A lot of the people I teach are teachers themselves, some out in Laos, some abroad with Lao roots wanting to chat to their parents about their work in Lao. And it turns out school words are one of those things you can talk about all day in one language and not have a single one in the other.
Let's change that today:
Subjects - ວິຊາ visaa
ວິຊາ visaa marks something as a school subject. Most of the time you won't need it because the context does the job, but it's there if you want to be clear.
E.g. ດົນຕີ dontee is music in general, ວິຊາດົນຕີ visaa dontee is the class you sit in on a Tuesday.
- Maths - ຄະນິດສາດ khanidsaad, ເລກ lehk*
- Science - ວິທະຍາສາດ vitha-nyaasaad
- Biology - ຊີວະສາດ seevasaad
- Chemistry - ເຄມີ khehmee
- Physics - ຟິຊິກ fisik
- History - ປະຫວັດສາດ pavadsaad
- Geography - ພູມສາດ phoomsaad
- Economics - ເສດຖະສາດ sedthasaad
- Social studies - ສັງຄົມສາດ sangkhomsaad
- Language - ພາສາ phasa
- Literature - ວັນນະຄະດີ vannakhadee
- Art - ສິນລະປະ sinlapa
- Music - ດົນຕີ dontee
- Sports - ກິລາ kilaa
*Maths has two words. ຄະນິດສາດ khanidsaad is the formal one you'll see written down, and ເລກ lehk is the casual one we'd use at home.
ເຄມີ khehmee and ຟິຊິກ fisik are borrowed straight from English, read with a Lao accent, so that's two you already know.
The ending that does half the work
Have another look at that list and you'll spot ສາດ saad on the end of a lot of them: ຄະນິດສາດ khanidsaad, ວິທະຍາສາດ vithanyaasaad, ຊີວະສາດ seevasaad, ປະຫວັດສາດ pavadsaad, ພູມສາດ phoomsaad, ເສດຖະສາດ sedthasaad, ສັງຄົມສາດ sangkhomsaad.
It works a bit like "-ology" or "-ics" in English, so it turns up on most academic subjects. That's 7 out of 14 above with the same ending. You won't remember all of them straight away, but once you can hear ສາດ saad coming, you'll at least know someone's talking about a subject.
Skills - ທັກສະ thaksa
- Listening - ການຟັງ kaan fang
- Speaking - ການເວົ້າ kaan vao
- Reading - ການອ່ານ kaan aan
- Writing - ການຂຽນ kaan khian
And a few more for when you're talking about learning a language:
- Pronunciation - ການອອກສຽງ kaan ohksiang
- Conversation - ການສົນທະນາ kaan sonthanaa
- Vocabulary, word - ຄຳ(ສັບ) kham(sab)
- Sentence structure - ໂຄງສ້າງປະໂຫຍກ khongsaang panyok
Here's the second pattern, and this one's more useful. ການ kaan on the front turns a verb into a noun, a bit like -ing in English.
E.g. ຟັງ fang is to listen, ການຟັງ kaan fang is listening. ອ່ານ aan is to read, ການອ່ານ kaan aan is reading. Once you've got that, you can build these yourself with any verb you know.
Stuck on a word I didn't cover? Ask me in the LES Community, where members can ask me anything about Lao, any time. Most of what I write here started as someone's question.
Putting it in a sentence
- I practice listening everyday with Lao songs in order to learn new vocabulary
ຂ້ອຍຝຶກການຟັງທຸກມື້ກັບເພງລາວເພື່ອຮຽນຮູ້ຄໍາສັບໃໝ່
khoi feuk kaan fang thookmeu kab pheng lao pheua hianhoo khamsab mai - I want to practice speaking more in class
ຂ້ອຍຢາກຝຶກເວົ້າໃຫ້ຫຼາຍຂຶ້ນໃນຫ້ອງ
khoi yaak feuk vao hai laai kheun nai hohng - I help mum with the pronunciation when we converse together
ຂ້ອຍຊ່ວຍແມ່ກັບການອອກສຽງຕອນພວກເຮົາສົນທະນານໍາກັນ
khoi sooai mae kab kaan ohk siang tohn phooak hao sonthanaa namkan - Dad likes to read the news about economics every morning
ພໍ່ມັກອ່ານຂ່າວກ່ຽວກັບເສດຖະສາດທຸກເຊົ້າ
phoh mak aan khaao kiaokab sedthasaad thook sao - I don't really understand the Lao sentence structure, especially when it's long
ຂ້ອຍບໍ່ຄ່ອຍເຂົ້າໃຈໂຄງສ້າງປະໂຫຍກພາສາລາວ, ໂດຍສະເພາະຕອນມັນຍາວ
khoi boh khoi khaojai khongsaang panyok phasa lao, doi saphoh tohn man nyaao
Before you go
Subjects are one of the trickier bits of vocabulary. They're long, they don't come up as often as the everyday stuff, and that combination makes them slow to stick. But that's exactly why they land well when you do use one, because it's not a phrase people expect a learner to have.
Here's where I'd start:
- Use ເລກ lehk over ຄະນິດສາດ khanidsaad. The formal words are what you'll see written down, but lehk ເລກ is what gets said at the dinner table, and that's the one worth having ready.
- Use ສາດ saad to spot when someone's talking about a subject, even if you don't catch the whole word.
- Pick the two or three subjects you'd actually talk about and use them next time instead of switching to English.
- If you're past the basics, learn ການ kaan properly. It's the one that builds words for you rather than just helping you recognise them.
Get full access with audio
Every lesson comes with audio so you hear exactly how it sounds. Join weekly speaking sessions, get direct support from Ginie, and access everything LES Community has to offer.
