Daily Thai Confidence — Using เห็นใจ (hěn-jāi)

Verb: เห็นใจ (hěn-jāi)
Meaning: to sympathise / to feel for / to empathise

In this Thai lesson, we learn how to use the verb เห็นใจ (hěn-jāi), which means ‘to sympathise,’ ‘to feel for someone,’ or ‘to show understanding of someone’s feeling.’ It is used when you recognise another person’s situation and feel empathy or compassion forward them.

This verb phrase made up of two words:

• เห็น (hěn) = to see
• ใจ (jāi) = heart / mind

Together, เห็นใจ (hěn-jāi) literally means ‘to see someone’s heart,’ which expresses the idea of understanding how someone feels.

The typical structure usually follows the pattern: subject + เห็นใจ (hěn-jāi) + person.

For examples (ตัวอย่างเช่น — dtūa-^awyàang chên)

ฉันเห็นใจเขา

chǎn hěn-jāi k^hǎo
Literal: I sympathise him.
I feel sorry for him.

In this sentence, เห็นใจ (hěn-jāi) expresses emotional understanding and compassion, meaning the speaker recognise and feels concerned about another person’s situation or feelings. In English, this idea is usually expressed with “sympathise with” or “feel sorry for,” so the preposition “with” is required in natural English.

ฉันเข้าใจและเห็นใจคุณ

chǎn k^hâo-jāi láe hěn-jāi k^hūn
Literal: I understand and sympathise you.
I understand and sympathise with you.

In this sentence เข้าใจ (k^hâo-jāi = to understand) expresses intellectual understanding (you understand the situation), while เห็นใจ (hěn-jāi) adds an emotional layer, showing empathy and compassion for the person’s feelings. Together, they create a stronger and more complete meaning.

เขาเห็นใจเพื่อนที่มีปัญหา

k^hǎo hěn-jāi p^hêuan t^hêe mēe bpān-hǎa
Literal: He sympathise friend that have problem.
He sympathises with his friend who has problems.

In this sentence, เห็นใจ (hěn-jāi) expresses emotional understanding and compassion, showing that he recognise his friend’s difficult situation and feels concern for him. The word ที่ (t^hêe) functions as a relative pronoun meaning ‘that,’ ‘which,’ or ‘who,’ and is used to introduce a relative clause, มีปัญหา (mēe bpān-hǎa = has problems), which gives more information about the friend.

หัวหน้าเห็นใจพนักงานในสถานการณ์นี้

hǔa-^hnâa hěn-jāi p^há-nák-ngāan nāi sà-t^hǎa-ná-gāan née
Literal: Supervisor sympathise employee in situation this.
The supervisor empathises with the employees in this situation.

In this sentence, เห็นใจ (hěn-jāi) expresses emotional understanding and compassion, showing that the supervisor recognises the employees’ difficulties and feels concern for them. The prepositional phrase ในสถานการณ์นี้ (nāi sà-t^hǎa-ná-gāan née = in this situation) provides additional context, explaining the situation in which the employees are being sympathised with.

Homework (การบ้าน — gāan-bâan)

Practise putting your newly learned Thai word into a sentence by translating the following sentences below.

1. I really sympathise with her situation.
2. We should sympathise with people who have problems.
3. The boss sympathised with the employees who worked hard.
4. They sympathise with the people affected by the problem.
5. We all sympathise with him in this situation.

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