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นั่น　หนังสือ　ค่ะ

นั่น　หนังสือ　ค่ะ
That is a book.
From Lesson 2:Subject pronouns and word order (ผม, เขา, มัน)·Thai

Breakdown of นั่น　หนังสือ　ค่ะ

นั่น
that
ค่ะ
polite particle (female)
หนังสือ
book

Questions & Answers about นั่น　หนังสือ　ค่ะ

Where is the verb "to be" (is) in this sentence?
In Thai, when you point something out using demonstrative words like นั่น (that) or นี่ (this), you can usually skip the verb "to be" (คือ). The meaning "That [is a] book" is already clear! This matches how Thai frequently drops words when the visual context makes them obvious.
I sometimes see "that" written as นั้น. Why is it นั่น in this sentence?
นั่น (with a falling tone) is a standalone pronoun meaning "that thing", which is why it acts as the subject here. นั้น (with a high tone) is a modifier used after a noun, as in หนังสือนั้น (that book). Since "that" stands alone in this sentence without an attached noun, we use นั่น.
The current lesson covers the plural prefix พวก. If I want to say "Those are books", do I add พวก?
No, พวก is mainly used with pronouns for living things (like พวกเขา for "they") or groups of people. For inanimate objects like books, Thai doesn't usually mark plurals. นั่น หนังสือ ค่ะ can mean "That is a book" or "Those are books" depending entirely on what you are pointing at!
Since this lesson is about dropping subjects when the context is clear, could I just say หนังสือค่ะ?
Yes! If someone is already pointing at the object and asks "What is this?", you can drop นั่น (that) entirely because the subject is obvious. You would simply answer หนังสือค่ะ (Book).

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