Isan Language - Questions and Answers

Questions and Answers

Unlike English, which indicates questions by a rising tone, or Spanish, which changes the order of the sentences to achieve the same result, Isan uses question tag words. The use of question words makes use of the question mark (?) redundant in Isan.

General yes/no questions end in บ่ (same as บ่, 'no, not').

• สบายดีบ่ (sabai di bo, saʔbaj diː bɔː) Are you well?

Other question words

• จังได (changdai, tɕaŋdaj) or หยัง (nyang, ɲaŋ) เฮ็ดจังได (het changdai, het tɕaŋ.daj) What are you doing?
• ไผ (phai, pʰaj) ไผขายไขไก่ (phai khai khai kai, pʰaj kʰaːj kʰaj kaj) Who sells chicken eggs?
• ไส (sai, saj) Where? ห้องน้ำอยู่ไส (hong nam yu sai, hɔːŋnam juː saj) Where is the toilet?
• อันได (andai, andaj) Which? เจ้าได้กินอันได (chao kin andai, tɕaw gin an.daj) Which one did you eat?
• จัก (chak, tɕak) How many? อายุจักปี (ayu chak pi, aːju tɕak piː) How old are you?
• ท่อใด (thodai, tʰɔːdaj) How much? ควายตัวบทท่อใด (khwai ɗua bot thodai, kʰwaj bot tʰɔːdaj) How much is that buffalo over there?
• แม่นบ่ (maen bo, mɛːn bɔː) Right?, Is it? เต่าไว้แม่นบ่ (Tao vai maen bo, ɗaw vai mɛːn bɔː) Turtles are fast, right?
• แล้วบ่ (laew bo, lɛːw bɔː) Yet?, Already? เขากลับบ้านแล้วบ่ (khao kap laew bo, kʰaw gap baːn lɛːw bɔː) Did he go home already?
• หรือบ่ (loe bo, lɤː bɔː) Or not? เจ้าหิวข้าวหรือบ่ (chao hio khao loe bo, tɕaw hiw kʰaw lɤː bɔː) Are you hungry or not?

Answers to questions usually just involve repetition of the verb and any nouns for clarification.

• Question: สบายดีบ่ (sabai di bo, saʔbaj diː bɔː) Are you well?
• Response: สบายดี (sabai di, saʔbaj diː) I am well or บ่สบาย (bo sabai, bɔː saʔbaj) I am not well.

Words asked with a negative can be confusing and should be avoided. The response, even though without the negation, will still be negated due to the nature of the question.

• Question: บ่สบายบ่ (bo sabai bo, bɔː saʔbaːj bɔː) Are you not well?
• Response: สบาย (sabai, saʔbaj) I am not well or บ่สบาย (bo sabai, bɔː saʔbaːj ) I am well.