An echo question responds to something just said by repeating all or part of it: สามพันบาทเหรอคะ “Three thousand baht?” A repair question identifies what the listener failed to hear, remember, or understand: เมื่อกี้บอกว่าสามพันหรือสามหมื่นคะ “Did you say three thousand or thirty thousand?”
Thai does not use a special echo word order. A disputed value can stand alone, or a question word can replace the unclear material in the same position it occupied in the earlier clause. Particles then show whether the speaker is surprised, requesting repetition, or checking a candidate interpretation.
Four common repair jobs
| Interactional problem | Productive frame | Typical force |
|---|---|---|
| unclear whole turn | อะไรนะครับ/นะคะ | “Sorry, what was that?” |
| unclear value | prior frame + wh-word + นะครับ/นะคะ | repeat who/what/where/when |
| surprising information | repeated value/clause + เหรอครับ/เหรอคะ | surprised uptake |
| candidate hearing | proposed value + ใช่ไหมครับ/คะ | confirm this interpretation |
| two possible hearings | A + หรือ + B + ครับ/คะ | choose the form actually said |
| unclear intended meaning | หมายถึง + interpretation + ใช่ไหม | check understanding, not sound |
ขอโทษนะคะ เมื่อกี้พูดว่าอะไรนะคะ
kho thot na kha muea ki phut wa arai na kha
Sorry, what did you just say? (polite hearing-repair request, female speaker)
ผมบอกว่ารถจะออกตอนหกโมงครับ
phom bok wa rot cha ok ton hok mong khrap
I said the bus will leave at six. (ordinary polite repair response, male speaker; relevant content restored)
หกโมงเหรอคะ
hok mong roe kha
Six o'clock? (ordinary polite surprised echo, female speaker)
The first question leaves the whole prior content open with อะไร. The second repeats it. The third has now heard the value but displays surprise. These are different conversational stages even though English can render both questions with “what?” or a repeated phrase.
Replace only the unclear constituent
When most of the earlier sentence was clear, keep that frame and replace the trouble source with ใคร, อะไร, ที่ไหน, เมื่อไร, กี่, or another matching question expression. The question word remains in situ.
เมื่อกี้บอกว่าต้องส่งเอกสารให้ใครนะคะ
muea ki bok wa tong song ekkasan hai khrai na kha
Who did you say the documents need to be sent to? (polite hearing-repair question, female speaker; unclear recipient replaced by ใคร)
ส่งให้คุณวิชัยครับ
song hai khun wichai khrap
Send them to Khun Wichai. (ordinary polite repair response, male speaker; recipient supplied)
เรานัดเจอกันที่ไหนนะครับ
rao nat choe kan thi nai na khrap
Where was it that we're meeting again? (polite memory-retrieval question, male speaker)
เจอกันตรงทางเข้าด้านข้างค่ะ
choe kan trong thang khao dan khang kha
We're meeting at the side entrance. (ordinary polite answer, female speaker)
ต้องเตรียมสำเนากี่ชุดนะคะ
tong triam samnao ki chut na kha
How many sets of copies do we need to prepare again? (polite recall question, female speaker; กี่ remains before classifier ชุด)
The syntax is the same as an initial information question. นะครับ/นะคะ and the discourse context add the sense that the answer was previously available. นะ is not itself a universal question marker: in a statement it can seek alignment or soften an instruction. Here it works with the interrogative expression and shared history.
The wh-in-situ guide explains why the recipient follows ให้, the location follows the meeting predicate, and กี่ชุด occupies the quantity slot.
Echoing a value: hearing versus surprise
A short repeated fragment can check hearing. Adding เหรอครับ/เหรอคะ makes surprised or news-receiving uptake more explicit. Prosody, facial expression, and the plausibility of the information still matter.
