How to ask simply " can I "

[bookie baitface]

Hi everyone I know how to say I need and I would like but how do you just say "can I? I have an app on my phone but it's pretty basic and doesn't say, also I would like to thank the forum for answering my questions, it's greatly appreciated

[MaeJoMTB]

die my

[bookie baitface]

Kortort na krap Pom tingtong, Pom roo "Mai die" is " can not"

[Tywais]

Moved to Thai Language forum.

[partington]

"Dai mai" is a correct way to ask "can I?", and doesn't mean the same as "mai dai".

The word "mai" in these two phrases are different words, and the order and tone is important.

In "dai mai" "mai" is a question, and has a high tone: can you, can I, etc do something.

In "mai dai" "mai" means no or not, and has a falling tone: I can't, you can't etc. do something.

Edited November 16, 2015 by partington

[bookie baitface]

Mai luem, thank you, couple more questions, how you say "work" " I will" and " I will say"

[p_brownstone]

You really need to add more information as to the context in which you expect to use these phrases:

For example - "Dai Mai" (ได้ไม่) could certainly be used in an informal situation ("can I sit here" for example) but in a formal setting one would more properly say "Kor Anuyat" (ขออนุญาต) ("may I have your permission to sit here") but again it depends largely on the context of the overall conversation and the participants.

Your request "how you say "work" " I will" and " I will say" " simply cannot be properly answered without context.

Patrick

Edited November 16, 2015 by p_brownstone

[KhunBENQ]

Good luck with correctly pronouncing these syllables

To the best I know:

dai (dye) has four different meanings depending on tone.

mai (my) at least four different meanings depending on tone.

Some funny mixups possible.

For me it comes just after all permutations of kao, khao

Transcription form thai2english.com:

ข้าว kâao rice
เก้า gâo nine
เก่า gào [to be] old ; former ; previous
เข่า kào knee
เข้า kâo enter ; reach ; get into
ข่าว kàao news ; information
ก้าว gâao progress ; step forward
คาว kaao [to be] fishy ; stinking ; smelly
เกา gao scratch ; scrape
เขา kăo he ; she ; him ; her ; they ; them

Edited November 16, 2015 by KhunBENQ

[bookie baitface]

Chuay duay my Buddha, Pom yak die pood Thai dee mak mak, make sense?

[Johnniey]

You really need to add more information as to the context in which you expect to use these phrases:

For example - "Dai Mai" (ได้ไม่) could certainly be used in an informal situation ("can I sit here" for example) but in a formal setting one would more properly say "Kor Anuyat" (ขออนุญาต) ("may I have your permission to sit here") but again it depends largely on the context of the overall conversation and the participants.

Your request "how you say "work" " I will" and " I will say" " simply cannot be properly answered without context.

Patrick

tham ngan - work

Pom ja.... - I will

Pom ja poot - I will say

[Johnniey]

Chuay duay my Buddha, Pom yak die pood Thai dee mak mak, make sense?

Can you help me buddha, I want to speak Thai very well.

pom yaak pood passaa thai geng mak - I want to speak Thai very well

[SlyAnimal]

If you want to say "Can I" as in, "Can I have", then actually the "Can I" part isn't required in Thai. Where usually they'd just say "Ow ___ krab", which is more kinda like "I'll take" or "Give me", although the equivalent of adding the "Can I" in front to make it more polite would change the sentence to "Ow ____ noi krab". Alternativley, if you were at say a restaurant or something with a more formal setting, you could use "Kor" instead of "Ow", which is simply a little more formal, whereas "Ow" is more casual.

Also with "Noi", you can use it with most things, e.g. Can you look after my bag? "Fark Gra-Pow Noi Krab". Also as a general note, if you're trying to go through these word by word, in Thai they don't usually use the word for I or you all the time like we do in English, as people should know from the context of the conversation. Likewise they don't need to denote ownership, it's just "the bag" rather than "my bag". In fact, often you don't even need to say that it's a bag, many people would just shorten it to "Can you look after" "Fark Noi Krab", without necessarily even including the word for This "nee".

The "Dai Mai" "Can I" is more usually related to your ability to do or not do something. e.g. can you swim? "wai namh dai mai" Can you eat spicy food? "Gin A-Harn Pet Dai Mai". The answer for which, is in a slightly different form to in English as well, as it's usually just going to be "Dai krab" (Can) or "Gin Dai krab" (Eat Can), as opposed to yes or no.

