THAI LANGUAGE LESSONS
L8(b) - 'tee nai' - Where?
'tee nai' - is the Thai phrase for 'where'.
To fully understand this new word we need some new vocabulary:
| tee | at / on / in |
| yoo | to be located |
| bahn | home / house |
It is possible to use the word 'nai' on its own. We have already seen the common Thai phrase:
bpai nai ? - where are you going?
In this case it is a common phrase and it is custom to only use 'nai'. However, more commonly we add the preposition 'tee'. This is a general preposition meaning at/on/in.
bahn tee nai ? - where is your home? Literally 'home at where?'
Although that does work, to be more complete you should actually add the word 'yoo' which means to 'to be located'.
bahn yoo tee nai ? - where is your home located.
bahn yoo tee poo-get - my home is located in Phuket.
Not too difficult. Now we will look at the slightly confusing way that 'nai' can also be used to mean 'anywhere'.
mai pai nai - I'm not going anywhere. This is one way to reply to the question 'bpai nai?' By putting the negative 'mai' at the front of the statement it becomes 'I'm not going where' or to translate it into better English, 'I am not going anywhere.'
Idiom
tee nai gor dai - Wherever; In the same way we used 'arai gor dai' in the previous lesson for 'whatever', you can use 'tee nai gor dai' for wherever.
bpai nai ? - where
are you going?
tee nai gor dai - Wherever
