พูด, บอก, ถาม, and ตอบ | Thai Grammar

English uses say, tell, ask, and answer with different prepositions and complement patterns. Thai also distinguishes speech events, but it does so through the lexical verb and the order of participants and content: พูด presents speaking, บอก presents information directed to someone, ถาม seeks information, and ตอบ supplies a response. None of these verbs changes form for person or tense.

The most useful question is not “Which English preposition should I translate?” but “Am I highlighting the act of speaking, an addressee receiving information, a question, or a response?” That choice predicts the Thai frame.

Four verbs, four viewpoints

Viewpoint	Productive frame	Typical use
speaking	พูด + language/topic/manner; พูดกับ + person	what or how someone speaks
telling	บอก + addressee + ว่า + clause	information delivered to someone
asking	ถาม + addressee + question/topic	information requested
answering	ตอบ + question/addressee; ตอบว่า + clause	a response supplied

พูด can name a language, a topic, or the manner of speaking. With an explicit conversational partner, พูดกับ is the ordinary frame. บอก instead foregrounds transmission: the next noun is readily understood as the person told.

เขาพูดภาษาไทยกับลูกค้าครับ

khao phut phasa thai kap luk kha khrap

He speaks Thai with the customer. (ordinary polite speech, male speaker)

ช่วยพูดช้ากว่านี้หน่อยค่ะ

chuai phut cha kwa ni noi kha

Please speak a little more slowly. (ordinary polite request, female speaker)

ผมบอกนิดว่าประชุมเลื่อนไปวันศุกร์ครับ

phom bok nit wa prachum luean pai wan suk khrap

I told Nit that the meeting had been moved to Friday. (ordinary polite speech, male speaker)

The verbs are not interchangeable merely because English can paraphrase both as say. เขาพูดกับนิด says that he spoke with Nit; เขาบอกนิด says that he told Nit something, even if the content is omitted because both speakers know it.

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Use พูดกับ + person when the interaction itself matters. Use บอก + person when the person is the recipient of information. English say to Nit and tell Nit therefore do not map word for word onto one Thai verb.

Content with ว่า

ว่า introduces reported content after speech and thought predicates. It does not trigger tense backshift: a verb inside the report remains unchanged. Time is read from expressions such as พรุ่งนี้, เมื่อวาน, and from the original situation.

มินพูดว่าจะโทรกลับตอนเย็นค่ะ

min phut wa cha tho klap ton yen kha

Min said that she would call back in the evening. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker)

หัวหน้าบอกทีมว่าวันนี้ไม่ต้องประชุมครับ

huana bok thim wa wan ni mai tong prachum khrap

The supervisor told the team that they did not need to meet today. (ordinary polite speech, male speaker)

ลูกค้าถามว่าสินค้าจะมาถึงเมื่อไรค่ะ

luk kha tham wa sinkha cha ma thueng muearai kha

The customer asked when the product would arrive. (ordinary polite report, female speaker)

พนักงานตอบว่าจะตรวจให้ทันทีค่ะ

phanak ngan top wa cha truat hai thanthi kha

The employee answered that she would check immediately. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker)

With บอก and ถาม, an addressee can come before ว่า: บอกเขาว่า..., ถามเขาว่า.... With พูด, an addressee normally uses กับ: พูดกับเขาว่า.... The dedicated ว่า-complement page develops longer reported clauses.

Questions, topics, and answers

ถาม can take a person, a question, or a topic phrase. ตอบ can take คำถาม, a person, or a ว่า clause. There is no single English preposition to insert mechanically.

ขอถามคุณครูเรื่องการบ้านหน่อยครับ

kho tham khun khru rueang kanban noi khrap

May I ask you about the homework, teacher? (ordinary polite request, male student)

เธอถามฉันว่าร้านปิดกี่โมงค่ะ

thoe tham chan wa ran pit ki mong kha

She asked me what time the shop closes. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker)

ผมตอบคำถามสุดท้ายไม่ได้ครับ

phom top khamtham sutthai mai dai khrap

I couldn't answer the last question. (ordinary polite speech, male speaker)

ถ้ายังไม่สะดวกตอบ บอกฉันทีหลังก็ได้ค่ะ

tha yang mai saduak top bok chan thi lang ko dai kha

If it isn't convenient to answer yet, you can tell me later. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker)

Notice the adjacent predicates in สะดวกตอบ “be convenient to answer” in the larger sentence above. Thai does not mark ตอบ as an infinitive. Each predicate contributes its own meaning, while order shows how the events relate.

Omission and discourse chains

Subjects, addressees, questions, and contents may be omitted when recoverable. After someone asks ส่งไฟล์แล้วหรือยัง, a reply can simply be ส่งแล้วครับ. After a topic is established, ถามแล้ว แต่ยังไม่ตอบ naturally means “I asked, but [they] still haven’t answered.” Omission is licensed by discourse, not by a rule that pronouns are always optional.

