แก่

To — Formal Recipient

Level 5

แก่ marks the recipient in the prize, assistance, advice, and explanation examples. Read the complete expression to distinguish that use from meanings such as old, mature, or strong.

How It Works

In the recipient use taught here, แก่ marks who receives something or benefits from an action.

1. Read The Recipient
มอบรางวัลแก่ผู้ชนะ identifies the winner as the recipient of the prize. ให้ความช่วยเหลือแก่ผู้ประสบภัย identifies the disaster victims as the recipients of assistance. In the teacher example, the students receive the advice. The meeting example names the meeting as the recipient of the explanation.

2. Recipient And Status
The primary dictionary includes giving testimony แก่ศาล and handing a matter ให้แก่ตำรวจ. These institutional recipients show why a rule limiting แก่ to equals or subordinates is too narrow. Choose the whole expression for the intended setting; this lesson does not assign every use of แก่, แด่, ให้, and ต่อ by a single status ladder.

3. The Request Task
The supplied task chooses ส่งเกลือให้ฉันหน่อย for a request between friends. It contrasts that wording with ส่งเกลือแก่ฉันหน่อย. The contrast is about the intended tone of that request, not a claim that แก่ is unintelligible or that every formal sentence requires it.

4. Other Meanings Of แก่
The word also has meanings involving age, maturity, strength or darkness, and inclination. A description of an old person and a description of strong coffee are not recipient constructions. Read the whole expression; this lesson does not impose one ripeness test on all fruit or a living-versus-non-living division on all “old” words.

5. Related Expressions
ได้แก่ identifies what is meant by a preceding expression. It is a separate construction from giving something แก่ a recipient. Learn complete idioms separately rather than predicting their meaning from the recipient use.

Examples (4)

  1. มอบรางวัลแก่ผู้ชนะ

    Present the prize to the winner.

    Word by Word: present + prize + to + person + win

    แก่ผู้ชนะ identifies the winner as the recipient of the prize in this example.

  2. รัฐบาลให้ความช่วยเหลือแก่ผู้ประสบภัย

    The government provides assistance to the disaster victims.

    Word by Word: government + give + assistance + to + person + experience + disaster

    แก่ผู้ประสบภัย identifies the disaster victims as the recipients of the assistance in this sentence.

  3. ครูให้คำแนะนำแก่ลูกศิษย์

    The teacher gave advice to the students.

    Word by Word: teacher + give + advice + to + student

    The students receive the advice. แก่ marks that recipient role in a formal account; the example does not establish a rule that the giver must outrank the recipient.

  4. เขาชี้แจงรายละเอียดแก่ที่ประชุม

    He explained the details to the meeting.

    Word by Word: he + explain + details + to + meeting

    Demonstrates 'แก่' used with a collective entity (the meeting) in a professional setting.

Common Mistakes

  • Choosing a formal recipient marker for an ordinary request between friends.

    ส่งเกลือแก่ฉันหน่อย
    ส่งเกลือให้ฉันหน่อย

    This task selects ส่งเกลือให้ฉันหน่อย for the intended request. The alternative uses แก่ as its recipient marker. Compare these complete request forms; the task does not measure their frequency or decide how every conversation between friends must sound.

How It Connects

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

แก่Level 5To — Formal Recipient

Learn This First

The pattern แก่ is a formal preposition used to mark a recipient, typically in written Thai. To understand it, learners should already be familiar with the basic verb for giving (ให้), the concept of register differences in Thai, and basic sentence structure.

Words in This Pattern

แก่