Helpful Phrase in Thai: Learn to Express Can and Cannot in Thai
Dai means power and Mai dai means not power.
To express that you can do something in Thai, you can use the word “Dai” which means power. If you want to express that you can’t do something, just negate the verb dai with “Mai”.
Dai krap/ka.
If I can.
Mai dai krap/ka.
no I can not
In Thailand, you would use the polite particle krap at the end of your sentence if you are a man and ka if you are a woman. The purpose of using krap or ka is to make the sentence polite, like the Japanese version of -masu.
Let’s say you want to ask someone if they can speak Thai. How would you ask him in Thai?
Koon poot passed the dai mai thai?
Can you speak Thai?
Koon is you, Poot means talk, and pass is language. Literally, the above sentence would mean “Do you speak the Thai language?”
may, before a verb = no / do not
After a verb = question mark
As you may have noticed, may, when used before a verb, means no or no. If used after a verb, it acts like the Japanese version of ka, a question mark.
Learning Thai is not difficult at all if you have someone to practice with. If you want to speed up the learning process, make sure you find a Thai friend who is willing to speak Thai with you. You can easily find them on skype, msn or other social network.