To say sentences like 'What makes you happy?', 'What makes you scared?' and so on should you put arai at the beginning of the sentence followed by tham hai? So for example would 'What makes you happy?' be อะไรทำให้สุขสบาย and 'What makes you scared?' be อะไรทำให้กลัว?

I think if you turn words around it would be more understandable for a Thai. For example(dont forget to add mee) มีกลัวอะไร instead of อะไรทำให้กลัว

Wouldn't that translate as 'What is scared?' rather than 'What makes you scared'?

Wouldn't that translate as 'What is scared?' rather than 'What makes you scared'?

One of the big language traps i fall into when learning Thai is copy and past the words literally. This is a big no go!

In answer to your question. Yes, but saying this being in the context of someone being scared this it will be understood. What i mean to say is if you ask someone in general what makes them scared you are out of context. I have learned that context is important in trying to learn to speak Thai.

Adding this extra dimension to my comprehensive Thai has opened a whole new chapter.

Hope i explained myself properly. I am sure other member can advice better then me.

Edited June 2, 201313 yr by Dancealot

I'm thinking of general questions that don't have any context, like you would ask at a party or on a date. What makes you happy, what makes you sad, what makes you laugh etc.

a-rai tam hai khun glua

อะไรทำให้คุณกลัว

is the correct question.

a-rai tam hai khun glua

อะไรทำให้คุณกลัว

is the correct question.

It is. But very, very direct.

To ask what kind of things make you scared it's คุณกลัวอะไรบ้าง .. it's a very general question, and that is what you should ask.

When you say อะไรทำให้คุณกลัว[หรือ]ครับ it means "What made you scared?" - as if you saw someone being scared and wondering what made it so. Different from the one above.

If you want to ask the same about happiness, I would actually ask "What is happiness [in your opinion]?" - [คุณว่า]ความสุขคืออะไร[นะครับ] I'm sure there's another way to ask it.

Even I am Thai, I'm confused.....

Why are you so good at Thai?