ถามว่า

Reporting a Question

Level 3

ถามว่า combines ถาม, meaning ask, with ว่า, which introduces the content. The following clause can ask what, where, or whether something is true.

How It Works

1. Find The Question
เขาถามว่าคุณชื่ออะไร reports a question about the listener’s name. อะไร remains after ชื่อ in this example. ผมถามเขาว่าไปไหนมา explicitly names the person asked between ถาม and ว่า.

2. Read Whether Or Yet
เขาถามว่าสบายดีไหม uses ไหม to ask whether someone is well. แม่ถามว่ากินข้าวหรือยัง asks whether someone has eaten yet. Neither sentence states the subject of its question clause; the English translation supplies one possible reading from context. These examples use two different question endings: ไหม and หรือยัง.

3. Keep The Requested Question Order
In the location task, คุณอยู่ที่ไหน puts ที่ไหน after อยู่. Reordering the words to ที่ไหนคุณอยู่ does not reproduce this ordinary reported-question pattern. Question words often stay where the answer would go, but this is not a ban on all fronted question words.

4. Compare Asking And Telling
ถามว่า introduces a question; บอกให้ introduces telling someone to act. ถามถึง asks about someone or something, and ถามเรื่อง introduces a topic. An inquiry can concern a request or instruction, so distinguish what a person asks from what they tell someone to do. The examples here report particular questions; they do not establish every rhetorical use of ถามว่า.

Examples (4)

  1. เขาถามว่าคุณชื่ออะไร

    He asked what your name is.

    Word by Word: He ask that you name what

    Notice that the question word อะไร (what) stays at the end of the sentence, just like in a direct question.

  2. แม่ถามว่ากินข้าวหรือยัง

    Mom asked whether you have eaten yet.

    Word by Word: Mom ask that eat rice or yet

    หรือยัง asks whether the eating has happened yet. The person who ate is not stated in the Thai clause.

  3. ผมถามเขาว่าไปไหนมา

    I asked him where he had been.

    Word by Word: I ask him that go where come

    เขา names the person asked. In this sentence it occurs after ถาม and before ว่า.

  4. เขาถามว่าสบายดีไหม

    He asked if I was doing well.

    Word by Word: He ask that comfortable good [question particle]

    ไหม makes สบายดี a yes-no question. Its subject is unstated; “I” in the English is a contextual reading.

Common Mistakes

  • Use A Whether Question For This Report

    เขาถามถ้าผมหิว
    เขาถามว่าผมหิวไหม

    The task reports asking whether I am hungry. เขาถามว่าผมหิวไหม expresses that question. ถ้า introduces a condition, so เขาถามถ้าผมหิว does not reproduce the requested complete whether question.

  • Keep ที่ไหน After อยู่ In This Question

    เขาถามว่าที่ไหนคุณอยู่
    เขาถามว่าคุณอยู่ที่ไหน

    The task reports “Where do you live?” in the ordinary order คุณอยู่ที่ไหน. เขาถามว่าคุณอยู่ที่ไหน preserves that pattern. This comparison concerns the displayed question, rather than every possible use of a fronted question expression.

How It Connects

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

ถามว่าLevel 3Reporting a Question

Learn This First

To understand ถามว่า (Asked Whether), you first need to understand how the particle ว่า functions as a bridge between a verb and a following clause. Since this pattern is specifically used for reporting questions, you must also be familiar with how Thai question words (like what, where, or who) stay in their normal sentence positions rather than moving to the front.

Words in This Pattern

ถามว่า