Just when you think you might be done with a word, it pops up on you again. In Part 2 (and don’t forget about Part 1) I thought I had covered all of the ground that ได้ /dâi/ has to offer; we learned about “can/be able to,” ”might be able to,” and a bunch of expressions.
But alas there is at least one more, and coverage of this very important utility word would be incomplete if not mentioned.
Present Perfect Tense
ได้ is also used as an auxiliary verb to indicate present perfect tense. Believe me when I tell you that I’m not very good at English grammar terms, so I’ll just rehash what the books say and mention that Present Perfect tense means that the action occurred in the past and continues to the present.
Blah… blah… blah…
It’s probably best to just give you an example:
ผมได้วิ่งมาราธอน
/pǒm dâi wîng maa-raa-tɔɔn/
(I have run marathon)
“I have run a marathon.”
What is implied here is that the speaker has, at some point in the past, run a marathon. Not necessarily an hour ago, but at some point.
Where the use of ได้ in this situation gets a bit tricky is that it usually requires you provide more information about the subject. In other words, you would be more inclined to say ผมได้วิ่งมาราธอน rather than ผมได้วิ่ง. Although you will probably be understood by native Thai speakers, it does not sound as natural as it would to just say ผมวิ่งแล้ว /pǒm wîng lɛ́ɛo/. Here’s another example:
ผมได้ดื่มกาแฟก่อนขับรถ
/pǒm dâi dʉ̀ʉm gaa-fɛɛ gɔ̀ɔn kàp rót/
(I have drink coffee before drive car)
“I drank coffee before driving.”
One method I was recently taught to understand when to use ได้ is to think of “have done something.” It sounds strange in English to say “I have drank coffee…” but until you are able (until all of us are able, to be honest) to think completely in Thai, you have to inject a bit of Thaiglish into your thought process.
As I have said many times in the past, this is my understanding at this time. It’s quite possible that I’ve left something else out or haven’t quite caught the nuances correctly yet. But rest assured when I do I’ll be happy to pass along the information.
“Blah… blah… blah…”
Josh, you have the same love for grammar as I do
I love reading about grammar but I don’t like having to.
Catherine´s last [type] ..UPDATED: Top 100 Thai Vocabulary List
You hit the nail right on the head. I could not have said it better than that.
Where were you last week when I was discovering this the hard way? I think of ได้ as ‘did’ and แล้ว as ‘already’.
ได้ + activity + แล้ว
HOWEVER, if you specify a time in the past, it is optional to put ได้ before the activity, and there is no need to place แล้ว on the end. I’m guessing that this pertains to writing, more than speech, because I hear แล้ว A LOT.
time/time frame + subject + (ได้) + activity
เมื่อวานนี้ฉัน(ได้)พบหมอ
Yesterday I visited the doctor.
…please don’t tell me I’m wrong!
Snap´s last [type] ..Breast slapping – not sure if it’s for me!
I think you are absolutely right, Snap. When a time has been indicated, there is no need for either ได้ or แล้ว because they would be redundant. You already know you are talking about the past since you indicated a time. The words we would need to use – again, ได้ and แล้ว – are implied and not needed. It’s always possible that we’re both wrong (you never really know with Thai) but I think you have it right.
“It’s always possible that we’re both wrong (you never really know with Thai)..” jing jing
…and then there’s the whole ไป…มา scenario. The penny finally dropped a few days ago.
Snap´s last [type] ..Note To Self 2 – Learning Thai(land)
I think we’re on the same learning cycle, because I have recently been brushing up on ไป…มา, as well as ให้. All important, and all pains in the butt!