Personal pronoun นาย

[nannor]

I have read so many different webpages that talk about personal pronouns. Some only talk about ดีฉัน, ฉัน and ผม for I, and some talk about 10+ words for I. Although I have spent all these hours reading on personal pronouns I have never seen anyone write about นาย as a first person pronoun. Is นาย not common to use for "I" hence why no one even mention it?

Edited January 26, 2017 by nannor

[katana]

I believe it's a 2nd person pronoun rather than first, equivalent to you, for speaking to a superior or friend.

From wiktionary.org:

คำสรรพนาม
นาย
    สรรพนามบุรุษที่ 2 ใช้แทนผู้ที่เราพูดด้วย ใช้สำหรับเพื่อนฝูงในลักษณะที่เป็นกันเอง
      eg  เย็นนี้นายจะไปด้วยไหม - Are you going too this evening?
https://th.wiktionary.org/wiki/นาย

 

Can also mean Mr, mister, boss, master, employer etc...

 

[nannor]

1 hour ago, katana said:

I believe it's a 2nd person pronoun rather than first, equivalent to you, for speaking to a superior or friend.

From wiktionary.org:

คำสรรพนาม
นาย
    สรรพนามบุรุษที่ 2 ใช้แทนผู้ที่เราพูดด้วย ใช้สำหรับเพื่อนฝูงในลักษณะที่เป็นกันเอง
      eg  เย็นนี้นายจะไปด้วยไหม - Are you going too this evening?
https://th.wiktionary.org/wiki/นาย

 

Can also mean Mr, mister, boss, master, employer etc...

 

Yes, I know it's a second person pronoun as well. I just wanted to know if it's common/widely spread  or not to use it as a first person pronoun too.

[tgeezer]

The only relationship I know that I am นาย is between my caddy and me. I use his name, ขุน, which luckily can be คุณ if I get the tone wrong, For a half joking rebuke I might say โอ๊ย ขุนไม่ได้ซ่อมรอยลูกเลย เป็นหน้าที่ของนายหรือ
I think that I mean 'me' but equally it is a position which I share with the other golfers and caddies.



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[Oxx]

7 hours ago, katana said:

I believe it's a 2nd person pronoun rather than first, equivalent to you, for speaking to a superior or friend.

I don't believe the "superior" part is correct.  The Royal Institute Dictionary says it's (only) used between friends informally.

 

คําใช้แทนผู้ที่เรา พูดด้วย ใช้สําหรับเพื่อนฝูงในลักษณะที่เป็นกันเอง เช่น เย็นนี้นายจะไป ด้วยไหม, เป็นสรรพนามบุรุษที่ ๒.

 

However, to the OP, it's rare, and is a second person pronoun, not first.  It never means "I".  (Far more commonly used as a noun.)

[BayLay]

Once in a while, I come across the use of นาย as pronouns where it can be roughly translated as "boss".   Not really that common, but happens with certain populations.

 

     1. นาย as 3rd person pronoun:

Staff members in some organizations, a lot of them multi-national, refers to their boss as "boss" or as "นาย".  "Boss says we can come in late tomorrow".  นายบอกว่าพรุ่งนี้มาสายได้

 

     2. นาย as 2nd person pronoun:

Said staff members in said organization above may just address the boss as นาย in a direct conversation with him/her.  

Many non-office workers (like drivers, gardeners, caddy, maid) might also address their "master" as นาย

 

     3. นาย as a 1st person pronoun:

 I never saw a Thai actually calls him/herself "นาย" when talking to others.   Culturally, doing so can be awkward because it seems like the person is trying to show his/her superiority over the other party.

But I have seen a few non-native speakers use that word when talking to their maid or personal assistant.   In that cases, we usually assume that the speaker just call themselves what their staff calls them.  And so it is somewhat acceptable.

[tgeezer]

That's interesting Oxx , looking at longdo I can only find นาย as a 2nd PP in German 'Du' and 'dich' and Thai of course. Obviously in my example I am referring to myself as "boss" . It isn't my name but it means me.
I suppose that I had never considered นาย as pronoun between friends. Notwithstanding the RID definition I am reasonably sure that ขุน doesn't hear it as such.


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[nannor]

3 hours ago, Oxx said:

However, to the OP, it's rare, and is a second person pronoun, not first.  It never means "I".  (Far more commonly used as a noun.)

Well, I do already know someone (a thai person) who use นาย as "I" which is why I asked about it, because he is the only one I've ever heard use it as "I". 

[Oxx]

17 minutes ago, nannor said:

Well, I do already know someone (a thai person) who use นาย as "I" which is why I asked about it, because he is the only one I've ever heard use it as "I". 

 

Either the person is speaking non-standard Thai, which would explain why no dictionary or reference text mentions such a use for the word, or possibly นาย (or something you're misinterpreting as such) is a nickname.

[nannor]

I did think that it might not be standard Thai since I haven't seen it in any dictionary, but I wasn't sure if the use of it as "I" is widely spread or not. Maybe it's a regional thing.


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[tgeezer]

Well, I do already know someone (a thai person) who use นาย as "I" which is why I asked about it, because he is the only one I've ever heard use it as "I". 

Now you know two people who use นาย in place of their name in certain circumstances. I would expect the person to whom you refer being equally selective in the use of นาย In place of ผม ฉัน เรา etc.


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[tgeezer]

posted in error, finger trouble.

[nannor]

Now you know two people who use นาย in place of their name in certain circumstances. I would expect the person to whom you refer being equally selective in the use of นาย In place of ผม ฉัน เรา etc.


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I feel like there should be at least some information about this somewhere online. What made you use นาย and not any other pronoun?


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[tgeezer]

That was clear in my post, it is what I am to him, his boss, the one who hires him, gives the orders.



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