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Saying I Can (Dai) and I Can’t (Dai Mai) In Thai

Thailand Tourism - Useful Thai Phrase: Learning how to express Can and Cannot in Thai

Dai means can and Mai dai means cannot.

To express that you can do something in Thai, you can use the word “Dai” which means, can. If you would like to express that you can’t do something, simply negate the verb dai with “Mai”.

Dai krap/ka.

Yes, I can.

Mai dai krap/ka.

No, I can’t

In Thailand, you would use the polite particle krap at the end of your sentence if you’re male and ka if you’re female. The purpose of using krap or ka is to make the sentence polite, much like Japanese’s version of -masu.

Let’s say you want to ask someone if he can speak Thai. How would you ask him in Thai?

Koon poot passa Thai dai mai?

Can you speak Thai?

Koon is you, Poot means speak, and passa is language. Literally, the above sentence would mean “You speak language Thai can?”

Mai, before a verb = no / do not

After a verb = question marker

As you have noticed, mai, when used before a verb, means no or do not. If it is used after a verb, it acts like the Japanese version of ka – a question marker.

Learning Thai is not difficult at all if you have someone to practise with. If you want to accelerate the learning process, be sure to find a Thai friend who is willing to speak Thai with you. You can find them easily on skype, msn or other social network.

Interested in learning another Asian language such as Japanese? If you are, be sure to visit my learn Japanese site where you can find both basic and advanced Japanese words, grammar and other Japanese training materials.

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