Breakdown of เขา อ่าน หนังสือ เสร็จ แล้ว ค่ะ
ค่ะ
polite particle (female)
หนังสือ
book
เขา
he, she, they
อ่าน
to read
แล้ว
already
เสร็จ
to be finished
Questions & Answers about เขา อ่าน หนังสือ เสร็จ แล้ว ค่ะ
In English, we say 'finished reading', but here เสร็จ (finish) comes after หนังสือ (book). Is this the normal order?
Yes! In Thai, when you want to say you finished an action, the word เสร็จ (finish) comes after the action and its object. So instead of 'finished reading the book', Thai logic is 'read the book finish' (อ่าน หนังสือ เสร็จ).
If เสร็จ already means 'finish', why do we also need แล้ว at the end?
While เสร็จ tells us the physical task of reading came to an end, the completion particle แล้ว shows that this is a newly completed state or a change in situation. Using เสร็จ แล้ว together is very common to emphasize that a task is completely done and dusted.
The sentence is about a man (เขา, 'he'), so why does it end with the female polite particle ค่ะ?
Polite particles in Thai always match the gender of the speaker, not the person being talked about! Because this sentence ends with ค่ะ, we know the person saying this sentence is female, even though she is talking about a man.
Does เขา always mean 'he'?
Not always! เขา is a very flexible pronoun that can mean 'he', 'she', or 'they' depending on the context. Here it is translated as 'he', but without a broader story, it could just as easily mean 'She finished reading the book'.
Learn เขา อ่าน หนังสือ เสร็จ แล้ว ค่ะ and more in Thai
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free