Thai Grammar

Introduction to Thai Grammar

Thai grammar is unlike grammar in some other languages very simple and logical once you have understood a couple of principles. Thai verbs do not change tenses, as in English. In Thai you have other ways to express when something happened or was done. In most Thai grammar rules modifying words (particles) are added to sentences or single words to alter their meaning.

There are also no noun declensions, no object pronouns or definite or indefinite articles. If you read word by word translations of Thai sentences you will see how straight forward they are constructed. While the Thai language might have simple grammar rules, areas such as tones and pronunciation of words are more difficult to master.

Basic Thai Grammar Rules

Thai language speaking habbits

If words aren’t needed in a sentence they are usually omitted, this makes speaking Thai easier but harder to understand others. In Thai a lot of the meaning of a sentence comes from the context of the conversation. This means you have to pay attention to follow what a Thai speaker says or you might not have some crucial information they mentioned in a sentence or two before to understand them right.

Basic Thai Sentence Structure: Subject + Verb + Object
Luckily it is not different from English

Adjectives always follow the noun that they describe.
This is exactly the opposite of English

Adverbs always appear at the end of the sentence.
In Thai adverbs are often formed by repeating the adjective

Verbs remain the same no matter in what person you speak.
It doesn’t matter if you say he/she/we or I. The verb remains the same and if you want to indicate a tense you add additional words.

Singular and plural nouns don’t change their form either.
Usually people get this information from the context of your sentences or you can indicate it is only one.

Tenses in Thai

Past Tense in Thai
If you want to indicate you did something in the past name a certain point in the past in your sentences.

Present Progressive
If you want to indicate something is going on right now you use the word “kam-lang (กำลัง)” in front of the verb in your sentence

Present Perfect Progressive
A common way of expressing that an action is completed is by adding “láew (แล้ว)” at the end of a sentence

Future
If you refer to an action that will happen in the future use the word “jà (จะ)” right before the verb in your sentence.

Asking Questions in Thai

Question words are at the end of the sentence
Pay attention to your pronunciation if you ask a question. English speakers tend to raise the tone of their voice towards the end of a sentence and this can interfere with the Thai tones and make it hard to understand.

Conditional Questions
As an alternative if you just expect a yes or no as answer you can just form a sentence and add “mái (ไหม)” to the end. This is similar to making a statement and then asking “isn’t it?”