Andrew Mac Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 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 :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bina Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Mac Posted March 16, 2005 Author Share Posted March 16, 2005 http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...&hl=classifiershttp://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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abandon Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Mac Posted March 16, 2005 Author Share Posted March 16, 2005 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Jones Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abandon Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taotoey Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the scouser Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 เป็นเเท่ง Scouse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Mac Posted March 17, 2005 Author Share Posted March 17, 2005 Thanks everyone! You've all given me some really useful ideas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Jones Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 Andrew, if you buy the Thai English dictionary by Becker, there is a section at the back which list all objects and their classifiers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Mac Posted March 17, 2005 Author Share Posted March 17, 2005 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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