I’m creating this channel out of my love for learning and sharing all things Thai. Right now, it’s a solo effort, and I’m not getting paid to do this. If you’d like to support me, you are welcome to do so here: buymeacoffee.com/realthailander
The reason why Chai is “Correct” and answers are only 2 choices between “Repeating same word” or “No” is becuase … “Mai⁉️” (Thai yes/no question ending word) actually derived from “OR NOT”(Rue Mai) from ancient time. You can watch Thai period movies back in Ayutthaya or early Bangkok periods, those days people asked the yes/no question by ending with “Rue Mai” (or not). It gives you only 2 choices to answer which is the word in the question and the other choice, NO. … Thai will answer “Yes” only when to respond the question asking for expecting answer with choices of “correct” or “incorrect” such as “are you Lisa Manoban?” “Is this what you want?” … you will hear Thai say “Chai”.
This was very informative, my thai gf never corrected me and now I feel embarrassed and like some thai people think I am arrogant when I am not. She should have protected me I am disappointed now
My wife is Thai. I think you just explained something that always perplexed me. Whenever I ask her simple yes or no questions I usually get a story or an explanation. I just wanted a yes or a no. lol.
Suppose a Thai asks you: "กินข้าวยัง" ("have you eaten?"). If yes, you say "กินแล้วครับ" ("I've eaten"). If no, you say "ยังไม่ได้กินเลยครับ" ("I've yet to eat"). Or เจออ้ายดำยัง ("Have you found dam?). If no, you say "ยังเลย" ("I haven't"). If yes, you say "เจอแล้วๆ" ("found him"). ใช่ appears to be more of a affirmation to a question, saying that "yea that's correct". But Thais also resort to saying เออ more often than not. "พี่เป็นหมอดูหรอ" ("Are you a fortune teller?"), ใช่แล้วน้อง ("Correct"). วันนี้มีแกงมัสมั่นใช่มั้ย ("is there Massaman curry today?"), "เออ" ("yes/correct"). In Isaan, the word for ใช่ is cognate with แม่น, which means precise or accurate. So, essentially, instead of yes, you're saying 'correct' or 'accurate'.
Yesterday I ordered a Grab taxi in Bangkok, after a few minutes the driver sent message to me saying"The traffic is really bad, can you wait? if not you can cancel." and I replied"I can wait." and he said"You can cancel. Sorry." then I realized he was asking me to cancel😅
Once again you have explained a concept which could be complex to farang in a way that is so clear and easy to understand - thank you for your lessons. You are an amazing teacher, krub 🙏
One of the issues for English speakers (and perhaps most languages with distinct “yes” words) is that we use that we actually use “yes” in so many ways. Yes (affirmative), yes (I’m listening), yes (right), yes (I understand), yes (waiting for more information). Consider how young people especially will say “yeah, no.” That first “yeah” is really just a statement that you’re thinking about your answer. It can just be an intensifier for the “no!”
Dang. I am a Thai, and fluent in Thai and English, and I never noticed this. Learn something new about my language today after all these years. It's just something you do as native. So that's why sometime computer and cell phone prompts in Thai language feel so awkward. They use "ใช่" "ไม่ใช่" as stock words for all the "Yes" "No" questions.
"ใช่" rather than always meaning "correct" more broadly means "it is". This explains why you can't answer "Can you do it?" with "ใช่" ["It is"] , but you can answer "Is this a book?" with "ใช่" ["It is"].
omg. I am Thai/ American and been working in localization industry for years and never actually put a thought on this. This is amazing and you're probably the first person on youtube I see that cover this very fundamental issue.
@@Evangeline-V1 If you meant the first part of the comment you're replying to then I agree that, to some people that minds a lot, it sure sounds a little bit too condescending and borderline rude. Directly pointing out mistake would be more on-the-point and less patronising. That person's correction on spelling is correct though. If someone really needs to tell other person to correct their spelling, you should say "ช่วยแก้ตัวสะกดด้วย". You may add the particle ครับ/ค่ะ at the end depending on your gender representation(*unnecessary and can change depending on context; some people uses the interlocutor's gender particle to express playfulness) to make it sound more polite. If I were to say the same thing they said without sounding rude, I'd say "ช่วยแก้ตัวสะกดด้วย swim สะกดด้วย 'ว่าย' ส่วนคำว่า 'ไหว้' is pay respect to". I do believe that the OG comment have good intention though.
