Thai sentence structure: word order made simple

The basic Thai sentence is built just like an English one: who does it, what they do, and to what. บอสขับรถbáwt kàp rót is Boss drives a car, word for word.

What Thai doesn't have makes it easier still. There's no a or the, no plural -s and no verb endings, so รถrót can be a car, the car or cars, and ขับkàp is drive, drives and drove. Context, and words like numbers and time words, fill in the rest.

This is the big switch from English: the noun comes first, and everything that describes it follows. A big house is บ้านใหญ่bâan yài, house big. The same goes for this and that (ร้านนี้ráan níi, this shop), for colours (เสื้อสีแดงsûea sǐi daeng, a red shirt) and for owners, which come last after ของkǎwng (of): บ้านของฉันbâan kǎwng chǎn, my house.

Numbers come after the noun too, with one twist: they need a counting word, a classifier, as in กาแฟสองแก้วgaa-fae sǎwng gâew, two cups of coffee. See Thai classifiers.

Thai adjectives behave like verbs, so they don't need is: อาหารอร่อยaa-hǎan à-ràwy is the food is delicious, วันนี้ร้อนwan-níi ráwn is it's hot today. Degree words like มากmâak (very) follow the adjective: ร้อนมากráwn mâak.

Thai does have words for to be, but each has its own job: เป็นbpen links a person to a role, a job or a nationality (เขาเป็นครูkǎo bpen kruu, he's a teacher), อยู่yùu says where something is (ห้องน้ำอยู่ชั้นสองhâwng-náam yùu chán sǎwng, the toilet is on the second floor), and คือkuue defines or explains.

Thai verbs never change for the past or the future. A time word does that job, and it sits at the start or the end of the sentence: พรุ่งนี้เราจะไปตลาดprûng-níi rao jà bpai dtà-làat, tomorrow we'll go to the market. Little markers next to the verb add the rest: จะjà for what will happen, แล้วláew for what's done. More on Thai tenses.

Questions keep the statement's word order. A yes/no question just adds ไหมmǎi at the end, and a question word goes where the answer would be: ห้องน้ำอยู่ที่ไหนhâwng-náam yùu tîi-nǎi, where's the toilet? See Thai question words.

The very last place belongs to particles: ครับkráp or ค่ะkâ for politeness, นะná to sound friendly. See Thai particles.

When it's clear who you mean, Thai drops the subject, and often the object too. A friend asks กินข้าวหรือยังgin kâao rǔue-yang (have you eaten?) and you answer กินแล้วgin láew (I have), with no you and no I. It sounds natural, not lazy. More on Thai pronouns.