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มี　แมว　หลัง　รถยนต์　คัน　นั้น　ค่ะ

มี　แมว　หลัง　รถยนต์　คัน　นั้น　ค่ะ
There is a cat behind that car.
From Lesson 23:There is / there are (มี)·Thai

Questions & Answers about มี　แมว　หลัง　รถยนต์　คัน　นั้น　ค่ะ

I thought มี (mii) meant 'to have'. Why does it translate to 'there is' here?
มี (mii) translates to both 'to have' and 'there is' or 'there are'. You can tell the difference by looking at the start of the sentence. Because there is no subject (like 'I' or 'he') before มี, it acts as 'there is' to show that something exists.
How do we know it means 'a cat' instead of 'cats' since there is no number?
Thai nouns like แมว (maew) don't change to show plurals, and Thai doesn't use words like 'a' or 'the'. Depending on the context, มี แมว can mean 'there is a cat' or 'there are cats'. Here, 'a cat' is the most natural translation, but 'cats' wouldn't be grammatically wrong!
Why is 'that car' translated using three words: รถยนต์ คัน นั้น (rot-yon khan nan)?
In Thai, when you use words like 'this' or 'that' to point out a specific object, you must include a 'classifier' (a counting word). The correct order is Noun + Classifier + That. Because คัน (khan) is the specific classifier used for vehicles, 'that car' becomes รถยนต์ คัน นั้น.
Is it okay to just say หลัง รถยนต์ (lang rot-yon) for 'behind the car', or am I missing a word?
Yes, it is perfectly fine! The word หลัง (lang) means 'back' or 'behind'. While you might also learn the word ข้างหลัง (khang lang, meaning 'at the back'), you can just use หลัง directly in front of a noun to say 'behind' it.

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