ทันที
Immediately
ทันที means immediately or at once. Read the action and the event it responds to in the complete sentence.
How It Works
Without Delay
ทันที means immediately or at once. เขาออกไปทันที places it after the leaving action. กรุณาตอบกลับทันที requests an immediate reply. These are complete examples of that order, without a ban on every other position.
Read The Triggering Event
เขายิ้มทันทีที่เห็นฉัน gives the reading He smiled as soon as he saw me. ทันทีที่ precedes เห็นฉัน, the seeing event. The good-news example instead introduces hearing the news with เมื่อ and places ทันที after the smile.
Follow The Time-Clause Task
The card practises ทันทีที่ผมเห็นเขา for as soon as I see him. Keep the complete written expression requested by that task. An isolated ทันที does not identify the same triggering clause on its own.
Read Time In Context
The no-delay meaning relates the action to its occasion or trigger. The surrounding account supplies when that occasion occurs.
Examples (4)
- เขาออกไปทันที
He left immediately.
Word by Word: He go out immediately
A basic example showing the adverb placed directly after the verb phrase.
- กรุณาตอบกลับทันที
Please reply immediately.
Word by Word: Please answer back immediately
Used with กรุณา (formal please) to request a prompt response.
- เขายิ้มทันทีที่เห็นฉัน
He smiled as soon as he saw me.
Word by Word: He smile immediately that see me
This shows the conjunction form 'ทันทีที่' used to link two actions.
- เมื่อเขาได้ยินข่าวดี เขาก็ยิ้มทันที
When he heard the good news, he smiled at once.
Word by Word: When he hear news good, he then smile immediately
Shows how ทันที describes a reaction to a previous event.
Common Mistakes
Write ทันทีที่ Before The Seeing Clause.
ทันทีผมเห็นเขา...ทันทีที่ผมเห็นเขา...The task requests ทันทีที่ผมเห็นเขา, as soon as I see him. The displayed alternative omits ที่ and does not reproduce that complete time-clause expression. This comparison concerns the requested phrase, rather than every context where ทันที appears before other words.
How It Connects
Learn This First
To understand 'ทันที' (immediately), you should be comfortable with basic Thai sentence structure and how verbs are sequenced. It functions as an adverbial marker that emphasizes there is no time gap between events.
Related Patterns
- พอ ... ก็As Soon as
Compare พอ ... ก็ linking events with the complete ทันทีที่ time clause shown here.
Level 2 - กรุณาPlease — Formal
กรุณา introduces the request in กรุณาตอบกลับทันที; ทันที asks for a reply without delay.
Level 1 - ที่ (ขยายคำนาม)The One That
ที่ appears after ทันที before เห็นฉัน in the smile example. Compare that whole time expression with ที่ describing a noun in the linked entry.
Level 1