How to say 'I broke something' in Thai Language

Before reading further, you need to understand the terms used in this lesson clearly. We will use the structure ‘ ทำ (tham) + something + เสีย (sǐa)’ to say I break something. However, when we use เสีย (sǐa), it does not exactly mean something is broken in pieces. It has a more general meaning. When we use this term, we mean something is not function or not working.

Therefore, when you say ‘ฉันทำโทรศัพท์เสีย (chán tham thoorasàp sǐa)’, it means ‘I broke my phone.’ Or to be very accurate, it means I made my phone not function or not working. But it did not mention on how it was broken. Maybe it was really broken in pieces and because of that it did not function anymore. Or it can be that it was drown into the water, so it did not work any more.

This structure does not tell you the details on how it was broken, but you know that ‘the thing’ does not work or function anymore. Let’s see the examples below.

Example:

1.
– เขาทำคอมพิวเตอร์เสีย
– kháw tham khomphíwtə̂ə sǐa
– She broke a computer.

2.
– ใครทำนาฬิกาผมเสีย
– khray tham naalíkaa phǒm sǐa
– Who broke my watch?

3.
– น้องสาวฉันทำรถฉันเสีย
– nɔ́ɔŋ-sǎaw chán tham rót chán sǐa
– My younger sister broke my car.

4.
– ลูกค้าทำประตูร้านเสีย
– lûuk-kháa tham pratuu ráan sǐa
– The client broke the shop’s door.

Now let’s see how to say ‘I did not break it.’ in Thai. You will need to use the word ‘ไม่ได้ (mây dâay)’ before the word ทำ (tham). When you use ‘ไม่ได้ (mây dâay)’ before a verb, it does not mean ‘cannot’, but it means ‘did not’. Let’s see some examples below.