Sometimes the differences in how we use words in English & Thai can be a bit confusing, as we have multiple meanings for the same word in English, but it might have different words in Thai, and vice versa.

Sorry for not adding the Thai spellings for those, as that makes the tones etc harder, but I think the OP only wants transliterations anyway (And I type slowly in Thai, as have to always check spelling, so am lazy lol).

Anywho, feel free to ask more questions on stuff and hopefully people can help you out

[Sheryl]

"Dai Mai" (ได้ไม่) is the usual collequial way of asking (added at the end of the sentence i.e. "sit here, dai mai?')

But note it is more specific in meaning than the English "can I" or "may I" which have borad uses . It literally means, "is it possible?" and is not usually used just to be polite if it is clear the thing in question is possible, whereas in English "can I" or "may I" often is. For that, you would just preface the request with a polite word like Kor (please give me) On the other hand, if the request is one you are not sure can be honored -- or have reason to think might be an imposition -- then "dai mai" is very appropriate and makes it easy for the other person to refuse.

Likewise when replied to in the negative "mai dai" it does not necessarily mean the person is choosing to refuse your request, it can also mean -- in fact often means -- that your request is not possible, i.e. "can't be done", which could be for a whole host of reasons. Though I find Thais are rather fond of saying "mai dai" as a default whenever they are unsure of something, so it can also just mean "I'm not sure what it is you are asking so I don't want to commit myself/ don't want to try to figure it out".

[Johnniey]

If you want to say "Can I" as in, "Can I have", then actually the "Can I" part isn't required in Thai. Where usually they'd just say "Ow ___ krab", which is more kinda like "I'll take" or "Give me", although the equivalent of adding the "Can I" in front to make it more polite would change the sentence to "Ow ____ noi krab". Alternativley, if you were at say a restaurant or something with a more formal setting, you could use "Kor" instead of "Ow", which is simply a little more formal, whereas "Ow" is more casual.

Also with "Noi", you can use it with most things, e.g. Can you look after my bag? "Fark Gra-Pow Noi Krab". Also as a general note, if you're trying to go through these word by word, in Thai they don't usually use the word for I or you all the time like we do in English, as people should know from the context of the conversation. Likewise they don't need to denote ownership, it's just "the bag" rather than "my bag". In fact, often you don't even need to say that it's a bag, many people would just shorten it to "Can you look after" "Fark Noi Krab", without necessarily even including the word for This "nee".

The "Dai Mai" "Can I" is more usually related to your ability to do or not do something. e.g. can you swim? "wai namh dai mai" Can you eat spicy food? "Gin A-Harn Pet Dai Mai". The answer for which, is in a slightly different form to in English as well, as it's usually just going to be "Dai krab" (Can) or "Gin Dai krab" (Eat Can), as opposed to yes or no.

Sometimes the differences in how we use words in English & Thai can be a bit confusing, as we have multiple meanings for the same word in English, but it might have different words in Thai, and vice versa.

Sorry for not adding the Thai spellings for those, as that makes the tones etc harder, but I think the OP only wants transliterations anyway (And I type slowly in Thai, as have to always check spelling, so am lazy lol).

Anywho, feel free to ask more questions on stuff and hopefully people can help you out

This post is wrong.

"Pen" is used for ability as in "wai nam pen mai"

"Wai" is also often for not being able to do somethng - ie out jogging and you are "mot laew"

you would say "mai wai laew"

Also, the OP doesn't mean "can I" as in can I have.

[Aforek]

From Mod, famous Thai teacher on the Internet ( phonetics )

"Can I take a picture"? "Kaw tai roop dai mai ?"

"Can you take a picture" ( you ask somebody to do something ) " Chuai tai roop dai mai ?"

"Can I have wi-fi password" ( in a coffee shop ) "Kaw ra hat wi fi dai mai" ? ( don't say : kaw mi ra hat wifi dai mai )

For pen and dai, 2 exemples

wai nam pen ( can you swim, have you learnt how to swim ?)

wai nam dai ( can you swim, for instance you have the capacity to swim because you have learnt it but if you are tired have you enough strength to swim ? )

wai ( in mai wai, see above ) is used for a physical capacity

Edited November 18, 2015 by Aforek

[SlyAnimal]

If you want to say "Can I" as in, "Can I have", then actually the "Can I" part isn't required in Thai. Where usually they'd just say "Ow ___ krab", which is more kinda like "I'll take" or "Give me", although the equivalent of adding the "Can I" in front to make it more polite would change the sentence to "Ow ____ noi krab". Alternativley, if you were at say a restaurant or something with a more formal setting, you could use "Kor" instead of "Ow", which is simply a little more formal, whereas "Ow" is more casual.

