Expressing “not at all” in Thai with “mâi loiie”
You can negate a verb using the pattern: ไม่ (mâi) + verb. However, if you want to intensify it from “not” to “not…at all”, you can add เลย (loiie) at the end of the sentence.
เลย (loiie) has many meanings in Thai but in this article we will only cover the meaning it gives when expressing “not at all”.
Contents
Using เลย (loiie) with verbs
Structure
เลย (loiie) is placed at the very end of the sentence to intensify the “at all” of the negation.
⭐️ ไม่ (mâi) … เลย (loiie)
Examples
- ไม่เข้าใจเลย mâi kâo jai loiie ➜ I don't understand at all.
- ไม่เข้าใจภาษาไทยเลย mâi kâo jai paa-săa tai loiie ➜ I don't understand Thai at all.
- ไม่เข้าใจภาษาไทยพ่อเลย mâi kâo jai paa-săa tai pôr loiie ➜ I don't understand my dad's Thai at all.
- ไม่เข้าใจภาษาไทยของผู้ชายคนนั้นเลย mâi kâo jai paa-săa tai kŏng pôo chaai kon nán loiie ➜ I don't understand that man's Thai at all.
- ไม่อยากเลย mâi yàak loiie ➜ I don't want it at all.
- ไม่อยากทำงานเลย mâi yàak tam ngaan loiie ➜ I don't want to work at all.
- ไม่อยากต้องทำงานนี้เลย mâi yàak dtông tam ngaan née loiie ➜ I don't want to have to do this work at all.
- ไม่อยากต้องทำงานนี้กับหัวหน้าเลย mâi yàak dtông tam ngaan née gàp hŭua nâa loiie ➜ I don't want to have to do this work with the boss at all.
Using เลย (loiie) with adjectives
Structure
The structure with adjectives work the same way as with verbs.
⭐️ ไม่ (mâi) … เลย (loiie)
Examples
- ไม่ดีเลย mâi dee loiie ➜ Not good at all.
- ผู้ชายคนนี้ไม่ดีเลย pôo chaai kon née mâi dee loiie ➜ This man isn't good at all.
- เกมส์ไม่สนุกเลย gem mâi sà-nùk loiie ➜ The games aren't fun at all.
- ไม่เย็นเลย mâi yen loiie ➜ Not cold at all.
- น้ำในขวดนี้ไม่เย็นเลย náam nai kùuat née mâi yen loiie ➜ The water in this bottle isn't cold at all.
Using เลย (loiie) with adverbs
ไม่ (mâi) has to come before the adverb because we want to negate the adverb not the verb.
For example “students don’t speak clearly” in Thai would be “students speak not clearly”.
Structure
⭐️ verb + ไม่ (mâi) + adverb + เลย (loiie)
Examples
- เด็กกินไม่เร็วเลย dèk gin mâi reo loiie ➜ Children don't eat quickly at all. 👉 literally: Children eat not quickly at all
- เพื่อนทำงานไม่ดีเลย pêuuan tam ngaan mâi dee loiie ➜ My friends don't work well at all. 👉 literally: My friends work not well at all.
- นักเรียนพูดไม่ชัดเลย nák riian pôot mâi chát loiie ➜ The students don't speak clearly at all.
- เด็กเขียนภาษาไทยไม่สวยเลย dèk kĭian paa-săa tai mâi sŭuay loiie ➜ Children don't write Thai beautifully at all.
- จอห์นกระโดดไม่สูงเลย jon grà-dòht mâi sŏong loiie ➜ John doesn't jump high at all.
Common mistake
The common mistakes when using adverbs is messing up the order and negating the verb instead of negating the adverb.
- Wrong ❌ ครูไม่สอนดีเลย kroo mâi sŏn dee loiie 👉 ("mâi" has to come after the verb and before the adverb) ➜ The teacher doesn't teach well at all.
- Correct ✅ ครูสอนไม่ดีเลย kroo sŏn mâi dee loiie ➜ The teacher doesn't teach well at all. 👉 literally: the teacher teaches NOT well at all.
- Wrong ❌ เขาไม่วิ่งเร็วเลย kăo mâi wîng reo loiie 👉 ("mâi" has to come after the verb and before the adverb) ➜ He doesn't run fast at all.
- Correct ✅ เขาวิ่งไม่เร็วเลย kăo wîng mâi reo loiie ➜ He doesn't run fast at all. 👉 literally: he runs NOT fast at all.