Word Class Changers การ and ความ

[nakriian]

This sentence was from another post, however, since it was changing the topic, I decided to sart a new thread.

This is pertaining to การ and ความ. Both of these words can be used to change word class (adjective to a noun, etc.).

(จินตนาการ/imagination(noun)) (ความสดใส/bright(noun)) <= in this sentence, the adjective "สดใส/bright" appears to have been converted from an adjective to a noun with the use of ควมา. Since "bright" is used as an adjective to describe imagination, then why does it need to be converted to a noun?

Wouldn't จินตนา(การ)สดใส mean "bright imagination" the same as จินตนา(การ)(ความ)สดใส would mean "bright imagination"?

Seems to me, the only purpose of "ความ" is so that the reader doesn't try to treat "จินตนา" like a verb because they wouldn't know if การ was a suffix for "จินตนา" or a prefix for สดใส. If the sentence was written "จินตนา(การ)สดใส" then it could be misread as...
"Imagine the bright....." instead of "Bright imagination..."

[trangam]

Is not จินตนาการ used as verb in this case...?

[Tod-Daniels]

When reading continuous script it is super important to "connect" the linked words (compound words, prefixes, suffixes, etc) to the correct word. It's done "inductively" by native readers (by that I mean they learned to do it when they were kids and as adults they apply it without thinking). It's a tough row to hoe for non-native readers. การ at the end of a word is totally different that having it at the beginning of a word. Looking at "thai-language dot com about the word การ shows how it's used as a suffix and prefix.

This video by Stuart Jay Raj (a well known polyglot) might shed some light on the "ความ/การ" use in Thai.


While only anecdotal (and off topic), I have found "asking WHY" is often counter productive to learning Thai. Knowing why, doesn't help you speak clearer, learn faster, or become more proficient in Thai.

It does give you answers to questions which you can offer to other foreigners who ask the same thing, but that's about it. The faster you break thru the "wall-o-whyz" and start accepting it's Thai; that's just how it is, the faster you'll start to "get" how this language goes together. Again, that's just my opinion, after spending the last 3 years asking "why" more times than I care to count..

P/S: It’s well worth subscribing to Stu Jay Raj’s You Tube Channel. He’s got some really good videos about learning Thai (and other languages too!)