Breakdown of ผม ไม่ รู้จัก เขา ครับ
ครับ
polite particle (male)
ผม
I (male)
เขา
he, she, they
ไม่
not
รู้จัก
to know, to be acquainted with
Questions & Answers about ผม ไม่ รู้จัก เขา ครับ
Why is รู้จัก used here for "know" instead of just รู้?
In Thai, there are two common words for "to know". You use รู้จัก when you are talking about being acquainted with a person, a place, or a thing. You use รู้ when you are talking about knowing a fact or a piece of information. Since the speaker is talking about knowing a person (เขา), รู้จัก is the correct word.
Does เขา only mean "him"?
No, เขา is actually a gender-neutral pronoun! It can mean "he", "she", "him", "her", or even "they". In this specific sentence, we translated it as "him", but without more context, it could easily mean "I don't know her."
Where do we put ไม่ to make the sentence negative?
To make a verb negative in Thai, you simply put the word ไม่ (not) directly in front of the verb. So, "know" is รู้จัก, and "not know" becomes ไม่รู้จัก. You don't need to add extra helper words like "do" or "does" as we do in English!
Can a female speaker use this exact sentence?
No, a female speaker would need to change two words here. She would replace the male "I" pronoun ผม with a female equivalent like ฉัน, and she would replace the male polite particle ครับ at the end of the sentence with the female polite particle ค่ะ.
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