Also with "Noi", you can use it with most things, e.g. Can you look after my bag? "Fark Gra-Pow Noi Krab". Also as a general note, if you're trying to go through these word by word, in Thai they don't usually use the word for I or you all the time like we do in English, as people should know from the context of the conversation. Likewise they don't need to denote ownership, it's just "the bag" rather than "my bag". In fact, often you don't even need to say that it's a bag, many people would just shorten it to "Can you look after" "Fark Noi Krab", without necessarily even including the word for This "nee".

The "Dai Mai" "Can I" is more usually related to your ability to do or not do something. e.g. can you swim? "wai namh dai mai" Can you eat spicy food? "Gin A-Harn Pet Dai Mai". The answer for which, is in a slightly different form to in English as well, as it's usually just going to be "Dai krab" (Can) or "Gin Dai krab" (Eat Can), as opposed to yes or no.

Sometimes the differences in how we use words in English & Thai can be a bit confusing, as we have multiple meanings for the same word in English, but it might have different words in Thai, and vice versa.

Sorry for not adding the Thai spellings for those, as that makes the tones etc harder, but I think the OP only wants transliterations anyway (And I type slowly in Thai, as have to always check spelling, so am lazy lol).

Anywho, feel free to ask more questions on stuff and hopefully people can help you out

This post is wrong.

"Pen" is used for ability as in "wai nam pen mai"

"Wai" is also often for not being able to do somethng - ie out jogging and you are "mot laew"

you would say "mai wai laew"

Also, the OP doesn't mean "can I" as in can I have.

Do you know any Thai people who would actually say "Gin Pet bpen Mai?", rather than "Gin pet Dai Mai?" They're both correct, but Dai Mai is generally how people are going to say it, and it'd sound a bit weird otherwise (Double checking with my wife though, she did say that maybe some Isaan people say it that way).

With something like swimming or driving, where it's more of an ability, that you can either do or not, where it's almost interchangeable. As although the two have slightly different meanings, in most contexts they mean essentially the same thing. Which is why in English, we don't even really differentiate between the two, and usually just use "can" for both.

For explaining to a beginner, it's much easier to simply use "Dai", rather than differentiating between the two.

And please elaborate about how the other parts of my post were wrong. Since to read your post, you seem to be saying that it's all wrong, when its most definitely not.

Also the OP didn't make it clear as to what context they meant with their post, which is why I explained multiple different meanings for can. So I don't know why you decided to specifically point out that "The OP didn't mean can I, as in "can I have"", particularly when it's important to explain some of the different translations for a word like "can", to ensure they don't just do direct translations.

[Aforek]

It's true that I hear very often " poot thai dai ", instead of " poot thai pen ", which, in absolute, is more correct; but I hear very often ( for instance my GF, who is not from Issan ) " tam me pen ", when she want to say " I can't do it " )

[rak sa_ngop]

"Dai Mai" (ได้ไม่) is the usual collequial way of asking (added at the end of the sentence i.e. "sit here, dai mai?')

Surely the correct way to spell this is ได้ไหม as it is an interrogative and pronounced as a rising tone or colloquially as a high tone.

[tgeezer]

Thai hangs together if you try for one meaning for each word.

Interestingly ไหม is the question หรือไม่ , "or not" เป็นไหม: is it the case or not (the case) the answer 'yes' เป็น or 'no' ไม่.

ได้ไหม get or not (get). The answer is 'yes'=repeat the verb ได้ or 'not' ไม่ ='not'. You 'get' an ability to do something. If you put ได้ before a verb you have 'got' that verb.: ได้กิน 'eaten'.

Thai doesn't need ได้ to show past tense so it is said to be a literary tool. The English influence may be seen if you think of the result of 'to get' is 'to have' you can even get the past perfect tense: ได้กิน: 'have eaten'!

[Richard W]

The English influence may be seen if you think of the result of 'to get' is 'to have' you can even get the past perfect tense: ได้กิน: 'have eaten'!

Parallelism, surely?

[tgeezer]

What does parallelism mean to you?

Thai has not developed in a vacuum, it is very much influenced by other languages.

You have to question ได้ > รับมาหรือตกมาเป็นของตัว. being used before a verb and the need to explain it in a dictionary.

I think that only learners could be interested in this because most people don't analyse there own language, they just know what they mean.

