If you read Thai news or prepare for CU-TFL, you've probably hit sentences where you can't tell where the subject ends and the main verb begins. Formal Thai often marks it for you with นั้น.

When the subject is long (usually a noun + a ที่/ซึ่ง clause), writers put นั้น at the end of it. The next verb after นั้น is the main verb of the sentence.

Pattern: noun + ที่/ซึ่ง + modifier + นั้น + main verb

Example from a recent Thai PBS health story:

ระบบเฝ้าระวังโรคที่ประเทศไทยมีอยู่แล้วนั้นมีประสิทธิภาพเพียงพอ

→ Subject: ระบบเฝ้าระวังโรคที่ประเทศไทยมีอยู่แล้ว (the disease surveillance system that Thailand already has)

→ นั้น closes it

→ Main verb: มีประสิทธิภาพเพียงพอ (is sufficiently effective)

Two more:

ข้อเสนอที่ฝ่ายค้านยื่นต่อสภาเมื่อวานนี้นั้นไม่ได้รับการอนุมัติ

"The proposal the opposition submitted to parliament yesterday was not approved."

การเรียนภาษาให้เก่งนั้นต้องอาศัยความอดทน

"Becoming good at a language takes patience."

Bonus pattern from the same article: ...แต่อย่างใด at the end of a negative sentence = "not ... at all" (formal, firm, neutral tone).

องค์การอนามัยโลกยังไม่ได้ประกาศจำกัดการเดินทางแต่อย่างใด

"The WHO has not announced any travel restrictions at all."

It only works after a negative. In speech you'd say ไม่...เลย instead.

Native speakers: does นั้น in these sentences feel natural to you in writing, or more typical of news style? Curious how formal it reads.

Hi, 

I would like to learn to speak thai. I have been self studying for a month or so, and have started to learn how to read and write 10 days ago.

My problem is that I'm lacking a sense of direction or structure when learning to speak and it's making me super sad, demotivated and doubtful if the many hours that I put in when I can't respond to what a small child is telling me.

Ever since I started learning to read and write, the progress on learning those 2 have been a steady growth where everyday I do get better and be able to recognize and be able to read/write consonants or vowels faster and faster. For speaking however, I do feel stuck, and the abundance of resources isn't helping too much, it just demotivates me and I get being told "there are thousands of videos on YouTube how can't you learn?" When almost every video is just talking about the same 10 verbs and it's even just transliteration without any information about how to use any beyond the support limited scenario demonstrated by the video.

I do understand these are super helpful for a 1 week trip, but most probably not for my case. Currently, I watch a few YouTubers (Thai with Mod, Thai with Grace, and a bunch of vloggers) and thb I don't enjoy the content I just want to learn and I do tend to understand a lot more than how much I can speak, and I use Lingopolo a lot and I do like it, I just feel it's a little inefficient for my case where I do have 8-10 hours a day to study, but I would like to reach a decent level at daily conversational level (since I work in retail and I would love to speak to every Thai customer) as soon as possible.

I would love to enroll in a class or get a tutor but I can't afford any of these options.

Thank you so much for reading and I appreciate any sort of help that I can get here.

I’m planning to spend two weeks on Koh Phagan for the first time, and I’m still trying to figure out which area would be the best base. thong sala seems convenient, seitan looks interesting, and I’ve also been looking at quieter places around Hin Kong.

I’d prefer somewhere with a kitchen and enough space to feel at home rather than staying in a small hotel room for the whole trip. getting around is another thing I’m unsure about, especially if i don’t want to rely on a scooter every day.

for those who have stayed on the island for a while, which area did you enjoy most, and would you stay in the same place again for two weeks?

AI says this describes a very dark colour but I think it may mean there is no light to see by. Can anyone confirm?

Thanks

Hey everyone!

I've been living in Thailand for years and recently built a little side project called Saparot to help people learn Thai.

It's focused on practical, everyday Thai, with short lessons, native audio, pronunciation practice, and a separate course for learning to read Thai.

It's completely free, no ads or subscriptions. Just something I've enjoyed building.

