Breakdown of ทำไม คุณ ไม่ ไป โรงเรียน ครับ
ครับ
polite particle (male)
คุณ
you
ไม่
not
ไป
to go
โรงเรียน
school
ทำไม
why
Questions & Answers about ทำไม คุณ ไม่ ไป โรงเรียน ครับ
Is ทำไม (tham-mai) always placed at the beginning of a question like in English?
Not always! While it is at the beginning here, Thai sentence structure is flexible with this word. You can also put ทำไม at the end of the sentence, just before the polite particle. Saying คุณไม่ไปโรงเรียนทำไมครับ is also perfectly correct and natural.
The translation says "aren't you going", but I don't see any words for "are" or "-ing". How do we know the tense?
Thai verbs don't change to show time, and you don't need a "to be" verb like "are" here. ไม่ไป (mai pai) literally translates to "not go". Context tells the listener if it means "don't go", "didn't go", or "aren't going". Since school happens on a regular schedule, asking this usually implies "aren't you going (today/right now)".
Why does ไม่ (mai - not) come after คุณ (khun - you)?
How would I answer this question with "Because I am sick" using the current lesson's word, เพราะ (phro)?
You can start your answer right away with เพราะ (because). You can often drop the pronoun "I" to sound more natural, and the word for "sick" or "unwell" is ไม่สบาย (mai sa-bai). So you would simply reply: เพราะไม่สบายครับ (phro mai sa-bai khrap).
Learn ทำไม คุณ ไม่ ไป โรงเรียน ครับ 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