"Alots happened since I last saw you." To some people 'alots' a word!

[uptheos]

If you want to say "Can I" as in, "Can I have", then actually the "Can I" part isn't required in Thai. Where usually they'd just say "Ow ___ krab", which is more kinda like "I'll take" or "Give me", although the equivalent of adding the "Can I" in front to make it more polite would change the sentence to "Ow ____ noi krab". Alternativley, if you were at say a restaurant or something with a more formal setting, you could use "Kor" instead of "Ow", which is simply a little more formal, whereas "Ow" is more casual.

Also with "Noi", you can use it with most things, e.g. Can you look after my bag? "Fark Gra-Pow Noi Krab". Also as a general note, if you're trying to go through these word by word, in Thai they don't usually use the word for I or you all the time like we do in English, as people should know from the context of the conversation. Likewise they don't need to denote ownership, it's just "the bag" rather than "my bag". In fact, often you don't even need to say that it's a bag, many people would just shorten it to "Can you look after" "Fark Noi Krab", without necessarily even including the word for This "nee".

The "Dai Mai" "Can I" is more usually related to your ability to do or not do something. e.g. can you swim? "wai namh dai mai" Can you eat spicy food? "Gin A-Harn Pet Dai Mai". The answer for which, is in a slightly different form to in English as well, as it's usually just going to be "Dai krab" (Can) or "Gin Dai krab" (Eat Can), as opposed to yes or no.

Sometimes the differences in how we use words in English & Thai can be a bit confusing, as we have multiple meanings for the same word in English, but it might have different words in Thai, and vice versa.

Sorry for not adding the Thai spellings for those, as that makes the tones etc harder, but I think the OP only wants transliterations anyway (And I type slowly in Thai, as have to always check spelling, so am lazy lol).

Anywho, feel free to ask more questions on stuff and hopefully people can help you out

Absolutely correct.

[Aforek]

An other discussion about pen and dai ; there is a subtlely in the term " ability to do something ", it's not always " dai ", it depends of the context

http://www.thai-language.com/forums/t/linguistics/phonetics/t3687

it comes from David Houston, who I guess is a member of this forum

"

The difference in Thai between the words “ได้” and “เป็น” constitutes one of the interesting hurdles to learning. The difference is subtle but meaningful. My library here is limited so if any of you can provide a better articulation than I can, please do so.

The word “ได้” has a number of different meanings, one of which is to express the extent of a speaker’s ability to perform a certain task or action. If the speaker says “ได้”, he means that he is unconstrained from performing the action, even though he might have the ability to do so. If he says “ไม่ได้” he means he is constrained from performing the task or action, even though he has the physical and intellectual ability to do so. Here is what the RID says:

ได้ - คํากริยามีความหมายต่างๆ แล้วแต่ความแวดล้อม คือ อาจ, สามารถ, เช่น เดินได้ เขียนได้ . . .
“a verb with various meanings depending on the environment (in which it is used), including, ‘might’, ‘able’, for example, ‘(within a distance which can be reached by walking)’, ‘it can be written’ . . .

The word “เป็น”, on the other hand indicates that the person does have the ability to perform a task or action, whether or not it is appropriate to do so or whether or not the person is constrained from doing so. Here is the relevant portion of the RID definition:

เป็น ๒ ก. สามารถ, ได้, เช่น เต้นเป็น รําเป็น.

“ (meaning) 2, verb. is able to, can, for example, ‘knows how to jitterbug’, ‘knows how to dance.”

Some examples: Someone asks a girl at a wedding whether she would like to dance:

If she says, “เต้นไม่เป็น” she might mean, “I do not know how to dance.”
If she says, “เต้นไม่ได้” she might mean, “Sorry, I would love to dance, but I have to take care of my baby sister so I can’t right now.”

Edited November 22, 2015 by Aforek

[Richard W]

What does parallelism mean to you?

Thai has not developed in a vacuum, it is very much influenced by other languages.

If it were English influence, Thai would use มี for the past. For another parallel, if you look at a list of Nepali auxiliaries, you will see that Nepali _paaunu_ 'to get', 'to receive' as an auxiliary is quite similar to Thai ได้, and indeed Nepali _dinu_ 'to give' is very similar to Thai ให้.

You have to question ได้ > รับมาหรือตกมาเป็นของตัว. being used before a verb and the need to explain it in a dictionary.

I think that only learners could be interested in this because most people don't analyse there own language, they just know what they mean.

