THAI LANGUAGE LESSONS
L28 - Emphasis
If we want to add emphasis to a statement in English we use words such as 'very' and 'much', e.g. instead of just saying 'it is cold', we could emphasize it by saying 'it is very cold'.
The Thai language also has an array of words for adding emphasis to statements, and Thais like to use them very much.
mahk
mahk is used in much the same way that we use 'very'. It always comes at the end of the statement:
wan nee yen mahk - Today is very
cold
pom ruk koon mahk - I love you very much
And in typical Thai language fashion, you can really add emphasis to the statement by saying it twice:
wan nee yen mahk mahk - Today is very very cold
yur
yur is used in much the same way that we use 'lots'. It is a difficult one to transliterate but once you have heard it, you will soon get the hang of it. We could possibly write it as yer or even yeuh.
It always comes at the end of the statement:
patong mee kon yur - Patong has lots of people
Many beginners in Thai language make the mistake of using mahk too broadly. You will often hear beginners say something like:
patong mee kon mahk
Thais will probably understand what is meant but it is clumsy use of the language. What you are saying sounds like:
Patong has very much people
So remember use mahk where in English you would use 'very' or 'very much' and use yur where in English you would use 'lots'.
lai
lai is used in much the same way that we use 'many'. It sounds a little more formal and proper than using yur, as above.
It can come before the noun:
patong mee lai kon - Patong has many people
Thais will understand the above statement just fine, but to be strictly correct you should use it against the classifier (as previously described in our classifiers lesson).
patong mee kon lai kon - Patong has many people
loie
loie is used in much the same way that we use 'really'. Thais often add these words to the end of their sentences. It is partly done to add emphasis to what they have said, but it is also done just to make the statement sound cute.
pahsah thai nah ruk loie - Thai language is really lovely
jung
jung is used in much the same way that we use 'truly'. It is very similar to loie and you can pretty much interchange them. Again it is added as much to make the sentence sound cute as to emphasize the statement.
pahsah thai nah ruk jung - Thai language is truly lovely
jung loie
You will often hear Thais put the two words together to really add emphasis (and cuteness) to the statement. Remember it shoud be jung loie and not loie jung:
pahsah thai nah ruk jung loie - Thai language is truly really lovely
rork
You will not hear this one so often -- rork is usually used to add emphasis to a negative statement:
pom mai chorp gin plah rork - I really don't like eating fish
nah
While we are discussing adding particles to the end of sentences to make them sound cute, we really should mention nah. It is not used to add emphasis to statements but more as a throwaway add on, a little like we use phrases such as 'don't you think', 'isn't it', 'know what I mean', etc. Mostly it is used to make the speech sound cute.
dichan chorp poot nah ruk, nah kah - I like to speak lovely and cute
