During a recent class I was teaching I found my students confused between การ gaan1 and อยู่ yuu2. The direct translation for both to English is the equivalent to adding an –ing at the end of a word. However, the meaning of each is different in Thai.

Yuu2 อยู่ is used to describe an act that is currently on-going. For example: I am eating right now, I am writing an article at this moment, and I am thinking. To say something is happening, you take a verb and apend อยู่ at the end. Optionally, you can also add a gum1lang1 กำลัง before the verb to stress that –ing a bit more. 

Eating Gin1 kao3 yuu2 กินข้าวอยู่	Thinking Gum1lang1 kid4 yuu2 กำลังคิดอยู่
Running Wing3 yuu2 วิ่งอยู่	Writing Kien5 yuu2 เขียนอยู่

 

Gaan1 การ is used to describe the act of doing something. For example: The sport of competition eating, the subject of writing, and thinking is what engineers do best. To refer to an act of something, just add การ in front of that verb. If you’d like to learn more about gaan1 and get more examples, see my old post about gaan1 and kwaam1. 

(act of) Eating Gaan1 gin1 การกินข้าว	(act of) Thinking Gaan1 kid4 การคิด
(act of) Running Gaan1 wing3 การวิ่ง	(act of) Writing Gaan1 kien5 การเขียน

Let’s go through a few examples . . .

 

I am eating.

Pom5 gin1 kao3 yuu2

ผมกินข้าวอยู่

 

I am running.

Pom5 wing3 yuu2

ผมวิ่งอยู่

 

I like running.

Pom5 chawp3 gaan1 wing3

ผมชอบการวิ่ง

 

You are writing.

Kun1 gum1lang1 kien5 yuu2

คุณกำลังเขียนอยู่

 

You don’t like writing.

Kun1 mai3 chawp3 gaan1 kien5

คุณไม่ชอบการเขียน