Yes-No Questions and Tag Questions
- We put “mái”, “rúplàaw”, “rú mâi”, rú yang at the end of sentences.
- To answer Yes-No questions, the verb or auxiliary verb in the question is repeated for an affirmative answer or negated in a negative answer.
- The following table summarizes answer forms used for different types of questions.
|
Question |
Meaning |
Affirmative Answer |
Negative Answer |
|
Go? | pai | mâi pai |
|
Eat? | kin | mâi kin |
|
Go or not? | (jà) pai | (jà) mâi pai |
|
Done yet? | (jà) tham
tham lέεw |
yang mâi tham
yang |
Tag Question
- Put “châi mái”, “châi rú plaàw” at the end of sentence.
|
Question |
Meaning |
Affirmative Answer |
Negative Answer |
| chɔɔ̂p châi mái | Like it. Right? | châi | mâi châi |
| suú sûa châi rú plaàw | Buy a shirt Right? | châi | mâi châi |
Telling Time
- Use “thâo rai” at the end of sentence.
- Start with “weelaa” at the beginning of sentence.
- Colloquial term “kiì moong”.
|
Question |
Meaning |
Answer |
Answer |
| weelaa thâo rai | What time? | 10 moong chaó | baày 1 moong |
| kiì moong | What time? | 6 moong yen | thiâng khuun |
At a barber’s
Barber: sàwàtdii khráp
Customer: tàt phŏm phuû chaay thâo rai khráp
Barber: 50 baht khráp
Customer: sà phŏm dûay châi mái khráp
Barber: châi khráp
Customer: naan mái khráp
Barber: 30 naa thii
Customer: kiì moong lεέw
Barber: baày 3 moong
Customer: phrûng nií maa mài pai tham thùrá kɔɔ̀n
Barber: khɔɔ̀p khun khráp