ตาม กฎ หมาย
“ตาม กฎ หมาย” (таам кот маай) — by law; legally in Thai. Phrase, level B1. Literally "following the law": the follow is the same as in "along" and "according to"; the law is yours. The law does not "state" in Thai — it is followed. In a live sentence: “ตาม กฎ หมาย เด็ก ไม่ ทำ งาน” — By law children do not work. Written with the characters ต, า, ม, ก, ฎ, ห, ม, า, ย. A word from the everyday Thai course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Thai | ตาม กฎ หมาย |
| Read in Latin letters | таам кот маай |
| Translation | by law; legally |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "following the law": the follow is the same as in "along" and "according to"; the law is yours. The law does not "state" in Thai — it is followed
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.
- ตาม กฎ หมาย เด็ก ไม่ ทำ งานтаам кот маай дек май тхам нгаанBy law children do not work
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 “by law; legally” in Thai?
«ตาม กฎ หมาย», read “таам кот маай”. In a live sentence: “ตาม กฎ หมาย เด็ก ไม่ ทำ งาน” — By law children do not work. Phrase, level B1; written with the characters ต, า, ม, ก, ฎ, ห, ม, า, ย.
How is “ตาม กฎ หมาย” written in Latin letters?
таам кот маай. 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 "following the law": the follow is the same as in "along" and "according to"; the law is yours. The law does not "state" in Thai — it is followed. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.