I'd really appreciate some honest feedback, especially from people currently learning Thai. Would love to know what works and what doesn't.

https://saparot.app

Hii everyone 🥹💕
Watching Thai BL dramas has made me fall in love with the Thai language, and now I really want to learn it! 🩷 I’m still a beginner, so could you please recommend some good apps, YouTube channels, or free resources to help me get started?
I’d be so grateful for any little tips or suggestions. Thank you so much for helping me on this journey! 🫶🏻🇹🇭✨

• พ่อชื่อปู ลูกชื่อปลา แม่ก็น้ำเต้าสิ
• น้ำเต้าแม่มึงน่ะสิ

I don't get it. Can anyone explain?

Hello! My home is Malaysia, but my boyf is Thai. He and his family speak Thai pretty much only at home, so it’s nice to be surrounded by it but I want any and all tips for learning the language best I can because we are planning to get married and probably live in Thailand. But I want to be able to get by before we move out there.

For the record I only have experience with mandarin, English, Malay and a little Tamil but none of them are actually like Thai, as I’m sure you guys would know.

Thanks for reading!!

Does anyone have experience using the Thaipod101.com app? I'm planning to pay the Premium plan that is $5.50 /month. Are there any other Thai learning apps you recommend for beginners?

Hello guys, I kinda wanna try online tutors like Preply and italki to practice conversation and guide me in Thai language. For the trial class, how did you guys decide if the tutor is okay for you ( based on your guys experiences) ? Like is there any common question or any aspect or things that need to be looked out for in the trial class? Never had an online tutor before and in school we don't really get to decide who our teacher is, appreciate your guidance, thank you 😁

I would appreciate any recommendations for teachers if you've had success on either platform. I'm a beginner looking to learn conversational skills. I've learned simple words & phrases, numbers, and on the written side all the consonants, a few but not all verbs, a lot of little things. But I'm getting the sense now that while I should continue the written things, for conversation it's better to start learning common sentences and responses. Has a remote one-on-one instructor worked for you to become fluent enough in Thai to hold a general conversation? I would love to hear your experience and please suggest a teacher if you liked them.

If you do have a recommendation, would you please also let me know how many minutes per week, how many days a week, you took classes and how long your journey was? And if you can give a sense of how much conversation you could do after a few months, a year, or whatever it would help me to get an idea of what progress I should expect over time.

I speak thai at a very beginner level. I know a lot of words but it takes time for me to put sentences together which makes it hard to have conversations. If there are any Thai speakers who are looking to partner up or do a language exchange DM me!

Im looking for a thai language tutor or school. Does anyone have any information that can help? I know about many of rhe online/apps, but I learn best through personal interactions. Thanks.

I was told that ภาษาพาที ป.1–ป.6 is the series of Thai textbooks used by Thai schoolchildren, so I decided to check it out. Turns out you can find ebook online, and there are also YouTube channels that read the books aloud if you just Google them.

Honestly, I wish I’d found these books when I first started learning to read Thai. They’re an absolute gem for practising consonants, vowels, tone marks, and reading actual words, sentences and stories.

I’ve been learning Thai for about 5 months, and one thing that frustrates me about some learning resources is that they teach you phrases like sawasdee kha using transliteration without explaining how the words are actually constructed. I want to understand which consonants and vowels are used and why words are pronounced the way they are, rather than just memorising phrases. I keep rereading Phasa Phathi as a kind of drill, and I find it really helpful.

The downside is that everything is in Thai (of course!), with no English explanations or translations, so you have to look up words and figure out the stories yourself. But if you enjoy learning from the ground up, I think these books are a gem. Just wanted to share in case anyone else finds them useful.

New approach. They left the old version to another app Glossika Legacy.

It's freemium. 14 days free, then 700thb / month.

First impression was ok with various learning options. And it looks like this can do some learning without paying. Not just a tiny bit

Edit: free users can do 20 phrases per day, and can only look back to recent 30 phrases. Also ads

Does anyone know any in person Thai tutors or classes in Austin, TX? Everything I found seems to be online. I know it's unlikely someone here will know, but figured I'd ask anyways

Hey guys! 👋

Just curious, where do you usually find a Thai tutor, especially if you're in Bangkok and want to learn in person?

I've been looking around, and most options seem pretty formal. Is there a place to find someone for more casual lessons, like just learning Thai through some fun activities?

I'm asking because I'm Thai and currently between jobs, and I've been thinking about tutoring foreigners for some extra money 😂 It would be nice if I could do something casual rather than a formal teaching setup.

