We had a good recent thread about fruits, and since I'm about to go see my home builder, I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread about basic terms for talking about the home and its surroundings.

I have a few of the basics like:

house - baan

roof - lang ka

bathroom - hawng nahm

bedroom - hawng nawn

kitchen - hawng krua

living room - hawng rap kaek

cabinet - too

door - pra too

stairs - bun dai

electricity - fai fa

refrigerator - too yen

shower - fuk bua

oven - tao op

table - to

washing machine - kreuang sak pha

water jar - toom

window - na tang

But also have questions about many other things related like:

air conditioner

gas (as in natural gas, for oven, etc.)

dishwasher

floor tile

wall tile

wall paper

paint (all varieties, inside and outside)

yard (e.g., lawn, shrubs, trees, garden, landscaping, etc.)

driveway

fence

fence gate

screened window and screened door

ceiling fan

electrical switch

electrical circuit breaker

plumbing (for toilets and utility water)

Related to the above phrase for water jar, is that a reference to a large water jar of which many are used to create a water farm? Or is there a specific way to discuss making a water farm?

Anything else ???

I'll have a try at some of these

air conditioner- air or krueng air

gas (as in natural gas, for oven, etc.)- gas

dishwasher- krueng lang jan ?? (guessing machine to clean plate)

floor tile- ga-booann ( this is for all tiles)

wall tile- ga-booann gam peng

wall paper - gradad gam-peng ?? (guess wall paper)

paint (all varieties, inside and outside) - see (colour)

yard (e.g., lawn, shrubs, trees, garden, landscaping, etc.) - Suan

driveway- tanon(road) or tee jot lod (place to park car)

fence- cock yes cock

fence gate- pra-doo (same as door)

screened window and screened door- ???

ceiling fan- pat lom( while pointing at the ceiling and making circular movments with you hand )

electrical switch- sa wit fai far

electrical circuit breaker- breaker

plumbing (for toilets and utility water) - sai nam (water pipe) tor nam( bigger pipe for drainage ect

Feel free to correct any

Cheers RC

hi guys,

Can i correct something?

air conditioner- air or krueng air

we just say "air"

fence- cock yes cock

fench = ruaah (cock is used for animal such as horse and pig)

fence gate- pra-doo (same as door)

fence gate = pra-too ruaah

ceiling fan- pat lom

it's called "pat lom pedaan"

ceiling = "pedaan"

electrical switch- sa wit fai far

That's right but most of us just say "switch"

sai nam (water pipe)

Sai nam??? i think it is called "Sai yang"

screened window and screened door- ???

Mai roo chaen khun kha = I don't know either

Take Care,

Thai girl jaa

A small criticism about this thread (please don't shoot me for it)

The list of Thai words for items around the house is commendable, but how on earth can these be utilized if no indication of the tone is given?

We all know Thai is a tonal language, and getting the wrong tone on the word can mean that you are either not understood or your word has a different meaning! (eg gly for near/far, ma for come/dog/horse etc etc).

If these lists were given in Thai script, then the tone would be known by those of us who can read Thai. But I assume that the majority of people here cannot read Thai and so the trans-literation has to be given.

So, is it not possilbe to adopt some method to indicate the relevant tone? Of course this is done in printed phrase/language books, but is a little more difficult using ascii text on a PC!

What about preceeding the syllable with a character to indicate the tone?

EG:

v = rising tone

/ = high tone

- = mid tone

^ = falling tone

forward slash = low tone (I can't find forward slash right now!!)

Eg 'ma' for dog is [v]ma

'ma' for horse is [/]ma

eg - I eat a Thai meal = 'porm gin aharn thai' = [v]porm [-]gin [-]a [v]harn [-]thai

Maybe this has been covered in another post, so apologies if I'm repeating previous stuff....

hi Chuuby girl, feel free to correct, thats how we learn

fench = ruaah (cock is used for animal such as horse and pig)

Yea ok you can tell I've got a farm, all my fences are for animals

ceiling = "pedaan

I forgot the word for ceiling

Sai nam??? i think it is called "Sai yang"

Yea i stand corrected your right, how about - tor pvc (pvc pipe)

Simon

your right its very difficult to write the english so it can be easly pronounced, unfortunatly I cant write thai, usually one of the experts like richard or snowy come along at some point and write the thai in, at least then you can print it out and get someone to read it to you.

