English

The word order is familiar, and one verb serves every tense

The phrase is assembled the way you expect: who → does what → to what. ผม ชอบ กาแฟ — "I like coffee", word for word. For example: “เมื่อ วาน ไป ตลาด” — Yesterday we went to the market. A rule from the Thai course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.

Updated September 1, 2026 · Lingofly

How it works

The phrase is assembled the way you expect: who → does what → to what. ผม ชอบ กาแฟ (пхом чоп кафэ) — "I like coffee", word for word.

What Thai does not do is touch the verb. No person, no number, no tense is written on it: ไป (пай) is "I go", "you go" and "went" at once. Time is named by words: เมื่อ วาน (мыа ван) — yesterday, พรุ่ง นี้ (пхрунг ний) — tomorrow, the particle จะ (cha) — the future, แล้ว (laeo) — already happened.

So the table below is not a list of forms but a promise. Change the person any way you like: the verb stays the same.

Table

The word order is familiar, and one verb serves every tense
Whoไป (to go)กิน (to eat)
ผม — Iไปกิน
คุณ — youไปกิน
เขา — heไปกิน
เรา — weไปกิน

By example

  • เมื่อ วาน ไป ตลาด
    мыа ван пай талат
    Yesterday we went to the market
  • พรุ่ง นี้ เจอกัน
    пхрунг ний джёкан
    See you tomorrow
  • ผม ต้อง ไป ทำ งาน
    пхом тонг пай тхам нган
    I have to go to work

How the rule settles in your head

A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.

Frequently asked

Thai sentence word order?

The phrase is assembled the way you expect: who → does what → to what. ผม ชอบ กาแฟ — "I like coffee", word for word.

Do Thai verbs conjugate?

What Thai does not do is touch the verb. No person, no number, no tense is written on it: ไป is "I go", "you go" and "went" at once. Time is named by words: เมื่อ วาน — yesterday, พรุ่ง นี้ — tomorrow, the particle จะ (cha) — the future, แล้ว (laeo) — already happened.

How to say past tense in Thai?

What Thai does not do is touch the verb. No person, no number, no tense is written on it: ไป is "I go", "you go" and "went" at once. Time is named by words: เมื่อ วาน — yesterday, พรุ่ง นี้ — tomorrow, the particle จะ (cha) — the future, แล้ว (laeo) — already happened.

Are there tenses in Thai?

What Thai does not do is touch the verb. No person, no number, no tense is written on it: ไป is "I go", "you go" and "went" at once. Time is named by words: เมื่อ วาน — yesterday, พรุ่ง นี้ — tomorrow, the particle จะ (cha) — the future, แล้ว (laeo) — already happened.

What does it look like in a Thai example sentence?

“เมื่อ วาน ไป ตลาด” (мыа ван пай талат) — Yesterday we went to the market. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.

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