Word
คุณ เกิด เมื่อไร ครับ
Meaning
When were you born?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about คุณ เกิด เมื่อไร ครับ
Why is เมื่อไร at the end of the sentence instead of the beginning?
Thai uses what we call in-situ question words. This means the question word sits in the exact same spot where the answer will go. In English, we move 'When' to the front, but Thai keeps the normal subject-verb order. Literally, this sentence is 'You born when?'.
Does เกิด need a 'to be' verb like 'were' in front of it?
No, because เกิด is an active verb that means 'to be born' or 'to happen.' Thai doesn't use a separate 'to be' verb here. You just put the subject directly before the verb: คุณ เกิด (You born).
The English translation is 'were you born' (past tense). Why aren't there any past tense words in the Thai sentence?
Thai relies heavily on context to show time. Since being born is an event that obviously happened in the past for the person you are talking to, you don't need to add any special past tense markers. The basic verb เกิด is perfectly clear on its own.
I often see 'when' written as เมื่อไหร่. Is that the same word as เมื่อไร?
Yes, they are exactly the same word! เมื่อไร is the formal written spelling. However, in spoken Thai, people almost always pronounce it with a low tone. Because of this, you will very often see it spelled as เมื่อไหร่ in casual writing, like text messages, to match how it is actually spoken.