The Word(S) "only" In Thai

[gavin310]

I'm not taking any Thai courses, it's just my dictionary and my Thai friends, so some things are hard to grasp. Today my Thai friends had a hard time understanding what I was asking.

I'm wondering when to use 'diiao' and when to use 'eng'. For example, if I wanted to say, "I only want to buy water" would I say "pom yak suu nam diiao" or "pom yak suu nam eng"? In which context would I use both of these words?

Thanks for the help. I'll need to start up a Thai language course at some point, but for now I hope I can post on here when I have a question I can't get answered by my usual means.

[eeeya]

Wow.. too complicated..

Would never use those examples to buy water..

Kor naam plaou kwat krup

Doo eng.. by yourself

Duay. .. also/ with

Kor rising tone

Yaak .. falling tone

Someone will shoot me down and correct me soon

Edited March 6, 2013 by eeeya

[gavin310]

Wow.. too complicated.. Would never use those examples to buy water.. Kor naam plaou kwat krup Doo eng.. by yourself Duay. .. also/ with Yaak .. falling tone

Thanks for the reply. I'll simplify it and add more context. Say you tell your girlfriend that you're going to the store. She asks "suu arai?" I want to tell her I'm only buying water. Obviously I could just say "suu nam", but I want to include "only". Would I reply with "suu naam diiao" or "suu naam eng"? I don't want to specify if it's a bottle of water or anything like that.

[TommoPhysicist]

Only is pieng, kair and townan

Diow 'alone' or 'on its own' not really translated as only

Eng is translated as 'by itself' or 'on its own ....... but usually for a person not an object.

Edited March 6, 2013 by TommoPhysicist

[gavin310]

Only is pieng, tair and townan

Diow 'alone' or 'on its own' not really translated as only

Eng is translated as 'by itself' or 'on its own ....... but usually for a person not an object.

Thanks. Do you know which of those words would be the most commonly used one if I'm saying "only buy water"? Or can you not answer that without context?

[TommoPhysicist]

Ow nam plow nung kuat kap

Want drinking water, one bottle, thanks

Edited March 6, 2013 by TommoPhysicist

[GooEng]

You could say "seu nam yang diaw"' which does correctly mean "buy only water" but you wouldn't ask for water using that phrase, it would however be the a normal way to answer the question "bai seu aria?" Meaning "What are you going (to the shop) to buy?".

There are a number of ways as detailed above to ask for a bottle of water - by simply ordering that and nothing else the "only" is implied.

Seu nam plao kuat neung khrap - polite & formal

Nam plao kuat - abrupt but often used

Edited March 6, 2013 by GooEng

[gavin310]

You could say "seu nam yang diaw"' which does correctly mean "buy only water" but you wouldn't ask for water using that phrase, it would however be the a normal way to answer the question "bai seu aria?" Meaning "What are you going (to the shop) to buy?"

Thanks GooEng! That's what I wanted to know. I meant in response to someone asking what I'm buying, not how to buy water. Is ยัง the word you mean by "yang"?

[gavin310]

You could say "seu nam yang diaw"' which does correctly mean "buy only water" but you wouldn't ask for water using that phrase, it would however be the a normal way to answer the question "bai seu aria?" Meaning "What are you going (to the shop) to buy?".

Nevermind, I found the word. It's อย่าง (yaang). "Yaang diiao" is อย่างเดียว. It means "solely" or "one/only thing". I'm glad I know this now, it'll be useful. Thanks again GooEng.

[cosmono]

eng เอง is mostly used to express that you did something, as opposed to someone else, like going somewhere or doing something yourself ไปเอง / ทำเอง / ซื้อเอง.

diao is mostly used to express singularity. for example: one minute นาทีเดียว / one time ครั้งเดียว / being by yourself อยู่คนเดียว

hope this helps...

[gavin310]

eng เอง is mostly used to express that you did something, as opposed to someone else, like going somewhere or doing something yourself ไปเอง / ทำเอง / ซื้อเอง.

diao is mostly used to express singularity. for example: one minute นาทีเดียว / one time ครั้งเดียว / being by yourself อยู่คนเดียว

hope this helps...

Perfect. Thanks for the explanation. It's difficult to learn things like this from a dictionary.

[cooked]

แค่ -

just, only, merely, solely, no more and no less.

Using the word only is full of pitfalls as anyone who has taught English will know.

I may be wrong, don't wish to sow confusion.

[gavin310]

แค่ -

just, only, merely, solely, no more and no less.

Using the word only is full of pitfalls as anyone who has taught English will know.

I may be wrong, don't wish to sow confusion.

Thanks for this. From what I'm seeing แค่ / kae (rising) is used for lengths and distances. Good to know!

[Songhua]

แค่ -

just, only, merely, solely, no more and no less.

Using the word only is full of pitfalls as anyone who has taught English will know.

I may be wrong, don't wish to sow confusion.