Correct. Thought I was going to learn something new here but I'm equally pleased that I already know this. My Thai language has excelled since moving here. Everywhere I go, 'khun phud geng mak!'
I wanted to understand the deeper learning of Thai language as Thais use. This video was exactly what i was looking for before my long travel time in Thailand. The sad part is, it took my over two years to come across such a well thought out explanation. Thank you
Interesting distinctions... Great job of explaining ... I have learned much of this through many many years. When i first met my wife, I asked her if she could cook.. she said 'no' ... I later found out she was an excellect cook and asked why she said she couldn't cook - she said that when I asked, she didn't have time.
Hi Real Thailander, you did a really good job of explaining the nuances of these words as well as when and how to use them. Thank you for enlightening me in the proper use of words in the Thai language!
Thanks for the lesson. I appreciate it. I definitely believed Chai was meant to say Yes 😂 my Thai is so bad and I’ve lived here so long. I teach English and have a Thai wife so I’m a bit spoiled but need to improve my Thai so I will subscribe and watch all your videos
Another great topic I was curious about! I guess it’s similar in Chinese, but I never thought about how it translates to YES or NO in English. After watching your video, I confirm it’s definitely not the same thing in Chinese either. And it also explains why in Thailand when I ask something like: ‘you don’t have this (,right)?’ Their answer would be YES when they want to confirm that they do not have it. Whereas we would use the word NO (as in no, I don’t have it) for some reason. This confused me so often, but it was quite clear it had to do with the languages “meeting” each other. Thanks again for enlightening us 🙏🏼.
Very instructive and enjoyable, but also very familiar. You speak English in a Thai manner. You often omit the closing consonant of English words. Example if you say 'WAY' for 'WAIT' the English speaker must ponder the meaning = WAY, WAKE, WAGE, WADE, WANE, WAVE, WHALE, or WAIT
In my opinion this is one of the things people should definitely know and understand! I found it very informative and interesting! Thank you very much! Please continue teaching us cultural differences through language patterns! 🙂
5:25 I like that the correct answer to the question "Can you eat spicy food?" is "I can!" No "Mai dai!" 😂 I'm not actually learning Thai, I've just watched some Thai series, and I have actually picked up on this. It was great to have it clearly explained!
Love the video and subscribed! I am trying to learn Thai and this really helps:) My wife is Thai and she has tried to explain this to me many times but now I think I finally understand!
Thank you, this was informative. As someone who watches a lot of Thai drama this makes sense now. I hope to formally learn Thai someday, but right now I'm working on my French, Mandarin, and Tagalog (Filipino). I will note that Mandarin is much the same, using the verb for affirming and bu + verb for the negative. I love learning these nuances.
I thoroughly enjoyed this vdo and learnt from it. I have been married to a Thai 18 years and often wondered for instance when she might ask for directions when we visited somewhere in Bangkok a long dialogue would ensue after which I would ask which direction do we take? More often than not we were non the wiser. Now I understand this is a Thai cultural way of answering without upsetting. That in my view is a very beautiful thing totally unseen in my country the UK
Very good explanation for both Yes and No. Only a comment about wrong spelling for ว่ายน้ำ. it is not ไหว้. Some pages you put it right. Some pages were wrong.
It's an interesting topic you are covering. However, I have never met a Thai person who's annoyed by a newbie or tourist using Chai incorrectly. Most I find are gracious and happy that the farrang is at least trying. For this attitude alone, I have decided your channel is not one i wish to learn from.
