Few Random (hopefully Simple) Qustions

[Wizzard of Oz]

1. For the word daa(L) ( ด่า ):

To "swear at someone", which one is correct (i.e. is there a word for 'at' that should be placed here?):

- khao daa thung (khon)

- khao daa thii (khon)

- khao daa (khon)

Also, if I mis-understand the word daa, please correct me.

2. To say 'he is a hard worker', is this correct:

- khao bpen khon ngaan nak

3. '(he) is a travel agent' - which is correct (not sure about the word after 'bpen'):

- bpen gan thawng thiaw

- bpen gaan thawng thiaw

- bpen ngaan thawng thiaw

4 For the sentence:

"compared to yesterday, it is not so hot"

- priap gap mua-waanii [??] mai rawn thawray

Is there something that i should put instead of "[??]" to mean 'it is'?

5. I would like to know the word/phrase for 'have expectations'

For example - when someone is told in advance that they will that a job will be done well, "they have expectations".

6. The phrase 'depending on .....". Eg 'I will go depending on the weather'

I know you can use 'laew dtae', but I think that is more like 'it's up to .....'

I heard that you can use 'khern yuu gap....'

I don't know thai letters, but with phoenteics, 'khern' is spelled starting with an aspirated 'k' sound followed by the 'er' letter in phuan (friend) followed by 'n'. The tone is high or falling (sorry, can't remember which).

Obv I can't even look this up cuz I can't write in thai =/

7. 'naa[f] daan[f]'

Is this kind of like saying 'They don't even give a sh!t' when someone does something inconsiderate and disregarding how it affects others?

Just checking if I am anywhere near to understanding correctly.

Cheers for any help.

Edited December 14, 2007 by Wizzard of Oz

[meadish_sweetball]

1. In Thai, prepositions are often optional. The most common form you will hear is your third alternative, with no preposition. Another alternative is ด่าใส่ daa sai [person] - using the same 'sai' that is a verb meaning 'put'.

Verbs often take on prepositional roles in Thai, or you could choose to view it as the borders between the word classes being less rigid.

2. No, you need to say เขาเป็นคนทำงานหนัก khao pen khon tham ngaan nak. As it stands, your sentence means 'He is a heavy(as in, he weighs a lot) worker.'

If it is a positive value judgement, you might also consider เขาเป็นคนทำงานขยัน He is a diligent worker.

3. The most common way to say it is: khao tham borisat thoa (if he is the owner or main operator of a travel agency), or khao tham ngaan [thii] borisat thoa. In spoken language, thii is sometimes used, sometimes not.

None of your suggested options refers directly to a travel agency. การท่องเที่ยว means 'tourism' and is part of the name of TOT (the tourism authority of Thailand) in Thai. You could say, เขาทำงานเกี่ยวกับการท่องเที่ยว which would translate as 'he works with things related to tourism'.

4. No, Thai usually does not require a copula ('is' verb) for adjectives. It would be wrong to use all the usual suspects such as เป็น คือ มี that can equate to 'is' in other constructions.

5. Not sure about this one. Does it differ from 'high expectations'? If not, try มีความหวังสูง

6. ขึ้นอยู่กับ does mean 'depend on' 'to be dependent on', yes. In your example, both แล้วแต่ and ขึ้นอยู่กับ can be used.

7. Some words that correspond: ' to be brazen', 'to do something barefaced', '[to have] the nerve'.

[Wizzard of Oz]

Thanks for the help (again ) meadish.

Regarding the prepositions - I guess I just really want to avoid sounding incorrect, and I can see when I speak to non-native english speakers, that these little things make all the difference as to whether someone sounds like they speak really well, or can just string words together - which is what I'd like to fix up as early as possible =/

5. Not sure about this one. Does it differ from 'high expectations'? If not, try มีความหวังสูง

I guess this is closer than 'hope' by itself towards what I am looking for, but I am hoping there is a word that means 'expect' that differs from 'hope', just as in english.

6. ขึ้นอยู่กับ does mean 'depend on' 'to be dependent on', yes. In your example, both แล้วแต่ and ขึ้นอยู่กับ can be used.

Would you be able to put that into a sentence using ขึ้นอยู่กับ ?

Maybe something like

'It depends if he (brings food or not)'

or

'It depends if he (he comes or not)'

Is it just this? :

"Kheun yuu gap khao aw aahaan maa ru plaaw"

"Kheun yuu gap khao maa ru plaaw"

Edited December 15, 2007 by Wizzard of Oz

[Wizzard of Oz]

Just to clarify with the phrase 'expect:

1. Do you know how to say 'expect' ?

Example - you can go to a restaurant and expect that it will be clean.

