Questions & Answers about ผม เห็น ลิง สอง ฝูง ใน ป่า ครับ
Why use ฝูง here instead of the usual animal classifier ตัว?
ฝูง is a specific classifier used for a herd, flock, pack, or troop of animals. If you used ตัว, the sentence would mean you saw exactly two individual monkeys (ลิงสองตัว). By using ฝูง, you are counting the groups of monkeys (ลิงสองฝูง = two troops of monkeys).
Does the word order change when we count groups instead of single animals?
No, it stays exactly the same! Thai uses the standard counting structure: Noun + Number + Classifier. Here it is Noun (ลิง) + Number (สอง) + Classifier for a troop (ฝูง). You just swap the individual classifier for the group one.
Could I use กลุ่ม (group) instead of ฝูง for these monkeys?
It is much better to stick with ฝูง. While กลุ่ม does mean "group," it is mostly used for groups of people, organizations, or abstract things. For animals that live, travel, or feed together, ฝูง is the natural choice.
The English translation says "saw," but I don't see a past tense word like แล้ว or ได้. Why is that?
In Thai, if the context makes it obvious that an action happened in the past, you don't need to add any tense markers. Since the speaker is recounting an event they experienced in the forest, เห็น is naturally understood as the past tense "saw."