Kat Teaches Thai Episode 7 (How to use color words in a sentence)

Listen to Kat teaches Thai Episode 7

On the last episode, I taught you how to say color words, or see (rhymes with we).  There are more color names but those are the basic ones and we will learn the harder ones in the future.  Today, we will be learning how to put the word see in the sentences.

 

Here’s a little introduction on Thai grammar.  In English, the word order in a sentence usually goes from subject, verb, adjective, to object.  For example, Emma eats blue popsicle.  The subject is Emma; eats is verb; blue is adjective; and popsicle is object.  In Thai, the word order in a sentence usually goes from subject, verb, object, to adjective.  The word orders are similar, but we swap between adjective and object.  So in Thai, we would say Emma-kin-popsicle-see-fah or Emma eats popsicle blue.  Direct translation between languages usually sounds funny, so it’s important to know the basic grammar of the language you are trying to learn.  As a reminder, the word order goes from subject, verb, object, to adjective. Notice how I will use the word see in front of every color word.

 

Here is the first sentence.

 

Robert-mee-rode-see-dang

Mee (Sounds like me) = has or have = VERB

Rode (Sounds like rode) = car = OBJECT

See (Sounds like see) = color

Dang (Sounds like dang) = red = ADJECTIVE

 

So a direct translation would be Robert has car red, which is an equivalent of Robert has red car.

 

You can practice changing the name of the subject and the color word to form new sentences.

For example:

 

Linda-mee-rode-see-chome-poo or Linda has pink car

Jim-mee-rode-see-kow or Jim has white car

Ann-mee-rode-see-dum or Ann has black car.

 

Here is the second sentence example on how to use the color word

 

Jack-arn-nung-sue-see-keow

Arn (Rhymes with barn) = read = VERB

Nung (Rhymes with rung) Sue (Sounds almost like sir) = book = OBJECT

See (Sounds like see) = color

Chome (Rhymes with dome) Poo (Sounds like poo) = pink = ADJECTIVE

 

So a direct translation would be Jack reads book green, which is an equivalent of Jack reads green book.

 

Again, we can swap out the subject and the color word to form new sentences.

Linda-arn-nung-sue-see-chome-poo or Linda reads pink book.

Jim-arn-nung-sue-see-kow or Jim reads white book.

Ann-arn-nung-sue-see-dum or Ann reads black book.

We will learn how to replace more vocabulary into our sentence structure on the future episodes.

Kat teaches Thai Episode 6 - (see)

Listen to Kat teaches Thai Episode 6

On the last episode I taught you how to say, "Koon-cheu-a-rai", which means, "What is your name?"  To reply to the question, male speaker would say: Pome-cheu....(name).  Female speaker would say: Chun-cheu.....(name). I also taught you how to swap out different pronouns in the question and the response.  I hope you have been practicing them all!

On this episode, I teach you how to say See (with a higher tone), which means color.  You are learning 14 different color words.  When you want to say a color name, you always say the word SEE in front of the color name. 

 

See Chome Poo (Chome rhymes with home, poo rhymes with boo) = pink color

See Dang (Dang rhymes with bang) = red color

See Dum (Dum rhymes with gum) = black color

See Fah (Fah uses the a sound in car) = light blue color

See Keow (Keow rhymes with meow) = green color

See Kow (Kow pronounces like Carl but without L sound) = white color

See Leurng (Leurng uses the er sound in learn, ng sound in sing) = yellow color

See Muong (Say “moo” and “wong” together really fast) = purple color

See Ngern (Ngern uses the ng sound in sing, the word rhymes with learn) = silver color

See Num Tharn (Num like number, th sound in thumb, a sound in car) = brown color

See Num Ngern (Num like number, ng sound in sing, the word rhymes with learn) = dark blue color

See Some (Some rhymes with home) = orange color

See Tao = gray color

See Tong = gold color

We will learn how to incorporate these color words into sentences on another episode.