This is more than 'hope'.

The difference can be like this:

(#1). When you got to a restaurant, you hope the food is aroy maak.

(#2). When you got to a restaurant, you expect the food to be aroy maak.

In (#1), if the food is aroy nid noy then you are not happy, but also not unhappy - rusuuk เฉย เฉย

In (#2), if the food is aroy nid noy, then you are unhappy , becuase you assumed (สันนิษฐาน) that it would be aroy maak, and now it is only aroy nid noy

How can I say "I expect the restaurant to be clean'?

(Not the same as, 'I hope the restaurant will be clean')

2. Similar to the last question, but to say 'have expectations', 'have no expectations' , 'have high expectations'

Example:

If you expect nothing, then you 'have no expectations'.

In this situation, if nothing good happens, and nothing bad happens, you are not sia-day because you 'had no expectations'

If you expect something, then you 'have expectations'

In this situation, if nothing good happens, and nothing bad happens, you are sia-day because you 'had expectations' that it would be at least a little bit good, but it was not as good as you expected

If you expect things to be VERY GOOD, then you 'have high expectations'

In this situation, if something good happens, but it is a little big good and not VERY GOOD, you are sia-day because you 'had high expectations' that it would be VERY GOOD, but it was only a little bit good.

How can I say:

- 'have expectations'

- 'have no expectations'

- 'have high expectations'

[withnail]

I guess you could say naa ja (ought to/should) to express your expectations ร้านนี็แพง น่าจะอรอย This restaurant is expensive, it ought to/should be good.

Oxford River Books Eng - Th gives this translation for expectation: ความคาดหวัง so I guess you could add mee or mai mee to that. It could be a little over the top though for a direct translation of what you are trying to say.

[Wizzard of Oz]

kâat (คาด) or kâat wăng ( คาดหวัง) or kâat măai (คาดหมาย) might be correct for 'expect'

Do you think this sounds correct:

- Khao kâat (คาด) phom aw nangser ma dtee phom lerm

- Khao kâat wăng (คาดหวัง) phom aw nangser ma dtee phom lerm

- Khao kâat măai (คาดหมาย) phom aw nangser ma dtee phom lerm

(He expected me to bring it but I forgot to)

And for 'have expectations', maybe one of these?

- mii kwaam kâat wăng (ความคาดหวัง) / mii kwaam kâat măai (ความคาดหมาย) - 'have expectations'

- mai mii kwaam kâat wăng (ความคาดหวัง) / mai mii kwaam kâat măai (ความคาดหมาย) - 'have no expectations'

- mai mii kwaam kâat wăng sŏong (ความคาดหวังสูง ) / mai mii kwaam kâat măai sŏong (ความคาดหมายสูง ) - 'have high expectations'

Any comments from people who have used these words in speech before as to which is correct?

[luckyfarang]

POO(f) TAEN NAK(h) DTAWNG(f) TEEO(f) - - - - - - travel agent

KHAAT(f) WAA(f) - - - - - - - - - - to expect that…

KWAAM KHAAT(f) WANG® - - - - - - - - - expectations (I have never heard this used)

NAA(f) DAAN(f) - - - - - - - - - - - - shameless, brazen (literally: calloused face)

Edited December 18, 2007 by luckyfarang

[meadish_sweetball]

POO(f) TAEN NAK(h) DTAWNG(f) TEEO(f) - - - - - - travel agent

I've seen ตัวแทนท่องเที่ยว 'dtua thaen thawng thiao' used in Thai text, but never heard 'phuu thaen nak thawng thiao', and I don't get any Google hits on it either. Where did you get it from?

From my experience บริษัททัวร์ bawrísàd thua is the most common term in spoken Thai for 'travel agency'.

[luckyfarang]

POO(f) TAEN NAK(h) DTAWNG(f) TEEO(f) - - - - - - travel agent

I've seen ตัวแทนท่องเที่ยว 'dtua thaen thawng thiao' used in Thai text, but never heard 'phuu thaen nak thawng thiao', and I don't get any Google hits on it either. Where did you get it from?

From my experience บริษัททัวร์ bawrísàd thua is the most common term in spoken Thai for 'travel agency'.

I agree.

I heard it many years ago and have been using it ever since, never had a problem with it being understood. And POO(f) TAEN is synonymous with DTUA TAEN

[stateman]

7. 'naa[f] daan[f]'

Is this kind of like saying 'They don't even give a sh!t' when someone does something inconsiderate and disregarding how it affects others?

'naa[f] daan[f]' is thick skinned, shameless.

Example: The politician was caught in a corruption, but he was 'naa[f] daan[f]' and would not resign.