Lao grammar

Since Lao culture is stratified based on the age, occupation, wealth or clout of the speaker, one must afford differing amounts of respect based on the discrepancy between one person and another. That affects language as well; to make language more polite, more formal language, including of pronouns (which can otherwise be dropped) and more formal versions of them, and sentence-ending particles can be used. Also, ending particles also serve to soften and make one's speech more polite.

• ແດ່ (dé /dɛ̄ː/)

In addition to ending most general statements and the softening of imperatives and requests, it is also used to intensify the meaning (especially of adjectives and adverbs) more politely, to make the use of demonstrative pronouns more polite, or to indicate a certain amount or some extent of something.

• ເດີ (deu /dəː/) or ເດີ້ (deu /də̄ː/) or ເດ (dè /dèː/)

They are used as a more intensive version of ແດ່, thus giving requests and demands more urgency and are used for statements that tend to be more emphatic. They are, therefore, not as polite. ເດ also has the sense of and what about or to indicate an equivalent to this as a demonstrative pronoun.

Nouns are not marked for plurality, gender, or declension but may be single or plural. Unlike in English, nouns are not marked with articles. Measure words or classifiers (ລັກສະໜະນາມ, laksana naam /lāksáʔnáʔ náːm/) are often used to express plurals, as classifiers must be used to count objects, but the noun itself remains unchanged.

Verbs of physical action are easily converted into nouns by adding ການ (kan /kaːn/) before the verb. Abstract actions and adjectives use ຄວາມ (khwam /kʰuáːm/) instead.

Pronouns (ສັບພະນາມ, sap pha nam /sáp pʰāʔ náːm/) are often dropped in informal contexts and replaced with nicknames or kinship terms, depending on the relation of the speaker spoken to (sometimes even spoken about). Pronouns can change based on register of speech, including the obsolete royal and the formal, informal and vulgar. In more formal language, pronouns are more often retained and more formal ones used. Pronouns can be pluralized by adding ພວກ (phuak /pʰuak/) in front: ພວກເຈົ້າ (/pʰuak.tɕao/) for "you plural". Age and status determine usage. Younger children's names are often prefixed with ບັກ (bak /bak/) and ອີ (i /ʔiː/), respectively. Slightly older children are addressed to or have their names prefixed with ອ້າຍ (ai /ʔaj/) and ເອື້ອຍ (èw-ai /ʔɯːâj/), respectively, but ພີ່ (phi /pʰīː/) is also common. Much older people may be politely dressed as aunt, uncle, mother, father, or even grandmother or grandfather, depending on their age. In a company setting, one's title is often used.

Lao verbs (ກະລິຍາ, karigna /káʔlīɲáː/) are not conjugated for tense, mood, or person. Tense is indicated by using time reference words, such as yesterday, next year, just now or by certain particles. Nouns that begin with ການ (kan /kaːn/) or ຄວາມ (khwam /kʰuáːm/), often nominalised verbs, become verbs again when those particles are dropped.

To say no is as simple as saying ບໍ່ (bo /bɔ̄ː/), and negation simply involves placing that word in front of the verb, adjective, adverb, or noun to be negated. To say yes, especially to indicate that one is listening, one uses ໂດຍ (doi /dòːj/), especially in formal situations, or ເຈົ້າ (chao /tʃâw/). To answer a question, one often repeats the verb of action that was used in the question to indicate that that action was or will be completed. One can also use ແມ່ນ (mén /mɛ̄ːn/), especially if the question had ແມ່ນ, as an element of the interrogative particle.

Little distinction can be made between adjectives and adverbs, as any adjective that could logically be used to modify a verb can also be used as an adverb. They are often duplicated to indicate a superlative and can even be modified like verbs, mainly by the lack of a copula to link the object and adjective/adverb. Adjectives come after the noun.

To indicate that something is the same, one uses ຄືກັນ (khu kan /kʰɯ́ː kan/). To indicate that one is similar to something else, one uses ຄືກັບ (khu kap /kʰɯ́ː káp/).

