Practice: bpai or maa
What you will be able to do
Put ไป or มา on the back of a verb without stopping to think, so that every request you make says who is expected to move, and reach for พา instead of เอา when the thing moving is a person or an animal.
Thai hangs the direction on the back of the verb, and it is not read off a map. It is read off the speaker. ไป points away from where you are standing as you speak; มา points towards it. When somebody speaks to you, มา points at them.
Which one puts it in your hand?
The rider is at the gate with your parcel and you are three floors up. You want it in your hand.
เอามา brings the thing towards where you are standing. เอาไปให้ยาม leaves it with the guard, and so does ฝากไว้ที่ป้อมยาม — the lesson gives those as the two ordinary ways a delivery call in a condo ends, which is exactly why they are the two you must not reach for when you want the parcel upstairs. The rider will do precisely what you said.
ไป or มา?
Same rider, but this time you are out and you want the parcel left with the guard downstairs.
เอาไป sends the thing away from where you are: ao bpai hâi yaam, take it to the guard. The direction is read off where you are standing at the moment of speaking, never off your building, so being out makes even your own guard box ไป. เอามาให้ยาม is the sentence of somebody already at the guard box, and one syllable is the whole difference between the two ยาม sentences in front of you.
Which one says he rang you?
He rang you this morning, and you are telling a friend about it.
โทรมา is the call coming in to you, so มา carries the whole of me and nobody is named twice. โทรไป is the call going out from you, to anybody at all. เมื่อเช้าโทรไปหาเขา turns the morning round completely — that is you ringing him: หา names the person, ไป and มา name the direction.
Which one actually says the photo comes to you?
You want your friend to send you the photo she has just taken.
ส่งมา brings the photo to you. ส่งไปให้ผม points it the other way. ส่งรูปหน่อยครับ is the mistake the lesson warns about hardest: it is perfectly grammatical, nothing in your ear complains, and it names nobody as the endpoint, so your friend has to guess. Take ผม out and the sentence still works; take มา out and nobody has been named at all.
ไป or มา?
You are still at the immigration office, texting a friend: the counter has told you to come back again tomorrow.
The clerk chose มา because the counter is where she is, so you would be moving towards her. You keep her word when you report it: เขาให้กลับมาใหม่พรุ่งนี้.
What does the office tell you?
You ask for a member of staff at his office and he has left for the day.
เขากลับไปแล้วครับ, he has gone back already, away from where the two of you are standing — and notice that the direction sits in front of แล้ว, never behind it. เขาออกจากงานแล้ว is a different piece of news altogether: he has left the job. Finishing for the day is เลิกงาน.
ไป or มา?
The rider is standing in your lobby and wants you to come down and take the parcel.
He says ลงมา because you would be moving towards him. When somebody speaks to you, มา points at them, and that is the form of the rule you use most on the phone. ไปรับ is the front-position pair — go and fetch, away from the speaker — so in the mouth of a man already standing in your lobby it sends you off to collect the parcel somewhere else.
Same staircase. ไป or มา?
You reply that you are on your way down to him.
กำลังลงไปครับ. One man, one set of stairs, two different words: you are the one moving away from where you stand, so ไป. Neither of you could use the other one's word. กำลังขึ้นไปครับ gets the ไป right and the path wrong — ขึ้น is up, and he is waiting below you.
ไป or มา?
You are at the foot of the temple steps, asking whether you can go in dressed like this.
เข้าไป because the hall is away from you. Say เข้ามา from the doorstep and you have invited somebody into a room you are not in yourself. ใส่แบบนี้ออกไป is the same rule at the wrong door — it asks about going out, and you are trying to get in.
Which one?
You are in the room with your colleague and you are stepping outside for a moment.
ออกไป because you leave the room the listener is in. Report the same trip later from outside and it becomes ออกมา, the way a filling that has come out is ที่อุดฟันหลุดออกมา. ออกงาน is not in this family at all — it is going out to a function, and the word for finishing work for the day is เลิกงาน.
Which verb?
You are at the vet with the dog you have brought in.
A person or an animal takes พา; เอา is for things only, and used of a person it doubles as crude slang. The direction rule is unchanged, มา towards you and พาไป away from you, so พาหมาไป would be sending the dog off somewhere else while you stay put. Only the verb changes.
ขึ้น or ลง?
Saying which bus you are getting on.
ขึ้น is the verb for getting onto a vehicle, and it does not change between a bus, a train and a plane. สาย is the route number, so this is take bus twenty-five. ลง is the other end of the journey, and ลงจาก is the form you use wherever a bare ลง could be heard as boarding.
Which one?
You are on the bus and you want the next stop.
ลง is getting off and ป้ายหน้า is the next stop, so ลงป้ายหน้าครับ. It names nobody, which is why the fare collector uses the same words back at you to say where you should get off. ขอลงตรงนี้ is the other request in the lesson — being let out where there is no stop, which is a favour rather than a right, and it is not the next stop.
Which one is getting off?
You are on the boat and it has just tied up at the pier.
The boat is the one that does not mirror cleanly, because you step down into it: ลงเรือ is normally heard as boarding. When you mean getting off, say ลงจากเรือ, the same ลงจาก that gives ลงจากรถ.
Common mistake
The mistake is usually leaving the direction off altogether, because English has nothing in that slot: ส่งรูปหน่อยครับ is grammatical and names nobody as the endpoint. The other half is reversing the pair on เอา and ส่ง. เอาไปให้ยาม hands your parcel to the guard downstairs; เอามาให้ผม puts it in your hand. Before you speak, notice where you are standing.
Next: Directions Stuck on the Back of a Verb (bpai, maa, khêun, long)