Questions & Answers about แก้ว แตก แล้ว ค่ะ
Does แล้ว just mean "already" in this sentence?
While it often translates to "already," here it acts as a completion particle. Thai verbs like แตก don't change form to show past tense. Adding แล้ว at the end shows the shattering is a finished event, which is why we translate it as past tense in English.
Can I use แตก to say my phone or car broke?
No, แตก specifically means "to shatter" or break into pieces, which is perfect for a glass (แก้ว). For mechanical or electronic things that stop working, you would use a different word, like เสีย.
There is no word for "the" in the Thai sentence. How do we know it's "the glass" and not "a glass"?
Thai doesn't use articles like "a" or "the". A sentence like this is usually spoken in a specific situation, like looking at a mess on the floor. Because both people know which glass broke, "the glass" is the most natural translation.
Why does the polite particle ค่ะ come after แล้ว?
Polite particles like ค่ะ for female speakers almost always go at the very end of the spoken sentence. This means they must be placed after grammar markers like the completion particle แล้ว.