Practice: which job is hâi doing?
What you will be able to do
Hear ให้ in a real sentence and work out in one step which of its jobs it is doing, then put it on the right side of the verb in your own sentences.
ให้ never changes shape, so its job is decided entirely by what sits immediately after it and what sits immediately before it. A thing after it is job one, give. A person at the end of the clause is jobs two and three, for or to. A person followed by a verb is jobs four and five, let, make or told to. A quality word after it means do it until it reaches that state. A whole second event after it is job six, so that.
Why does ผม come straight after ให้ here?
ให้ผมสองอันครับ
In job one the default order is the thing first, as in แม่ให้เงินผม. The recipient jumps in front when the thing is counted or when it is not said at all, which is why ให้ผมสองอันครับ sounds right at a stall and ให้ผมเงิน does not. Age and rank do change something, but not the word order: they decide whether ให้ can be used at all, and for a monk it becomes ถวาย (thà-wǎai). Nor is there a rule that a request names the person first — ให้ผมเงิน is exactly the request that fails. And something is being handed over here: ให้ is the main verb and two items are the thing given.
Who ends up doing the fixing?
ผมให้ช่างมาซ่อมแอร์เมื่อวาน
A person plus a verb follows ให้ (ช่าง มาซ่อม), so ให้ is handing the action over: I had a repairman come and fix it. If the speaker were doing the work, ให้ would sit after the verb instead, the ผมซื้อให้เขา shape. Nothing in the sentence shares the job between two people; ให้ names one doer and gives him the verb. And the doer is named plainly, ช่าง, so it is not left unsaid — that would be the ให้ + verb shape with nobody in between, as in เขาให้กลับมาใหม่พรุ่งนี้.
Which English matches it?
ผมให้เขาซื้อ
ให้ + person + verb hands the buying to him, so he is the one who goes to the shop. "I bought it for him" is the other half of the minimal pair, ผมซื้อให้เขา, where the verb comes first and ให้ plus the person follows. "I let him have it" would be job one, a thing after ให้ and no second verb at all. And nothing here points the benefit back at the speaker: for that you would need เขาซื้อให้ผม, with เขา doing the buying and ให้ผม after the verb.
What makes ทำให้ the right choice rather than ให้ on its own?
ฝนตกทำให้รถติด
ทำให้ (tham-hâi) is the fixed pair Thai uses when the cause cannot intend anything: rain, news, medicine, food. Plain ให้ is for a person who arranges something, as in ผมให้ช่างมาซ่อมแอร์. Tense has nothing to do with it — ให้ carries no tense at all, and ทำให้ works just as well for what has not happened yet. The pair does not care whether the result is welcome either. And the cause is named here: ฝนตก is right there at the front. It is what kind of cause it is, not whether it is stated.
What is ไม่ให้ doing in the second half?
ปิดประตูด้วยนะครับ ไม่ให้ยุงเข้ามา
A complete action with its own doer sits in front of ให้, and a second whole event follows it, so this is job six: close the door so that the mosquitoes do not get in. Permission needs no first event — เขาไม่ให้ยุงเข้ามา would be the refusing shape, and the difference is exactly whether something is doing the causing. Nobody is being told to stay out either; the thing after ให้ is ยุง, not the person you are speaking to. And ไม่ is not attached to ปิด at all: the door is being closed, and closing it is the whole point.
Which sentence says what you did?
A friend needs a car for the afternoon and you agree to let him take yours.
Thai has no separate verb for lend. It is give plus borrow: ให้ (hâi) + person + ยืม (yeum), so the friend does the borrowing and the car comes back. ผมยืมรถเพื่อน turns it round and makes you the borrower of his car. ผมให้รถเพื่อนไปแล้ว is job one, รถ the thing after ให้ and เพื่อน the one who gets it — you have handed the car over for good. And ผมซื้อรถให้เพื่อน is job three, buying a car on his behalf, a rather larger favour than an afternoon's loan.
Which one is not Thai?
You are choosing what to put after the verb to point the action at a person.
