Word
พ่อ ตัด ไม้ เสร็จ แล้ว ครับ
Meaning
Father finished cutting the wood.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of พ่อ ตัด ไม้ เสร็จ แล้ว ครับ
ครับ
polite particle (male)
พ่อ
father
แล้ว
already
เสร็จ
to be finished
Questions & Answers about พ่อ ตัด ไม้ เสร็จ แล้ว ครับ
In English we say finished cutting, so why does เสร็จ come after cut wood (ตัด ไม้) in Thai?
In Thai, เสร็จ acts as a resultative verb. It shows the result of an action. Because of this, it goes after the action verb and its object. You literally say cut wood finished to mean you completed the task of cutting the wood.
Could I put เสร็จ right after the verb, like ตัด เสร็จ ไม้?
No, that sounds unnatural. When a verb has an object like ไม้, the object must stay right next to the action verb ตัด. The completion word เสร็จ goes after the whole action-object phrase.
Why are both เสร็จ and แล้ว used here? Don't they both show that an action is in the past?
They work together perfectly! เสร็จ tells us the specific physical task was completed, while แล้ว (already) is a grammar particle showing a change of state. Saying เสร็จ แล้ว is a very common way to emphasize that a task is completely finished now.
Does ไม้ just mean wood or can it mean tree?
By itself, ไม้ usually means wood, a board, or timber. If the father were cutting down a whole tree, you would normally use the specific word for tree, which is ต้นไม้.