When we were children, we learned that there were only 5 question words and they all started with ‘W’: who, what, where, why, and when. And perhaps we were told that ‘how’ was also a question word, which was really just ‘who’ but with the ‘w’ on the other side of the word.

But they forgot to tell us the other question words, such as ‘yet’, ‘are’, ‘did’, etc. For example:

Have you learned them yet? Are you going to learn them? Did you learn it?

It’s the same in Thai. This lesson will be about the word ยัง yang^M which means ‘yet’ or ‘still’. Just place it at the end of a sentence to make it a question. Here are two examples, first with a regular question word and then with ‘yang’:

 

Are you hungry?

Hew^R mai^R

หิวไหม?

 

Are you hungry, yet?

Hew^R yang^M

หิวยัง?

 

With Thai questions, you answer them by repeating/rewording the question as your response. But you normally never repeat the question word itself. However, unlike the ‘regular’ Thai question words, you can use ‘yang’ as part of or even the entire answer.

 

[I’m] not yet hungry.

Yang^M mai^F hew^R

ยังไม่หิว

 

You can even answer the ‘yang’ question by repeating it!

 

Not yet.

yang^M

ยัง

 

Or, if you were hungry, you can answer it like this:

 

I’m hungry now.

Hew^R laew^H

หิวแล้ว

 

Do you understand, yet?

Kow^F jai^M yang^M

เข้าใจยัง?

 

I understand now.

Kow^F jai^M laew^H

เข้าใจแล้ว

 

I still don’t understand.

Yang^M mai^F kaow^F jai^M

ยังไม่เข้าใจ

 

Are you finished learning, yet?

Rien^M set^L laew^H yang^M

เรียนเสร็จแล้วยัง?

 

[I’m] not yet finished learning.

Yang^M rein^M mai^F set^L

ยังเรียนไม่เสร็จ

 

Did you drink all of it, yet?

Deum^M mod^L

ดืมหมดยัง?

 

Still haven’t drank it all.

Yang^M mai^F deum^M mod^L

ยังดืมไม่หมด

 

Or not yet?

Reu^R yang^M

รึยัง?

 

Finished yet?

Set^L laew^H yang^M

เสร็จแล้วยัง?

 

Finished eating yet?

Gin^M set^L yang^M

กินเสร็จยัง?

 

Still not finished doing it.

Yang^M tum^M mai^F set^L

ยังทำไม่เสร็จ

 

If you need help understanding เสร็จ and หมด, see this tutorial:

https://blogs.transparent.com/thai/difference-between-set-and-mod/