Thai: An Essential Grammar (Routledge Essential Grammars)

IMO this is a must-buy if you're trying to learn Thai. it's so, so nice to have extremely concise and clear explanations of these core grammatical concepts available in one place on my phone at all times. It's way better than having to google for 30 minutes or having to dig through old school workbooks, it's going to make it way more likely that you'll look something up instead of just thinking "eh I'll not worry about that for now".If you're trying to learn, I recommend just focusing on a single word/concept every few days / every week and trying to use it as much as possible in conversations in different places, with different people, etc. Say it out loud repeatedly like you might see an infant do, say it in ridiculous / funny sentences to other people. IMO flash cards are way less helpful than building that automatic reaction to use the word when it's appropriate in a conversation. It's like learning how to do MMA with flashcards vs sparring.I also recommend actually frequently asking Thai people if you're speaking correctly ("poot took mai?").

easy to read and definitely a great book for the late stage beginner/early intermediate speaker. Americans beware, this was written by a Brit and this comes across with some of the spellings and idioms etc

Great grammar of Thai. There are not many good Thai grammars out there, but this book is one of them. It's a bit of a 'bare bones' grammar, without many examples, but it's a great addition to anyone's Thai studies.

Very thorough and clear explanations. The best book on Thai grammar.

Having lived and worked in Bangkok as an ex-pat for 6 years back in the 1990's, I seriously studied speaking and listening to the standard Thai dialect at The AUA Thai Language Center in classroom environments, used The Foreign Service Institute books and tape drills for self-study and practiced at the Bangkok YMCA Language School with experienced private teachers. You could say I was a serious student for period of about 4 years, and learned Thai grammar slowly through traditional aural/oral language acquisition approach. What I lacked at that time was a good grammar reference to help improve my usage and clarify nuances in meaning that frequently occur in Thai, but may not always be obvious to non-native, Western speakers.Years later, I have come back to rebuilding my Thai language skills and have found David Smyth's work aptly titled "an "essential grammar". It's turned out to be the reference that I had always looked for: thoughtfully organized, the book stresses practical grammar used in spoken Thai, and captures cultural aspects of usage in the manner of native Thai speakers. Nice features include cultural notes on certain grammatical forms with regard to their appropriateness in social situations, gender specificity, idiomatic expressions, and other interesting features peculiar to Thai, such as the use of special adjectives that intensify meanings and make the foreign speaker sound more natural to native speakers. Other nice features of this reference include the author's coverage of " mood particles" that Thais often place at the end of phrases when seeking agreement with the listener (la', dooy, na' ni' nia). Yet another feature of the book was the all too short but important coverage of deferential grammar patterns that Thais use when speaking to monks and persons who may be of higher social status relative to the speaker. The chapter on Thai speech conventions, which cover grammatical patterns used for apologies, congratulations, politeness, paying compliments and socializing, are all important topics that are essential for any outsider wishing to navigate successfully through Thai culture or mix it up with native Thais. I have heard Thai native speakers use all of these grammatical patterns and features of the language appearing in Smyth's text, which convinced me of the author's command of the material and experience in choosing language most practical to non-native Thai speakers.For me personally, one of the negatives of this text was the author's choice of Thai to romanization transliteration. There are many ways of romanizing Thai script. And while Smyth's choice of romanization may be appropriate for native speakers of British English, a native speaker of American English inexperienced in the reading or pronunciation of Thai might find himself mispronouncing words and phrases. For example the pronunciation of the word "enough" in Thai is better romanized as "paw", not "por" For me other romanization systems (e.g. AUA, IPA) do a better job in capturing Thai pronunciation, especially for native Canadian or American English speakers who's use of the rhotic "r" will get them in trouble when using Smyth's system or romanization. But this is a minor issue. It's best to learn how to read Thai script directly to learn proper pronunciation.A second downfall of the book is also it's strength: It's a concise grammar. Serious students of Thai may wish to supplement this book with another grammar reference, such as "Thai Reference Grammar", which is more complete.

One of the most excellent thai grammars. Best intuitive presentation of the tonal writing system. Many examples with thai sentences illustrate the rules.

I have been tutoring Thai for the past nine years and this book has proven to be the most effective one that I use along with other vocabulary books. The book gives an insight to how foreigners approach Thai. I also like the fact that this books gives an accessible explanation to Thai grammatical concepts. In other words, it gives a concise explanation to how Thai language works as opposed to asking me to understand Thai like how a linguist would approach the language.I highly recommend this book.

Pros:1. This book lists out most Thai grammar rules starting with a general form such as Verb + bpen concisely and clearly.2. It then gives one or two examples per grammar rule.3. The examples are written in Thai alphabets, Thai romanisation, English meaning4. The examples are clear and concise5. I also bought the other grammar book by Higbie and I found that this book is better organised and clearer than Higbie's book for the serious beginner to basic level Thai language learners.Cons:1. There were no examples given for many vocabularies eg. Jai dee (Good hearted). Examples are important because the usage and meaning might differ slightly from English.2. I found the customised Thai romanisation confusing because there were big O and small o for the vowel and other nuances.3. I hope that the author can expand the book in the third edition by giving more examples.4.For intermediate level, we need another edition from the same author or go buy Higbie's book which goes more in depth into other constructs.

Ein wunderschönes Werk von David Smyth um grammatikalisch im Thai fit zu werden.Es ist wirklich einiges zu finden mit schönen Beispielen darin!Einziger kleiner Nachteil für deutschsprachige ist das es auf englisch ist und man sich so an die Lautschrift anpassen muss um zu wissen wie man es ausspricht, es sei den man beherrscht die Schrift aus dem Ärmel, dann dürfte das eh kein Problem sein ;-))

This book is exactly what I needed now. It explains the grammar very clearly and with many good examples. I iwish I had had it a year or two earlier. I can recommend the book to everyone who wants to understand and learn the Thai language.

OK

It has everything I needed and having it at my finger tips while traveling where I couldn't lug a heavy paperback around was a really blessing. Although I find James Higbie's to be marginally better for me personally, this is clear, concise and well-laid out so you can find what you're looking for easily. I would have preferred a different transliteration style, maybe something like Beckers, but fortunately I read well enough now that it wasn't a problem for me personally.

An excellent grammar with a surprisingly confusing transcription of Thai. I wish the first edition had been available.