Adjective + ลง
Getting Less
In the examples here, Adjective + ลง describes a change: แย่ลง means getting worse, ผอมลง means getting thinner, เบาลง means getting quieter, and เย็นลง means getting cooler.
How It Works
A Change From Before:
ลง has a downward meaning. In the adjective phrases shown here, it describes a change from an earlier state. แย่ลง means getting worse, ผอมลง means getting thinner, เบาลง means getting quieter, and เย็นลง means getting cooler.
Read the Whole Phrase:
The adjective supplies the quality, and ลง contributes the change. In ช่วงนี้เศรษฐกิจแย่ลง, the economy is getting worse. In อากาศเย็นลงแล้ว, the weather has become cooler. These phrases compare a situation with its earlier state.
Choose the Words for the Intended Change:
Learn the complete adjective phrase rather than attaching ลง automatically to every adjective. A change is not classified simply as good or bad: ผอมลง describes becoming thinner, while แย่ลง describes becoming worse. The task uses สวยน้อยลง to make a decrease in beauty explicit through น้อยลง. There is no general rule here that all positive qualities require this same wording.
Longer Constructions:
Read any additional word with the whole construction. The linked lesson on ไป explains its uses with verbs; its meaning in a particular phrase should not be assumed from the word alone.
Examples (4)
- ช่วงนี้เศรษฐกิจแย่ลง
Lately, the economy has been getting worse.
Word by Word: Period this economy bad down
แย่ลง describes the economy becoming worse than before. ช่วงนี้ locates the change in the recent period.
- หลังจากออกกำลังกาย เขาก็ผอมลงมาก
After exercising, he got much thinner.
Word by Word: After exercise, he [conjunction] thin down much
ผอมลง describes becoming thinner. มาก indicates the degree of the change in this sentence; the form does not itself say whether the speaker welcomes that change.
- กรุณาพูดเบาลงหน่อยได้ไหม
Could you please speak a bit more quietly?
Word by Word: Please speak soft down a little can [question]?
พูดเบาลง asks for quieter speech. The complete sentence frames this as a request to reduce the volume.
- อากาศเย็นลงแล้ว
The weather has gotten cooler already.
Word by Word: Weather cool down already
เย็นลง describes the weather becoming cooler. แล้ว presents the changed state as reached in this sentence.
Common Mistakes
Using 'long' for 'getting better'.
สุขภาพดีลงสุขภาพดีขึ้นFor the intended meaning that health is improving, the task uses สุขภาพดีขึ้น. The linked ขึ้น (kheun) construction gives the upward-change reading here.
Using 'long' for gaining weight.
อ้วนลงอ้วนขึ้นFor the intended meaning of becoming fatter, the task uses อ้วนขึ้น, with ขึ้น (kheun). Choose the phrase for the intended change, rather than whether gaining weight seems desirable.
Expressing 'less beautiful' without an explicit lesser degree in this task.
สวยลงสวยน้อยลงThe supplied correction สวยน้อยลง makes the intended decrease in beauty explicit. Here, น้อยลง (noi long) expresses a lesser degree of the quality.
How It Connects
Learn This First
To understand 'Adjective + ลง', you first need to be comfortable with how Thai adjectives function as verbs. It is also helpful to understand the directional logic of Thai grammar, where verbs of motion are placed after a word to show a change in state, similar to the 'Getting More' (ขึ้น) pattern.
Related Patterns
- Verb + ลงDownward Movement and Decrease
The linked lesson uses ลง with verbs for downward movement or settling; the adjective construction here describes a change in a quality.
Level 2 - น้อยFew and Little
น้อย means few or little; น้อยลง expresses becoming less in quantity or degree in the phrase used here.
Level 2 - กว่าMore than
The linked กว่า construction states a comparison, while the examples with ลง here describe a change from an earlier state.
Level 2
Words in This Pattern
Practice Adjective + ลง in Bubblegum
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