The Two Ways To Ask What? in Thai
What are you thinking? What is your name? Learn how to ask and answer these common questions.
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· first published May 18, 2021
· last update June 16, 2021
Note: In Thai, you usually put polite particles at the end of each question. In this article, we skip that, to keep our examples to the point and gender-neutral. But when you speak Thai, please follow the instructions in our article on Thai polite particles and apply them to each sentence.
What...? in Thai
What? questions in the Thai language are formed using one of these patterns:
- อะไร at the end of the question
- ยังไง at the end of the question
What? questions with อะไร
As mentioned above, you simply put อะไร at the end of the question. To answer, you put the answer in the place of อะไร .
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Examples
Q: What is your name?
คุณ ชื่อ อะไร ?
Literally: You - name - what?
คุณ ชื่อ อะไร ?
Literally: You - name - what?
A: My name is Somchai
ผม ชื่อ สมชัย
Literally: I - name - Somchai
Q: What country are you from?
คุณ เป็น คน ประเทศ อะไร ?
Literally: You - be - person - country - what?
ผม ชื่อ สมชัย
Literally: I - name - Somchai
Q: What country are you from?
คุณ เป็น คน ประเทศ อะไร ?
Literally: You - be - person - country - what?
A: I am Thai
ผม เป็น คน ไทย
Literally: I - be - person - Thai
ผม เป็น คน ไทย
Literally: I - be - person - Thai
Exceptions
There are two exceptions, when อะไร is not at the end of the question:
- when อยู่ is used to express that some action is happening now, then is at the end, and อะไร is right before อยู่ .
- อะไร is placed before directional words. Directional words are, for example, มา "to come".
Examples for Exceptions
Q: What are you doing (right now)?
คุณ ทำ อะไร อยู่ ?
Literally: You - do - what? - now
คุณ ทำ อะไร อยู่ ?
Literally: You - do - what? - now
A: (I am) watching TV
ดู ทีวี อยู่
Literally: Watch - TV - now
ดู ทีวี อยู่
Literally: Watch - TV - now
Q: What are you thinking (right now)?
คุณ คิด อะไร อยู่ ?
Literally: You - think - what? - now
Q: What did you buy?
คุณ ซื้อ อะไร มา ?
Literally: You - buy - what? - come
คุณ คิด อะไร อยู่ ?
Literally: You - think - what? - now
Q: What did you buy?
คุณ ซื้อ อะไร มา ?
Literally: You - buy - what? - come
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What? ยังไง vs. อะไร
If you ask for someone else's opinion on something, Thai speakers prefer the use of ยังไง , which is literally translated to "How?". So, for example, "What do you think (about something)?" is expressed as คิด ว่า ยังไง , which means "How do you think (about this)?". But the general question "What are you thinking (right now)?" does not ask the opinion, and therefore it is คิด อะไร อยู่ ?
To learn more about How? questions in Thai, please read this article: How do you say? (Questions of manner in Thai).
To learn more about How? questions in Thai, please read this article: How do you say? (Questions of manner in Thai).
Examples
Q: What do you think (about this)?
คุณ คิด ว่า ยังไง
Literally: You - think - that - how?
Q: What will you do (about this)?
คุณ จะ ทำ ยังไง
Literally: You - will - do- how?
คุณ คิด ว่า ยังไง
Literally: You - think - that - how?
Q: What will you do (about this)?
คุณ จะ ทำ ยังไง
Literally: You - will - do- how?