How much
Say very, too and a little, and put these words in the right place.
The describing word stays the same, so tasty, very tasty and too expensive differ by one small word nearby. There are five common ones. Four of them go after the describing word, the reverse of English: อร่อยมาก is literally “tasty very”.
จัง, เกินไป and นิดหน่อย go in the same place, right after the describing word.
The only one of the five that goes in front: ค่อนข้างแพง means fairly expensive.
Five degree words
They eat a lot.
After a verb มาก means a lot. After a describing word it means very.
It's so hot today!
จัง expresses feeling. You wouldn't hear it in a neutral weather report.
This shop is too expensive.
เกินไป means more than it should be, so it sounds critical. แพงมาก just says very expensive and can even be praise.
The tom yum is a little spicy.
The coffee here is fairly expensive.
Thai doesn't need an ending like -ly to describe an action. The same word works both ways: เร็ว means fast and quickly, so พูดเร็ว is speak quickly, and เดินช้า is walk slowly. A degree word still goes at the very end: พูดเร็วมาก.
Repeating a describing word adds its own shade of meaning. ช้าๆ usually softens it, slowly, take it easy, while ร้อนๆ intensifies it, nice and hot. The topic “Marks and spaces” explains the sign ๆ. Words like more expensive and the most expensive are built differently; see “Comparison”.
Common mistake
English very comes before the describing word, so it's tempting to write มากอร่อย. Thai doesn't allow that: มาก only goes after, อร่อยมาก. Of these five, only ค่อนข้าง goes in front.
Practise
Kai says
Songkran is Thailand's traditional New Year in mid-April. Alongside the water play, people visit family and pay respect to older relatives.