The three ways to say “can”

Most people meet this problem in a swimming pool or at a clinic. You want to say "I can't", you reach for the one word you know, and the Thai person hears something you did not mean. Thai splits English "can" into three separate words, and the split is about the reason you can or cannot do the thing. ว่ายน้ำไม่เป็น (wâai-náam mâi bpen) means you never learned to swim. ว่ายน้ำไม่ได้ (wâai-náam mâi dâi) means you know how, but something is stopping you today: no pool, stitches in your arm, the beach closed. ว่ายน้ำไม่ไหว (wâai-náam mâi wǎi) means you know how and you are allowed, but you do not have the strength for it. Three different facts, three different words, and your listener will act on whichever one you actually said. Before the meanings, the mechanics, because they are identical for all three. The word goes at the end of the verb phrase, after the object, not in front of the verb the way English puts "can": พูดภาษาไทยได้ (phûut phaa-sǎa-thai dâi), ขับรถเป็น (khàp rót bpen), เดินไหว (doen wǎi). To negate, put ไม่ (mâi) immediately in front of the word, still at the end of the sentence: ไม่ได้, ไม่เป็น, ไม่ไหว. To ask, add ไหม (mǎi) after it: ...ได้ไหม, ...เป็นไหม, ...ไหวไหม. Note that in everyday speech this particle is said with a high tone, mái, and is often written มั้ย, so what you will actually hear is ได้มั้ย (dâi mái). And Thai answers a yes/no question by echoing the word rather than by saying yes or no: ได้ / ไม่ได้, เป็น / ไม่เป็น, ไหว / ไม่ไหว. Learning that echo alone will carry you through most counter conversations. One boundary to fix early, because it uses the same English word: ไม่ได้ denies a verb, ไม่ใช่ (mâi châi) denies a noun. ผมไม่ได้ทำ (phǒm mâi dâi tham), "I didn't do it"; ไม่ใช่ผม (mâi châi phǒm), "it wasn't me". Answering ไม่ใช่ to a ...ได้ไหม question, or ไม่ได้ to a ...ใช่ไหม question, is the clearest sign that someone is translating from English. Two things ride along with these patterns and are worth setting up now. For requests, หน่อย (nàwy) sits between the verb phrase and ได้ไหม and softens it to "a bit": พูดช้าๆ หน่อยได้ไหมครับ, ลดราคาหน่อยได้ไหมครับ, ช่วยหน่อยได้ไหมครับ (chûay nàwy dâi mǎi khráp). Without หน่อย the question is still correct, just blunter, and in a shop or a taxi the หน่อย is most of what makes it sound like asking rather than telling. Second, the examples below are in a man's voice, so they end in ครับ (khráp) and use ผม (phǒm) for "I". A woman ends a statement with ค่ะ (khâ) and a question with คะ (khá), and says ดิฉัน (dì-chǎn) or simply her own name for "I": จอดตรงนี้ได้ไหมคะ, ไม่ไหวแล้วค่ะ. Nothing else in the pattern moves. ได้ is the broad one and the one you will use most. It covers permission (is this allowed?), circumstance (do conditions permit it?), and result (did it work?). จอดตรงนี้ได้ไหมครับ, "can I park here?" ถ่ายรูปได้ไหมครับ, "can I take a photo?" จ่ายด้วยบัตรได้ไหมครับ, "can I pay by card?" The answer comes back as ได้ครับ or ไม่ได้ครับ. One expression is worth taking whole straight away: ได้เลยครับ (dâi loei khráp), "sure, go right ahead". ก็ได้ (gâw dâi) after a question word means "any one of them will do", and the set is short enough to take whole: อะไรก็ได้ (à-rai gâw dâi), anything; ที่ไหนก็ได้ (thîi-nǎi gâw dâi), anywhere; เมื่อไหร่ก็ได้ (mêua-rài gâw dâi), any time; ใครก็ได้ (khrai gâw dâi), anyone; อันไหนก็ได้ (an-nǎi gâw dâi), whichever one; ยังไงก็ได้ (yang-ngai gâw dâi), however you like. On its own ก็ได้ means "that works for me", but delivered flatly it can land as "fine, whatever", so keep it warm and put ครับ or ค่ะ on the end. And be careful with อะไรก็ได้: it is polite in a restaurant, but when the person asking is the one cooking, it hands the work back to them, and naming a dish is the kinder answer. ได้ also accepts a following degree or manner word: พูดได้นิดหน่อย (phûut dâi nít-nàwy), "I can speak a little", and ทำได้ดี (tham dâi dii), "can do it well". เป็น means you have learned the thing and now carry it. ทำอาหารไทยเป็น (tham aa-hǎan thai bpen), ขับรถเป็น, ว่ายน้ำเป็น, เขียนภาษาไทยเป็น (khǐian phaa-sǎa-thai bpen). Learners resist this word because they met เป็น first as "to be" (เป็นคนไทย, bpen khon thai) and then as the verb for being ill (เป็นไข้, bpen khâi, to have a fever; เป็นหวัด, bpen wàt, to have a cold), so it never occurs to them that the same syllable also does "know how to". There is nothing to memorise beyond the logic: the skill has become part of what you are. On hedging, ได้ is the one that takes นิดหน่อย. เป็น is closer to binary, since you either learned the thing or you did not, so it does not take นิดหน่อย. It does take ไม่ค่อย (mâi khâwy), and that is the normal hedge for a half-skill: ทำอาหารไม่ค่อยเป็น (tham aa-hǎan mâi khâwy bpen), "I can't really cook". ไหว hedges the same way: ไม่ค่อยไหว (mâi khâwy wǎi), "I'm not really up to it". So all three can be softened, it is just นิดหน่อย for ได้ and ไม่ค่อย for the other two. "I can speak Thai" is where this shows up daily. พูดภาษาไทยเป็น says you have learned the language. พูดภาษาไทยได้ says you are able to produce it, and it is genuinely common, especially with a qualifier. Both are said by Thai people, so do not treat ได้ as a flat error here. The same holds in the negative. พูดภาษาไทยไม่ได้ means "I am not able to speak Thai", and it is the ordinary, neutral way to say it. It reports what you can produce right now and says nothing about whether you ever studied. พูดภาษาไทยไม่เป็น is the stronger claim: you never learned the language at all. If you have studied even a little, do not deny the skill with ไม่เป็น. Say พูดได้นิดหน่อย. ไหว is about capacity: strength, stamina, endurance, and by extension money. It answers the question "have you got enough left in you for this?" เดินไหวไหม (doen wǎi mǎi), "can you manage the walk?" ยกกระเป๋าไหวไหม (yók grà-bpǎo wǎi mǎi), "can you lift the bag?" กินไม่ไหว, "I've reached my limit, I can't manage any more." If the point is only that the portion is too big, that is กินไม่หมด (gin mâi mòt). ทนไม่ไหว (thon mâi wǎi), "I can't stand it", used for heat, noise, pain and people. จ่ายไม่ไหว (jàai mâi wǎi), and in bargaining สู้ราคาไม่ไหว (sûu raa-khaa mâi wǎi), move the same idea to money: not that you are forbidden to buy it, but that your wallet cannot take it. And ไม่ไหว on its own, or ไม่ไหวแล้ว (mâi wǎi láew), is a complete sentence meaning "that is my limit", said constantly at the end of a hot afternoon. The fastest way to fix the system in your head is to run one verb through all three. ขับรถไม่เป็น: I never learned to drive. ขับรถไม่ได้: I am not able to right now, because I have no licence, or I have been drinking, or the car is in the shop. ขับรถไม่ไหว: I am too tired or too sick to drive that far. Now chilli. กินเผ็ดไม่เป็น is genuinely used and means you never developed the habit, you are not a chilli eater. กินเผ็ดไม่ได้ means it does not agree with you, it makes you ill. กินเผ็ดไม่ไหว means this particular plate is beyond you right now. Same verb, three honest answers, and Thai people will take you at your word each time. Now the second job of ได้, which trips up every learner at some point. Move ได้ in front of the verb and it stops meaning "can". In that position it denies that the action is, or was, the case, and it is not restricted to the past. With a stative verb or an identity clause it contradicts something the listener currently believes: ผมไม่ได้โกรธ (phǒm mâi dâi gròot), "I'm not angry", said when someone thinks you are; ผมไม่ได้เป็นครู (phǒm mâi dâi bpen khruu), "I'm not a teacher", correcting a wrong assumption; ไม่ได้ตั้งใจ (mâi dâi dtâng-jai), "I didn't mean to", which is what you say the moment you bump into someone. With an action verb inside a past frame the same structure reads as plain "didn't": เมื่อวานผมไม่ได้ไปทำงาน (mêua-waan phǒm mâi dâi bpai tham-ngaan), "yesterday I didn't go to work." Compare วันนี้ผมไปทำงานไม่ได้ (wan-níi phǒm bpai tham-ngaan mâi dâi), "today I can't go to work." Nothing changed except the position of the same two syllables. One combination is worth learning as a block, because it is in every conversation about food, errands and paperwork: ยัง...