ลง มือ
“ลง มือ” (лонг мы) — to get started; to set about in Thai. Verb, level B1. Literally "lower the hands into the business": the Thai sees the start of work literally — the hands went down, to the task. Stood up and began. In a live sentence: “พรุ่ง นี้ ลง มือ ทำ สวน แต่ เช้า” — Tomorrow I start on the garden first thing in the morning. Written with the characters ล, ง, ม, ื, อ. A word from the everyday Thai course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Thai | ลง มือ |
| Read in Latin letters | лонг мы |
| Translation | to get started; to set about |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "lower the hands into the business": the Thai sees the start of work literally — the hands went down, to the task. Stood up and began
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- พรุ่ง นี้ ลง มือ ทำ สวน แต่ เช้าпхрунг ний лонг мы тхам суан тэ чаоTomorrow I start on the garden first thing in the morning
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “to get started; to set about” in Thai?
«ลง มือ», read “лонг мы”. In a live sentence: “พรุ่ง นี้ ลง มือ ทำ สวน แต่ เช้า” — Tomorrow I start on the garden first thing in the morning. Verb, level B1; written with the characters ล, ง, ม, ื, อ.
How is “ลง มือ” written in Latin letters?
лонг мы. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally "lower the hands into the business": the Thai sees the start of work literally — the hands went down, to the task. Stood up and began. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.