Questions & Answers about คุณ ไป ตลาด ไหม ครับ
Is คุณ used for everyone, or just certain people?
คุณ is a polite and safe word for "you" that works for both men and women. It is great for everyday use, especially with people you don't know well. In very casual settings, Thais might drop the word for "you" completely or use family terms instead, but คุณ is always understood and polite.
In English we say "going TO THE market". Why are there no words for "to" or "the" here?
Thai grammar is very direct. Verbs of motion like ไป (to go) attach straight to the destination (ตลาด, the market). Also, Thai does not use articles like "a" or "the", so you just say "go market".
To ask a question in English, we raise our voice at the end. Can I just do that instead of adding ไหม?
No, because Thai is a tonal language! If you change the pitch of a word, you might accidentally say a completely different word. Instead of changing your voice, you add the question word ไหม to the end of a statement to turn it into a yes/no question.
I see ครับ at the end. Does the polite particle always go after the question word?
Yes! Polite particles like ครับ (used by male speakers) and ค่ะ (used by female speakers) belong at the absolute end of the sentence. They will always come after question particles like ไหม.