ไหม And มั้ย ?

[boxig]

Hi,

Being used to ไหม I am soetimes stuck while reading when มั้ย is used. I wonder if there is a difference in the pronunciation, and where the มั้ย came from ?

Thank you

box

[sking_is_leaving]

The former is the question particle in its correct written form.

However, as this does not follow tone rules ie.

high class consonant and live syllable = rising tone, whereas it is spoken with a high tone;

speech is often transcribed (in subtitles, books, etc) using the latter form.

[aanon]

Hi,

Being used to ไหม I am soetimes stuck while reading when มั้ย is used. I wonder if there is a difference in the pronunciation, and where the มั้ย came from ?

Thank you

box

sking covered everything in the answer above. to rephrase a bit, มั้ย represents the actual sound of the word in speech, whereas ไหม is the 'proper' spelling. a bit like 'wanna' and 'want to' (except in this case we are talking about tones).

another example is เขา (he, she) which is said and sometimes written เค้า

reading comics, chatrooms or other dialog where lots of these 'phonetic' spellings come up can be challenging, but it's a great tool for understanding and speaking more 'real life' thai. just read out loud whenever you can.

all the best.

[TonyBkk]

As said above มั้ย is a popular spelling with teenagers, in chatrooms, text messages etc. ไหม is the formal spelling, and isn't this a tone exception? ive never heard a Thai say it with a rising tone, always high

[tgeezer]

The former is the question particle in its correct written form.

However, as this does not follow tone rules ie.

high class consonant and live syllable = rising tone, whereas it is spoken with a high tone;

speech is often transcribed (in subtitles, books, etc) using the latter form.

not really it is just mis-spoken very short with what might be a high tone that is probably why in comics it is not written ไม้ as in ต้นไม้, it sounds very odd if you pronounce it like ไม้ I hear ไหม very often. It is up to you I guess after all we all speak with a foreign accent I suppose.

Edited February 12, 2007 by tgeezer

[loong]

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=105011

Some of this is in this thread

[Boos]

ไหม , หรือไม่ , and มั้ย All relate to asking questions and all mean the same but " มั้ย " is used in spoken language for anyone not just among young people.

Edited February 20, 2007 by Boos

[jeabsun]

You will hear มั้ย in spoken language. ไหม is a written language. We do not use มั้ย in writing especially in a formal writing such as report, but we can use it in an informal writing for example when we chat with friends. Teenagers use them a lot in chattig but they do not use it in a report. You may see มั้ย in novels. We rarely use ไหม when we speak. มั้ย comes from ไหม but it is a higher tone. In thai, when you change your tone, it could change the meaning of the word (but it's not always true, because when you change your tone, it may become a meaningless word which we may be able to guess the meaning). For example, มา, หมา, ม้า it may sound the same for foreigners, but for thai, they sound totally different. มา means "come", หมา means "dog", and ม้า means "horse". Sorry, I do not know how to write them in English to show how different there are when you pronounce each of them. Ask your thai friend to pronounce them for you.

Edited March 4, 2007 by jeabsun