ESL Tip Sheet 9: Thai

The written language

• Indic alphabet, in addition to symbols for tones.
• Spaces correspond to punctuation: this leads to problems with end punctuation and internal punctuation of sentences. Part 9.
• Words are often not separated.
• Makes no distinction between upper and lower case. 59.

Sentence structure and word order

• Uses S + V + O order, but subject can be omitted. 32a; 35d.

Nouns and pronouns

• No inflections for number, gender, and case: *They have many book. *I saw they. 41e; 62a.
• No gender or number distinction for third-person pronoun: *My sister likes his job. *After my parents left, I missed him. 41e.
• Only one form of relative pronoun: *The man which has just left... 42a.
• Pronouns are complex and reflect speaker's attitude as well as sex, age, and position in society of the person addressed. 41e.
• Pronoun subjects can be omitted: *My boss complained when saw the mess. 35d.

Verbs and verbals

• No inflections for tense or number: *He have a good time yesterday. 38a; 38e.
• No auxiliary verbs: *They work? 38d.

Adjectives and adverbs

• No distinction between no and not: *The committee will no agree. 48a.
• No distinction between adjective and adverb: *He writes very good. 43b.
• An adjective can function as a verb so be is not used with adjectives: *The meal very delicious. 35c; 38b; 43c.

Articles

• No articles, so learners either omit them or overuse them: *The books are the important tools for student. 44.