Yea i stand corrected your right, how about - tor pvc (pvc pipe)

for PVC pipe is "tor PVC" but someone say "paap naam" but for me "tor PVC" is better 'coz paap naam can be any kind of pipe.

I don't know how can i help with the tone i need to help. but my Eng. is poor. Only thing i can do is record my voice into the tape.

Yea ok you can tell I've got a farm, all my fences are for animals

random, hello (thanx for looking at pics, feel like raising camels?)

as usual, we both know things that are probably totally useless for everyday bangkok useage : parts of animal etc., farm equipment.... country hicks

but lists like these are good things, even if it is transliteration because usually these are words that you hear every day but in context, and dont really know which word specifically is for which thing... this way, you see the word and definition and can say: "oh, thats what Namchai keeps saying about the tractor; the air conditioning isnt working " or whatever. now i can hear the specific words and not just get the general gist of the sentence, that something is wrong with the tractor.

actually, sesame street used to have a series of books in different languages based on themes: house and home, work, animals etc. my kids had them for learning english. nothing like that in Thai?

As requested, as set of recovered Thai and transcriptions thereof. It's not guaranteed correct - it would help if someone checked it.

house - baan บ้าน [F]baan

roof - lang ka หลังคา [R]lang[M]khaa

bathroom - hawng nahm ห้องน้ำ [sF]horng[H]naam

bedroom - hawng nawn ห้องนอน [sF]horng[M]norn

kitchen - hawng krua ห้องครัว [sF]horng[M]khrua

living room - hawng rap kaek ห้องรับแขก [sF]horng[H]rap[L]khaek

cabinet - too ตู้ [F]tuu

door - pra too ประตู [M/L]pra[M]tuu

stairs - bun dai

electricity - fai fa ไฟ(ฟ้า) [M]fai([H]faa) (RW's brackets.)

refrigerator - too yen ตู้เย็น [F]tuu[M]yen

shower - fuk bua

oven - tao op เตาอบ [M]tao[L]op

table - to โต๊ะ [H]to

washing machine - kreuang sak pha เครื่งซักผ้า [F]khrueang[H]sak[F]phaa

water jar - toom ตุ่ม [L]tum

window - na tang หน้าต่าง [F]naa[L]taang

gas (as in natural gas, for oven, etc.)- gas ก๊าซ [H]kaas, [H]kaat

dishwasher- krueng lang jan ?? (guessing machine to clean plate) เครื่งล้างจาน [F]khrueang[H]laang[M]jaan

floor tile- ga-booann ( this is for all tiles) กระเบื้อง [M/L]gra[F]bueang

wall tile- ga-booann gam peng กระเบื้อง กำแพง [M/L]gra[F]bueang [M]gam[M]phaeng

wall paper - gradad gam-peng ?? กระดาษ กำแพง [M/L]gra[L]daat [M]gam[M]phaeng

paint (all varieties, inside and outside) - see (colour) สี [R]sii

yard (e.g., lawn, shrubs, trees, garden, landscaping, etc.) - Suan สวน [R]suan

driveway- tanon(road) or tee jot lod (place to park car) ถนน [M/L]tha[R]non

ที่จอดรถ [F]tii[L]jort[L]rot (or is it [sL]jort ?)

fence- cock yes cock คอก [L]khork (or is it [sL]khork ?)

fence gate- pra-doo (same as door) ประตู [M/L]pra[M]tuu

ceiling fan- pat lom( while pointing at the ceiling and making circular movments with you hand )

พัดลม [H]phat[M]lom

electrical switch- sa wit fai far สวิตช์ (ไฟฟ้า) [M/L]sa[H]wit ([M]fai[H]faa)

- RW added brackets above.

electrical circuit breaker- breaker เบรเกอร์ [M]bree[F]goe (I think!)

