Noun + Classifier + นี้

Pointing with a Classifier

Level 1

The displayed phrases use Noun + Classifier + นี้ (níi) to identify 'this' particular referent. Choose the classifier used with that noun in the example.

How It Works

Pointing With A Classifier
The selected pattern is Noun + Classifier + นี้. It identifies a particular referent as 'this' person, animal, or thing. นี้ follows the classifier in the five examples. Reference can be supplied by a pointing situation or the surrounding discourse; these sentences do not measure the referent's distance.

1. Read The Displayed Pattern
หนังสือเล่มนี้ contains หนังสือ, the book classifier เล่ม, and นี้: 'this book'. ผู้ชายคนนี้ uses ผู้ชาย as the noun and คน as the people classifier. คน can also be the noun 'person' elsewhere, but in this displayed phrase it follows the distinct noun ผู้ชาย.

รถคันนี้ uses คัน with รถ. แมวตัวนี้ uses ตัว with แมว, and แก้วใบนี้ uses ใบ with แก้ว. Learn the classifier together with the noun and construction rather than treating one classifier as an interchangeable label for every object.

2. A Noun Phrase Can Be Part Of A Sentence
In รถคันนี้สีแดง, the identifying phrase รถคันนี้ is followed by the statement สีแดง. Likewise, แมวตัวนี้ is followed by ชอบกินปลา, and แก้วใบนี้ is followed by สะอาด. นี้ ends the displayed identifying phrase, not the entire sentence. These examples do not establish one word order for every longer Thai noun phrase.

3. Classifier Use Depends On The Construction
The explicit classifier pattern here is useful for identifying a particular individual. Classifierless noun-demonstrative phrases also occur, with interpretations that depend on the noun, construction, and context. The meaning-choice task contrasts รถคันนี้, “this car”, with รถคันนั้น, “that car”. Both phrases retain คัน; the demonstrative changes the requested meaning.

The comparison วันนี้ contains วัน only once and means 'today'. Some nouns also serve as classifiers in counting constructions, but that fact is not a universal rule for deleting a repeated word before นี้. Read each full phrase separately; the current five native examples all retain their classifiers.

4. Distinguish The Selected Written Forms
Standard descriptions distinguish high-tone นี้ in the selected modifier pattern from falling-tone นี่ used in standalone pointing constructions. For the requested book phrase, use หนังสือเล่มนี้ rather than หนังสือเล่มนี่. A standalone pointing word is not itself the complete statement 'this is'; its interpretation depends on the rest of the sentence. The distinction does not mean that either form has only one possible discourse function.

5. The Three Requested Corrections
The first task selects หนังสือเล่มนี้ for 'this book'. The second selects รถคันนี้ for “this car” rather than รถคันนั้น, “that car”. The third repairs นี้รถคัน to รถคันนี้, placing นี้ after รถ and คัน in this pattern. Keep the tasks' exact native forms while applying their particular construction, rather than extending them to every possible demonstrative sentence.

Examples (5)

  1. หนังสือเล่มนี้

    This book

    Word by Word: book + [classifier for books] + this

    เล่ม is the book classifier in หนังสือเล่มนี้. The displayed noun-classifier-demonstrative phrase identifies this particular book.

  2. ผู้ชายคนนี้

    This man

    Word by Word: man + [classifier for people] + this

    ผู้ชาย is the noun 'man'; คน is the classifier for people in ผู้ชายคนนี้. The same word คน can serve as the noun 'person' in another construction, but it follows ผู้ชาย here.

  3. รถคันนี้สีแดง

    This car is red.

    Word by Word: car + [classifier for vehicles] + this + color + red

    คัน is the classifier used with รถ in รถคันนี้. This identifying phrase is the subject of the displayed statement สีแดง; นี้ is not the last word of the complete sentence.

  4. แมวตัวนี้ชอบกินปลา

    This cat likes to eat fish.

    Word by Word: cat + [classifier for animals] + this + like + eat + fish

    ตัว is the classifier used with แมว in แมวตัวนี้. The following ชอบกินปลา supplies the statement about this cat; the example does not establish every possible use of ตัว.

  5. แก้วใบนี้สะอาด

    This glass is clean.

    Word by Word: glass + [classifier for containers] + this + clean

    ใบ is the classifier used with แก้ว in แก้วใบนี้. The following สะอาด describes this glass; classifier choice should be learned with the particular noun and construction.

Common Mistakes

  • Using นี่ in the requested modifier phrase for 'this book'.

    หนังสือเล่มนี่
    หนังสือเล่มนี้

    For this task, select หนังสือเล่มนี้. Standard descriptions distinguish modifier นี้ from standalone pointing นี่; นี่ alone does not mean the complete statement 'this is'.

  • Say “This Car”.

    รถคันนั้น
    รถคันนี้

    รถคันนี้ means “this car” in this task. รถคันนั้น means “that car”, so it does not match the requested meaning. Both phrases are grammatical and use คัน; the choice here concerns นี้ and นั้น.

  • Placing นี้ first in the requested noun-classifier-demonstrative phrase.

    นี้รถคัน
    รถคันนี้

    Repair นี้รถคัน to รถคันนี้ in this task: noun + classifier + demonstrative. The order concerns this complete phrase, not every longer Thai noun phrase or the final word of every sentence.

How It Connects

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

Noun + Classifier + นี้Level 1Pointing with a Classifier

Learn This First

To understand this pattern, you need to be familiar with how Thai uses classifiers to categorize nouns and how demonstrative adjectives like 'นี้' (this) are placed after the noun and classifier to point at a specific object. It is essentially a shortened version of the standard counting structure.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

นี้นี้