Very good quality content Sir. Looking forward to your next video. If I may add a suggestion for a further video, it would be a video on how to structure different kind of sentences in Thai. I feel it would help me so much in the learning process. Thank you
Now I understand the old joke / if a Thai woman says NO she thinks MAY-BE / if a Thai woman says MAY-BE she thinks YES / if a Thai woman says YES she is really not a Thai woman/
I find this a bit similar to how in English, at least in informal settings/with friends, we use the word "yeah" a lot. Grammatically, "yeah" seems similar to "yes" which implies utmost certainty. This is true in some cases, but often times, "yeah" is just used as a word to let someone know that something was heard. I could be talking about something and my friend could insert the word "yeah" every now and then just to acknowledge that they heard me or that I made sense to them. Doesn't necessarily mean they are saying "yes" or that they actually agree with the the thing I am talking about
Wow this is so interesting!! It's the same in Portuguese, we also repeat the verb. I mean, we can use the Portuguese word for yes and no to answer, but most of time this doesn't sound natural at all, so it's a difficult topic for us as esl having Portuguese as native language, bc we don't really have something as auxiliar verbs and shorts answers
Thank you for putting in words things that I apparently uncouncious have snapped up from watching thai bl (like chawb, mai chawb, dai, mai dai..) and explaining a hinch I had. I had hinch didn´t exactly mean yes but something similiar, but I hadn´t figured what it means. Your explanation that is mean "correct, right" explains everything. (Disclaimer : I have never study thai , just picking up things from thai series and shows I watch - yes I watch a lot of thai content).
I think it is quite different between say the poor rural class and maybe an urban middle/upper class. I hear "chai" for yes and "mai" for no very regularly in my rural village but not so often if in an more upper class environment. And also quite often in the rural setting the pleasantries are somewhat dispensed with and someone posing a question may not include the "Chai Mai" but it is implied thus requiring a "chai" answer. Great video, I learnt a few things from this and I first came here 41 years ago but didn't start learning the language until 41 years ago 555.....still learning though, cheers from Pak Nuea.
I've encountered this assertion before, and according to my dictionary ใช่ = Yes and ถูก or ถูกต้อง = Correct, and I've utilized these without a problem for many years. However, I do know your examples of answering interrogatives with the same verb is correct/most common.
Hi Jaem. Great video that will be helpful to many Thai language learners. You are absolutely right: many foreigners who speak some Thai without being fluent answer with "chai/ใช่" instead of repeating the verb from the question. However, the mistakes go the other way around as well as you shortly mention: many Thai people who speak English to some extend mistakenly answer an English question by repeating the verb. "Do you like chocolate? Like!", or "Do you have a sister? Have!" It's 100% understandable, but it doesn't sound English. With regards to the Thai language having no word for yes, it has been asserted many times. However, I don't agree 100% all of the time. You are right so far: "chai/ใช่" means "right/correct", but when used affirmitavely, sometimes it technically has the same meaning as the word "yes". An example where "chai/ใช่" does not mean "yes" is when answering a negative statement: "So the food was not good?" Answering "yes" in English means that the food WAS good. Answering "chai/ใช่" in Thai means that the food was NOT good - confirming what is indicated in the question: that the food was not good. In this case "chai/ใช่" means "right/correct" and not "yes".
A clear, well explained take on something google can't teach you. Nice original topic. This video made me subscribe. I will binge watch your videos krub 🙏
Ok, thank you for all that, really😁💛 But...sonofbi***! I'm currently in Mae Sai, trying to practice my Thai in everyday conversation and I am that guy who is always saying "Chai" all damned day😂 I have been learning more verbs and integrated them in my Thai vocabulary. I do not want to be the "Chai" guy. You really explained it well, good stuff🤘 I am learning so much from your channel and it is much appreciated and keep up the great content✌♥️
I bet it's still bette being a chai guy than a guy who is unresponsive. Glad to be of help a bit. Hope you enjoy being in Mae Sai and not being affected too much by the burning season!
Chinese (Mandarin, at least) also lacks literal equivalents for yes and no. There are of course various ways to express affirmation and negation, but it depends on the nature of what you are affirming and negating. That’s a difficult aspect of Chinese when first learning it.
Listening to your video just confirm what I always say: "a language is so much more than just words". I also have to teach my students how different cultures interpret different sayings and even actions! The word "kind" is one of the hardest words in the world because what people considered as "being kind" is so very different and then exactly what you explain here! I have been living in Thailand for 5 years now and I am still struggling with this where I will assume that something is agreed upon only to realise that there was no agreement and it still gets to me BUT thanks to your wonderful explanation I am reminded that yes does not mean yes and I never knew that saying Mai on its own is not considered good, I must have been sounding rather rude to some people!!!
You pointed out something that is very worth being pointed out. The word kind is so different. I actually think that in Thai we don't even have the word like "nice" in the same way that English does. I also like how you teach children how different cultures interpret things differently!
