Thai ให้ has several related constructions. As the main verb “give,” standard Central Thai uses giver + ให้ + thing + recipient—แม่ให้เงินลูก. The recipient may follow directly, be introduced by formal แก่, or be introduced by conversational กับ. After another action, ให้ can introduce a beneficiary: แม่ซื้อขนมให้ลูก. Before a person and another predicate, it can allow, arrange, or cause an event: แม่ให้ลูกไป. The word is unchanged; the category and order of the following material identify the construction.
Main-verb ให้ puts the theme before the recipient
In the everyday giving frame, the transferred theme follows ให้, and the recipient follows the theme. A bare recipient is common when the roles are clear; conversational กับ and formal แก่ make the recipient explicit. Context can omit an already recoverable participant, but omission does not reverse the full frame.
| Construction | Productive frame | Natural substitution |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer, bare recipient | giver + ให้ + thing + recipient | ฉันให้หนังสือน้อง |
| Transfer with conversational recipient | giver + ให้ + thing + กับ + recipient | เขาให้ดอกไม้กับฉัน |
| Transfer with explicit formal recipient | giver + ให้ + thing + แก่ + recipient | บริษัทให้ทุนแก่นักเรียน |
| Benefactive | agent + action + thing + ให้ + beneficiary | ฉันซื้อกาแฟให้เพื่อน |
| Allowative or directive | causer + ให้ + causee + predicate | แม่ให้ลูกไปโรงเรียน |
| Request or wish | ขอให้ + subject + predicate | ขอให้คุณช่วยตรวจ |
| Negation | subject + ไม่ให้ + following frame | เขาไม่ให้เงินลูก / เขาไม่ให้ลูกไป |
ฉันให้หนังสือน้องค่ะ
chan hai nangsue nong kha
I give my younger sibling a book. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker; thing before recipient)
คุณตาให้เงินหลานซื้อขนมครับ
khun ta hai ngoen lan sue khanom khrap
Grandfather gives his grandchild money to buy a snack. (ordinary polite speech, male speaker; money is transferred, and ซื้อขนม states its purpose)
บริษัทให้ทุนแก่นักเรียนห้าคนค่ะ
borisat hai thun kae nakrian ha khon kha
The company gives scholarships to five students. (formal/institutional content, female speaker; แก่ explicitly marks the recipient)
แก่ is common in formal writing, announcements, and institutional language (formal). Everyday speech frequently uses either a bare recipient or กับ + recipient. In all three versions, the theme remains before the recipient.
เขาให้ดอกไม้กับฉันค่ะ
khao hai dokmai kap chan kha
He gives me flowers. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker; theme before a recipient marked by กับ)
Benefactive ให้ follows the action and its object
When someone performs an action for another person, ให้ + beneficiary follows that action and usually its object: ซื้อกาแฟให้เพื่อน, ทำอาหารให้ลูก, เปิดประตูให้ลูกค้า. Here ให้ does not itself name the transferred object; it attaches a beneficiary to the preceding event.
ผมซื้อกาแฟให้เพื่อนครับ
phom sue kafae hai phuean khrap
I bought coffee for a friend. (ordinary polite speech, male speaker; benefactive after ซื้อกาแฟ)
แม่ทำอาหารเย็นให้ลูกค่ะ
mae tham ahan yen hai luk kha
Mother makes dinner for her child. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker)
พนักงานเปิดประตูให้ลูกค้าครับ
phanak ngan poet pratu hai luk kha khrap
The employee opens the door for the customer. (ordinary polite speech, male speaker)
Compare ฉันให้กาแฟเพื่อน “I give coffee to a friend” with ฉันซื้อกาแฟให้เพื่อน “I buy coffee for a friend.” The first ให้ is the transfer verb. In the second, ซื้อกาแฟ is the main action and the later ให้เพื่อน adds the beneficiary. The benefactive page develops cases where the action helps—or sometimes affects—the final participant.
