New Thai Letters
Thai does not have capital or lowercase letters; characters are written the same way everywhere. Here are the new letters and vowels for this lesson:
- ึ (sara eu): a short vowel that makes an "eu" sound, always written above the consonant.
- ฤ (rue): a special character that functions as both consonant and vowel, making a "rue" or "ri" sound.
- ภ (po sam-pao): makes a "p" sound.
- ณ (no nen): makes an "n" sound.
- ฟ (fo fan): makes an "f" sound.
- ซ (so so): makes an "s" sound.
Adjective Placement
In English, adjectives usually come before the noun they describe. In Thai, adjectives always follow the noun they modify.
To say "spicy food", use อาหาร (food) followed by เผ็ด (spicy).
When using these noun-adjective pairs in a sentence, the adjective stays firmly attached right behind the noun.
Building Sentences with Modifiers
Whether you are stating what something is, or what someone is buying, eating, or drinking, the order of the noun phrase never changes. The structure for a sentence with a modified object is: Subject + Verb + Noun + Adjective.
Adjectives as Verbs and Modifiers Together
You previously learned that adjectives can act as verbs on their own. You can seamlessly use a modified noun as the subject of your sentence, followed by another adjective acting as the verb.
For example, to say "Iced tea is very delicious", the order is: ชา (tea) + เย็น (cold) + อร่อย (delicious) + มาก (very).