Thai For "classifier"

[Andrew Mac]

Hello there, Thai language gurus!

Sorry to bother you, but I have one quick little question that I can't seem to find an answer for, so I thought I might ask here ...

Does anyone happen to know if the Thais have a common (or even technical) term for what we in English tend to call a "classifier"?

If there isn't in fact such a term in general use, does anyone know how I would a question in Thai along the lines of "what do you call the classifier for this [thing]"? I guess it would have to be something like "how do you refer to this [thing]" or something like that. It's hard to imagine how I'd go about asking in the absence of a useful term, but I'm sure you people can come up with some brilliant way of doing it!

If anyone can give me a bit of help with this, I'd much appreciate it ... and if you can give me a reply in Thai script, that would be even better!

Thanks in advance for any help you can give

:-)

[bina]

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...&hl=classifiers

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...&hl=classifiers

do a forum search: talked lots about thai and classifiers; they have them for every thing.... good luck to you

[Andrew Mac]

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...&hl=classifiers

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...&hl=classifiers

do a forum search: talked lots about thai and classifiers; they have them for every thing.... good luck to you

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks so much ... that first link had what I wanted: the term Åѡɳ¹ÒÁ . I did try a search through the forums, and I saw all the discussions in various posts about the classifiers used, but that wasn't exactly what I wanted. I'd even scanned through that post, but ... um ... somehow I missed the bit where it actually mentioned the word I wanted.

I really appreciate your help, but I'm really sorry to have wasted your time ... and I apologise in advance to anyone else who takes a few minutes to read this unnecessary thread! If anyone has the ability to delete it, please feel free to do so.

[Abandon]

Although you now have the word - do not expect any Thai to know what it or you mean. If you ask "what is the laksana naam for books" no one will be able to tell you. It's a bit like when I tried to teach English and the students told me I had just written somehting in the passive voice. I thought "my arn't I clever". I'd heard of it before, and it was lodged somewhere in the dim recesses of my memory, but could not have told anyone what passive voice is.

I usually us 'an' for the classifier, and then ask - if I didn't use 'an' what word would I use..... I have books three ..?..... and then they can tell me.

[Andrew Mac]

Although you now have the word - do not expect any Thai to know what it or you mean. If you ask "what is the laksana naam for books" no one will be able to tell you. It's a bit like when I tried to teach English and the students told me I had just written somehting in the passive voice. I thought "my arn't I clever". I'd heard of it before, and it was lodged somewhere in the dim recesses of my memory, but could not have told anyone what passive voice is.

I usually us 'an' for the classifier, and then ask - if I didn't use 'an' what word would I use..... I have books three ..?.....  and then they can tell me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for the additional words of caution! I already had a sneaking suspicion that even if the word I was looking for did exist, it may not have been commonly used ... which was why I put in the bit about "in common usage" in my original post

[Jack Jones]

Although you now have the word - do not expect any Thai to know what it or you mean. If you ask "what is the laksana naam for books" no one will be able to tell you. It's a bit like when I tried to teach English and the students told me I had just written somehting in the passive voice. I thought "my arn't I clever". I'd heard of it before, and it was lodged somewhere in the dim recesses of my memory, but could not have told anyone what passive voice is.

I disagree slighly in that when I ask my girlfriend for the classifier for a certain object then she usually gives me the correct word.

[Abandon]

Once you get someone trained up, then they will always know what you are asking. Personally I don't have much regular contact with anyone, so it's always someone new that I ask.

[taotoey]

ถ้าคุณนับจำนวนหนังสือ คุณนับเป็นเล่ม(lem)

If you count books, you use "lem" as a classifier.

ถ้าคุณนับจำนวน"ดินสอ" คุณนับเป็นอะไร

If you count "pencils", what classifier do you use?

[the scouser]

เป็นเเท่ง

Scouse.

[Andrew Mac]

Thanks everyone!

You've all given me some really useful ideas

[Jack Jones]

Andrew, if you buy the Thai English dictionary by Becker, there is a section at the back which list all objects and their classifiers.

[Andrew Mac]

Andrew, if you buy the Thai English dictionary by Becker, there is a section at the back which list all objects and their classifiers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Jack! Thanks for the suggestion. I have that book already, and a few other lists of classifiers in various other reference materials ... the trouble is, I still haven't memorised a lot of the classifiers for the words I have learnt so far. I know that's my fault, because I firmly believe I should always try to memorise the classifier at the same time as the noun, but ... um ... I'm afraid my discipline hasn't always matched my good intentions.

So, since I now appreciate that my original post hadn't made it entirely clear, what I was really looking for was a way in which I could ask someone (in Thai) "what is the classifier for this [thing]?", which I was hoping would be able to serve me well for those times when I realise I can't remember the classifier but don't have any of those books and lists handy.

Thanks again for everyone's kind advice.