4.21.2010

1. กำลัง - auxiliary verb indicating the present participle. Comes before the verb it acts upon. Sounds similar to the Chinese “正在。。。” So to eat is กิน. "He eats" is เขากิน, but "he is eating" would be เขากำลังกิน.
2. มา- come. Chinese is very specific about when you can use "come" and "go." We are less so in English. Where we might call a friend and say "I might come over later" meaning "I might go to your house later," in Chinese this would not be correct. You only use "come" when you are already at the place being referred to; in like manner, you only "go" when you are not at that place. In English, it seems acceptable to use "come" if the person to whom you are speaking is already at the aforementioned location (as with "coming" to someone's house).
This strict distinction in Chinese makes sense, and we do have it in English; it makes things clearer. We don't stick to it as stringently as they do in Chinese though. Not sure how Thai goes with this, but I feel it might be similar.

No comments: