mậi ไม่ (negative)

mậi makes a sentence negative, similar to “not” or “don’t”. There are many meanings to the spelling of ‘mai’ so be sure to correctly use the falling tone (^)

mậi dee           ไม่ดี            no good

mậi mee            ไม่มี                   no (don’t) have

mậi ruú           ไม่รู้             no (don’t) know

mậi dậi            ไม่ได้            no can (not possible)

at the end of a sentence,  mái    ไหม  (pronounced with a high tone) becomes a question:

dee mái             ดีไหม          good, no? (isn’t it?)

mee mái            มีไหม        have, no? (do you have?)

ruú mái              รู้ไหม         know, no? (do you know?)

dậi mái              ได้ไหม        can, no? (is it possible?)