The technical phrase for the origin of what's going on here is 'serial verb' - Thais (and speakers of related languages) tend to use long sequences of verbs where English speakers would tend to split them up - typically 'Go to the market and buy some eggs', a complex sentence, whereas Thais would say 'Go buy some eggs in the market', a fairly simple sentence by Thai standards. Some usages tend to acquire conventional meanings, and those with ได้ are a good example. ได้กินเข้า = 'get and eat rice' i.e. 'got and ate some rice', pretty much means 'ate some rice', and the phrase has been generalised from there. The Western European 'have' perfect has a similar origin in Latin, and originally the past participle agreed with the direct object. This even occurs occasionally in Old English, and many of us will remember the agreement rule for the 'preceding direct object' in French.

As to dictionaries, dictionary writers make an effort to define all the words they record.

"Alots happened since I last saw you." To some people 'alots' a word!

Do you think such people have a command of English? If so, can they turn the sentence into a question? If so, how?

[slipperylobster]

Never thought of using Thai Visa to learn Thai, or get translations.

I use several online resources. There are even android apps where you speak your phrase, and the translation is spoken back.

Google translate also works....or just google "how do I say ..........in thai"

[tgeezer]

Richard. There may well be a verb มี which is said to be 'have' that shows เจ้าของ มีเงิน มีลูก, มี like ได้ can't be applied to a verb in series, they both need nouns.

ได้ ก. รับมาหรือตกมาเป็นของตัว that means both 'get' and 'have' .

The explanation of ได้ before a verb said to be คำช่วยกริยาบอกอตีด I am suggesting that although to you and I กินแล้ว is enough to say that the act is done, อดีต น เวลาที่ล่วงแล้ว says tells a time which is past. The fact that it is a literary tool makes me wonder if it a concept needed in a simple language like Thai; past perfect is useful and would need to be translated into Thai.

ได้ is implicit in กินข้าว so never needs ได้ .

I cheated at this point because I am getting out of my depth and found.

พาสเพอ past perfect and พาสซิม past simple: ฉันได้กินพิซซ่า ก่อนที่ฉันเข้านอน which could be as easily said ฉันกินพิซซ่าก่อนเข้านอน with no loss of meaning.

I think that people who say things like '' Alots meaning A lot has... ' consider that they speak English, I don't think that they would be troubled if it were seen as a lack of command of English. I have pointed out that "could of' should be said 'could have' to teens and they have been amused.

[naboo]

I figured -

dai = possible

pen = able

Its not perfect, but helps me to choose the correct word.

Looking at a toad in the garden - "A-nee gin dai mai" would work whereas "A-nee gin pen mai" would be wrong.

Whereas looking at a manual motorbike with a friend - "Nong kee rot nee pen mai" is fine, whereas to ask "Nong kee rot nee dai mai" would bring into the question the possibility that the owner of the motorbike might not allow it.

[bookie baitface]

Google translate also works....or just google "how do I say ..........in thai"

Google translate is mai dee,teaches me wrong stuff and makes me speak as a women would, mai chob

[Richard W]

Richard. There may well be a verb มี which is said to be 'have' that shows เจ้าของ มีเงิน มีลูก, มี like ได้ can't be applied to a verb in series, they both need nouns.

ได้ ก. รับมาหรือตกมาเป็นของตัว that means both 'get' and 'have' .

Are you claiming เลื่อกเอากินปลาอะไร isn't Thai?

The explanation of ได้ before a verb said to be คำช่วยกริยาบอกอตีด I am suggesting that although to you and I กินแล้ว is enough to say that the act is done, อดีต น เวลาที่ล่วงแล้ว says tells a time which is past. The fact that it is a literary tool makes me wonder if it a concept needed in a simple language like Thai; past perfect is useful and would need to be translated into Thai.

ได้ is implicit in กินข้าว so never needs ได้ .

Speech is full of redundant words. Have you got a problem with this?

Actually, if someone is putting food directly into your mouth, you never actually have the food in your hand, so I am not entirely convinced that "ได้ is implicit in กินข้าว". ได้ is not implicit in กินเมือง, though perhaps I have parsed the expression wrongly.

[tgeezer]

Let's return to your first reply to my idea that Thai got the verb ได้ from English because it is a literary tool and not everyday speech. You are saying that this is wrong ได้กินข้าว is verbs in series; get rice followed by eat rice, and this expression has acquired a conventional meaning of having occurred in the past. How about ได้ไป verbs in series?