กับ (gàp) can stand on its own in that slot with communication verbs only, which is why บอกกับผม and พูดกับเขา are ordinary speech. ส่ง is a transfer verb, and transfer verbs take ให้ — ส่งมาให้ผม, with มา saying the thing is coming towards you. ส่งกับผม is the one combination that does not exist. Note that ให้กับ (hâi gàp) is fine wherever plain ให้ marks the recipient; it is กับ standing alone after a transfer verb that fails.
How does แก่ land in a message to your landlord?
โอนเงินแก่เจ้าของห้องแล้วครับ
แก่ (gàe) can stand in the same slot as ให้ and it does mark the recipient correctly, so it is not an error — it simply sounds formal or written, and in a text message it reads like a document. There is no rudeness in it; the ranking question belongs to ให้ itself, which is for equals and below and gives way to ถวาย (thà-wǎai) for monks. The everyday spoken choices are plain ให้ and ให้กับ (hâi gàp), which are equally ordinary and mean the same thing.
Which verb does that?
You are at the temple in the afternoon, handing a basket of fruit to a monk.
ให้ is for equals and for people below you in age or rank, so offering anything to a monk is ถวาย (thà-wǎai): เอาไปถวายพระ. ให้ will be understood, but it is noticed, and it is the one place job one does not belong. ให้ยืม is lend, which is not what happens to an offering. ใส่บาตร (sài bàat) names one specific act, putting food into the bowl on the dawn alms round, not handing a basket over at the temple in the afternoon.
What is ให้ doing here?
กินให้หมดนะครับ
What follows ให้ is หมด, a word describing a condition rather than naming a person or a thing, so this is the verb + ให้ + quality pattern: do it until it reaches that state. Eat it all up. If a person came after ให้ and nothing else, it would be for or to. If a person plus a verb came after it, it would be an instruction handed across. And nothing is being given: กิน is the main verb here, not ให้, so no food changes hands.
Which sentence says it?
You are asking a Thai friend, for the first time in the conversation, to be the one who goes to the immigration office.
After อยาก, add ให้ only when somebody else performs the next verb, and name that person: ผมอยากให้คุณไป. ผมอยากไป says you want to go yourself. ผมอยากให้ไป is not ungrammatical but it is incomplete — it works only when the person going is already clear, and on a first mention it will not be. ผมไปให้คุณ has moved ให้ behind the verb, which flips the doer back to you: I will go in your place.
What kind of sentence is it?
ขอให้โชคดีครับ
ขอให้ (khǎw-hâi) opens wishes and blessings, from exams to weddings to funerals, and the grammar is the same as บอกให้เขาโทรมาหาผมหน่อย — ให้ carrying something across to somebody — just aimed at fortune instead of a person. Asking for a thing is ขอ on its own, as at a stall. Reporting an instruction you were given is เขาให้กลับมาใหม่พรุ่งนี้. And an offer to take something on yourself is ให้ผมช่วยไหมครับ.
Which sentence fits?
You are telling a friend you have already sent the document off to your landlord, who is not where you are.
ไป says the thing travels away from where you are standing, and ให้เขา names who ends up holding it. มาให้ผม is the opposite on both counts: the thing comes towards you and lands with you, which is what you say when you are asking for something to be sent. ถึง is a different word altogether and marks a destination reached, an address rather than a pair of hands. And โอน is the transfer verb for money, not for a document.
Set against ช่วยถ่ายรูปหน่อยได้ไหมครับ, what does the ให้ add?
ช่วยถ่ายรูปให้หน่อยได้ไหมครับ
A verb sits before ให้, so ให้ is pointing at a person, and with the person left out that person is you — the action is done on your behalf, and it lands a little warmer. Leaving ให้ out is not rude, only more neutral: ช่วยถ่ายรูปหน่อยได้ไหมครับ is perfectly correct and simply asks for the action. Nothing is handed over, because ให้ is not the main verb here. And ให้ carries no obligation at all; the word that forces something is บังคับให้ (bang-kháp hâi).
Common mistake
Putting ให้ on the wrong side of the verb, which swaps who does the work. ผมซื้อให้เขา is I bought it for him; ผมให้เขาซื้อ is I had him buy it. Both are good Thai, so nobody will correct you.
Next: Hâi and its six jobs