/r/conlangs Chat Network Relay Game - Learn a Lang Natlang Relay 3

#3Thai by Bananedge
ThaiEnglish

เขาจะใคร่คุณตลอดไป
กระดูกคุณเจ็บ และหลังคุณเจ็บด้วย
คุณเหงื่อออก เขาไม่มีเหตุผลที่จะกวน
คุณสั่นตัว เขาไม่มีเหตุผลที่จะอยู่ไกล

Khǎo jà khrâi khoon dtàlàawt bpai.
Gràdùuk khoon jèp láe lǎng khoon jèp duây.
Khoon ngeùua àawk. Khǎo mâi mee hàeht phǒhn thêe jà guaan.
Khoon sàn dtuaa. Khǎo mâi mee hàeht phǒhn thêe jà yùu glai.

They will desire you forever.
Your bones hurt, and your back hurts too.
You sweat. They have no reason to cause trouble.
You tremble. They have no reason to be far away.

LEXICON

ตลอดไปdtàlàawt bpaiadverb/phraseforever, eternally, from now on
ด้วยduâyadverbtoo, also
กระดูกgràdùuknounbones
ไกลglaiadverbfar, far away, distantly
กวนguaanverbto cause trouble, to annoy, to vex
เหตุผลhàeht phǒhnnounreason
จะauxillary verbwill, shall [aspect marker indicating future tense or imminency]
เจ็บ jèpverbto hurt, to be hurting
เขาkhǎopronounthey, he, she [3rd person pronoun]
ใคร่khrâiverbto desire, to long for
คุณkhoonpronounyou [respectful 2nd person pronoun]
และláeconjunctionand
หลังlǎngnounback (of a person)
ไม่mâiothernot, no [negation word]
มีmeeverbto have
เหงื่อออกngeùua àawkverb/phraseto sweat, to perspire
สั่นตัวsàn dtuaaverb/phrase(of a person) to tremble, to shake, to quiver
ที่จะthêe jàconjunctionto, for [used to introduce an infinitive, a present particple, or a clause]
อยู่yùuverbto be [locative use]

Some of the grammar necessary to know in this short text is explained in the definitions of the words in the Lexicon itself.

Basic Sentence Structure:

Thai has SVO word order. Adjectives mostly come after nouns, and adverbs are usually found at the end of sentences.

Morphology:

Thai is uninflected language having all, if not mostly, pure morphemes, meaning that there is no "-ing", "-s","-ed", or "-ly" like in English for example. Also, there are no genders/noun classes, no verb conjugations, no adjective declensions, etc. To indicate or make plurals, tenses, possession, adverbs, gerunds, etc. in Thai, you can either add more words to fit the meaning or rely on context. A tip for translating Thai is that, just read the words as they are, and bend them and inflect them as you please in your language for it to make sense in your language, while still also making sense to the context.

Pronouns:

The Thai personal pronoun system is fairly complicated, but luckily you only get to encounter two in this text. Pronouns can be singular or plural, which means you have to rely on context to determine which. In addition, which pronouns you use depend on the status of the speaker in relation to the person the pronoun is being replaced. In English for example, the pronouns can plainly translate to "I", "you", "he/she/it", etc., but bear in mind that there might be slight differences in connotation or emotion depending on which Thai pronoun you translated from.

Possession:

There are two main ways to indicate possession in Thai. You can use the word "ของ - khǎawng" as in "A khǎawng B", which would mean "A of B", "A belonging to B", or "B's A". Another way is to just elimate "ของ - khǎawng" all together, so seeing two nouns in a row such as "A B" would suffice. Note, however, that the second way is used more often when a pronoun is involved, and also implies a closer sense of possession, such as between family members, body parts, or personal objects.

Aspect Markers:

Since Thai has no inflected tense, tense words called "aspect markers" can be added to specify tense. Only one aspect marker occurs in this text, which is "จะ - jà". Its explanation is in the Lexicon. Please note, however, that you do not always need an aspect marker to indicate something other than present tense. A verb without an aspect marker can be translated into, for example, the past tense or future tense of another language if it makes sense to the context.

Phrasal Expressions:

Some Thai "phrases" were included in the vocabulary list to be defined as a single unit. Because Thai has only pure morphemes, some words have to become "assistants" to other words. Therefore, it is not clear whether these words become the equivalent of unbound morphemes in an inflected language and should go with another word as a single vocabulary term, or whether these words should still be counted as seperate from the more important word it's helping. I have decided to count them as single vocabulary terms though for easier comprehension to the reader.