DOO NUNG

ไปดูหนัง

Go (look at) the movies.

CHAI (ฉาย) means “to project rays of light”. From this we get;

	FY CHAI	ไฟฉาย	An electric torch.
	CHAI NUNG	ฉายหนัง	To show (project) a movie.

PA-YAHBAHN (พยาบาล) “to nurse” is seldom met with alone but is usually combined with other words as in;

	RONG PA-YAHBAHN	โรงพยาบาล	A hospital.
	NAHNG PA-YAHBAHN	นางพยาบาล	A hospital nurse.

DTAANG DTOO-A (แต่งตัว) “to dress” is a composite word with the literal meaning of “to adorn the body”. It may be compounded still further into;

KEU-ANG DTAANG DTOO-A

เครื่องแต่งตัว

Clothes.

SANOOK (สนุก) is an adjective meaning “enjoyable”, “cheerful” etc. but it is also used as a verb meaning “to enjoy oneself”, “to have a good time” and is a very expressive word in Thai.

	NUNG REU-ANG NEE SANOOK MAHK This is a very enjoyable picture. หนังเรื่องนี้สนุกมาก
	PEU-AN POM PEN KON CHORP SANOOK My friend is a person who loves having a good time. เพื่อนผมเป็นคนชอบสนุก

PEE CHAI (พี่ชาย), NORNG CHAI (น้องชาย). The Thai like other East Asians make strong distinctions between senior and junior relations both in relative age and in relation to the side of the family they are connected with.

As these relationships are rather complicated they are set out in detail in Appendix 3.

Note that you cannot refer to a brother or sister without at the same time indicating whether he or she is older or younger than yourself. These words are not strictly confined to actual brother or sister but may also be used for relatives or close friends.

They are also commonly used as 2nd. and 3rd. person pronouns and if the sex is obvious are commonly shortened to PEE and NORNG.

	NEE KEU PEE KORNG POM มี่คือพี่ของผม	This is my elder brother.
	NORNG DTORNG GAHN ARY What do you what? (Speaking to a younger relative or close friend) น้องต้องการอะไร

SAHMEE (สามี) and POO-A (ผัว) both mean “husband” but SAHMEE is the “polite” word and is the best one for you to use in most cases.

PUNRA-YAH (ภรรยา) and MEE-A (เมีย) both mean “wife” and though PUNRA-YAH is the “polite” word you will hear MEE-A used quite a lot. This word is often pronounced PUNYAH.

A man’s second or minor wife is usually called;

MEE-A NOY

เมียน้อย

Little wife.

SOO-AN (ส่วน) meaning “a section” or “a part” is often more conveniently translated “as for”.

	SOO-AN YY	ส่วนใหญ่	The majority. (The big part)
	SOO-AN POM AYNG	ส่วนผมเอง	As for myself. (For my part)
	SOO-AN DTOO-A	ส่วนตัว	Private, Personal. (On the part of the body)

SOO-AN MAHK is an adjective meaning “most” (See also DOY MAHK Lesson 24.A.4.)

KON THAI SOO-AN MAHK คนไทยส่วนมาก

Most Thai people.

GAHN KAH (การค้า) means “trade”, “commerce” etc.

The verb “to trade” is KAH KAI or KAH which forms a number of easily remembered words.

	POR KAH	พ่อค้า	Merchant. (Father of trade)
	LOOK KAH	ลูกค้า	Customer. (Child of trade)
	SIN KAH	สินค้า	Goods. (Things of trade)

As an interesting example of the way the Thai language is being adapted to express modern concepts we give the following;

BY ANOOYAHT SONG SIN KAH ORK An Export Licence. (A licence to send goods out) ใบอนุญาตส่งสินค้าออก

PRAJUM (ประจำ) is a very difficult word to translate. Broadly speaking it means “to be regular” or “constantly associated with”. It occurs mostly in rather idiomatic compounds some of which are in fairly common usage.

	PRAJUM WUN ประจำวัน	Daily. (Occurring regularly each day)
	NUK REE-AN PRAJUM นักเรียนประจำ	A boarding student.

MEE LOOK KAH PRAJUM MAHK MY มีลูกค้าประจำมากไหม

Have you many regular customers?

MUN (มัน) is “fat” or “grease” of all sorts and from it we derive the obvious combined word;

NUM MUN

น้ำมัน

Oil. (Water grease)

TEUNG (ถึง) is a word with a wide variety of uses but generally speaking it means “to”, “to arrive at”, “to reach” etc. in place or time although this implication is by no means easy to follow in all cases.

It may have the meaning of the preposition “to” in such sentences as;

	TAHN KEE-AN JOTMAI TEUNG KOON MAA LAAW REU YUNG Have you written to your mother yet? ท่านเขียนจดหมายถึงคุณแม่แล้วหรือยัง
	POM JA DTORNG REE-AN PAHSAH THAI DTUNG DTAA SEE TEUNG HAH MONG YEN I must study Thai from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. ผมจะต้องเรียนภาษาไทยตั้งแต่สี่ถึงห้าโมงเย็น

You have already had the word MAH TEUNG “to arrive”, “to come to” and a similar combination is PY TEUNG which also means “to arrive” but at a place away from the speaker.

MEU-A POM PY TEUNG SATAHNEE ROT FY MAH TEUNG LAAW When I arrived at the station the train was already in. เมื่อผมไปถึงสถานีรถไฟมาถึงแล้ว

Notice the difference between the two sentences below.

	MEU-A POM PY SONGKLAH เมื่อผมไปสงขลา	When I went to Songklah.
	MEU-A POM PY TEUNG SONGKLAH เมื่อผมไปถึงสงขลา	When I arrived at Songklah.

These two examples illustrate the point that you do not always use the word TEUNG meaning “to” as freely as you would use the word “to” in English.

If the preposition can be left out we generally do so.

TEUNG is also widely used with the general idea of “reaching” as in the following sentences.

	YUNG MY TEUNG TEE-ANG KREUNG It is not yet half past twelve. (Not yet reached half past twelve) ยังไม่ถึงเที่ยงครึ่ง
	KOW DY NGERN DEU-AN DEU-AN LA MY TEUNG HAH ROY BAHT He gets a salary of less than (not reaching) Tcs. 500 per month. เขาได้เงินเดือน เดือนละไม่ถึงห้าร้อยบาท

When TEUNG follows KIT “to think”, POOT “to talk”, ROO “to know”, REE-AN “to learn” etc. it is translated as “about”.

ROW KER-Y POOT TEUNG KOON BOY BOY We often used to talk about you. เราเคยพูดถึงคุณบ่อย ๆ

TEUNG is also used in combination with a number of other words in various more or less idiomatic usages.

POM MAI TEUNG PY HAH KOW WUN NEE I meant to go and see him today. ผมหมายถึงไปหาเขาวันนี้

Generated by Lyndon Hill on Thu Jul 20 18:40:34 BST 2006.

Copyright remains with the original authors.