ถามแล้วครับ แต่เขายังไม่ตอบ

tham laeo khrap tae khao yang mai top

I've asked, but he still hasn't answered. (ordinary polite speech, male speaker; I and the understood question are omitted)

บอกไปแล้วค่ะว่าไม่ต้องรอ

bok pai laeo kha wa mai tong ro

I've already told them not to wait. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker; speaker and addressee are recoverable)

See omitting subjects and objects for how a discourse chain keeps omitted roles identifiable.

Negation, time, and aspect

Place ไม่ before the speech predicate whose occurrence or content is denied: ไม่พูด, ไม่บอก, ไม่ถาม, ไม่ตอบ. ไม่ได้ + verb commonly denies that an event occurred or corrects an assumption; it is not a conjugated past auxiliary. ยังไม่ตอบ says the expected answer has not arrived yet.

เมื่อวานเขาไม่ได้บอกว่าจะมาสายค่ะ

muea wan khao mai dai bok wa cha ma sai kha

Yesterday he didn't say that he would be late. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker)

ตอนนี้ยังตอบไม่ได้ครับ ขอเช็กข้อมูลก่อน

ton ni yang top mai dai khrap kho chek khomun kon

I can't answer yet; let me check the information first. (ordinary polite speech, male speaker)

The second example has ตอบไม่ได้, with postverbal ได้ under negation: the answer cannot yet be supplied. Compare the separate event-denial frame ไม่ได้ตอบ “did not answer.” Word order changes scope.

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Learn ไม่ได้ตอบ and ตอบไม่ได้ as a minimal contrast. The first denies the answering event; the second says answering is not possible. English often uses couldn't for either, so the intended scope must guide the Thai order.

Ordinary-polite dialogue

เมื่อเช้าคุณบอกหัวหน้าว่าอะไรคะ

muea chao khun bok huana wa arai kha

What did you tell the supervisor this morning? (ordinary polite question, female speaker)

ผมบอกว่าจะส่งรายงานตอนบ่ายครับ

phom bok wa cha song raingan ton bai khrap

I said that I would send the report this afternoon. (ordinary polite reply, male speaker)

แล้วหัวหน้าถามเรื่องงบไหมคะ

laeo huana tham rueang ngop mai kha

And did the supervisor ask about the budget? (ordinary polite question, female speaker)

ถามครับ ผมตอบว่ายังต้องตรวจอีกครั้ง

tham khrap phom top wa yang tong truat ik khrang

Yes. I answered that I still had to check it once more. (ordinary polite reply, male speaker)

Common Mistakes

1. Giving พูด a bare addressee like English “tell”

❌ ผมพูดเขาว่าจะไปพรุ่งนี้

Incorrect for the intended meaning 'I told him'; พูด does not take this bare addressee frame.

✅ ผมบอกเขาว่าจะไปพรุ่งนี้ครับ

phom bok khao wa cha pai phrung ni khrap

I told him that I would go tomorrow. (ordinary polite speech, male speaker)

2. Putting the addressee after the reported clause

❌ ฉันบอกว่าประชุมยกเลิกเขา

Incorrect neutral order—the addressee belongs before ว่า and its content clause.

✅ ฉันบอกเขาว่าประชุมยกเลิกแล้วค่ะ

chan bok khao wa prachum yokloek laeo kha

I told him that the meeting had been canceled. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker)

3. Moving ไม่ after the verb by English auxiliary logic

❌ เขาบอกไม่ฉันเรื่องนี้

Incorrect neutral negation—ไม่ precedes บอก.

✅ เขาไม่บอกฉันเรื่องนี้ค่ะ

khao mai bok chan rueang ni kha

He won't tell me about this. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker; exact time comes from context)

4. Using prospective จะ for an intended simple past report

❌ เมื่อวานผมจะบอกเขา

Incorrect for the intended simple report 'I told him yesterday'; จะ instead presents a prospective or intended event.

✅ เมื่อวานผมบอกเขาแล้วครับ

muea wan phom bok khao laeo khrap

I told him yesterday. (ordinary polite speech, male speaker)

5. Adding กับ before the thing answered

❌ ฉันตอบกับคำถามแล้ว

Incorrect neutral frame—ตอบ takes คำถาม directly.

✅ ฉันตอบคำถามนั้นแล้วค่ะ

chan top khamtham nan laeo kha

I've answered that question. (ordinary polite speech, female speaker)

Key Takeaways

พูด highlights speaking; use พูดกับ + person for a conversational partner.
บอก + person + ว่า... delivers information, while ถาม seeks it and ตอบ supplies it.
The verbs remain unchanged. Context, time expressions, aspect markers, and discourse omission do work that English often assigns to inflection and auxiliaries.
Negation and ได้ are scope-sensitive: ไม่ได้ตอบ and ตอบไม่ได้ are different constructions.

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