Learning Thai with Bart: Lesson 20 – Do you speak English?
This is useful to make sure that someone can understand you before you start to talk 
“Speak” is “Phut” in Thai (pronounced Poot). But the grammar is different from the English one: one does not say “Do you Speak English?” but something like “Speak Language English, can you?”.
“Language” is “Phaasaa” in Thai. “Nitnoi” means “a bit, a little”.
Khun Phut Phaasaa Angrit Dai Mai? (“You Speak Language English Can?”)
Dai Khap (I can)
Mai Dai Khap (I can’t)
Phom Phut Phaasaa Angrit Dai Nitnoi (I can speak a bit of English)
Khun Phut Phaasaa Thai Dai Mai? (“Can you speak Thai?”)
Khun Phut Phaasaa Farangset Dai Mai? (“Can you speak French?”)
Khun Phut Phaasaa German Dai Mai? (“Can you speak German?”)
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More Thai lessons here.
One Response to “Learning Thai with Bart: Lesson 20 – Do you speak English?”
German is pronounced Yoeroman (in Thai letters เยอรมัน), related with the English word “German” but having a clearly different sound. Like many English words adopted by Thai one has to listen closely to recognize it is in fact the same word.
By Andy on Jan 15, 2009