Apology

I feel so bad I have neglected my own blog.  I stopped for so long because the recording and the editing of the episodes took a lot of time away from my personal life.  I didn't realize that many people have enjoyed my Podcast.  I think many people can benefit from my Podcast.  I will do my best to find time and pick up where I left off.  Thank you for your support and extreme patience.  I'll see you soon!

Kat teaches Thai Episode 5 (koon-cheu-a-rai, pome/chun-cheu)

Listen to Kat teaches Thai Episode 5

Sorry for being gone for so long guys!

My friend Nate and his family came by the restaurant one day and gave me the idea to teach color words.  Unfortunately we are not doing that today and I promise you I will do that on the next episode instead. 

On the last episode I taught you how to reply to the question, "Ma-narn-reu-young?", which means, "Have you been here for a long time?"  You can reply, "Ma-narn-laeow", which means, "Yes, I have been here for a long time."  Or you can reply, "Ma-mai-narn", which means, "No, I haven't been here for a long time."  The other one I also taught you was, "Perng ma", which means, "Just got here." 

On this episode, I teach you how to say, "Koon-cheu-a-rai", which means, "What is your name?"  The word koon rhymes with toon.  The word cheu uses the "eu" sound in tsu(nami).  The letter a use the a sound in car.  The word rai uses the i sound in pie. 

The word "koon" means you.  The word "cheu" means name.  The word "a-rai" means what?.  When you put the meanings together, you will form a phrase, "you name what?"  Or another way of saying, "what is your name?"

You can use a different pronoun in place of "koon" to make the sentence more interesting.

"Ter" (rhymes with her), which means you, he, or she. 
"Kow" (uses the o sound in house), which means he, she, it, or they.
"Row" (uses the o sound in house), which means we.

The phrases become:
"Ter-cheu-a-rai"
"Kow-cheu-a-rai"
"Row-cheu-a-rai"

Now to reply to the question, you would use a first person pronoun.  Male speaker would use "Pome" as a pronoun and female speaker would use "Chun" as a pronoun.  The word "pome" rhymes with Rome.  The word "chun" rhymes with bun. 

The phrases would be as follow:
Pome-cheu....(name).
Chun-cheu.....(name).

Male speaker:
"Pom-cheu-George."
"Pom-cheu-Peter."

Female speaker:
"Chun-cheu-Linda."
"Chun-cheu-Mary."

You can use the same rule from the question phrase and use different pronouns.  The phrases become:

"Ter-cheu...(name)."
"Kow-cheu...(name or names)."
"Row-cheu...(name or names)."

If you get stuck on phrases, replay my previous episodes to hear the phrases again.  You could also send me emails with questions and comments. I would love to help you.  I hope you have been adding the words "Ka" and "Krub" to the end of your phrases!  They make the phrases sound better!

Intermission Lesson 2

I was sitting at work and wondered why my customers questioned the way we spell "Pad Thai" to "Phat Thai" on our menu.  If you don't know, "Pad Thai" is a famous stir-fried rice noodle dish in Thailand that is mixed with ground peanuts, bean sprouts, tofu, shrimp, eggs, and sweet sauce. Because there are so many variations of the recipe, some people would substitute chicken or other meat in place of tofu and shrimp. 

So the question came, "Do you pronounce it 'Fat Thai' or 'Pad Thai' (pad rhymes with rad)?"  I would spell it "Pudd Thai" (Pudd pronounces like putt) just so I can get people to say the name right.  Although I personally like "Pad Thai" because it makes the word  seem really cool.

There are infinite ways to write the word out in English.  I've already listed 3 so far and I'm sure any other Thai speaking fellows could probably think of 10 more ways to write it out.  The answer comes down to this: "It doesn't matter how you write it out in English; it's the matter of how you say it correctly in Thai."  In Thai, there is one correct way to write, which is "ผัดไทย."  But in another language, you'll get infinite answers.  You could try asking a bunch of random people to write the word "Pad Thai" in English and you will probably get a bunch of different ones.  I think it would be fun to see how many ways we can come up with. 

