ให้ (ให้ผู้อื่นทำ)

Make or Let Someone Do

Level 2

While ให้ (hâi) often means 'to give' or acts as a benefactive ('for'), it also acts as a causative verb. Depending on the context and social relationship, it can mean 'make,' 'let,' 'allow,' or 'have' someone do something. The structure is: [Subject/Causer] + ให้ + [Object/Doer] + [Action Verb].

How It Works

1. Who Does the Action?
In [Causer] + ให้ + [Doer] + [Action], the person after ให้ performs the action. ผมให้เขาทำอาหาร can mean 'I had him cook' or 'I let him cook', depending on the situation. This use differs from ให้ meaning 'give' and from doing something for someone.

2. Make the Intention Clear
Context tells you whether someone is being allowed, asked, or required to act; a parent-child relationship alone does not determine which meaning applies. Use บอกให้ (bòok hâi) to say 'tell someone to', or บังคับให้ (bang-káp hâi) to say 'force someone to'. อนุญาตให้ means 'allow', and สั่งให้ means 'order someone to'. These verbs name the intended relationship more precisely than bare ให้.

3. Word Order
With บอกให้, บอกเขาให้ไป and บอกให้เขาไป both tell him to go. Compare บังคับให้ for an explicit instruction by force. These combinations relate to serial verb constructions, where verbs combine without adding an inflection to the action verb.

4. Negation
In เขาไม่ให้ฉันเข้าบ้าน, ไม่ (mâi) negates ให้: 'He does not let me enter the house'. A past context can also give ไม่ให้ a past interpretation; it is not necessary to add ได้ solely because English uses past tense. ไม่ได้ให้ (mâi dâai hâi) can deny that someone made or allowed an action. To tell someone not to go, you can say บอกไม่ให้เขาไป, with ไม่ before ให้, or บอกให้เขาอย่าไป, with อย่า (yàa) before ไป.

5. Causing a Result
Being made to act does not mean acting voluntarily: ให้ can describe permission or a requirement. To express the result 'He made me sad', use เขาทำให้ (tam hâi)ฉันเสียใจ. This sentence focuses on causing a feeling. Do not treat every emotion or reaction as a universal ban on ให้; choose the construction that expresses the intended cause, permission, instruction, or result.

Thai has no verb conjugation: the action verb keeps its form after the person.

Examples (4)

  1. แม่ให้ผมกินผัก

    Mom made me eat vegetables.

    Word by Word: Mom / give / me / eat / vegetable

    This example is interpreted as a parental instruction. The same bare ให้ pattern can express permission in a different context.

  2. เขาไม่ให้ฉันเข้าบ้าน

    He won't let me enter the house.

    Word by Word: He / not / give / me / enter / house

    Negating the causative (ไม่ให้) expresses a refusal of permission (won't let).

  3. ครูให้พวกเราทำการบ้าน

    The teacher had us do homework.

    Word by Word: Teacher / give / us / do / homework

    Here, it functions as 'having' someone do a task in a formal/educational setting.

  4. พ่อให้ลูกไปเที่ยวกับเพื่อน

    Dad let his child go out with friends.

    Word by Word: Dad / give / child / go / travel / with / friend

    This example is interpreted as permission to go out. The same wording could express an instruction in another context; ให้ alone does not select between those readings.

Common Mistakes

  • Choosing the wrong doer for the intended meaning.

    ผมทำอาหารให้เขา
    ผมให้เขาทำอาหาร

    For the intended meaning 'I had him cook', use ผมให้เขาทำอาหาร: เขา does the cooking. ผมทำอาหารให้เขา is also grammatical, but it means 'I cook for him': ผม does the cooking. The latter is a benefactive construction and does not convey the intended causative meaning.

  • Choosing a construction for the intended result 'made me sad'.

    เขาให้ฉันเสียใจ
    เขาทำให้ฉันเสียใจ

    For the intended caused feeling 'He made me sad', use เขาทำให้ฉันเสียใจ. The bare ให้ action-or-permission pattern in เขาให้ฉันเสียใจ does not express this result as clearly. This exercise distinguishes that intended meaning; it does not declare every use of ให้ with a feeling or reaction ungrammatical.

How It Connects

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ให้ (ให้ผู้อื่นทำ)Level 2Make or Let Someone Do

Learn This First

To understand the causative 'ให้' (make/let), you first need to be comfortable with basic Thai word order (SVO) and how Thai can string multiple verbs together (serial verbs). It is also helpful to understand the primary meaning of 'ให้' as 'to give', as the causative usage is a metaphorical extension where one 'gives' a task or permission to another person.

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ให้