Practice: asking questions
What you will be able to do
Build a question without moving a word — put à-rai, thîi-nǎi and the rest where the answer goes, pick the yes/no ending that asks for the answer you want, and read the answer that comes back.
Thai questions do not change word order. The question word sits where the answer will sit, and a yes/no question hangs an ending like mǎi, châi mǎi or rěu yang on the statement. The ending decides what shape the answer takes, so the whole skill is matching the ending to the answer you want.
In Thai, where does a question word go?
อะไร (à-rai) sits where the answer sits, so the word order of the sentence never changes. Thai does not drag the question word to the front the way English does.
Someone asks this. How do you answer yes?
คุณอยู่ที่นี่ใช่ไหมครับ
ใช่ไหม (châi mǎi) hangs a statement in front of you to judge, so ใช่ (châi) or ไม่ใช่ (mâi châi) answers it — not the verb. The verb is the answer to a plain ไหม question instead.
Someone asks this. How do you answer yes?
เผ็ดไหมครับ
ไหม (mǎi) is the neutral ending and it wants its verb back: เผ็ดครับ (phèt khráp) or ไม่เผ็ดครับ (mâi phèt khráp). ใช่ is for ใช่ไหม, not for a plain ไหม.
Which of these means “I don't have it”?
ไม่มี (mâi mii) is the answer — ไม่ (mâi) with the falling tone is not. มีไหม (mii mǎi) with the rising ไหม asks do you have it. One tone apart, opposite meanings.
Someone asks this. How do you say “not yet”?
กินข้าวหรือยังครับ
หรือยัง (rěu yang) wants แล้ว (already) or ยัง (not yet). ไม่ยัง does not exist — the bare ยัง is the whole of not yet.
เอาไหม asks “do you want it?”. เอาเหรอ asks…
เหรอ (rǒe) carries surprise: เอาเหรอครับ is “you really want it?”. It is the difference between a neutral enquiry and a raised eyebrow.
Which is the correct way to ask how many people?
กี่ (gìi) never stands alone; it takes a classifier, so กี่คน (gìi khon) — how many people. The answer repeats the classifier: สามคนครับ, not a bare สาม.
Which question word asks for an amount, like a price?
เท่าไหร่ (thâo-rài) asks how much — a price or an amount — and stands on its own. กี่ asks how many and needs a classifier; ที่ไหน is where and เมื่อไหร่ is when.
Where does ทำไม (why) usually go?
ทำไม (tham-mai) is the odd one out and normally goes at the FRONT rather than in the answer's slot: ทำไมถึงมาเมืองไทยครับ — what brought you to Thailand. At the end, ซื้อทำไมครับ, it is sharper.
You want to ask a passer-by something. Which opener is right?
ขอโทษนะครับ (khǎw-thôot ná khráp) is the cold-approach opener — it announces that you are about to take up someone's time. อะไร on its own is only “what”.
A woman speaking ends a QUESTION with which particle?
A woman ends a statement with ค่ะ (khâ) and a question with the high คะ (khá). After นะ it is always คะ: ไปไหนคะ — where are you going?
Someone asks this. The “no” answer is…
ไปหรือเปล่าครับ
หรือเปล่า (rěu bplàao), said รึเปล่า, is flat and neutral. Answer ไปครับ (yes, going) or the bare เปล่าครับ (no). The verb or เปล่า — not ใช่.
Someone asks this. How do you answer yes?
นั่งตรงนี้ได้ไหมครับ
ได้ไหม (dâi mǎi) asks permission, and it is ได้ (dâi) or ไม่ได้ (mâi dâi) that comes back, not the main verb. Everyday Thai needs no separate verb for “may I”.
Which word softens a question for a counter or an official?
ไม่ทราบว่า (mâi sâap wâa), literally “I do not know whether”, goes on the front of any question to lean it formal — a counter, an office, someone senior. ทราบ is the polite รู้.
Common mistake
English rising intonation does nothing in Thai — a hopeful lilt does not make a statement into a question, and it can bend a word onto the wrong tone. Keep mâi (falling, not) and mǎi (rising, question) apart, and answer in the shape the ending asks for: ใช่ for ใช่ไหม, the verb for ไหม, แล้ว or ยัง for หรือยัง. And ไม่ยัง does not exist.