Word
กิน ปลา ครับ
Meaning
I eat fish.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
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Questions & Answers about กิน ปลา ครับ
Wait, the translation says 'I eat fish,' but where is the word for 'I'?
This is a perfect example of Thai's zero-pronoun feature! If the context is clear (like you answering what you are eating), you can completely drop the subject pronoun like ผม (I, for males). The sentence literally just says 'eat fish'.
Since the subject is dropped, how do we know the speaker is male?
The word ครับ at the end gives it away. It is a polite particle used by male speakers to show respect. Even without seeing the word ผม, the particle ครับ reminds us the person speaking identifies as male.
If I wanted to include the word 'I', where would it go?
Thai uses a Subject-Verb-Object word order, just like English. You would put the subject at the very beginning before the verb: ผมกินปลาครับ (I eat fish).
Is ปลา singular or plural? Does it mean 'a fish' or just 'fish' in general?
Thai nouns don't change to become plural, and there are no words for 'a', 'an', or 'the'. ปลา just means the concept of fish. Depending on the conversation, this could mean 'I am eating a fish', 'I eat fish', or 'I am eating the fish'.