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Question

Word What?

| อะไร à-rai

The word “What?” in Thai is อะไร à-rai.  Normally in Thai Grammar, we put at the end of a sentence to turn a statement into a question.

For Example:

• คุณชื่ออะไร /kun chûu à-rai/ – What is your name?
• คุณชอบกินอาหารอะไร /kun chɔ̂ɔp gin aa-hǎan à-rai/ – What kind of food do you like to eat?
• คุณเป็นคนประเทศอะไร /kun bpen kon bprà-têet à-rai/ – What nationality are you?
• คุณทำงานอะไร /kun tam-ngaan à-rai/ – What do you do?

To answer such questions, substitute ‘อะไร /à-rai/‘ with the appropriate word, an exception is the question คุณทำงานอะไร /kun tam-ngaan à-rai/ to which the normal response is ฉันเป็น… /chán bpen …/ (I am a …) followed by the name of the occupation.

For Example:

Q: คุณชื่ออะไร /kun chûu à-rai/ – What is your name?

A: ฉันชื่อแพร /chán chûu prɛɛ/ – My name is Prae.
Q: คุณชอบกินอาหารอะไร /kun chɔ̂ɔp gin aa-hǎan à-rai/ – What kind of food do you like to eat?

A: ผมชอบกินอาหารไทย อาหารญี่ปุ่น และอาหารฝรั่ง /pǒm chɔ̂ɔp gin aa-hǎan tai aa-hǎan yîi-bpùn lɛ́ aa-hǎan fà-ràng/ – I like to eat Thai food, Japanese food and Western food.

Q: คุณเป็นคนประเทศอะไร /kun bpen kon bprà-têet à-rai/ – What nationality are you?

A:  ฉันเป็นคนไทย /chán bpen kon tai/ – I am Thai.

Q: คุณทำงานอะไร /kun tam-ngaan à-rai/ – What do you do?

A: ฉันเป็นครู /chán bpen kruu/ – I am a teacher.

I hope you can now use the ‘what’ Thai question word effectively.

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By Prae
Thai Language Teacher