Causatives with ให้ / ทำให้

hai makes someone do something or gives something to someone; tham hai says one thing caused another.

One word, several jobs

hai (ให้) is one of the busiest words in Thai. It means give, it means for, it means let or make someone do something, and it introduces a purpose. Learners meet it early and keep meeting it. The thread running through all of it is direction: something moves from one party to another - an object, an action, a permission. Start with the simplest use. hai between a verb and a person means the action is done for that person: sue hai mae, buy it for mum.

Making and letting someone do it

Put hai between a person and a verb and it means make or let them do that thing: hai khao pai, let him go, or make him go. Thai does not distinguish the two the way English does; tone and context decide. That is why hai is the natural word for both permission and instruction. mae hai pai is 'mum let me go' or 'mum made me go' depending on the story. For a clear 'let', anuyat (อนุญาต) exists but is formal. In conversation, hai plus the particles carries it.

tham hai, cause and effect

tham hai (ทำให้) means 'causes' or 'makes it so that'. It joins a cause to a result, and it is the everyday way to explain why something is the case. fon tham hai rot tit: the rain makes the traffic jam. khao tham hai chan dii jai: he made me happy. Note the shape: cause, tham hai, affected thing, result. It is a sentence connector, not a verb you conjugate.

Asking for things to be done a certain way

This is where hai earns its keep for a visitor. Put it after a request and before how you want it, and you can specify anything. tham hai phet noi: make it a bit spicy. mai sai nam khaeng hai noi: less ice. sai hai noi: put in just a little. The frame chuai ... hai noi (ช่วย...ให้หน่อย) is the polite 'could you do X for me': chuai riak taxi hai noi khrap, could you call a taxi for me.

hai in daily use

Six sentences, six different jobs for the same little word. If you can hear which is which, you have this topic.

Reaching for a make verb

English has make, let, have and get for this job, all slightly different. Thai has hai for all of them, so the instinct to find four different words leads nowhere. If you want to be precise about permission versus instruction, add words around it - bok hai (told to), yom hai (allowed to) - rather than looking for another causative.

Confusing hai with tham hai

hai involves a person doing something. tham hai involves a situation producing a result. fon hai rot tit is wrong: rain does not instruct traffic. fon tham hai rot tit is right. If there is no one being told or given anything, you want tham hai.

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