Adjectives Follow The Noun

Level 1

Compare the English phrase big house, with adjective before noun, and Thai บ้านใหญ่, literally house + big, with the description after the noun. This lesson follows the order in its displayed examples.

How It Works

A Phrase Or A Statement
Read รถใหม่ as car + new. In a noun phrase it names a new car; as a statement it says that the car is new. The surrounding conversation determines which reading is intended.

Describing And Pointing
In ผู้หญิงสวยคนนั้น, ผู้หญิง names the woman, สวย describes her as beautiful, and คนนั้น points to that person with the classifier คน and นั้น. This is the order of this particular phrase, rather than a complete rule for every Thai noun phrase.

Degree And Negation
อาหารไทยอร่อยมาก says Thai food is very delicious. ไทย identifies the kind of food, อร่อย supplies the predicate delicious, and มาก adds degree. บ้านไม่ใหญ่ says the house is not big, with ไม่ directly before ใหญ่. เขาสูง says he is tall; do not insert เป็น before สูง for this basic meaning. See the separate entries for มาก, ไม่ and เป็น for their other uses.

Repetition And Context
The mark ๆ repeats the preceding word. In น้ำเย็นๆ, the intended reading is cool water with a softened description, such as nice and cool. As an instruction, เร็วๆ means quickly or hurry up. Repetition can soften or emphasize a meaning, and other words can behave differently. Do not assign one fixed effect to every repeated word.

Other Sentence Patterns
These noun phrases and quality predicates do not automatically contain an object. Compare the separate subject–verb–object entry when studying actions with objects, and the separate ที่ entry when studying relative clauses.

Examples (6)

  1. รถใหม่

    A new car / The car is new.

    Word by Word: car | new

    ใหม่ follows รถ. The same short string can name a new car or state that the car is new, depending on context.

  2. อาหารไทยอร่อยมาก

    Thai food is very delicious.

    Word by Word: food | Thai | delicious | very

    อาหารไทย identifies Thai food. อร่อย describes its taste, and มาก adds the meaning very.

  3. ผู้หญิงสวยคนนั้น

    That beautiful woman.

    Word by Word: woman | beautiful | person-classifier | that

    สวย describes ผู้หญิง. คนนั้น points to that woman, with คน as the classifier for a person.

  4. บ้านไม่ใหญ่

    The house is not big.

    Word by Word: house | not | big

    ไม่ directly precedes ใหญ่ to negate the description big in this predicate.

  5. น้ำเย็นๆ

    Nice and cool water.

    Word by Word: water | cool | repetition

    ๆ repeats เย็น. Here the intended reading softens the description of the water; it does not specify a measured temperature.

  6. เร็วๆ

    Quickly! / Hurry up!

    Word by Word: fast | repetition

    As an instruction, เร็วๆ urges someone to act quickly. Its force comes from this use in context, rather than a universal rule that repetition means very.

Common Mistakes

  • Describing A Beautiful Woman

    สวยผู้หญิง
    ผู้หญิงสวย

    For the noun phrase a beautiful woman in this exercise, use ผู้หญิงสวย: woman + beautiful. Reversing these words to สวยผู้หญิง does not form the intended noun phrase.

  • Saying He Is Tall

    เขาเป็นสูง
    เขาสูง

    For the simple statement he is tall, use เขาสูง. สูง supplies the quality predicate directly. เขาเป็นสูง does not express this basic meaning correctly; this comparison does not describe every possible use of เป็น.

How It Connects

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Adjectives Follow The NounLevel 1

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