Support Active Thai

We believe that Active Thai should be funded by people who appreciate our work. If you are a current student that has made a donation, we thank you for that. Please enter the address used so we can log you in:

If you are using our site for free, please consider making a donation and you'll get an enhanced student experience.

Click the link below for more info:

Just a moment please,
getting sound files . . .
How to answer when the
question uses ไหม or หรือ

When one of the question particles is used, a simple affirmative or negative response is expected. The affirmative answer is a repetition of the main verb.

คุณ สบายดี ไหม คะ
How are you?
Or
คุณ สบายดี หรือ คะ
How are you?
Affirmative response:
ผม สบายดี ครับ
I am fine. (male)
ฉัน สบายดี ค่ะ
I am fine. (female)

To reply to this type of question, you should never simply say the Thai word for yes or no. Although you might be understood, you will sound very strange.

Note: We will cover the negative response in a future lesson.

And what about you?

Just as in English, whenever someone asks how you are doing, you should return the question and ask about them. Thai has a very simple way of doing this by using the words léow and lá around the subject.

léow + (the subject) + lá

This phrase means:
and what about (the subject)

So, using our practice question from above when someone asks about you, you can ask exactly the same question back using this phrase.

คุณ สบายดี ไหม คะ
How are you?
Affirmative response:
ผม สบายดี ครับ
I am fine. (male)
แล้ว คุณ ละ ครับ
And what about you? (And how are you?)

Note that léow and lá are just a way of forming another question about a topic that you were already discussing, in this case, the verb sà-baai-dee.

The next application drill will get you used to saying the words and give you more practice switching the pronoun.

Lesson Navigation:

Application Settings:
Gender  (Recordings for your gender)
Transliterations  (Thai words in English)
Interpretations  (What the words mean)

More to come . . .

Active Thai is a work in progress. Please check back often for new lessons.

Lesson Navigation:

Application Settings:
Gender  (Recordings for your gender)
Transliterations  (Thai words in English)
Interpretations  (What the words mean)

More to come . . .

Active Thai is a work in progress. Please check back often for new lessons.