Thank you for explaining this. Though I'm happy with Thaipod101 and they explain a lot, I can't remember to have come across this. I subscribed to your channel and hope to learn more.
The West African Yoruba language is similar to Thai in this regard. When speaking informally in Yoruba, the word "yes" is expressed by intoning the letter "e," as pronounced in the word "ten." This affirmative response is not absolute in Yoruba, because it could mean "yes, but.." which applies a condition to that yes that could make it a "no" if that condition is unmet. When speaking to a person of higher social status, an affirmative yes response is expressed with a phrase whose phonetic pronunciation is "Benny", which translates to mean "it is like that"
Hey good channel man. You adres a few things i never saw before on other channels so cool :P . Im subscribed and looking forward to what you have to say!
A very good rule to remember that i've been using is that if the Thai people are asking you questions that contain the word: ใช่ไหม. I will then answer it depending on the question of course.
no doubts that it is correct what you are teaching with this video. But why to address foreigners? From where do we get the examples? Every day from Thai PBS and other TV channels live interviews or in direct contact with Thai locals e.g. in a hospital talking with a nurse.
Is it bad to say “mai ao” if you’re asked if you want to buy for example (sue mai). I take it the answer is yes. Thank you for the video. I don’t make the mistake of chai often but I do make the mistake I’ve said above very often
I’m creating this channel out of my love for learning and sharing all things Thai. Right now, it’s a solo effort, and I’m not getting paid to do this. If you’d like to support me, you are welcome to do so here: buymeacoffee.com/realthailander
The reason why Chai is “Correct” and answers are only 2 choices between “Repeating same word” or “No” is becuase … “Mai⁉️” (Thai yes/no question ending word) actually derived from “OR NOT”(Rue Mai) from ancient time. You can watch Thai period movies back in Ayutthaya or early Bangkok periods, those days people asked the yes/no question by ending with “Rue Mai” (or not). It gives you only 2 choices to answer which is the word in the question and the other choice, NO. … Thai will answer “Yes” only when to respond the question asking for expecting answer with choices of “correct” or “incorrect” such as “are you Lisa Manoban?” “Is this what you want?” … you will hear Thai say “Chai”.
@@NoSignifica Thank you too. This helps alot to dig deeper in Thai language 🙂
This was very informative, my thai gf never corrected me and now I feel embarrassed and like some thai people think I am arrogant when I am not. She should have protected me I am disappointed now
Love this and everything about it 👏👏👏👏
My wife is Thai. I think you just explained something that always perplexed me. Whenever I ask her simple yes or no questions I usually get a story or an explanation. I just wanted a yes or a no. lol.
seriously, this helps clear up a lot lol
Suppose a Thai asks you: "กินข้าวยัง" ("have you eaten?"). If yes, you say "กินแล้วครับ" ("I've eaten"). If no, you say "ยังไม่ได้กินเลยครับ" ("I've yet to eat").
Or เจออ้ายดำยัง ("Have you found dam?). If no, you say "ยังเลย" ("I haven't"). If yes, you say "เจอแล้วๆ" ("found him").
ใช่ appears to be more of a affirmation to a question, saying that "yea that's correct". But Thais also resort to saying เออ more often than not.
"พี่เป็นหมอดูหรอ" ("Are you a fortune teller?"), ใช่แล้วน้อง ("Correct").
วันนี้มีแกงมัสมั่นใช่มั้ย ("is there Massaman curry today?"), "เออ" ("yes/correct").
In Isaan, the word for ใช่ is cognate with แม่น, which means precise or accurate. So, essentially, instead of yes, you're saying 'correct' or 'accurate'.
My Peruvian husband launches into a story when I ask him a simple question. Sometimes, by the end, the answer will appear. Often not. 😂
They don't say yes, they just repeat back which basically means yes.
Same
Yesterday I ordered a Grab taxi in Bangkok, after a few minutes the driver sent message to me saying"The traffic is really bad, can you wait? if not you can cancel." and I replied"I can wait." and he said"You can cancel. Sorry." then I realized he was asking me to cancel😅
Once again you have explained a concept which could be complex to farang in a way that is so clear and easy to understand - thank you for your lessons. You are an amazing teacher, krub 🙏
Thank you krub!
