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เขา　มี　ลูก　แปด　คน　ไม่ใช่　เก้า　คน　ครับ

เขา　มี　ลูก　แปด　คน　ไม่ใช่　เก้า　คน　ครับ
He has eight children, not nine children.
From Lesson 18:Numbers 1 to 10·Thai

Questions & Answers about เขา　มี　ลูก　แปด　คน　ไม่ใช่　เก้า　คน　ครับ

Why does the sentence say ลูก แปด คน instead of just แปด ลูก?
In Thai, when you count things, you use a specific pattern: Noun + Number + Classifier. Here, ลูก (child) is the noun, แปด (eight) is the number, and คน (person) is the classifier used for people. It literally translates to "child eight person".
Do I have to repeat the classifier คน after เก้า (nine)?
Yes. When counting in Thai, a number almost always needs its classifier right after it. Even though we didn't repeat the noun ลูก in the second half of the sentence, we must say เก้า คน (nine people) to make the quantity sound complete and natural.
Why use ลูก for "children" instead of เด็ก?
ลูก specifically means "offspring" or someone's own children, no matter how old they are. เด็ก just means a young child in general. Since the sentence is about his own children, we use ลูก.
Why use ไม่ใช่ instead of just ไม่ for "not"?
ไม่ is used to negate verbs and adjectives (like "not eat" or "not big"). ไม่ใช่ means "is not" and is used to negate nouns or noun phrases. Since it's negating the noun phrase เก้า คน (nine people), you need ไม่ใช่.

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