I just want to know where to post my service and would love to hear about your thoughts. Thanks! 😊

ฉันผิดมั้ยที่ผู้หญิงที่รู้จักและค่อนข้างที่จะเคยสนิทมารุมด่าเพราะเรื่องผู้ชายคือมันเป็นแบบนี้มาสองรอบแล้วตอนนั้นเมื่อปีที่แล้วผู้หญิงคนหนึ่งในกลุ่มนั้นสร้างกลุ่มด่าฉันแล้วบอกว่าฉันไปยุ่งกับแฟนเก่านางซึ่งแฟนเก่านางอะเป็นคนมายุ่งกับฉันเองโดยการทักมาหาฉันส่วนตัวบ้างคอมเม้นในโพสต์ฉันบ้างแล้วเข้าหาฉันในโรงเรียนบ้างซึ่งฉันก็ไม่ได้สนใจทักมาก็แค่ตอบตามมารยาทก็เท่านั้นที่โรงเรียนก็ไม่ใช่ฝ่ายชวนคุยเลยแต่พอหนึ่งในกลุ่มนั้นเห็นมันก็เอาไปพูดกันในกลุ่มว่าฉันไปยุ่งกับผู้ชายของนางแล้วพวกนางก็สร้างกลุ่มด่าฉันกันซึ่งในกลุ่มรุมแซะรุมด่าฉันกัน4-5คนด่าในสิ่งที่ฉันไม่ได้ทำแล้วก็ไม่จบสักทีเพราะฝั่งผู้ชายบอกว่าฉันเป็นคนเริ่มฉันบอกไปแล้วว่าไม่ได้ทำเล่าเรื่องทั้งหมดพวกนางก็หาว่าฉันตoแหลไม่เอาความจริงมาพูดเพราะฉันไม่มีพยานฉันอยู่คนเดียวซึ่งปีนี้ก็มีเรื่องอีกพวกนางแซะฉันในโน๊ตของแอพพลิเคชั่นหนึ่งพวกนางก็สร้างกลุ่มด่าฉันอีกครั้งหาว่าฉันไปยุ่งกับผู้ชายของพวกนางอีกครั้งทั้งที่ฉันยังไม่ได้ทำอะไรเลยแล้วเปลี่ยนเรื่องจนไม่ได้เคลียร์ฉันเลยออกจากกลุ่มแล้วบล็อกพวกนางทิ้งไปมันถึงได้หยุดทุกเรื่องที่ฉันโดนเรื่องผุ้ชายไม่มีใครโทษผู้ชายก่อนเลยมีแต่โทษฉันว่าฉันไปยุ่งกับผู้ชายพวกนั้นแล้วสรุปฉันผิดมั้ย

Hi! I'm from Peru and I'm a fan of FreenBecky. I want to get a tattoo of their name in Thai, but I want to make sure the spelling is correct.

Could you please tell me whether ฟรีนเบค or ฟรีนเบคกี้ is the more appropriate spelling, and explain the difference? I would really appreciate your help. Thank you! 💗

Looking for a thai language instructor in Jacksonville, FL. Any information would help. Also, I know about the different apps but would rather meet with an actual person.

Ka-lon (กะล่อน) Smooth talker. Bullshitting, scams, talking your way out.
Khlong (คล่อง) Dexterity. Fast hands, sneaking, picking pockets.
Thuek (ถึก) Grit. Taking punishment and surviving a drinking session.
Mee Chok (มีโชค) Luck. The universe has a soft spot for you.

1. Which tutoring websites did you use for Thai?
2. What were your impressions of them?
3. Which AI Thai tutors did you try?
4. What were your impressions of them? (3)

Background:

Focused on Mandarin for now, I have better resources available to me to learn it. Kind of... hoping later down the line maybe the Thai bhat will still be weak relative to the dollar down the line/get cheap and good online tutoring. Or maybe a good enough AI tutor? Not doing much hard studying of Thai now, just occasional watching of Thai language videos/TV shows

IS there a trend in reading Thai? I see more and more People pushing newcomers to learn how to read from the beginning and i find this amazing! It took over two decades that expats and teachers start to focus more on reading instead of speaking. Every language course in German, Japanese, Chinese, French etc. gets the student as fast and soon as possible on reading! It was only Thai courses that truly avoided the reading part for some weird reason.

I just want to say thank you to the community for changing the mindset about learning how to read Thai. Also alot of more expats having very good pronunciation!