One of the issues for English speakers (and perhaps most languages with distinct “yes” words) is that we use that we actually use “yes” in so many ways. Yes (affirmative), yes (I’m listening), yes (right), yes (I understand), yes (waiting for more information). Consider how young people especially will say “yeah, no.” That first “yeah” is really just a statement that you’re thinking about your answer. It can just be an intensifier for the “no!”
Dang. I am a Thai, and fluent in Thai and English, and I never noticed this. Learn something new about my language today after all these years. It's just something you do as native.
So that's why sometime computer and cell phone prompts in Thai language feel so awkward. They use "ใช่" "ไม่ใช่" as stock words for all the "Yes" "No" questions.
Same here! I hadn’t realized it until recently. And the example about the cellphone prompts is such a good, practical one too! Thanks for watching
"ใช่" rather than always meaning "correct" more broadly means "it is". This explains why you can't answer "Can you do it?" with "ใช่" ["It is"] , but you can answer "Is this a book?" with "ใช่" ["It is"].
omg. I am Thai/ American and been working in localization industry for years and never actually put a thought on this. This is amazing and you're probably the first person on youtube I see that cover this very fundamental issue.
The first 2 words I tried to learn in Thai were Yes and No.
The realisation that was impossible threw me.
Your explanation is SO helpful.
สอนภาษาไทย ช่วยเขียนภาษาไทยให้ถูกต้องด้วยนะ คำว่า swim ภาษาไทยเขียนแบบนี้ ว่ายน้ำ ไม่ใช่เขียนว่า ไหว้น้ำ มันคนละความหมายนะ ถ้าเขียนแบบ ไหว้น้ำ มันจะแปลว่า pay respect to water.
To anyone who is learning Thai, this sentence comes across as rude. And I hope @RealThailander could use this as an element in his next lesson.
@@Evangeline-V1 If you meant the first part of the comment you're replying to then I agree that, to some people that minds a lot, it sure sounds a little bit too condescending and borderline rude. Directly pointing out mistake would be more on-the-point and less patronising. That person's correction on spelling is correct though.
If someone really needs to tell other person to correct their spelling, you should say "ช่วยแก้ตัวสะกดด้วย". You may add the particle ครับ/ค่ะ at the end depending on your gender representation(*unnecessary and can change depending on context; some people uses the interlocutor's gender particle to express playfulness) to make it sound more polite.
If I were to say the same thing they said without sounding rude, I'd say "ช่วยแก้ตัวสะกดด้วย swim สะกดด้วย 'ว่าย' ส่วนคำว่า 'ไหว้' is pay respect to".
I do believe that the OG comment have good intention though.
Bruhhh
Correct. Thought I was going to learn something new here but I'm equally pleased that I already know this. My Thai language has excelled since moving here. Everywhere I go, 'khun phud geng mak!'
What a great intro; “you’re Thai best friend”. How nice to hear. Beautiful people. Beautiful country.
I wanted to understand the deeper learning of Thai language as Thais use. This video was exactly what i was looking for before my long travel time in Thailand. The sad part is, it took my over two years to come across such a well thought out explanation. Thank you
Finally i have understood!!! You are good for explain to the foreigner Thai language.
Thank you. I always followed this format (repeating the verb) but didn’t really think about it. I just copied the Thais.
Interesting distinctions... Great job of explaining ... I have learned much of this through many many years. When i first met my wife, I asked her if she could cook.. she said 'no' ... I later found out she was an excellect cook and asked why she said she couldn't cook - she said that when I asked, she didn't have time.
Very well explained..... I've lived here for 19 years and it was never tought to me.
what a wonderful well spoken teacher.
Very interesting cultural insights thank you. Your understanding of nuance of English and Thai is outstanding
When visiting Thailand I didnt bother learning how to say yes, but no was the first word I learnt.
Thank you. You cleared up quite a bit for me. I am a culprit for chai so good job mate you explained it perfectly
Hi Real Thailander, you did a really good job of explaining the nuances of these words as well as when and how to use them. Thank you for enlightening me in the proper use of words in the Thai language!
