Nai ไหน

[katana]

Sometimes I see NAI ไหน at the beginning of a sentence

eg

ไหนลูกทัวร์ของแก ไม่รักษาเวลาเลย มารอนานแล้วนะ

ไหนบอกว่าไม่ได้ทำงาน

What does it mean here?

Thanks in advance.

[kriswillems]

ไหน probably refers to

คนไหน = which person = who

This is talking language. Normally you would write ใคร

Who is your tourist? He doesn't respect the (agreed) time/schedule at all. I've already been waiting long.

Who told you that I can not work?

My impression, but I might be wrong, is that Thai people use คนไหน when they know it's a person out of a certain group (of people) but they don't know exactly who. This word used a lot when people are gossiping.

(sorry for my English)

Edited October 21, 2008 by kriswillems

[Rikker]

At the beginning of a sentence like this, ไหน means something like "I thought you said X" or "Where are the X you were talking about?", as a way of mild confrontation.

ไหนบอกว่าไม่ได้ทำงาน "I thought you said you didn't work"

ไหนลูกทัวร์ของแก ไม่รักษาเวลาเลย มารอนานแล้วนะ "Where on earth is your tour group? They/you aren't keeping to the schedule. I've been waiting forever."

Edited October 22, 2008 by Rikker

[kriswillems]

Thanks Rikker. This is interesting. Maybe we can move this to the fixed constructions thread? This is a construction you'll not find in most schoolbooks.

ไหนบอกว่าไม่ได้ทำงาน "I thought you said you didn't work"

Could this also be interpreted as: where (on earth) did I say I didn't work?

This reason I ask this is because the first and the second example seems to have a different interpretation for the word ไหน.

Edited October 22, 2008 by kriswillems

[Rikker]

ไหนบอกว่าไม่ได้ทำงาน "I thought you said you didn't work"

Could this also be interpreted as: where (on earth) did I say I didn't work?

As far as I know, no. In this scenario, the person saying this would have to have been told something that now appears not to be true.

It's possible, though, that they aren't saying this to the person who actually did the lying, though. They might be making a comment to a friend, say, in which case it could mean "I thought he said he didn't work" (among other possible scenarios).

[katana]

Thanks Rikker.

"I thought you said X" or "Where are the X you were talking about?" fits it in the context I heard them.

ไหนลูกทัวร์ของแก ไม่รักษาเวลาเลย มารอนานแล้วนะ was from the film สบายดีหลวงพระบาง said by tourist guide น้อย on the phone to her boss when her client didn't show up on time.

ไหนบอกว่าไม่ได้ทำงาน I saw in the context of confusion over someone's work status (they seemed to have changed their story) - and they were being challenged over it. 'I thought you said you weren't working?'

As Kris said, all the dictionaries I looked in gave 'which, where, what' etc as translations for NAI ไหน, but none for when it appears at the start of a sentence as per the 2 examples above. Surprising really, since it seems to be quite a common construction in colloquial Thai, although maybe space considerations means it's left out since it's not easily translated by a single word.

[meadish_sweetball]

It's a great find katana. I couldn't find it any of my books either.

I've heard it used as in your second example several times and intuitively understood it, but when I tried to formulate a rule last night seeing this thread, I could only come up with that it is a way to introduce a confrontational sentence (also in a joking way). Anyways this explanation seemed incomplete and didn't quite fit in with your example one so I didn't reply.

Rikker's explanation rings true with my experience of this construction as well.

[tgeezer]

Sometimes I see NAI ไหน at the beginning of a sentence

eg

ไหนลูกทัวร์ของแก ไม่รักษาเวลาเลย มารอนานแล้วนะ

ไหนบอกว่าไม่ได้ทำงาน

What does it mean here?

Thanks in advance.

A thai says that it replaces ทำไม ตัวอย่าง คุณได้มาแล้วทำไมคุณบอกว่าจะไม่มา = ไหนบอกไม่มา I think that I have that right it seems to fit the two examples. Slightly accusative I think.