Thanks for this. From what I'm seeing แค่ / kae (rising) is used for lengths and distances. Good to know!

You will also hear Thais use khae née at the end of a phone coversation in the 'that's it (for now)' sense or in conversation for 'that's all'.

[gavin310]

I have one more question, if you don't mind. Let's say I'm with a friend (a girl) and somebody asks if she's my girlfriend. I want to reply with "no, only friends". Would that be "mai chai, puuan diiao"? (I know I could just say "mai chai faan" but I'm only using this situation as an example.) Thanks for all the help!

Edited March 7, 2013 by gavin310

[GooEng]

Mai chai fenn, puen cheuy-cheuy khrap.

Not girlfriend, just a friend.

The word "cheuy" means "just" in this sense although can have other nuances in different contexts.

(Always stick a "khrap" on the end, it sometimes isn't necessary, but until you get familiar enough to know where/when/with whom to omit it, you'll never offend anyone by adding it. Thais appreciate people trying to speak their language, and even more so if you are making an effort to be polite and respectful.)

Edited March 7, 2013 by GooEng

[wprime]

phom yak sue nam plao eng = I want to buy water myself

phom yak sue nam plao khuat diaw = I want to buy just one bottle of water

phom yak sue kae nam plao = I want to buy just water

[cosmono]

I have one more question, if you don't mind. Let's say I'm with a friend (a girl) and somebody asks if she's my girlfriend. I want to reply with "no, only friends". Would that be "mai chai, puuan diiao"? (I know I could just say "mai chai faan" but I'm only using this situation as an example.) Thanks for all the help!

In your example, although not entirely grammatically correct without the classifier 'khon', if you use diao it would mean more something like she is my only friend instead of 'just friends'.

You could use 'khae' as in pen khae puan, but I think GooEng's suggestion sounds nicer.

Thanks for this. From what I'm seeing (rising) is used for lengths and distances. Good to know!

Btw. แค่ / kae has a falling tone, not rising

[GooEng]

Cosmono thx for the vote of confidence

I'm by no means an expert or fluent, I've learnt to speak the thai i know by the listen and ask method and picked up the reading much the same way.

My suggestions here and occasionally on other threads are mostly not the complete formal "school Thai" way of saying things, but the way I would probably say it based on what I've heard other Thais say.

With the thai language what is written (formal thai), and what is spoken differ a good deal.

"Pasa poot" meaning "spoken language" is far less structured, containing a lot of abbreviation and in some circumstances slangy expressions.

I must get my lazy 'arris in gear some time and get into a classroom and take that course in formal thai that I've been speaking about for the last 15 years and and learn the grammar!

Edited March 7, 2013 by GooEng

[eric67]

What I often hear Thais say for "we are just friends" is เราเป็นแค่เพื่อนกัน - rao bpen kae peuan gan

[tombkk]

I have one more question, if you don't mind. Let's say I'm with a friend (a girl) and somebody asks if she's my girlfriend. I want to reply with "no, only friends". Would that be "mai chai, puuan diiao"? (I know I could just say "mai chai faan" but I'm only using this situation as an example.) Thanks for all the help!

"puean diaow" is the only friend.

[tombkk]

แค่ -

just, only, merely, solely, no more and no less.

Using the word only is full of pitfalls as anyone who has taught English will know.

I may be wrong, don't wish to sow confusion.

Thanks for this. From what I'm seeing แค่ / kae (rising) is used for lengths and distances. Good to know!

Falling tone, as someone has already pointed out.

Anyway, "bai khae sue nam" - I am only going to buy water (referring to the reason why you are going, rather than what you are buying).

[TommoPhysicist]

just to point out Nam isn't water. Nam is liquid or river, then you have to specify what sort of liquid you want.

Nam man, petrol or oil

Nam som, orange flavoured liquid

Nam som sot, fresh orange juice

Nam kuat, fizzy drink

Nam dta, tears

And if you are wanting liquid of some sort, you also need to specify what container you are thinking of.

If you are daft enough to ask for 'nam' most of the time the answer will be 'arai na'

Edited March 10, 2013 by TommoPhysicist

[rgs2001uk]

^^^^, agreed,

ซื้อน้ำดื่มเท่านั้น buy (drinking) water only.

ซื้อน้ำดื่มเอง buy (drinking) water myself.

[rgs2001uk]

I have one more question, if you don't mind. Let's say I'm with a friend (a girl) and somebody asks if she's my girlfriend. I want to reply with "no, only friends". Would that be "mai chai, puuan diiao"? (I know I could just say "mai chai faan" but I'm only using this situation as an example.) Thanks for all the help!

Someone asks if its your girlfriend, these are two examples I can think of,

ผู้หญิงนี่เป็นใคร who is this lady?

เพื่อนผม my friend.

ผู้หญิงนี่เป็นแฟนหรือเปล่า is this lady your girlfriend (or not)?