ห้องสองศูนย์หกนะครับ
hong song sun hok na khrap
Room 206, right? (ordinary polite hearing check, male speaker; repeated room number)
ต้องส่งทั้งหมดห้าสิบชุดเหรอคะ
tong song thang mot ha sip chut roe kha
We have to send all fifty sets? (ordinary polite surprised echo, female speaker)
ใช่ครับ ลูกค้าขอเพิ่มจากยี่สิบชุด
chai khrap luk kha kho phoem chak yi sip chut
Yes. The customer increased the order from twenty sets. (ordinary polite confirmation, male speaker)
A bare ห้าสิบชุด? is also possible in an immediate informal exchange. The explicit เหรอคะ is clearer in writing and preserves polite interaction. It does not turn the predicate into a past form.
Thai lexical tones remain intact. Utterance-level pitch, duration, and prominence can signal surprise or incomprehension, but there is no instruction to replace the final lexical tone with an English question rise. See intonation-based questions.
Offer a candidate repair
If the listener has a likely hearing, repeating that value with ใช่ไหม asks the first speaker to validate it. If two hearings are plausible, place หรือ between them.
เมื่อกี้บอกว่ารถออกหกโมงครึ่งใช่ไหมครับ
muea ki bok wa rot ok hok mong khrueng chai mai khrap
You said the bus leaves at six thirty, right? (polite candidate-hearing check, male speaker)
หกโมงหรือหกโมงครึ่งคะ
hok mong rue hok mong khrueng kha
Was it six or six thirty? (polite alternative repair question, female speaker)
หกโมงครึ่งครับ ต้องไปถึงก่อนสิบห้านาที
hok mong khrueng khrap tong pai thueng kon sip ha nathi
Six thirty. We need to arrive fifteen minutes early. (ordinary polite repair response, male speaker)
The ใช่ไหม version favors “six thirty.” The หรือ version presents two candidates without grammatically choosing one. A bare ใช่ can answer the first, but the second is best answered by repeating the correct time.
Repair understanding, not just sound
Sometimes every word was audible but the intended reference or consequence was unclear. Use หมายถึง...ใช่ไหม “Do you mean...?” or restate the inferred proposition.
หมายถึงให้แก้เฉพาะหน้าสุดท้ายใช่ไหมคะ
mai thueng hai kae chapho na sutthai chai mai kha
Do you mean that only the last page should be corrected? (polite understanding check, female speaker)
ใช่ครับ หน้าอื่นไม่ต้องแก้
chai khrap na uen mai tong kae
Yes. The other pages do not need changes. (ordinary polite clarification, male speaker)
ที่บอกว่าเลื่อน หมายถึงเลื่อนไปสัปดาห์หน้าหรือคะ
thi bok wa luean mai thueng luean pai sapda na rue kha
When you said it was postponed, did you mean postponed until next week? (formal-polite understanding check, female speaker)
Here หรือคะ is a careful, somewhat formal question ending that asks whether the interpretation is correct. In ordinary conversation, ใช่ไหมคะ or surprised เหรอคะ may be more common, with different stance. Do not reduce every form to a generic “question particle.”
Politeness and the shape of a repair request
Standalone อะไร “what?” can sound abrupt, especially with a stranger, customer, or senior. ขอโทษนะครับ/นะคะ, a repeated frame, and final polite particles make the problem explicit without blaming the speaker. Male polite repair uses นะครับ; a female speaker uses นะคะ, not นะค่ะ.
ขอโทษครับ ช่วยพูดอีกครั้งได้ไหมครับ
kho thot khrap chuai phut ik khrang dai mai khrap
Sorry, could you say that again? (polite full-turn repair request, male speaker)
ขอโทษนะคะ เมื่อกี้บอกว่าบริษัทชื่ออะไรนะคะ
kho thot na kha muea ki bok wa borisat chue arai na kha
Sorry, what did you say the company's name was? (polite targeted repair request, female speaker)
The second version is more efficient when only the company name was missed. Repetition is collaborative: the respondent should normally restore or reformulate the troublesome material rather than merely say ใช่.
Ordinary-polite dialogue
A hotel guest checks details that were hard to hear.
