เคย
have ever done
A native Thai recording for this word is on the way. Please check back soon.
- 1 have ever done、have done before、used to、was once
- 2 tiny shrimp、krill
เคย marks that something happened or was true at some point in the past. It is placed before a verb and often means “have ever done,” “have done before,” or “used to.”
have ever done、have done before、used to、was once
Placed before a verb, it marks past experience or a former state. In the negative ไม่เคย, it means “have never done.”
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คุณเคยไปญี่ปุ่นไหม khun khəəy pay yîipùn mǎy Have you ever been to Japan? คุณเคยไปญี่ปุ่นไหม details
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ฉันไม่เคยกินอันนี้ chǎn mây khəəy kin an níi I’ve never eaten this. ฉันไม่เคยกินอันนี้ details
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เขาเคยเป็นครู khǎw khəəy pen khruu He used to be a teacher. เขาเคยเป็นครู details
tiny shrimp、krill
As a noun, เคย refers to tiny sea shrimp or krill-like animals used to make shrimp paste. This is much less common for learners than the adverbial use.
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กะปิทำจากเคย kàpì tham càak khəəy Shrimp paste is made from tiny shrimp. กะปิทำจากเคย details
Learning notes
Explanation
The key pattern is เคย + verb. It comes before the verb: เคยไป means “have been” or “went before.” Common question forms are เคย...ไหม and เคย...หรือเปล่า, and the negative is ไม่เคย.... With เป็น or อยู่, it can describe a former role or state, such as เคยเป็นครู “used to be a teacher” and เคยอยู่ที่นี่ “used to live here.”
Usage
It is very common in everyday conversation when talking about travel, food, people you have met, things you have seen or heard, past jobs, and places you used to live.
Caution
เคย is not a general past-tense marker. For a single past event like “I went yesterday,” you normally do not add เคย. Also, ไม่เคย means “have never done,” not simply “did not do.”
Differences from similar words
1 have ever done synonyms
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คุ้น means something feels familiar, such as a person, place, or thing. เคย is a grammatical marker showing that an action or state happened before.
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เคยชิน means being used to something or having it as a habit. เคย only says the experience happened before; it does not necessarily mean the person is comfortable with it now.
2 tiny shrimp synonyms
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กุ้งเคย makes it clear that the word refers to tiny shrimp. เคย by itself is usually understood as the experience marker unless the context is about seafood or shrimp paste.