Thai word for 'see'

[EricTh]

I am a bit confused regarding when to use duu and hen.

 

I know Duu is for watching television but can it be used for other activities?

 

1. The officer need to see the document before giving approval.

 

2. Look at how he looks.

 

Do we use  'hen' or 'duu' in these cases?

 

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by EricTh

[Dumbastheycome]

Present /past. see seen notice/d ..Hin

Inspect..check look at.... Doo.

That's  my crude  distinction/definition  derived  by  experience  and local pronunciation as my ear hears it.

 

[johnray]

Duu - present, future

hen - past

mong - look

 

Pee officer tong hen ekkasan gawn hai annuyaat.

The officer must look at the paper before giving permission.

 

Mong kao

Look at him.

 

 

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by johnray

[CLS]

Duu - see/watch, like watch TV. Duu TV mai? Do you want to watch TV?

Mai yaak duu. I don’t want to watch TV

Asking in this context hen mai would refer to a scene on TV.

Hen - able to see or recognize 

Hen mai? Can you see?

Mai hen. I cannot or don’t see.

For a blind it would always be mai hen.

Mong - look, in terms of looking/stearing at someone 

[HashBrownHarry]

Mong, mai hen = look, i can't see - lol

 

Ching ching!

[timendres]

Think of it this way: Duu [ดู] (or maawng มอง) is the "action", similar to "look". Whereas Hen [เห็น] is the "result" of that action, similar to "see".

 

In other words, in English, I would act to "look" - Duu.
The result of that looking action is to "see" - Hen.

 

Thinking of it strictly in terms of tense is not quite right. I would not say "hen nang" [เห็นหนัง] to indicate the past tense of "I saw the movie", I would say "duu laaeo" [ดูแล้ว] as in "I already looked" - I am indicating the action I took in the past. On the other hand, I might ask "hen mai" [เห็นไหม] to ask if you have seen - the result of the action of looking at - the movie already. To which I am most likely to reply "duu laaeo" [ดูแล้ว].

[timendres]

45 minutes ago, HashBrownHarry said:

Mong, mai hen = look, i can't see - lol

 

Ching ching!

"Maawng, mai hen", is more along the lines of "I looked, but I did not see". It would be something I might say if I need glasses to read the screen of your mobile phone. Someone might be concerned that I am staring at their screen, but I would say "maawng mai hen", because even though I was looking at your screen, I was not able to see it sufficiently to read it. Or if something unfolded so quickly that I could not make it out, "maanwg mai hen".

 

There is a definite distinction between:

did not see - mai hen

and

cannot see - hen mai dai

 

[FritsSikkink]

3 hours ago, Dumbastheycome said:

Present /past. see seen notice/d ..Hin

Inspect..check look at.... Doo.

That's  my crude  distinction/definition  derived  by  experience  and local pronunciation as my ear hears it.

 

Hin ?? No way

[Puccini]

2 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Hin ?? No way

Remember that this is how he heard it, ie เห็น, pronounced in a local dialect.

[ezzra]

The word Du also frequently used in terms like to follow: tam du, to look for: ha du, to search for: riak du... to think about it: kamlang kit du.. and many more usage for the word du... 

[BritManToo]

8 hours ago, johnray said:

Duu - present, future

hen - past

mong - look

You're wrong ............

Hen = glance/notice

Doo = to look with intent

Mong = stare.

[smutcakes]

My golf caddie always says mai hen after every shot.

[eric67]

????

[EricTh]

Of my god. So many different answers for two simple verbs.

 

Which is the correct one?

[tgeezer]

As already said มองไม่เห็น shows the meaning of มอง and เห็น.  Looking but not seeing.   อยากรู้อยากเห็น like to know like to comprehend. Without มอง .ไม่เห็น =ไม่เข้าใจ  This shows that เห็น means รู้ as well.  I think that อยากรู้อยากเห็น is translated as curious. 
ดูซิ่ look (see if you like it).   มองซิ Look! (With Purpose). 
Golf.เห็นลูกไหม Did you see my ball? 

ไม่ได้มอง I did not look. 
Naturally the more one thinks the more Interchangeable the words become so. ไม่เห็น I didn't see where your ball went. I feel that ดู is closer range than มอง   Is there a difference between these?  ดูลูก(กอล์ฟ)นี้ ยี่ห้ออะไร มองลูกนี้ ยี่ห้ออะไร  
Thai people shorten everything so ไม่เห็น could be short for มองไม่เห็น  ดูซิ่ and มองซิ่ could be interchangeable as well of course. 
In other words, I have wasted my time!