อาหารเช้าเริ่มหกโมงครึ่งครับ
ahan chao roem hok mong khrueng khrap
Breakfast starts at six thirty. (ordinary polite statement, male employee)
ขอโทษนะคะ เริ่มกี่โมงนะคะ
kho thot na kha roem ki mong na kha
Sorry, what time does it start again? (polite hearing-repair question, female guest)
หกโมงครึ่งครับ ที่ห้องอาหารชั้นสอง
hok mong khrueng khrap thi hong ahan chan song
Six thirty, in the dining room on the second floor. (ordinary polite repair response, male speaker)
ห้องอาหารชั้นสองใช่ไหมคะ
hong ahan chan song chai mai kha
The dining room on the second floor, right? (polite candidate-understanding check, female speaker)
The guest first uses กี่โมงนะคะ to restore an unheard time, then ใช่ไหมคะ to confirm a location she believes she understood. The two forms expose two different information states.
Common Mistakes
1. Fronting an object repair word like English
❌ อะไรคุณบอกเมื่อกี้นะคะ
Incorrect neutral order—อะไร should occupy the content slot after บอกว่า.
✅ เมื่อกี้คุณบอกว่าอะไรนะคะ
muea ki khun bok wa arai na kha
What did you say just now? (polite hearing-repair question, female speaker)
2. Adding ไหม to an open repair question
❌ เมื่อกี้บอกว่าต้องส่งให้ใครไหมคะ
Wrong for ‘Who did you say?’—with ไหม, ใคร tends toward an indefinite ‘anyone’ reading.
✅ เมื่อกี้บอกว่าต้องส่งให้ใครนะคะ
muea ki bok wa tong song hai khrai na kha
Who did you say it needs to be sent to? (polite repair question, female speaker)
3. Using the female statement form after นะ
❌ ห้องไหนนะค่ะ
Incorrect standard polite-particle form—a female repair question uses นะคะ.
✅ เมื่อกี้บอกว่าห้องไหนนะคะ
muea ki bok wa hong nai na kha
Which room did you say it was? (polite repair question, female speaker)
4. Using bare อะไร with a stranger
❌ อะไร
Too abrupt for the intended polite request to a stranger; it can sound impatient or confrontational.
✅ ขอโทษนะครับ เมื่อกี้พูดว่าอะไรนะครับ
kho thot na khrap muea ki phut wa arai na khrap
Sorry, what did you just say? (polite repair request, male speaker)
5. Answering an open repair with bare ใช่
❌ เมื่อกี้บอกว่ากี่โมงนะคะ — ใช่ครับ
Incorrect answer shape—ใช่ confirms a candidate but does not restore the missing time.
✅ เมื่อกี้บอกว่ากี่โมงนะคะ — เจ็ดโมงครึ่งครับ
muea ki bok wa ki mong na kha chet mong khrueng khrap
What time did you say it was? — Seven thirty. (ordinary polite repair exchange)
Key Takeaways
- Echo and repair questions preserve ordinary Thai order; replace only the unclear constituent when possible.
- Use นะครับ/นะคะ for recall or repair, เหรอ for surprise, ใช่ไหม for a candidate, and A หรือ B for competing hearings.
- Keep lexical tones intact; context and utterance-level prosody add questioning or surprise.
- A cooperative repair response supplies or corrects the trouble source rather than answering an open question with bare ใช่.
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Start learning Thai →Related Topics
- Yes–No Questions by Intonation and ContextA2 — Recognize when Thai conversation lets a bare clause or fragment function as a context-bound echo, repair, surprise question, or immediate check.
- Wh-Words Stay in Their Ordinary SlotA2 — Form Thai content questions by placing ใคร, อะไร, ไหน, เมื่อไร, and related expressions where the requested answer would ordinarily appear.
- อะไร: What, Something, and Clause-Final UsesA2 — Place อะไร in the answer slot to ask what, and use clause type and surrounding particles to distinguish what from something or anything.
- Confirmation Questions with ใช่ไหมA1 — Use clause-final ใช่ไหม to ask the listener to confirm a proposition the speaker already treats as likely or previously established.
- Questions with หรือเปล่าA1 — Use clause-final หรือเปล่า to ask explicitly whether a Thai proposition holds or not, with natural predicate-based answers and polite-particle order.
- Intonation, Reduction, and Connected SpeechB2 — Layer questions, focus, politeness, reduction, and phrase boundaries over Thai lexical tones without erasing word contrasts.