How To Use Pben, Man, And Kew

[aehn]

I do not understand the use of these 3 words, what is the difference, they all mean kinda "is" right?

For example, i can say anee pben dam, this is black, why cant i say anee kew man dam?

or, anee man talok, this is fun, but i cant say anee pben talok, or can i?

I am very confused, heh..

[rgs2001uk]

the problem you have is trying to make a straight translation word for word from english to thai.

you can not do this for the following reasons, thai language has no articles (a,an,the).

there is no verb,to be, with adjectives, she is pretty would be, tor suay, she pretty not she is pretty.

to use your examples, i would say anee cee dam, this one is black, i have never heard anee ben dam, it doesnt follow the thai language pattern as explained above.

anee kew man dam, i assume you are trying to say this glass is black, that would be ,kew nee dam , this glass is black.

anee man talok, should be anee talok, no need for man(it) for the reasons explained above.

i have never heard anee ben talok will be anee talok, again for the reasons explained above.

dont know where you live or where you are studying, suggest you buy a copy of thai for beginners, by benjawan poomsan becker, this will all be explianed in greater detail than i can offer.

[riga]

I do not understand the use of these 3 words, what is the difference, they all mean kinda "is" right?

For example, i can say anee pben dam, this is black, why cant i say anee kew man dam?

or, anee man talok, this is fun, but i cant say anee pben talok, or can i?

I am very confused, heh..

For Pen (เป็น) and Kew (คือ) it's not easy to explin the difference. They are really similar in meaning and

often they are interchangeables just giving to the sentence a different nouance.

You will maybe fin interesting this discussion on the same issue

http://www.thai-language.com/ubb_cgi/ultim...t=000072#000000

Man (I guess it's มัน), in your context I think it's not a verb. It is a pronoun (meaning "it") and in some sentences as the one you used it appear with the verb "to be" omitted.

Maybe other members will be more clear in their expenation

Edited August 14, 2008 by riga

[aehn]

the problem you have is trying to make a straight translation word for word from english to thai.

you can not do this for the following reasons, thai language has no articles (a,an,the).

there is no verb,to be, with adjectives, she is pretty would be, tor suay, she pretty not she is pretty.

to use your examples, i would say anee cee dam, this one is black, i have never heard anee ben dam, it doesnt follow the thai language pattern as explained above.

anee kew man dam, i assume you are trying to say this glass is black, that would be ,kew nee dam , this glass is black.

anee man talok, should be anee talok, no need for man(it) for the reasons explained above.

i have never heard anee ben talok will be anee talok, again for the reasons explained above.

dont know where you live or where you are studying, suggest you buy a copy of thai for beginners, by benjawan poomsan becker, this will all be explianed in greater detail than i can offer.

thank you for the answer

No i dont try to translate directly from english to thai, but i do often hear "pben" before something that they describe, and also i hear "keew" in a smiliar way (not referring to gaeo, glass, i dont have thai letters on my computer, heh) and also "man", but i have not yet figured out how to use it correctly.

And actually do believe that you can say man talok for example, but yeah, i am comfused, thats why i am asking, hehe

Edited August 14, 2008 by aehn

[aehn]

I do not understand the use of these 3 words, what is the difference, they all mean kinda "is" right?

For example, i can say anee pben dam, this is black, why cant i say anee kew man dam?

or, anee man talok, this is fun, but i cant say anee pben talok, or can i?

I am very confused, heh..

For Pen (????) and Kew (???) it's not easy to explin the difference. They are really similar in meaning and

often they are interchangeables just giving to the sentence a different nouance.

You will maybe fin interesting this discussion on the same issue

http://www.thai-language.com/ubb_cgi/ultim...t=000072#000000

Man (I guess it's ???), in your context I think it's not a verb. It is a pronoun (meaning "it") and in some sentences as the one you used it appear with the verb "to be" omitted.

Maybe other members will be more clear in their expenation

ok, great will check out the link. Thank you

[rak sa_ngop]

and also "man", but i have not yet figured out how to use it correctly.

You may also be hearing 'men' เเม่ีน which is Laos/Isaan for the verb 'to be' generally used with objects.

[mangkorn]

Is there a spelling error in that Lao word, rak sa_ngop?

In any event, the OP seems to be referring the Thai "man" meaning "it," as riga points out. One common construction is "man ja bpen..."

(Sorry, can't seem to get Thai script working since I upgraded my Mac OS to Leopard. Anyone out there have a solution? Thanks.)

[meadish_sweetball]

man มัน is never a verb. It is a third person pronoun roughly corresponding to 'it'.

มันตลก man talok can be literally back-translated as 'it funny' to see the structure - the lack of a copula makes it ungrammatical in English. If you were to translate it properly, it would be 'it is funny'.

In dialects as well as in less polite Central Thai (street lingo, or when deliberately being rude), มัน man is used to refer to people as well (he, she). In dialects like Northern Thai, this is not an intentionally rude manner of reference, but normal when talking about close friends and family members.

However, for learners of Central Thai, it is NOT advisable to refer to an actual person using the pronoun มัน man.

Adjectives take no copula (linking 'be' verb) in Thai. So when you hear มัน inserted it is a case of inserting an extra third person pronoun.

[Johpa]

For Pen (เป็น) and Kew (คือ) it's not easy to explin the difference.

Pen (เป็น) tends to act as a traditional verb, the verb 'to be' in English, used after a subject as in 'phom pen chao saharaat ( I am an American). But in Thai, as in many of the world's languages the verb 'to be' is often, but not always, deleted in ordinary simple sentence formation, technically known to cunning linguists as, you guys are going to love this one, copula deletion.

Khuu (คือ) tends to introduce a topic or comment, and might be translated in English as 'that is....'.

[rak sa_ngop]

Is there a spelling error in that Lao word, rak sa_ngop?

In any event, the OP seems to be referring the Thai "man" meaning "it," as riga points out. One common construction is "man ja bpen..."

(Sorry, can't seem to get Thai script working since I upgraded my Mac OS to Leopard. Anyone out there have a solution? Thanks.)

I don't have Lao script and of course Lao tones are different so I copied เเม่ีน with the Lao spelling just changing the Lao letter equivalent to 'น' for the Thai น

[mangkorn]

Sorry, I meant the vowel(s). What is that?

[CSS]

Sorry, I meant the vowel(s). What is that?

In Lao one possible translation for the verb to be is ແມ່ນ ແອ equates to แอ

though I agree with you, and the OP was probably referring to มัน and not ແມ່ນ

Edited August 16, 2008 by CSS

[aehn]

Sorry, I meant the vowel(s). What is that?

In Lao one possible translation for the verb to be is ???? ?? equates to ??

though I agree with you, and the OP was probably referring to ??? and not ????

yup, correct

[aehn]

thanks guys, although i still do not understand it all, some of it has turned out to be a little bit clearer for me.

Thanks!