Questions About Questions

[Suradit]

In contemporary written Thai, e.g. sending an SMS or an email, if you ask a question I assume that it can be indicated with a " ? " or would you actually need to write

หรือเปล่า at the end of a sentence?

Also, in spoken Thai I tend to avoid saying หรือเปล่า since I suspect it sounds like I'm saying " or fish." Is ไม่ at the end of a question interchangeable with หรือเปล่า or are the two used in different contexts?

Thanks

Edited January 6, 2011 by Suradit

[Peppy]

Both ไหม mai and หรือเปล่า reu bplao can be used at the end of a sentence to turn it into a question. A simple question mark following a statement is not sufficient. Note that ไหม mai, with a rising tone or high tone*, is not to be confused with ไม่ mai, with a falling tone, which means "not" and is used before a verb.

หรือเปล่า reu bplao, if pronounced properly, shouldn't sound anything like ปลา bplah "fish". First of all, the tones are different: bplao has a low tone, whereas bplah has a mid-tone. Most obvious to speakers of non-tonal languages, though, are the vowels. Bplao rhymes with the English "how", while the "ah" in bplah sounds like what the doctor tells you to say when he's checking your mouth.

While ไหม mai and หรือเปล่า reu bplao are sometimes interchangeable, the difference is this: ไหม mai simply makes a statement a question, but หรือเปล่า reu bplao makes it a question with "or not", which may reflect a certain impatience or indifference on the part of the speaker. For example:

ชอบไหม Do you like it?

ชอบหรือเปล่า Do you like it (or not)?

ไปไหม Are you going? / Shall we go?

ไปหรือเปล่า Are you going (or aren't you)? / Shall we go (or not)?

เห็นไหม Do you see? / Did you see it?

เห็นหรือเปล่า Do you see (or don't you)? / Did you see it (or didn't you)?

หนาวไหม Are you cold?

หนาวหรือเปล่า Are you cold (or aren't you)?

นี่ถูกไหม Is this right?

นี่ถูกหรือเปล่า Is this right (or not)?

* Note that while ไหม is spelled in such a way as to suggest a rising tone, as often as not it is pronounced with a high tone, and in informal writing it is spelled มั้ย to reflect this.

[AjarnPasa]

For brevity in SMSing ปะ is often used as short hand for หรือเปล่า

'tis very slangy, but you see it all over Facebook

[Groongthep]

For brevity in SMSing ปะ is often used as short hand for หรือเปล่า

'tis very slangy, but you see it all over Facebook

I agree. For texting and social forum (like facebook) purposes, Thai is usually written in its own new abbreviated language just like English texting.