ซ่อม ไม่ ได้
“ซ่อม ไม่ ได้” (соом май дай) — beyond repair; cannot be fixed in Thai. Phrase, level B1. Literally "fix cannot": three familiar words. The repairman says it with regret, and then more often adds: "a new one is cheaper". In a live sentence: “เครื่อง นี้ ซ่อม ไม่ ได้ แล้ว” — This appliance is beyond repair already. Written with the characters ซ, ่, อ, ม, ไ, ม, ่, ไ, ด, ้. A word from the everyday Thai course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Thai | ซ่อม ไม่ ได้ |
| Read in Latin letters | соом май дай |
| Translation | beyond repair; cannot be fixed |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "fix cannot": three familiar words. The repairman says it with regret, and then more often adds: "a new one is cheaper"
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.
- เครื่อง นี้ ซ่อม ไม่ ได้ แล้วкхрыанг ний соом май дай лаэоThis appliance is beyond repair already
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 “beyond repair; cannot be fixed” in Thai?
«ซ่อม ไม่ ได้», read “соом май дай”. In a live sentence: “เครื่อง นี้ ซ่อม ไม่ ได้ แล้ว” — This appliance is beyond repair already. Phrase, level B1; written with the characters ซ, ่, อ, ม, ไ, ม, ่, ไ, ด, ้.
How is “ซ่อม ไม่ ได้” written in Latin letters?
соом май дай. 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 "fix cannot": three familiar words. The repairman says it with regret, and then more often adds: "a new one is cheaper". A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.