ให้ + person + predicate: allow, arrange, or direct
When ให้ is followed by a person and then a predicate, that person is the understood subject of the following event: แม่ให้ลูกนอน “Mother lets/tells the child to sleep.” Context and authority relations decide whether the meaning is permission, instruction, arrangement, or causation. ให้ alone does not encode one English verb such as let or make in every sentence. Compare the transfer เขาให้ดอกไม้กับฉัน “he gives me flowers” with เขาให้ฉันซื้อดอกไม้ “he has/lets me buy flowers”: only the second places the participant directly before a following predicate.
เขาให้ฉันซื้อดอกไม้ค่ะ
khao hai chan sue dokmai kha
He has/lets me buy flowers. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker; ฉัน is the subject of ซื้อ)
ครูให้นักเรียนอ่านบทแรกค่ะ
khru hai nakrian an bot raek kha
The teacher has the students read the first chapter. (ordinary instructional context, female speaker; directive reading)
หัวหน้าให้ผมกลับบ้านเร็วครับ
hua na hai phom klap ban reo khrap
The manager let/told me to go home early. (ordinary polite speech, male speaker; exact force depends on context)
ร้านให้ลูกค้าลองสินค้าได้ค่ะ
ran hai luk kha long sinkha dai kha
The shop allows customers to try the products. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker; permission)
The following verb is not an infinitive. อ่าน, กลับ, and ลอง remain invariant Thai predicates, and the intervening noun is their subject. The sequence expresses an argument-sharing construction, not “give + object + to-infinitive.”
ขอให้ introduces a requested or wished-for situation
ขอให้ + subject + predicate can make a request or express a wish. In ขอให้คุณช่วยตรวจ, the desired situation is that “you help check.” In conventional good wishes, the subject may be omitted because the addressee is obvious.
ขอให้คุณช่วยตรวจเอกสารหน่อยค่ะ
kho hai khun chuai truat ekkasan noi kha
Could you please help check the documents? (polite request, female speaker)
ขอให้เดินทางปลอดภัยนะครับ
kho hai doen thang plotphai na khrap
Have a safe journey. (polite good wish, male speaker; addressee understood)
ขอให้ is not ordinary transfer. It scopes over the desired clause. The polite particle marks the speaker's relationship to the listener; it does not conjugate ขอ or ให้.
Omission, negation, time, and aspect
In a clear exchange, ให้แล้วค่ะ can mean “I gave it to them already,” but only because the thing and recipient are recoverable. If either is uncertain, state it. เมื่อวานให้หนังสือน้อง and พรุ่งนี้จะให้หนังสือน้อง keep ให้ unchanged.
ของขวัญชิ้นนี้ให้ใครคะ
khong khwan chin ni hai khrai kha
Who is this gift for/to be given to? (polite question, female speaker; gift is topicalized)
ให้คุณนิดครับ พรุ่งนี้ผมจะเอาไปให้
hai khun nit khrap phrung ni phom cha ao pai hai
It's for Khun Nit. I'll take it to her tomorrow. (ordinary polite reply, male speaker; recoverable gift omitted)
ไม่ให้เงินลูก denies a transfer; ไม่ให้ลูกไป denies permission or prevents the child's going. Negation precedes ให้, but the following structure determines what is denied.
วันนี้แม่ไม่ให้ลูกเล่นเกมค่ะ
wan ni mae mai hai luk len kem kha
Today the mother doesn't allow her child to play games. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker; negated allowative frame)
จะ presents prospect or intention, not a future conjugation; แล้ว can present completion, not a past ending. The verb remains ให้.
