# Thai: Ni (2nd person singular?)



## Flaminius

I would appreciate if someone (I almost know you would answer, thank you) could tell what "ni" means in Thai.  As a Thai woman uttered this to me, pointing her finger at me, I construed it a second person singular.

I would like to know if my guess is correct and in what context "ni" is used, in terms of politeness, gender of the interlocuters and so forth.

Sawat dee krab,
Flam


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## Pivra

Flaminius said:
			
		

> I would appreciate if someone (I almost know you would answer, thank you) could tell what "ni" means in Thai. As a Thai woman uttered this to me, pointing her finger at me, I construed it a second person singular.
> 
> I would like to know if my guess is correct and in what context "ni" is used, in terms of politeness, gender of the interlocuters and so forth.
> 
> Sawat dee krab,
> Flam


 
its not "ni" as in chinese!!!!!![Im upset now lol, don't try not to relate Thai to Chinese, it's like a minefield, you don't know when you will step on a linguistic bomb.....lots of Chinese words sound like bad words in Thai. lol... go ask a Thai who doesnt know anything about Chinese pronounciation what Huang He means, and the answer will not come out as "yellow river"... but a very rude way to say "over protected vagina"lol.], its a demonstative adjective.... for "this". 

anniอันนี้- this one
annanอันนั้น-that one
annonอันโน้น-that one over there (aquel)

There are 2 more sets but they sound very uneducated and I don't recommend anyone to use them
Male
aini- ไอ้นี่ - this
ainan-ไอ้นั้น - that 
ainon- ไอ้โน่น- him over there 

Female
eeni- อีนี่-this
eenan-อีนั่น-that
eenon-อีโน่น- him over there

I think that woman meant to say.... Hey, look at this or something. I use the word "nee" to point out things too.

ดูนี่สิ doonisi, means "Look here" or "Look at this", using the word "ni".


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## Flaminius

Kop kun krab, Pivra.  This has been a question that stuck in my mind for three years.



> Im upset now lol, don't try not to relate Thai to Chinese, it's like a minefield


Then I shall refrain from pointing out the similarities such as numbers 3, 4, 5 lest kind Thai people rescind their offer to help.


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## Pivra

Flaminius said:
			
		

> Kop kun krab, Pivra. This has been a question that stuck in my mind for three years.
> 
> 
> Then I shall refrain from pointing out the similarities such as numbers 3, 4, 5 lest kind Thai people rescind their offer to help.


 

WOW.... a monosyllabic word..... for 3 years.... GOD... i would have forgotten in within the first week.


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## lazarus1907

Pivra said:
			
		

> its not "ni" as in chinese!!!!!!


Sorry, I wouldn't like to annoy anyone, but... are you sure 100%? European and Indian languages are supposed to be related, but it takes an expert in many languages to point out the relationship among them, because most of us fail to see how can a language be close to another that sound like an alien language. This coincidence between Thai and Chinese could easily be a coincidence, but I find it hard to believe that most languages in the world (except Japanese, for example), say papa, baba or something similar.

Don't be annoyed.


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## Pivra

lazarus1907 said:
			
		

> Sorry, I wouldn't like to annoy anyone, but... are you sure 100%? European and Indian languages are supposed to be related, but it takes an expert in many languages to point out the relationship among them, because most of us fail to see how can a language be close to another that sound like an alien language. This coincidence between Thai and Chinese could easily be a coincidence, but I find it hard to believe that most languages in the world (except Japanese, for example), say papa, baba or something similar.
> 
> Don't be annoyed.


 

Well, how would you relate a demonstrative adjective to a 2nd person pronoun? And, I know some Chinese myself, and the words are not the same when they are pronounced, there is just no way to write them using Roman alphabets to point out the difference. Ok, fine fine, no one takes the responsibility, its our fault that we are close to them, just stereotype us, do what ever you want, we are all the same anyway. Thank you very much. 

So now, guess what, Im even more disturbed lol. 

just joking + everything i wrote = kidding.


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## Flaminius

Pivra said:
			
		

> [T]he words are not the same when they are pronounced


Are you talking about tone difference?  If so, could you advise which tone is used to pronounce Thai _ni_?  I don't know how to skim that bit of information from the Thai script you provided.

As I understand the tone could be one of the 5 below;
Middle tone:  ni
Low tone: nì
High tone: ní
Rising tone: nĭ
Falling tone: nî


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## Pivra

Flaminius said:
			
		

> Are you talking about tone difference? If so, could you advise which tone is used to pronounce Thai _ni_? I don't know how to skim that bit of information from the Thai script you provided.
> 
> As I understand the tone could be one of the 5 below;
> Middle tone: ni
> Low tone: nì
> High tone: ní
> Rising tone: nĭ
> Falling tone: nî


 
 Still can't ... Thai tones dont match with Chinese tones.


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## Flaminius

The examples I worte (ni, nì, ní, nĭ, nî) are all Thai tones.  My description and notation of Thai tones are based on what I read in Lonely Planet (lollll) but, if you use a different system, I would like to see how you describe the tones.

Chinese 你 is pronounced with the third tone.  See here for a graphic illustration of Chinese four tones.


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## Pivra

Flaminius said:
			
		

> The examples I worte (ni, nì, ní, nĭ, nî) are all Thai tones. My description and notation of Thai tones are based on what I read in Lonely Planet (lollll) but, if you use a different system, I would like to see how you describe the tones.
> 
> Chinese 你 is pronounced with the third tone. See here for a graphic illustration of Chinese four tones.


 
n sound in Thai can only go have 3 tones, its a rule
นี -saaman tone (monotone)
นี่- ek tone (1st)
นี้- do tone (2nd)

นี่ and นี้ can be used equally as a demonstrative adjective, depends on the context.


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