Breakdown of เขา มี หมา สอง ตัว ครับ
ครับ
polite particle (male)
หมา
dog
เขา
he, she, they
มี
to have / there is / there are
สอง
two
ตัว
classifier for animals and things
Questions & Answers about เขา มี หมา สอง ตัว ครับ
Why is the word order หมา สอง ตัว instead of putting "two" before "dog"?
In Thai, when you count things, you use the pattern: Noun + Number + Classifier. So instead of saying "two dogs", you say "dog two [animal-classifier]" (หมา สอง ตัว).
What is the word ตัว doing in this sentence?
ตัว is the classifier (counting word) for animals. Because you are counting dogs, you must follow the Noun + Number + Classifier rule. ตัว literally means "body", and it is the standard classifier used for dogs, cats, and most other animals.
Why doesn't the word for dog (หมา) change to a plural form like in English?
Thai nouns never change to show plural. You just use the base word หมา. The fact that there is more than one dog is shown entirely by adding the number and the classifier (สอง ตัว).
How do we know เขา means "He" and not "She"?
We actually don't know for sure just from this isolated sentence! เขา is a gender-neutral pronoun that can mean "he", "she", or "they". The translation says "He" based on an imagined context, but "She has two dogs" would be the exact same Thai sentence.
Does the polite word ครับ match the subject "He" (เขา)?
No, ครับ always matches the gender of the speaker, not the person being talked about. This sentence must be spoken by a male, even if he is talking about a woman (เขา) who has two dogs.
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