ไม่ใช่เพื่อน no a friend

I strongly advise getting some Thai lessons, in Bkk they are as cheap as chips, 6,000 baht for 60 hours at a decent school.

There they will teach you regular speech patterns, and how to reply.

What you wont pick up here is tones and vowel length.

You may also find you start picking up bad speaking habits, they take a long time to break out of.

[tombkk]

I have one more question, if you don't mind. Let's say I'm with a friend (a girl) and somebody asks if she's my girlfriend. I want to reply with "no, only friends". Would that be "mai chai, puuan diiao"? (I know I could just say "mai chai faan" but I'm only using this situation as an example.) Thanks for all the help!

Someone asks if its your girlfriend, these are two examples I can think of,

ผู้หญิงนี่เป็นใคร who is this lady?

เพื่อนผม my friend.

ผู้หญิงนี่เป็นแฟนหรือเปล่า is this lady your girlfriend (or not)?

ไม่ใช่เพื่อน no a friend

I strongly advise getting some Thai lessons, in Bkk they are as cheap as chips, 6,000 baht for 60 hours at a decent school.

There they will teach you regular speech patterns, and how to reply.

What you wont pick up here is tones and vowel length.

You may also find you start picking up bad speaking habits, they take a long time to break out of.

ไม่ใช่เพื่อน no a friend

... or "not a friend". Depends how you say it.

kaho ไม่ใช่ faen, khao pen เพื่อน

makes it clearer. Sorry, this computer does not support Thai writing. I am glad that it displays correctly.

[tgeezer]

just to point out Nam isn't water. Nam is liquid or river, then you have to specify what sort of liquid you want.

Nam man, petrol or oil

Nam som, orange flavoured liquid

Nam som sot, fresh orange juice

Nam kuat, fizzy drink

Nam dta, tears

And if you are wanting liquid of some sort, you also need to specify what container you are thinking of.

If you are daft enough to ask for 'nam' most of the time the answer will be 'arai na'

Just for the record,

น้ำ is H2O basic word.

น้ำอัดลม is fizzy drink, but usually one uses a brand name for it.

น้ำมัน is oil

[gavin310]

I strongly advise getting some Thai lessons, in Bkk they are as cheap as chips, 6,000 baht for 60 hours at a decent school.

There they will teach you regular speech patterns, and how to reply.

What you wont pick up here is tones and vowel length.

You may also find you start picking up bad speaking habits, they take a long time to break out of.

I want to take Thai lessons. My tones and things like that are actually pretty good. I don't live in a tourist area, so most of my friends are Thai and we all know if you don't get the tone correct usually you won't be understood. Since I'm learning Thai mostly from a dictionary, I know many words, but I've never learned proper use of conjunctions and other basics for forming sentences. I know the words for but, or, and, if, because, etc. but I don't know how to use them correctly.

So yeah, I want to take Thai lessons but I live in an area with hardly any expats or farang in general. The closest big city to me is Chanthaburi, but so far I've only found one school in Chanthaburi that offers Thai lessons and can offer a visa, however they want 80,000 baht for 1 year. It's only private lessons so I guess the price makes sense. In Phuket, Bangkok, etc. there are schools with group lessons for 18,000-25,000 baht a year. Hopefully I can find one in Chanthaburi in this price range, but it's not looking good.

[tgeezer]

I strongly advise getting some Thai lessons, in Bkk they are as cheap as chips, 6,000 baht for 60 hours at a decent school.

There they will teach you regular speech patterns, and how to reply.

What you wont pick up here is tones and vowel length.

You may also find you start picking up bad speaking habits, they take a long time to break out of.

I want to take Thai lessons. My tones and things like that are actually pretty good. I don't live in a tourist area, so most of my friends are Thai and we all know if you don't get the tone correct usually you won't be understood. Since I'm learning Thai mostly from a dictionary, I know many words, but I've never learned proper use of conjunctions and other basics for forming sentences. I know the words for but, or, and, if, because, etc. but I don't know how to use them correctly.

So yeah, I want to take Thai lessons but I live in an area with hardly any expats or farang in general. The closest big city to me is Chanthaburi, but so far I've only found one school in Chanthaburi that offers Thai lessons and can offer a visa, however they want 80,000 baht for 1 year. It's only private lessons so I guess the price makes sense. In Phuket, Bangkok, etc. there are schools with group lessons for 18,000-25,000 baht a year. Hopefully I can find one in Chanthaburi in this price range, but it's not looking good.

If you know the conjunctions prepositions etc. then try looking them up in a Thai dictionary where you will find examples of use.

Have you tried thai-language.com ? there is plenty of help there too.

[Aforek]

For examples given above, I noticed 2 things

for me, I would say "ผู้หญิงคนนี่เป็นใคร ( คน = classifier ) instead of "ผู้หญิงนี่เป็นใคร

at the end of conversation by phone, my thai friends say : kae nee la