ไม่

Not

Level 1

ไม่ (mâi, falling tone) means 'not'. In ผมไม่หิว, it negates being hungry; in เขาไม่ไปโรงเรียน, it negates going to school. Read the whole sentence to understand the time and scope.

How It Works

Reading Negative Predicates
ไม่ (mâi, falling tone) negates a predicate. The four examples deny hunger, going to school, rain falling today, and spiciness. Read the words around ไม่ to determine what is being denied and when the sentence applies.

1. Placement And Scope
In ไม่ร้อน ('not hot') and ไม่ไป ('not go'), ไม่ precedes the predicate it negates. Expressions with อยาก (want) or ต้อง (must) need attention to scope. For example, ไม่อยากไป denies wanting to go; it is not the same meaning as wanting not to go. Do not move ไม่ to one fixed position for every sentence containing an auxiliary or modal.

2. Actions, Qualities, And Identity
ผมไม่หิว and อาหารนี้ไม่เผ็ด negate qualities directly, without a separate word corresponding to English 'am' or 'is'. The identity task changes ผมไม่คนไทย to ผมไม่ใช่คนไทย, using ไม่ใช่ to deny being Thai. Read that whole identity construction rather than treating a noun alone as a predicate that always takes ไม่ in front of it. ไม่ใช่หมอ is another example of denying an identity.

3. Time And Occurrence
ไม่ is not a tense ending. The context or a time expression helps locate the negative statement in time. เขาไม่ไปโรงเรียน denies going to school; its English translation presents a habitual reading, but the Thai words alone do not force a future or habitual interpretation. วันนี้ in วันนี้ฝนไม่ตก supplies 'today'. The past-event task contrasts เมื่อวานผมไป, which says that the speaker went yesterday, with เมื่อวานผมไม่ได้ไป, which denies that occurrence. Choose the negative sentence to express the requested denial. This contrast does not prove that every past-time sentence with ไม่ is ungrammatical.

Read ไม่ได้ before an event phrase: ไม่ได้ + Verb. In the displayed past task, that preverbal construction denies the occurrence of going. Compare it with Verb + ไม่ได้, which can express inability or circumstances preventing an action. These constructions should not be reduced to an automatic past-tense versus present-tense substitution; interpret the whole event and its context.

4. Quality Predicates
The linked explanation of adjectives function like verbs helps compare the quality predicates หิว and เผ็ด. In the displayed examples, ไม่หิว means 'not hungry' and ไม่เผ็ด means 'not spicy'. Their English translations contain a form of 'be', but that does not require adding a separate copula to these Thai quality predicates.

5. Negation, Questions, And Register
ไม่ is a negator, whereas ไหม is a yes-no question particle. The written question task contrasts ไม่ไป, a negative predicate, with ไปไหม, a yes-no question. Choose ไปไหม when asked to ask whether the person is going; ไม่ไป does not ask that question. Spoken question-particle pronunciation can also have a high-tone realization. Do not infer that giving any sentence-final syllable a falling tone automatically makes a negative statement; compare the word's spelling, role, and sentence position. The linked มิ lesson provides a comparison with literary or formal negation. It does not establish a usage frequency or make มิ interchangeable with ไม่ in every construction.

Examples (4)

  1. ผมไม่หิว

    I am not hungry.

    Word by Word: I not hungry

    ผมไม่หิว has ผม as the speaker and ไม่หิว as the negative hunger predicate. The English 'am' has no separate word in this displayed Thai sentence.

  2. เขาไม่ไปโรงเรียน

    He doesn't go to school.

    Word by Word: He not go school

    เขาไม่ไปโรงเรียน denies going to school. The English sentence presents a habitual reading; the Thai wording alone does not specify that the event is habitual or future.

  3. วันนี้ฝนไม่ตก

    It is not raining today.

    Word by Word: Today rain not fall

    วันนี้ supplies 'today'; ฝน is the rain and ไม่ตก denies its falling. The English translation uses a present progressive construction, which is not a separate tense marker in the displayed Thai wording.

  4. อาหารนี้ไม่เผ็ด

    This food is not spicy.

    Word by Word: Food this not spicy

    อาหารนี้ identifies this food and ไม่เผ็ด denies its spiciness. No separate Thai word for English 'is' appears in this quality predicate.

Common Mistakes

  • Choosing the identity-negation construction in this task.

    ผมไม่คนไทย
    ผมไม่ใช่คนไทย

    For the intended identity denial, change ผมไม่คนไทย to ผมไม่ใช่คนไทย. ไม่ใช่ forms the negative identity expression here; this task does not establish how to negate every possible sentence containing a noun.

  • Say “I Did Not Go Yesterday”

    เมื่อวานผมไป
    เมื่อวานผมไม่ได้ไป

    Both sentences are grammatical, but they make opposite claims about going yesterday. เมื่อวานผมไป says that the speaker went yesterday. For the requested denial, use เมื่อวานผมไม่ได้ไป: เมื่อวาน supplies the time and ไม่ได้ precedes ไป to deny that the going occurred. This contrast does not make every past-time sentence with ไม่ ungrammatical.

  • Ask “Are You Going?”

    ไม่ไป
    ไปไหม

    For the requested question, use ไปไหม to ask whether the person is going. The alternative ไม่ไป is a negative predicate meaning “not go”, so it does not ask that question. This written contrast changes the words and their positions: ไหม follows ไป in the question, whereas ไม่ precedes ไป in the negative predicate. It does not test or certify a recording or a tone annotation.

How It Connects

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ไม่Level 1Not

Learn This First

To use 'ไม่' (not), you need to understand basic Thai word order (SVO) and the fact that adjectives function as verbs, as 'ไม่' is placed directly before the word it negates.

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