So it's not just us Thais that have problems with dialect barriers. Other languages also face the same problem because of the dialects differences.  You just can't get one correct way to spell something out from another language.  I hear people pronounce "pho", "foe" all the time.  In case you don't know, that is a Vietnamese beef noodle soup and it actually pronounces "fur" with an upper tone. 

What I'm trying to say is this: "Focus on the tone of the pronunciation of the words."  As I've mentioned in my earlier lessons, different tones form different words and different meanings.  Just because you see it written out a certain way, that doesn't mean it should sound the way you see it.  The best way to learn, is to actually hear how the natives speak it out.

Kat teaches Thai Episode 4 (ma-narn-laeow, ma-mai-narn, and perng-ma)

Listen to Kat teaches Thai Episode 4

In this episode, I teach you how to respond to the questions, "ma-jarg-nai" and "ma-narn-reur-young." 

Ma-jarg-nai means, where did you come from?  When you reply to the question, you take out the word "nai" at the end of the sentence and add a name of a place.  The phrase becomes: ma-jarg-Mexico, ma-jarg-Italy, ma-jarg-Australia, etc.  It means, "come from (a name of a place)."

There are several ways to respond to the question, "ma-narn-reur-young".  Today, I teach you 3 responses.  The first one can be ma-narn-laeow.  The word "ma" means come.  The word "narn" means long length of time.  The word "laeow" means already.  The whole phrase means, "come for long length of time already."  Another way of saying, "Yes, I have been here for a long time."  Ma is the same as "ma".  Narn uses the a sound in "barn".  Laeow use the a sound in "hair". 

The second way to reply is the opposite of the first one.  Ma-mai-narn means, "come not for long length of time."  Another way of saying, "No, I haven't been here for a long time."  Ma is the same as "ma" and means come.  Mai uses the i sound in "bye" and means no, or not.  Narn uses the a sound in "barn" and means long length of time.

The third way to reply to the question is perng-ma.  Perng uses the e sound in "earn" and means "just now."  Ma is the same as "ma" and means "come."  When you put the meanings together, you will get "just now come" or meaning, "I came just now." 

If you have already gone through episodes 1 and 2 with me, I have taught you another 2 tones of "mai."  They pretty much write out the same in English, but they all have different tones.  Something to keep in mind!  Thai language is based on tones.  Each word can have 5 different tones and when you pronounce it with the wrong tone, you will get a different meaning.  This is VERY important!

Kat teaches Thai Episode 3 (ma-jarg-nai, ma-narn-reur-young)

Listen to Kat teaches Thai Episode 3

On the last episode, I taught you how to say kob-koon, which means thank you.  I also taught you how to say pobe-gun-mai, which means to meet again.  Remember not to get the two words of mai and mai confused.  One has a lower tone and means new.  The other one has a higher tone and you add it at the end of the sentences to form questions.

On this episode, I teach you how to say ma-jarg-nai, which means where did you come from?  Ma is exactly like the word "ma".  Jarg uses the a sound in "shark".  Nai uses the i sound in "lie".

The word ma means come.  The word jarg means from; also means going away or depart.  The word nai means where?  When you put the meanings together, you form a phrase, "come from where?" or where did you come from?

If you notice the differences in Thai language and English language, our grammars are different.  We don't really use nouns in the sentences.  Most of the time, the conversations are between person 1 and person 2. 

To reply to the question, you would answer, "ma-jarg-America; ma-jarg-Spain; ma-jarg-Italy, etc."  Basically you fill in the name of the place in place of the word nai at the end of the sentence.  If you haven't noticed, we put our question words at the end of the sentences rather than at the beginning of the sentences like English.

I also teach you, ma-narn-reur-young, which means have you been here for long?  Ma is like the word "ma".  Narn uses the a sound in bahn.  Reur uses the u sound in "blur."  Young is like the word "young." 

The word ma means come.  The word narn means long length of time.  The word reur means or.  The word young means not yet.  When you put the meanings together, you form a phrase, come for long length of time, or not yet?  Another way of saying, have you been here for long?