ไม่ค่อย

Not Very

Level 2

ไม่ค่อย can express a low degree or low frequency. The examples describe hunger, running speed, meeting, difficulty, school attendance, and heat. It changes the meaning of the statement; it is not an automatically polite substitute for every negative.

How It Works

1. Degree in the Displayed Examples
In ไม่ค่อยหิวครับ, ไม่ค่อย comes before หิว and limits the degree of hunger. In วันนี้อากาศไม่ค่อยร้อน, it limits heat. Not very hot does not by itself specify a temperature or prove that the weather is moderate. The language-difficulty sentence gives a speaker’s assessment, not a measured fact about Thai.

2. Frequency and Other Verb Meanings
เขาไม่ค่อยไปโรงเรียน gives a low-frequency reading of school attendance. Read the whole predicate; a verb after ไม่ค่อย does not automatically make every sentence a statement of habitual frequency. A not-often statement does not provide a count of events or guarantee that an event occurred in every relevant interval.

3. Running Speed
In เขาวิ่งไม่ค่อยเร็ว, วิ่ง comes before ไม่ค่อยเร็ว. The sentence describes speed, not how frequently he runs. This displayed ordering differs from ไม่ค่อยไปโรงเรียน; do not require ไม่ค่อย to precede every verb regardless of what it modifies.

4. Meeting and Degree Endings
ช่วงนี้ไม่ค่อยได้เจอกันเลย says there has not been much meeting lately. Its native wording has no explicit subject; the natural translation supplies [we] from context, with no fixed inclusive or exclusive group. Read ได้ within this complete construction without assigning every occurrence one past tense or a necessary lack of opportunity. ภาษาไทยไม่ค่อยยากเท่าไหร่ uses เท่าไหร่ in its complete negative-degree statement.

5. Compare Complete Negatives
Compare ไม่, ไม่ค่อย, and ไม่เคย in their own clauses. The first task practices ผมไม่ค่อยไป for not often going; the second requests ผมไม่เคยกินเนื้อ for no prior eating experience. The retained alternative includes its exercise condition in parentheses; it is not a universal ban on every ไม่ค่อยกินเนื้อ sentence. Compare the linked จะ in its own complete constructions rather than assigning one future or tendency meaning to every ไม่ค่อยจะ. These examples do not establish a fixed frequency of use, automatic politeness, or a prediction about a different pronunciation.

Examples (6)

  1. ไม่ค่อยหิวครับ

    I'm not very hungry.

    Word by Word: not very / hungry / [polite]

    The native sentence states a low degree of hunger and ends with ครับ. The natural English translation supplies I from context; the degree meaning is not a universal politeness guarantee.

  2. เขาวิ่งไม่ค่อยเร็ว

    He doesn't run very fast.

    Word by Word: he / run / not very / fast

    In this complete sentence, ไม่ค่อยเร็ว follows วิ่ง and describes running speed, rather than how often the person runs.

  3. ช่วงนี้ไม่ค่อยได้เจอกันเลย

    [We] have not seen each other much lately.

    Word by Word: period / this / not often / [realization in context] / meet / each other / at all

    ช่วงนี้ sets the recent period. The native sentence has no explicit we; the natural translation supplies a group from context. ได้ is read within the complete meeting expression, without requiring one past-tense or lack-of-opportunity reading.

  4. ภาษาไทยไม่ค่อยยากเท่าไหร่

    Thai language isn't really all that difficult.

    Word by Word: language / Thai / not very / difficult / how much

    The complete ไม่ค่อย ... เท่าไหร่ statement expresses the speaker’s low-difficulty assessment. It does not certify how difficult Thai is for every learner.

  5. เขาไม่ค่อยไปโรงเรียน

    He rarely goes to school.

    Word by Word: he / not often / go / school

    Here ไม่ค่อยไปโรงเรียน gives a low-frequency reading of attendance. It does not state an exact event count or identify a period in which attendance must have occurred.

  6. วันนี้อากาศไม่ค่อยร้อน

    Today the weather isn't very hot.

    Word by Word: today / weather / not very / hot

    The statement describes today’s weather as not very hot. It does not give a temperature or require a moderate-weather interpretation.

Common Mistakes

  • Moving the frequency expression after ไป in the requested sentence.

    ผมไปไม่ค่อย
    ผมไม่ค่อยไป

    For the intended not-often-going statement, the task chooses ผมไม่ค่อยไป. The alternative leaves ไม่ค่อย at the end without the intended following predicate. This comparison does not make every manner or degree expression precede the action verb; compare เขาวิ่งไม่ค่อยเร็ว.

  • Confusing 'rarely' (ไม่ค่อย) with 'never' (ไม่เคย).

    ผมไม่ค่อยกินเนื้อ (when you actually never eat it)
    ผมไม่เคยกินเนื้อ

    The task requests no prior eating experience with ผมไม่เคยกินเนื้อ. The retained alternative states low frequency and includes the exercise condition in parentheses. Low frequency and no prior experience are different meanings; low frequency alone does not guarantee a positive event count in every interval.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

ไม่ค่อยLevel 2Not Very

Learn This First

To understand ไม่ค่อย (not very/not really), you first need to know the basic negative particle ไม่. It also helps to understand how Thai uses intensifiers like มาก, as ไม่ค่อย functions as a way to soften a statement rather than providing a hard denial.

Words in This Pattern

ไม่ค่อย