Thanks for the lesson. I appreciate it. I definitely believed Chai was meant to say Yes 😂 my Thai is so bad and I’ve lived here so long. I teach English and have a Thai wife so I’m a bit spoiled but need to improve my Thai so I will subscribe and watch all your videos
Another great topic I was curious about! I guess it’s similar in Chinese, but I never thought about how it translates to YES or NO in English. After watching your video, I confirm it’s definitely not the same thing in Chinese either. And it also explains why in Thailand when I ask something like: ‘you don’t have this (,right)?’ Their answer would be YES when they want to confirm that they do not have it. Whereas we would use the word NO (as in no, I don’t have it) for some reason. This confused me so often, but it was quite clear it had to do with the languages “meeting” each other. Thanks again for enlightening us 🙏🏼.
True that! Thais would say "Yes, I don't mind" to the question " would you mind, which must be quite confusing.
@@RealThailander exactly! But makes so much sense now.
Very instructive and enjoyable, but also very familiar. You speak English in a Thai manner. You often omit the closing consonant of English words. Example if you say 'WAY' for 'WAIT' the English speaker must ponder the meaning = WAY, WAKE, WAGE, WADE, WANE, WAVE, WHALE, or WAIT
In my opinion this is one of the things people should definitely know and understand!
I found it very informative and interesting!
Thank you very much!
Please continue teaching us cultural differences through language patterns! 🙂
This is hilarious. I’m Thai, and I use the word ใช่ every day. This is exactly why you shouldn’t believe everything on the internet.
5:25 I like that the correct answer to the question "Can you eat spicy food?" is "I can!" No "Mai dai!" 😂
I'm not actually learning Thai, I've just watched some Thai series, and I have actually picked up on this. It was great to have it clearly explained!
Love the video and subscribed! I am trying to learn Thai and this really helps:) My wife is Thai and she has tried to explain this to me many times but now I think I finally understand!
good explanation, you have a new subscriber 😊😊
This is superb teaching. Thank you!
Thank you, this was informative. As someone who watches a lot of Thai drama this makes sense now. I hope to formally learn Thai someday, but right now I'm working on my French, Mandarin, and Tagalog (Filipino). I will note that Mandarin is much the same, using the verb for affirming and bu + verb for the negative. I love learning these nuances.
Thank you for watching and I admire that you are learning multiple languages.
Wow! You explained it so clearly! Thank you very much ❤
Thanks for explaining this toppic 🙏🏻
I just came across your channel... this is GREAT. Thanks for explaining it! Please make more videos like this!!
You are a very good teacher!
I thoroughly enjoyed this vdo and learnt from it. I have been married to a Thai 18 years and often wondered for instance when she might ask for directions when we visited somewhere in Bangkok a long dialogue would ensue after which I would ask which direction do we take? More often than not we were non the wiser. Now I understand this is a Thai cultural way of answering without upsetting. That in my view is a very beautiful thing totally unseen in my country the UK
Very good explanation for both Yes and No. Only a comment about wrong spelling for ว่ายน้ำ. it is not ไหว้. Some pages you put it right. Some pages were wrong.
Thank you, for explaining that in a very clear way .
It's an interesting topic you are covering. However, I have never met a Thai person who's annoyed by a newbie or tourist using Chai incorrectly. Most I find are gracious and happy that the farrang is at least trying. For this attitude alone, I have decided your channel is not one i wish to learn from.
Excellent and understandable explanations. Thank you.
Very good quality content Sir. Looking forward to your next video.
If I may add a suggestion for a further video, it would be a video on how to structure different kind of sentences in Thai. I feel it would help me so much in the learning process.
Thank you
Thanks for watching and for your suggestion! I’ll take it into consideration.
Now I understand the old joke / if a Thai woman says NO she thinks MAY-BE / if a Thai woman says MAY-BE she thinks YES / if a Thai woman says YES she is really not a Thai woman/
😂
👍 Ooh yes, that's probably true : The word of words in Thailand : A non-binding MAYBE !
