เกิดอะไรขึ้น
goet a-rai kheun
In Thai, "what happened" is expressed as เกิดอะไรขึ้น (goet a-rai kheun).
This phrase is used to inquire about the cause of a situation or to ask about an event that has recently taken place.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of เกิด (to occur/happen), อะไร (what) and ขึ้น (to arise/upward movement), which literally translates to 'what occurred up'.
How do you pronounce it?
goet a-rai kheun
Did you know?
- The word เกิด is also the word used for 'to be born', meaning the phrase 'what happened' is linguistically rooted in the concept of 'coming into existence'.
- If a Thai speaker asks เกิดอะไรขึ้น with a rising tone at the end, they may actually be expressing suspicion rather than genuine curiosity.
- If you want to ask 'what happened' in a more dramatic or heavy way, such as a catastrophe, you might use the word เกิดเรื่อง instead of เกิดอะไรขึ้น.
Examples in context
- เกิดอะไรขึ้น?What happened?This example shows how to ask the question เกิดอะไรขึ้น directly.Tatoeba #7878442 by pastelite, translation #375822 by megamanenm
- เกิดอะไรขึ้นในบอสตัน?What happened in Boston?This example shows how to use เกิดอะไรขึ้น to ask about a specific location.Tatoeba #8728845 by pastelite, translation #3023206 by CK
- ฉันสงสัยว่าเกิดอะไรขึ้นI wonder what happened.This example shows how to use เกิดอะไรขึ้น within a statement of wonder.Tatoeba #8692152 by pastelite, translation #25162 by CK
- 2 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Teerapat and Pimon meet at a busy train station where people are running.
- ธีรภัทร Theeraphatเกิดอะไรขึ้นเหรอครับ?koet a-rai khuen ro khrap?What happened?
- พิมล Pimonมีคนทำกระเป๋าตกค่ะmi khon tham kra-pao tok kha.Someone dropped their bag.
- ธีรภัทร Theeraphatแย่จังเลยนะครับyae chang loei na khrap.That's too bad.
- พิมล Pimonใช่ค่ะ น่าสงสารมากchai kha. na song-san mak.Yes, it's very pitiful.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