Comparatives take the form "A ກວ່າ (kwa /kuāː/) B", or A is more than B. The superlative is expressed by "A ທີ່ສຸດ (thisut /tʰīːsút/)", or A is the best. All adjectives can be altered in this way:

Lao uses special tag words at the beginning or the end of the sentence to indicate a question, so the modern use of the question mark (?) is redundant.

Yes-no questions end in ບໍ່ (bo /bɔ̄ː/), but Lao also has other sentence interrogative finals that indicate whether or not the speaker expects an answer, knows the answer to be expected, will be surprised, or is rhetorically asking a question, but they are generally used only in conversational settings.

Other common interrogatives
Who? ຜູ້ໃດ (phoudai /pʰȕːdàj/) and its common short form ໃຜ (phai /pʰǎj/)

What? ຈັ່ງໃດ (changdai /tʃāŋdàj/) and its common short form ຫຽັງ (gnang /ɲǎŋ/)

Where? ໃສ (sai /săj/)

When? ເມື່ອໃດ (mua dai /mɨ̄aː dàj/), and many others.
There are numerous ways to ask when something will occur, many of which are formed by adding ໃດ (dai /dàj/) which after a noun marking time, e.g., ເວລາໃດ (vela dai /véːláː dàj/), ຍາມໃດ (gnam dai /ɲáːm dàj/), and ປານໃດ (pan dai /pàːndài/).

Why? ເປັນຈັ່ງໃດ (pen changdai /pen tʃāŋdàj/)
The phrase by itself can also mean What's wrong?, but can also ask why or for what reason a condition is occurring.

How?
ແນວໃດ (nèw dai /nɛ́ːw dàj/)
There are numerous ways to ask how?, some interchangeable with Lao equivalents for what? and why? but in the sense of how something is accomplished or done, one can also use ເຊັ່ນໃດ (sen dai /sēn dàj/), ຢ່າງໃດ (yang dai /jāːŋ dàj/) or ດັ່ງໃດ (dang dai /dāŋ dàj/).

How Much/Many? (General Things) ຈັກ (chak /tʃák/)

How Much? (Price) ເທົ່າໃດ (thao dai /tʰāw dàj/) or its variant ທໍ່ໃດ (tho dai /tʰɔ̄ː dàj/)

Right? Correct? ແມ່ນບໍ່ (mèn bo /mɛ̄ːn bɔ̄ː/)

Already? Yet? ແລ້ວບໍ່ (lèw bo /lɛ̂ːw bɔ̄ː/)

Or not? ຫຼືບໍ່ (lu bo /lɯ̀ bɔ̄ː/)

Eh? ຫຼື (lu /lɯ̀/)
This is a rather informal interrogative particle equivalent to English eh? or hmm? or huh?.

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

• Question: ສະບາຍດີບໍ່ (sabai di bo /saʔbaj diː bɔː/) Are you well?
• Response: ສະບາຍດີ (sabai di /saʔbaj diː/) I am well or ບໍ່ສະບາຍ (bo sabai /bɔː saʔbaj/) I am not well.

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

• ບໍ່ສະບາຍບໍ່ (bo sabai di bo /bɔː saʔbaj diː bɔː/) Are you not well?
• Response: ບໍ່ສະບາຍ (bo sabai di /bɔː saʔbaj diː/) I am well.

Classifiers (ລັກສະນະນາມ, laksananam /lāksáʔnāʔnáːm/) are used for when referring to a number of things, either a group or a finite amount. Classifiers can be used in place of the counted noun when context makes it sufficient. There are many classifiers, which is daunting, and it is better to double the noun or the more common ones such as ທີ່ (thi /tʰīː/) or ໂຕ (to /toː/). For single items, the classifier comes before the number; for more, the classifier comes after it.

The classifiers can sometimes be used in place of the nouns they group in context.

To indicate that object X belongs to object Y, Lao uses the construction X ຂອງ Y. ຂອງ (khong /kʰɔ̌ːŋ/) can also be omitted without changing the meaning.