I really like the way you explained on Thai language. Very true life detail. Btw your English is superb. Keep it up brother. Khop khun khrap🙏
I find this a bit similar to how in English, at least in informal settings/with friends, we use the word "yeah" a lot. Grammatically, "yeah" seems similar to "yes" which implies utmost certainty. This is true in some cases, but often times, "yeah" is just used as a word to let someone know that something was heard. I could be talking about something and my friend could insert the word "yeah" every now and then just to acknowledge that they heard me or that I made sense to them. Doesn't necessarily mean they are saying "yes" or that they actually agree with the the thing I am talking about
Bro I really love your videos. Please make more of them 😊
Wow this is so interesting!! It's the same in Portuguese, we also repeat the verb. I mean, we can use the Portuguese word for yes and no to answer, but most of time this doesn't sound natural at all, so it's a difficult topic for us as esl having Portuguese as native language, bc we don't really have something as auxiliar verbs and shorts answers
I never knew that. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for putting in words things that I apparently uncouncious have snapped up from watching thai bl (like chawb, mai chawb, dai, mai dai..) and explaining a hinch I had. I had hinch didn´t exactly mean yes but something similiar, but I hadn´t figured what it means. Your explanation that is mean "correct, right" explains everything. (Disclaimer : I have never study thai , just picking up things from thai series and shows I watch - yes I watch a lot of thai content).
Thanks for watching. And i like how you pick things up from watching thai shows and bl series! The most fun way to learn!
I learned something new about my mother tongue today.
This is absolutely fascinating and a very helpful insight, thank you!
I knew this a while ago. Although my wife is Thai but that doesn’t stop her from saying ใช่ all the time.
Thanks for the explanation, keep the content coming bro!
I think it is quite different between say the poor rural class and maybe an urban middle/upper class. I hear "chai" for yes and "mai" for no very regularly in my rural village but not so often if in an more upper class environment.
And also quite often in the rural setting the pleasantries are somewhat dispensed with and someone posing a question may not include the "Chai Mai" but it is implied thus requiring a "chai" answer.
Great video, I learnt a few things from this and I first came here 41 years ago but didn't start learning the language until 41 years ago 555.....still learning though, cheers from Pak Nuea.
Thank you! Just came across this video and it is a great explanation.
Fascinating and interesting. Great explanation. I have now subscribed 😀
I've encountered this assertion before, and according to my dictionary ใช่ = Yes and ถูก or ถูกต้อง = Correct, and I've utilized these without a problem for many years. However, I do know your examples of answering interrogatives with the same verb is correct/most common.
Ah, so that's why I get confused! Brilliant explanation. Thanks .
Hi Jaem. Great video that will be helpful to many Thai language learners.
You are absolutely right: many foreigners who speak some Thai without being fluent answer with "chai/ใช่" instead of repeating the verb from the question.
However, the mistakes go the other way around as well as you shortly mention: many Thai people who speak English to some extend mistakenly answer an English question by repeating the verb. "Do you like chocolate? Like!", or "Do you have a sister? Have!" It's 100% understandable, but it doesn't sound English.
With regards to the Thai language having no word for yes, it has been asserted many times. However, I don't agree 100% all of the time. You are right so far: "chai/ใช่" means "right/correct", but when used affirmitavely, sometimes it technically has the same meaning as the word "yes". An example where "chai/ใช่" does not mean "yes" is when answering a negative statement: "So the food was not good?" Answering "yes" in English means that the food WAS good. Answering "chai/ใช่" in Thai means that the food was NOT good - confirming what is indicated in the question: that the food was not good. In this case "chai/ใช่" means "right/correct" and not "yes".
A clear, well explained take on something google can't teach you. Nice original topic.
This video made me subscribe. I will binge watch your videos krub 🙏
My first word that I know and use is "chai" 😂 OMG.. little bit embrassing after watch your video 😂 let me study it again. Thanks for sharing
Ok, thank you for all that, really😁💛 But...sonofbi***! I'm currently in Mae Sai, trying to practice my Thai in everyday conversation
and I am that guy who is always saying "Chai" all damned day😂 I have been learning more verbs and integrated them in my Thai vocabulary. I do not want to be the "Chai" guy. You really explained it well, good stuff🤘 I am learning so much from your channel and it is much appreciated and keep up the great content✌♥️
I bet it's still bette being a chai guy than a guy who is unresponsive. Glad to be of help a bit. Hope you enjoy being in Mae Sai and not being affected too much by the burning season!
Great content. Love the channel mate. I hope for more video like this.
It is not controversial. Many languages work like that. Mandarin and Malay to name two
Chinese (Mandarin, at least) also lacks literal equivalents for yes and no. There are of course various ways to express affirmation and negation, but it depends on the nature of what you are affirming and negating. That’s a difficult aspect of Chinese when first learning it.