Ordinary-polite dialogue
ของขวัญกล่องนี้จะให้ใครคะ
khong khwan klong ni cha hai khrai kha
Who are you giving this boxed gift to? (polite question, female speaker)
จะให้คุณแม่ครับ
cha hai khun mae khrap
I'm giving it to my mother. (ordinary polite reply, male speaker; gift omitted as recoverable)
ให้ฉันช่วยห่อไหมคะ
hai chan chuai ho mai kha
Shall I help wrap it? (polite offer, female speaker; ให้ introduces the proposed helper)
ขอบคุณครับ ช่วยห่อให้หน่อย
khop khun khrap chuai ho hai noi
Thank you. Please wrap it for me. (ordinary polite reply, male speaker; beneficiary understood from context)
Common Mistakes
1. Reading a following predicate as a transferred thing
❌ เขาให้ฉันซื้อดอกไม้ค่ะ
Incorrect for intended 'He gives me flowers that he bought'; this says he has or lets me buy flowers.
✅ เขาให้ดอกไม้ที่ซื้อมาเมื่อเช้ากับฉันค่ะ
khao hai dokmai thi sue ma muea chao kap chan kha
He gives me the flowers that he bought this morning. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker; theme before a recipient marked by กับ)
2. Putting benefactive ให้ before the action
❌ ผมให้ซื้อกาแฟเพื่อนครับ
Incorrect for 'buy coffee for a friend'; the beneficiary follows ซื้อกาแฟ.
✅ ผมซื้อกาแฟเย็นให้เพื่อนครับ
phom sue kafae yen hai phuean khrap
I bought iced coffee for a friend. (ordinary polite speech, male speaker)
3. Translating every ให้ as physical giving
❌ แม่ให้ลูกนอนหมายถึงแม่มอบการนอนให้ลูก
Incorrect analysis—ลูก is the subject of the following predicate นอน.
✅ แม่ให้ลูกนอนก่อนสองทุ่มค่ะ
mae hai luk non kon song thum kha
The mother has her child go to sleep before eight p.m. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker)
4. Treating the following predicate as an English infinitive
❌ ครูให้นักเรียนที่จะอ่านหนังสือค่ะ
Incorrect—อ่าน is an invariant predicate after its understood subject นักเรียน.
✅ ครูให้นักเรียนอ่านเรื่องนี้ค่ะ
khru hai nakrian an rueang ni kha
The teacher has the students read this story. (ordinary instructional speech, female speaker)
5. Moving negation after ให้
❌ พ่อให้ลูกไม่ออกไปครับ
Wrong scope for the intended 'Father does not allow the child to go out'; ไม่ must negate ให้.
✅ วันนี้พ่อไม่ให้ลูกออกไปครับ
wan ni pho mai hai luk ok pai khrap
Today the father doesn't allow his child to go out. (ordinary polite speech, male speaker)
Key Takeaways
Read ให้ through the material that follows it. ให้ + thing + recipient transfers something, with กับ or formal แก่ optionally marking the recipient; action + thing + ให้ + beneficiary benefits someone; ให้ + person + predicate licenses or causes an event; and ขอให้ + clause requests or wishes for one. The word stays invariant while category, order, accessibility, and discourse assign participant roles.
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Start learning Thai →Related Topics
- Transitive and Intransitive FramesA1 — Learn Thai transitivity as a lexical property of each verb frame, including object omission and selected action–state alternations.
- ให้ as Give, Let, Make, and Benefactive MarkerA2 — Distinguish transfer, benefactive, causative, allowative, directive, and request constructions with ให้.
- ให้ before Caused, Allowed, or Desired EventsB2 — Use ให้ to introduce an event brought about, permitted, directed, requested, or desired by another participant.
- Postverbal ให้ as BenefactiveB1 — Use postverbal ให้ to add the person for whose benefit an action is performed, while keeping that beneficiary distinct from a transferred object.
- ให้ as Make, Let, and Have Someone DoB1 — Track the causee after ให้ and use context or a more specific verb to distinguish permission, direction, arrangement, and causation.
- ขอให้ for Wishes and Desired OutcomesB2 — Use ขอให้ to present a following clause as a requested, hoped-for, or conventionally wished-for outcome.