รอยุพอดี

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Ratsima
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รอยุพอดี

Post by Ratsima »

When I got home today the security guard handed me a package that had come by mail. When he gave it to me he said what I think was, "รอยุพอดี".

I suppose it means something like "waiting for you", but why the "พอดี". Does it add to the meaning of the sentence or is it just another filler?

A more advanced question: Can anyone explain how Thais put together an utterance like this? How do they choose the words and word order?

For example, if I were the security guard and this was America I would say something like "It was waiting for you." In other words, a complete English sentence in which each word is in a particular order and adds specific meaning to the utterance.

Another example: I was at The Mall food court today and bought a stored value card so I could buy lunch. I gave the clerk a 100 baht bill. When she handed me the card I think she said "90 ก็ใด". I believe this is in reference to the fact that the cards now carry a 10 baht deposit, so if you pay 100 baht, you get a card that is only worth 90 baht. You get the deposit back when you turn in the card. Am I correct here? How would you translate "90 ก็ใด" into a complete sentence in English?

What do you have to do to your brain to generate the sort of incomplete-seeming utterances that Thais seem to use all the time?
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Ratsima
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Re: รอยุพอดี

Post by Ratsima »

Addendum:

Normally my wife refuses to entertain questions from me about the Thai language, but I tried again.

She suggests that the food court lady probably said 90 ก่อนได้ and not 90 ก็ใด.

However, after lots of the usual back-and-forth, I still don't understand what either one means.
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Re: รอยุพอดี

Post by oakdale160 »

The English language has an elaborate grammatical structure, but not every exchange in everyday conversation has a subject, main verb and an object. The guard could have said "for you" the girl could have said "worth 90b"
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Re: รอยุพอดี

Post by Bamboo Grove »

To me พอดี is "just right, just, even". So in this sentence roh phohdee, it's something like: " I was just waiting for you (at the time).
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Re: รอยุพอดี

Post by Bamboo Grove »

Actually if it's roy phoo dii it is "just one hundred". Or is there a short "u" vowel beneath the "y"? Without the "u", it would mean what I said above.
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Re: รอยุพอดี

Post by Ratsima »

Bamboo Grove wrote: Wed May 16, 2018 12:36 am Actually if it's roy phoo dii it is "just one hundred". Or is there a short "u" vowel beneath the "y"? Without the "u", it would mean what I said above.
The way I heard it is: รอ ยุ พอ ดี - if I were to separate it into what I think of as words.
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Re: รอยุพอดี

Post by Ratsima »

oakdale160 wrote: Tue May 15, 2018 8:03 pm The English language has an elaborate grammatical structure, but not every exchange in everyday conversation has a subject, main verb and an object. The guard could have said "for you" the girl could have said "worth 90b"
I understand that not all utterances are complete sentences. But, with English I can usually fill in the blanks and figure out what the complete sentence and its meaning would have been had the speaker wanted to be more formal. I've never figure out how to do that in Thai.

For example, how do you get to "worth 90b" from what they clerk said to me? "90 ก็ใด"
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Re: รอยุพอดี

Post by VincentD »

Everyday Thai can be confusing if not heard often, and our 'thaan chart' ears do not always pick up the correct phrase or nuance. ('Thaan chart' is a nicer way of saying 'farang')

In the case of the security guard, 'Ror yoo por dee', the 'ror yoo' would imply he was waiting for you, and 'por dee' literally translated as 'just nice'. So, guard, waiting for you, hands you the package and says just nice as in you have it in your hand. All in one sentence.

Re the food court, she may have said '90 chai dai' where chai is 'use'.. so can use (only) 90 baht.
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Re: รอยุพอดี

Post by oakdale160 »

Isnt this always a problem with a second language. My French is pretty good, but if a speaker uses slang, local idiom, shortened sentences, or is under 30yrs old, I am lost.
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Re: รอยุพอดี

Post by T.I.G.R. »

My caddie who has worked for me the past twelve years was chiding me the other day that I should learn more Thai.

Added to the fact that at 74 I can't distinguish tones, nor hear much of what is said at most other times, I have a horrible time with well intentioned "English" transliterations when things like this subject are brought up. There is no R in the Thai language, but I see an "r" in the transliteration attempts so often it makes my wonder if I'm just obtuse. '

If I had my druthers, I'd like to see a dictionary someday that made some sense.......current ones just leave me scratching my head. Is this because the ones published now are done in what I would call old English rather than the more common business practice of using American English?

Anyone else have these problems?
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Re: รอยุพอดี

Post by Bamboo Grove »

Ratsima wrote
รอ ยุ พอ ดี
In this case, I'd say, it's a long vowel อยู่, which can be used to express what in English is continuous tense, i.e. am waiting, was waiting, have been waiting, had been waiting.

So a free translation would be: "I was just waiting for you."
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Re: RE: Re: รอยุพอดี

Post by hhinner »


T.I.G.R. wrote:... There is no R in the Thai language...
Yes there is (ร - ro reaua), just that many Thais, especially in central Thailand, pronounce it as "l". I do agree that catching tones can be pretty difficult as aging dulls the sense of hearing. If you know enough Thai though, context usually helps.

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Re: รอยุพอดี

Post by Ratsima »

Thanks to all. Progress, slow but sure....

T.I.G.R. - I agree on transliterations. Almost every one you see is hopeless. The real solution is to learn to sound out written Thai. It’s really not as hard as it seems. At first it looks daunting. All those squiggly lines forming characters, many of which look alike (ภถกฎญ). And then all those tiny extra marks which might appear anywhere. But, there’s a logic to it all and it will soon make some sense.

I’ve been struggling with Thai for over two decades. I still don’t understand spoken Thai. I’ve never had an actual conversation with anyone in Thai.

But, I can read. I can read all-Thai menus and road signs. I can decipher a bit of Thai TV news by reading the words on the screen. And, I can figure out what a written Thai word is supposed to sound like, even if I can’t satisfactorily make that sound myself.

So, forget transliterations and take some time to learn written Thai. (I learned to read years ago from Rosetta Stone, but YMMV.)
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