Thank you! This actually explained so much. Excellent explanation.
Listening to your video just confirm what I always say: "a language is so much more than just words". I also have to teach my students how different cultures interpret different sayings and even actions! The word "kind" is one of the hardest words in the world because what people considered as "being kind" is so very different and then exactly what you explain here! I have been living in Thailand for 5 years now and I am still struggling with this where I will assume that something is agreed upon only to realise that there was no agreement and it still gets to me BUT thanks to your wonderful explanation I am reminded that yes does not mean yes and I never knew that saying Mai on its own is not considered good, I must have been sounding rather rude to some people!!!
You pointed out something that is very worth being pointed out. The word kind is so different. I actually think that in Thai we don't even have the word like "nice" in the same way that English does. I also like how you teach children how different cultures interpret things differently!
Very clear. Thank you.
Thank you. Very helpful .
Thanks...I learned something. I've been using chai and krap quite a bit...I'll need to learn some new words now, lol
I love your channel! Super chai 💡 , I subbed
Nice breakdown 👍🏼
Thank you for explaining this. Though I'm happy with Thaipod101 and they explain a lot, I can't remember to have come across this. I subscribed to your channel and hope to learn more.
In Thailand we say Yed Ped
The West African Yoruba language is similar to Thai in this regard. When speaking informally in Yoruba, the word "yes" is expressed by intoning the letter "e," as pronounced in the word "ten."
This affirmative response is not absolute in Yoruba, because it could mean "yes, but.." which applies a condition to that yes that could make it a "no" if that condition is unmet.
When speaking to a person of higher social status, an affirmative yes response is expressed with a phrase whose phonetic pronunciation is "Benny", which translates to mean "it is like that"
Hey good channel man. You adres a few things i never saw before on other channels so cool :P . Im subscribed and looking forward to what you have to say!
Of course, Thai has yes. You probably not fluent in Thai at all. Yes means Chai or krab for man or kha for woman
It's exactly in my language. In Irish there is no word for "Yes" or "No".
Thanks for sharing. I never knew that!
Thank you. This is so informative.😊🙏
Great video you gained a new follower 👍🏾
This was a good video, thanks for explaining this
Great episode! We met at the recent creative meeting in Chiang Mai ;)
Thank you Jason for watching this video!
A very good rule to remember that i've been using is that if the Thai people are asking you questions that contain the word: ใช่ไหม. I will then answer it depending on the question of course.
So many things clicked on this video wow thanks so much!
Great video thank you!
Really good explanation 🥰 thank you so much from Italy 🤗🇮🇹🇮🇹🥳💪🏽💪🏽
My Thai daughter says Mai by itself to me all the time!😊 but she wouldn’t say it to other people so much. 😄
I was always perplexed by this issue when dealing professionally with Indian people in English, I guess something similar is going on there too.
Informative! Thanks
no doubts that it is correct what you are teaching with this video. But why to address foreigners? From where do we get the examples? Every day from Thai PBS and other TV channels live interviews or in direct contact with Thai locals e.g. in a hospital talking with a nurse.
You get this right ,
If you have been order to do stuff you go with kurb/ka
Chai = to be
or
Mai Chai = not to be
That is the question 😂
Yucatec Maya doesn't have either a specific word for "yes", in fact it has resemblances with languages from Asia or South-Asia.
I just use head-nods to indicate yes / no; when visiting Thailand. Worked for me so far. Great explanation BTW. Hope your channel grows.
Wow now Mai chai makes sense for ages I was thinking wtf is no yes 😂😂
I love the story about the speed boat guy! A simple no could be so nuanced instead
Thank you for watching and commenting on the video. Always happy to see yours!
Good stuff! Well explained! Love your English!
In Hungary we use a similar way to talk among friends, when we interrogate each other's preferences...
Do we? :)
Ohhh that explains alot 😊😅🙏
Is it bad to say “mai ao” if you’re asked if you want to buy for example (sue mai). I take it the answer is yes. Thank you for the video. I don’t make the mistake of chai often but I do make the mistake I’ve said above very often
Just repeat the verb in the question. Mai Sue…
My wife is Lanna and she says yes to shopping...
Brilliant. Subscribed