ไม่ได้ + verb, "have not done it yet". ยังไม่ได้กินข้าว (yang mâi dâi gin khâao), "I haven't eaten yet". ยังไม่ได้จ่าย (yang mâi dâi jàai), "I haven't paid yet". Keep it apart from ยัง + verb + ไม่ได้, which is still about ability: ยังกินไม่ได้ (yang gin mâi dâi), "I still can't eat", which is what the nurse tells you after a procedure. The same three words, and again only the position of ไม่ได้ decides whether you are reporting an unfinished action or a blocked one. In positive sentences ได้ before the verb is used less for plain past tense and more for contrast or confirmation (ผมได้บอกเขาแล้ว, phǒm dâi bàwk khǎo láew, "I did tell him"). Ordinary past in Thai is carried by แล้ว or by a time word, not by ได้. That ambiguity sounds dangerous on paper and is almost harmless in speech, because position does all the work. The "can" ได้ is always after the verb phrase; the past ได้ is always before the verb. They cannot trade places, so a sentence containing both reads cleanly: เมื่อวานไปไม่ได้ (mêua-waan bpai mâi dâi), "yesterday I couldn't go." Thai also leans on time words rather than tense: add เมื่อวาน (mêua-waan), ตอนนี้ (dtawn-níi), พรุ่งนี้ (phrûng-níi) or แล้ว (láew) and nobody has to guess. Two more uses of the same syllable are worth recognising so you do not mistake them for grammar: ได้ as a plain verb meaning "to get" or "to receive" (ได้เงิน, dâi ngoen, to get money), and the fixed compound ได้ยิน (dâi-yin), which is simply the verb "to hear". There is a formal fourth option you should read but rarely say. สามารถ (sǎa-mâat) means "to be able to", it goes before the verb, and it almost always keeps ได้ at the end of the sentence as well: สามารถใช้บัตรนี้ได้, and in the negative ไม่สามารถใช้บัตรนี้ได้. This is the register of immigration forms, bank documents, hospital notices and station announcements, so you need to recognise it on sight. You do not need to produce it. Saying สามารถ at a food stall sounds like reading a memo out loud. Keep ได้ for speech. Finally, a short family of neighbouring patterns that also translate as "can't" and that you will hear in your first week. ...ไม่ออก (mâi àwk) is for something you cannot produce or retrieve: คิดไม่ออก (khít mâi àwk), "I can't think of it"; นึกชื่อไม่ออก (néuk chêu mâi àwk), "I can't recall the name". ...ไม่ทัน (mâi than) is for not keeping up or not making it in time: ฟังไม่ทัน (fang mâi than), "you're speaking too fast for me". ...ไม่ถูก (mâi thùuk) is for not being able to do it correctly: พูดไม่ถูก (phûut mâi thùuk), "I can't put it into words". ...ไม่ลง (mâi long) is for something that will not go down, whether physically or emotionally: กินไม่ลง (gin mâi long), "I can't eat it", said when you have no appetite, or you are upset, or the smell is wrong. ...ไม่หมด (mâi mòt) is about quantity: กินไม่หมด (gin mâi mòt), "I can't finish all of it", which is the sentence you want when you hand back half a plate. Line the eating verbs up once and they stay apart: กินไม่ได้ (not allowed to, or it makes me ill), กินไม่ไหว (I have had enough, this beat me), กินไม่ลง (I have no appetite), กินไม่หมด (too much on the plate). นอนไม่หลับ (nawn mâi làp), "I can't get to sleep", belongs to the same family and is fixed; นอนไม่ได้ would be heard as circumstance, that something is stopping you from lying down. None of these replace ไม่ได้; they name the specific way the thing fails. A quick self test before you speak: finish the sentence "because..." in your head. Because it is allowed or possible, ได้. Because I learned it, เป็น. Because I have the strength or the money, ไหว. And if the failure is not about permission, skill or strength but about the action itself refusing to complete, use the resultatives: nothing will come out, ไม่ออก; I cannot keep up, ไม่ทัน; I cannot get it right, ไม่ถูก; it will not go down, ไม่ลง; I cannot get through all of it, ไม่หมด.