บ้าง

[ubonrthai]

I currently only use the word บ้าง when saying เป็นยังไงบ้าง. I know I keep hearing it elsewhere but don't quite understand how it's used. Would the below sentences be used fairly often?

มีอะไรต้องซื้อบ้าง what else do we need to buy?

ใครตอบผมได้บ้าง who can answer me?

มีอะไรเกิดขึ้นบ้างตอนผมไม่อยู่ what happened while i was gone?

รู้บ้างไหม Do you know?

What does บ้าง contribute to this last sentence? Can't you just say รู้ไหม

[kikenyoy]

Here's my guesses:

what else do we need to buy? ต้องซื้ออะไรอีกบ้าง

who can answer me? I agree with yours

what happened while i was gone? I'd just change the word order a bit: ตอนผมไม่อยู่มีอะไรบ้างเกิดขึ้น

If you want to ask "did anything happen while I was gone?" then it would be ตอนผมไม่อยู่มีอะไรเกิดขึ้นบ้าง

รู้บ้างไหม Do you know? I haven't heard this before. Just a guess, but I'd say รู้ไหม would be used to ask about a specific thing (fact) while รู้บ้างไหม would be asking about having general knowledge about a subject.

Another common usage is with questions like:

ชอบ (noun) แบบไหนบ้าง

What kinds of (food, movies, music, whatever) do you like?

[NewlyMintedThai]

Here's my take, for what it's worth.

บ้าง has two main of uses of which I'm aware.

The first is in a question where the person asking the question either wants or expects a reply in the plural.

For example:

ชอบเสื้อตัวไหนครับ ("which dress do you like?")

vs.

ชอบเสื้อตัวไหนบ้างครับ ("which dresses do you like?")

The other is to mean "somewhat", "sometimes", "at all" or "a bit", in both questions and statements (depending on context).

For example, in a question:

เธอรักฉันไหม ("do you love me?")

vs.

เธอรักฉันบ้างไหม ("do you love me at all?")

and in statements:

เขามีเงินบ้างแต่ไม่เชิงเป็นคนรวย ("he's got some money, but I wouldn't call him rich")

เมื่อก่อนพี่ไม่เที่ยวพัทยาเลยแตช่วงนีก็ไปบ้างแล้วครับ ("I never used to holiday in Pattaya, but sometimes I do these days")

[katana]

In some of the examples above, บ้าง is used as a marker in a question indicating you expect a list of things in the reply.

[Mole]

I don't know how to explain this properly but it's like a word indicating plural

For instance รู้ไหม means do you know?

but รู้บ้างไหม means do you know some?

[leosmith]

I currently only use the word บ้าง when saying เป็นยังไงบ้าง. I know I keep hearing it elsewhere but don't quite understand how it's used. Would the below sentences be used fairly often?

มีอะไรต้องซื้อบ้าง what else do we need to buy?

ใครตอบผมได้บ้าง who can answer me?

มีอะไรเกิดขึ้นบ้างตอนผมไม่อยู่ what happened while i was gone?

รู้บ้างไหม Do you know?

What does บ้าง contribute to this last sentence? Can't you just say รู้ไหม

I think the first 2 answers to your post were very good. Personally, I wouldn't use บ้าง in the examples you gave unless I was sure the answers would be a list. Your examples without บ้าง are correct imo, except for these sentence which I think are missing something else:

มีอะไรต้องซื้อบ้าง

มีอะไรเกิดขึ้นบ้างตอนผมไม่อยู่

Taking the first sentence as an example, I think this means "there are some things that need to be bought" because อะไร means "something" rather than "what" in this context. I think they should be

มีอะไรต้องซื้อบ้างไหม

มีอะไรเกิดขึ้นบ้างตอนผมไม่อยู่ไหม

But I could be wrong.

[FireInTheSky]

I would say to use บ้าง in questions when you expect more than one answer (like a list of things)

[tgeezer]

I currently only use the word บ้าง when saying เป็นยังไงบ้าง. I know I keep hearing it elsewhere but don't quite understand how it's used. Would the below sentences be used fairly often?

มีอะไรต้องซื้อบ้าง what else do we need to buy?

ใครตอบผมได้บ้าง who can answer me?

มีอะไรเกิดขึ้นบ้างตอนผมไม่อยู่ what happened while i was gone?

รู้บ้างไหม Do you know?

What does บ้าง contribute to this last sentence? Can't you just say รู้ไหม

I think the first 2 answers to your post were very good. Personally, I wouldn't use บ้าง in the examples you gave unless I was sure the answers would be a list. Your examples without บ้าง are correct imo, except for these sentence which I think are missing something else:

มีอะไรต้องซื้อบ้าง

มีอะไรเกิดขึ้นบ้างตอนผมไม่อยู่

Taking the first sentence as an example, I think this means "there are some things that need to be bought" because อะไร means "something" rather than "what" in this context. I think they should be

มีอะไรต้องซื้อบ้างไหม

มีอะไรเกิดขึ้นบ้างตอนผมไม่อยู่ไหม

But I could be wrong.

I don't think that you are wrong.

มีอะไร is a not specific thing มีอะไรบ้าง is some of a number of not specific things, physical or abstract. ชื้ออะไรบ้าง speaks for itself. but I will say it anyway, some purchases, คิดอะไรบ้าง some thoughts.

The RID say that บ้าง as a modifierม is used in four ways. 1 to show some of a number or some parts of the thing you are talking about; อย่างนี้บ้าง . ขอบ้าง 2. one of two parts; จริงบ้าง 3 to have a part in what is going on similar to ด้วย ; ขอเล็นบ้าง 4. to do the same; เห็นเขาทำก็ทำบ้าง.

If you make a statement which is non specific it tends to leave a question true or not.

There are things not specific: In English we reverse the order and add a question mark; Are there thing not specific? but in Thai as you know, you put ไหม on the end meaning 'or not'. บ้าง won't do this I think.