Question On "how"

[Boon Mee]

When used in the sentence: ผมจะพดคํานี้ได้อย่างไร ครับ "How do I say this word, please?" - "how" is written ได้อย่างไร

I've also used yang nai ย้งไง for "how" as well - usually by itself.

Thanks in advance for help here, guys!

บุญมี

[alleypanda]

How do I say this word, please

ผมจะพูดคำนี้อย่างไรครับ

How = ได้อย่างไร อย่างไร

But most of thais dont say อย่างไร because its too formal ,they tend to say ยังไง

ผมจะพูดคำนี้ยังไงครับ

[Boon Mee]

How do I say this word, please

ผมจะพูดคำนี้อย่างไรครับ

How = ได้อย่างไร  อย่างไร

But most of thais dont say อย่างไร because its too formal ,they tend to say ยังไง

ผมจะพูดคำนี้ยังไงครับ

ขอบคุณมากครับ alleypanda

บุญมี

[meadish_sweetball]

Excellent analysis, Alleypanda. I can only agree.

However, BoonMee, when you speak with your Thai teacher or read a text out aloud, read it the written, formal way, teachers tend to like that and also tend to tell you off if you pronounce it 'ยังไง' like everybody else.

[Boon Mee]

Excellent analysis, Alleypanda. I can only agree.

However, BoonMee, when you speak with your Thai teacher or read a text out aloud, read it the written, formal way, teachers tend to like that and also tend to tell you off if you pronounce it 'ยังไง' like everybody else.

Thanks Meadish, sounds like good advice.

บุญมี

[Khun Larry]

When used in the sentence: ฟมจะฟูดคํานี้ได้อย่างไร ครับ  "How do I say this word, please?"

A question about the above sentence. Is the literal translation

1. How do I say this word, please?

or

2. How do I say this word?

So where is the word "please"? Is "garuna" correct usage, some other word, or using krup is enough and please implied?

[Boon Mee]

When used in the sentence: ฟมจะฟูดคํานี้ได้อย่างไร ครับ   "How do I say this word, please?"

A question about the above sentence. Is the literal translation

1. How do I say this word, please?

or

2. How do I say this word?

So where is the word "please"? Is "garuna" correct usage, some other word, or using krup is enough and please implied?

Khun Larry~

The Krap implies please.

[meadish_sweetball]

Full agree with BoonMe. "Garunaa" is only appropriate for very formal contexts and in public signs and such - politeness takes different forms in different languages...

[RDN]

When used in the sentence: ฟมจะฟูดคํานี้ได้อย่างไร ครับ  "How do I say this word, please?" ...

บุญมี

You really gotta watch your p's and q's, or in this case your ผ's / พ's and your ฝ's / ฟ's!

[Boon Mee]

When used in the sentence: ฟมจะฟูดคํานี้ได้อย่างไร ครับ   "How do I say this word, please?" ...

บุญมี

You really gotta watch your p's and q's, or in this case your ผ's / พ's and your ฝ's / ฟ's!

Good catch, RDN. I'd blame it on these small - default fonts but should have cought it! Phom spelled with a "faw faa" sure would sound funny coming out as "foam"!

[Khun Larry]

Kop khun krup

[Jeddah Jo]

For the illiterate amongst us can anyone show phonetically how yang ngai should be intonated as it is the one interrogative that invariably gets blank looks from Thais I speak to. I'm either saying it wrong or just asking lots of stupid questions...

Maybe an example too if someone has time.

How do you know that? (Present tense)

or

How did you know that? (Past tense)

JJ.

[Firefoxx]

Thai is like English in that you can have various levels of formality/structure in saying the same thing:

ได้อย่างไร

อย่างไร

ยังไง

ไง

All have pretty much the same meaning.

For Jeddah:

อย่างไร is pronounced with yahng (low tone) rai (neutral tone)

A lot of foreigners don't realize that they use tones every day in English. For example, the word "computer" if pronounced normally, would have neutral tone, second tone, low tone. Thai is not as complicated as you might think.

Tense in Thai is made clear by adding words, not changing them:

How do you know that?

คุณรู้ได้ยังไง?

How did you know that?

คุณรู้เรื่ืองตอนนั้นได้ยังไง? Or ตอนนั้นคุณรู้ได้ยังไง?

Same as for plural:

How did you know those things?

ุคุณรู้เรื่องพวกนั้นได้ยังไง?