พา

Take a Person Along

Level 3

พา can take or bring someone, as in พาเพื่อนไปโรงพยาบาล. It is not restricted to animate objects; learn the whole construction and its intended meaning.

How It Works

Taking Someone Along
พา (phaa) can mean take, bring, lead, or accompany. This entry teaches examples with people and a dog. It is not limited to animate objects: the original spoken-Thai lesson also gives เขาพาหนังสือไปบ้าน ('He took the books home') and โปรดพาอาหารมาที่นี่ ('Please bring the food here').

1. An Object Between the Verbs
In พาเพื่อนไปโรงพยาบาล, the friend appears between พา and ไป: 'Take a friend to the hospital'. In อย่าลืมพาลูกมาด้วยนะ, มา gives a come/bring direction. These are serial verb constructions, with more than one verb describing the event. The directional verb distinguishes going from coming relative to a reference point; it does not always mean the speaker is physically at the destination.

2. Taking Someone to Do Something
พรุ่งนี้จะพาหมาไปเดินเล่น means 'Tomorrow [I] will take the dog for a walk'. เขาพาฉันไปดูหนัง means 'He took me to see a movie'. The actions after พา describe what the person or animal is taken to do. These examples teach that sequence; they do not establish that every occurrence of พา requires another overt verb.

3. Compare เอา and ไปส่ง
เอา also occurs in taking/bringing constructions. Choose from the complete meaning and situation, rather than assuming every use with a person has a sexual meaning or that พา can never take an inanimate object. ไปส่งเด็กที่โรงเรียน explicitly describes taking/delivering children to school. พาเด็กไปโรงเรียน describes taking them to school, but by itself does not say whether the person stays afterward. For an exercise specifically requesting ไปส่ง to describe delivery at the destination, use that requested phrase; the พา sentence can still be grammatical.

Examples (4)

  1. พาเพื่อนไปโรงพยาบาล

    Take a friend to the hospital.

    Word by Word: take + friend + go + hospital

    พา takes เพื่อน as its object, and ไป supplies the going direction toward the hospital. The sentence itself does not identify the speaker as the person making the trip.

  2. พรุ่งนี้จะพาหมาไปเดินเล่น

    Tomorrow [I] will take the dog for a walk.

    Word by Word: tomorrow + will + take + dog + go + walk + play

    พา is used with หมา, followed by ไปเดินเล่น to describe taking the dog for a walk.

  3. อย่าลืมพาลูกมาด้วยนะ

    Don't forget to bring the kids along, okay?

    Word by Word: don't + forget + take + child + come + with + [particle]

    มา gives a come/bring direction relative to the conversational reference point, and ด้วย adds the sense of bringing the children along.

  4. เขาพาฉันไปดูหนัง

    He took me to see a movie.

    Word by Word: he + take + me + go + watch + movie

    พา is followed by ฉัน, then ไปดูหนัง, to say that he took the speaker to see a movie.

Common Mistakes

  • Not using the requested พา construction to describe taking a friend along.

    เอาเพื่อนไปบ้าน
    พาเพื่อนไปบ้าน

    For this exercise's requested พา construction, use พาเพื่อนไปบ้าน. เอาเพื่อนไปบ้าน uses a different verb; its interpretation depends on context. This comparison selects the stated พา pattern, not a universal ban on เอา with people or a claim that every such use is sexual.

  • Leaving out ไป in the requested complete taking-to-market construction.

    ผมพาเขาตลาด
    ผมพาเขาไปตลาด

    For this complete directional pattern, use ผมพาเขาไปตลาด. The object เขา is between พา and ไป. ผมพาเขาตลาด leaves out the directional verb in the pattern being taught. Compare มา for a coming/bringing direction; this exercise is not a rule that every use of พา needs an overt direction word.

  • Not using the requested ไปส่ง phrase to explicitly describe delivery at school.

    พาเด็กไปโรงเรียน
    ไปส่งเด็กที่โรงเรียน

    For this task's requested ไปส่ง phrase, use ไปส่งเด็กที่โรงเรียน. พาเด็กไปโรงเรียน is grammatical and describes taking children to school; it does not by itself say that the person stays or leaves afterward. The comparison selects explicit delivery wording, not grammatical invalidity of the พา sentence.

How It Connects

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

พาLevel 3Take a Person Along

Learn This First

To understand 'พา' (to take a person along), you first need to understand the basic logic of serial verbs in Thai. It is also helpful to compare it to 'เอา' (to take an object) and how directional verbs like 'ไป' and 'มา' are added to indicate whether you are bringing someone here or taking them there.

Words in This Pattern

พา