Word
อัตรา คนไข้ ใหม่ ต่ำ ลง
Meaning
The rate of new patients is going down.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of อัตรา คนไข้ ใหม่ ต่ำ ลง
ใหม่
new / again / anew
ลง
more / increasingly (downward change of state)
คนไข้
patient
ต่ำ
low
Questions & Answers about อัตรา คนไข้ ใหม่ ต่ำ ลง
There is no word for 'of' in this sentence. How do we know it means 'rate of new patients'?
In Thai, you can often just place nouns next to each other to show a relationship, moving from the main idea to the specific details. อัตรา (rate) is the main noun, followed by คนไข้ (patient) and its adjective ใหม่ (new). Together, they naturally translate to 'rate of new patients' without needing a connecting word like ของ (of).
I've also learned the word ผู้ป่วย for 'patient'. Can I use it instead of คนไข้ here?
Yes, you can! ผู้ป่วย is more formal and commonly used in official news or medical reports. คนไข้ (literally 'sick person') is slightly more conversational but still perfectly acceptable in a general context like this.
Where is the verb 'is' in this sentence?
Thai doesn't use a 'to be' verb before adjectives. The word ต่ำ (low) functions as the main verb here. You can think of it as meaning 'to be low'.
What does the word ลง (down) add to the sentence? Couldn't we just say ต่ำ?
Adding ลง turns a static description into a trend or process. While ต่ำ just means 'low', putting ลง (down) after it indicates a change over time, meaning the rate is 'getting lower' or 'going down'.