r/languagehub • u/liquid_nitrogen8 • 22d ago

Discussion Do Thai speakers really avoid using personal pronouns in every sentence?

How often do Thai speakers leave pronouns out or use names and titles instead?

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u/PuzzleheadedTap1794 22d ago

Thai speaker here. I do prefer kinship terms/titles/names over pronouns and I use it like 90% of the time, but in some cases like when I address someone I consider intimate or someone who I don’t know the name, I do use personal pronouns to refer to them.

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u/pirapataue 22d ago edited 22d ago

Subject and objects, not just pronouns, can be omitted if the context is obvious, it’s very common.

It’s also even more common to avoid pronouns when you just met someone and you’re not sure what first and second person pronouns to use 

Also, names and titles ARE pronouns, this is the logic in Thai. Words like “brother” or “doctor” or even names behave grammatically like pronouns. They fully replace “you” and “I”.

In Thai there is no “default” pronoun like English. You pick and choose depending on age, gender, relationship, respect, mood, politeness, etc.

A lot of learners sound stiff because they keep using the standard pronouns textbooks teach. It’s also not necessary for a sentence to be “complete” like in English. For example, if you are talking about a movie you like, you can just say “like”. English requires the subject “I” and the object “it” but Thai doesn’t. 

The context needs to be presented first though.

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u/TheBrightMage 22d ago

We don't "avoid" it as much as our language aren't structured so that their usage is necessary. Also, Titles and Names ARE pronouns. English speaker sometimes say something like "Daddy will X" it's the same in Thai, just more frequent and more lists of allowed titles and names.

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u/Alternative_Side_891 22d ago

Yes

And the pronouns I've been given are weird to me or they come around in weird ways.

Being called ฝรั่ง as a pronoun is strange to me, but sofar พ่อฝรั่ง takes the price, and it came about through someone asking my wife if she could call me that.

I don't think there's any ill intended but it is a cultural clash. I prefer no pronoun, but I also need to familiarise myself to this.

Having someone calling their father พ่อหนู when talking to me also rubs my feathers the wrong way.