ขอให้
May You
ขอให้ appears in wishes and requests. The examples wish good luck, happiness, recovery, or peace, and report asking someone to help.
How It Works
Wishes:
ขอให้โชคดีนะ wishes good luck. ขอให้มีความสุขในวันเกิด wishes happiness on a birthday. ขอให้หายเร็วๆ นะ wishes recovery, and ขอให้โลกสงบสุข wishes peace for the world.
A Request:
ฉันขอให้เขาช่วยทำงาน describes asking him to help with the work. The English uses a past report here, but the Thai wording alone does not fix that time.
Read the Desired Outcome:
ขอให้ can express a wish or request involving a person, state, or event. A personal wish such as ขอให้คุณรักฉัน is not automatically wrong. อยากให้ also expresses a desire; it is not inherently selfish or less polite. The complete situation determines the effect.
Receiving or Giving Money:
The selected card asks for money to be received: ขอเงิน. In another context, ขอให้เงิน can be read as ขอ followed by the action ให้เงิน, asking to give money. Do not prohibit that sequence in every sentence.
Examples (5)
- ขอให้โชคดีนะ
Good luck!
Word by Word: Request let luck good [softener]
ขอให้โชคดีนะ wishes good luck. The Thai phrase does not explicitly name the speaker or the person receiving the wish.
- ขอให้มีความสุขในวันเกิด
May you have happiness on your birthday.
Word by Word: Request let have happiness in day birth
The wish names happiness with มีความสุข and the birthday occasion with ในวันเกิด. The example does not establish one required birthday formula.
- ฉันขอให้เขาช่วยทำงาน
I asked him to help with the work.
Word by Word: I request let him help do work
The sentence describes a request for him to help with the work. The English selects a past report; the Thai sentence alone does not state the time.
- ขอให้หายเร็วๆ นะ
Get well soon!
Word by Word: Request let recover fast [repetition] [softener]
Here the wish is for recovery soon: หาย gives the recovery reading, and เร็วๆ gives “soon” in the selected English.
- ขอให้โลกสงบสุข
May the world be at peace.
Word by Word: Request let world peaceful
A wish for a general situation rather than a specific person.
Common Mistakes
Ask To Receive Money.
ขอให้เงินขอเงินFor requesting money to receive, choose ขอเงิน. ขอให้เงิน can be read as asking to give money in another context and does not express that same receiving request. The comparison does not declare every ขอให้เงิน sequence ungrammatical.
How It Connects
Learn This First
To understand 'ขอให้', you need to know the basic verb 'ขอ' (to ask/request) and how 'ให้' functions as a causative or benefactive marker to direct a wish or state toward a recipient.
- ขอMay I Have
The word 'ขอ' is the base verb for making requests or asking for something, which is the foundation of the 'ขอให้' wish structure.
Level 1 - ให้ (ให้ผู้อื่นทำ)Make or Let Someone Do
Understanding how 'ให้' functions to direct an action or state toward another person is essential for the syntax of 'ขอให้' (May [something happen] to you).
Level 2
Related Patterns
- อยากให้Want Someone to
Compare desires and wishes with อยากให้ and ขอให้ in their complete examples; neither guarantees the speaker’s motive or politeness.
Level 2 - บอกให้Reporting Instructions
Used to report a command ('told someone to'), while ขอให้ reports a request ('asked someone to').
Level 3 - หวังว่าHope That
Means 'hope that'; it is similar in meaning but follows a different grammatical structure.
Level 4
Words in This Pattern
Practice ขอให้ in Bubblegum
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