/[L/M]ba[M]ree[F]goe/ and, of course,

[M]bree[F]goe are also possible.

Aside: I have a lot of sympathy with the view that the proper pronunciation of แฟลต 'apartment (Am.)' is [sH]faet even though the RIDRID gives the pronunciation as แฟฺล็ด, i.e. [sH]flaet. Words like this break the rules of Thao phonology.

plumbing (for toilets and utility water) - sai nam (water pipe) tor nam( bigger pipe for drainage etc.)

tor nam - ท่อน้ำ [F]thor[H]naam

Can i correct something?

air conditioner- air or krueng air

we just say "air" แอร์ [M]ae

fence- cock yes cock

fench = ruaah (cock is used for animal such as horse and pig) รั้ว [H]rua

ceiling fan- pat lom

it's called "pat lom pedaan" พัดลม เพดาน [H]phat[M]lom [M]phe[M]daan

ceiling = "pedaan"

sai nam (water pipe)

Sai nam??? i think it is called "Sai yang" สายยาง [R]saai[M]yaang

N.B. This literally means 'rubber line', and can be translated as 'hospeipe', e.g. for watering the garden. Is this what we want for a house?

tor pvc (pvc pipe) ท่อ PVC [F]thor[M]phii[M]wii[M]sii

Yea i stand corrected your right, how about - tor pvc (pvc pipe)

for PVC pipe is "tor PVC" but someone say "paap naam" but for me "tor PVC" is better 'coz paap naam can be any kind of pipe.

I don't know how can i help with the tone i need to help. but my Eng. is poor. Only thing i can do is record my voice into the tape.

Giving the Thai spelling will tell many of us what we need to know. For strange words, also giving a phonetic Thai spelling would help if the word is unfamiliar and not spelt phonetically. For example, if 'paap' is a borrowing from English (I couldn't find it in my dictionary), I suspect it is pronounced ป๊าบ or พ๊าบ, but it might be spelt without any tone mark even though it should have one if spelt phonetically.

I would guess that if someone attempted to write "pipe" in Thai, they might write it as ไป๊พ๊ but I am far from sure, especially about the final consonant.

I would guess that if someone attempted to write "pipe" in Thai, they might write it as ไป๊พ๊ but I am far from sure, especially about the final consonant.

The standard transliteration would be ไพป์ or ไพ้ป์ [H]phai (the tone mark is optional - page 2 rule 6). But some loans do not follow these rules, e.g. ปอนด์ [M]porn for English 'pound'.

Giving the Thai spelling will tell many of us what we need to know. For strange words, also giving a phonetic Thai spelling would help if the word is unfamiliar and not spelt phonetically. For example, if 'paap' is a borrowing from English (I couldn't find it in my dictionary), I suspect it is pronounced ป๊าบ or พ๊าบ, but it might be spelt without any tone mark even though it should have one if spelt phonetically.

I would guess that if someone attempted to write "pipe" in Thai, they might write it as ไป๊พ๊ but I am far from sure, especially about the final consonant.

The standard transliteration would be ไพป์ or ไพ้ป์ [H]phai (the tone mark is optional - page 2 rule 6). But some loans do not follow these rules, e.g. ปอนด์ [M]porn for English 'pound'.

It's all wrong,

paap nam - แป๊บน้ำ = water pipe

i checked taking dict says the same.

It's not pipe ไปพ์ ไปพ์ for us is pipe for smoking and ไพป์ i know that word and it's not

WE REALLY SAY "PAAP NAM" (แป๊บน้ำ) จริงๆ jing jing

PAAP / แป๊บ = n. a pipe; adv. for a while, just a minute

PAAP NAM / แป๊บน้ำ = n. a water pipe

Thai girl jaah