Hello Everyone,

As I indicated in my previous article on Thai script, in addition to our traditional Hindo-Arabic figures (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), the Thai script also has its own way of representing figures.

Let’s see how this all works!

From 0 to 9

First, we will go through the numbers from 0 to 9. You can first learn how these numbers are pronounced, and later on come back to how they are written using the Thai script.

Exercises

1. Read the following numbers in Thai:

5, 4, 8, 1, 3, 6, 0, 2, 9, 7

2. Read and translate the following numbers:

3. Translate the following numbers:

From 10 to Infinity, and Beyond

Making numbers from 10 on is quite straightforward. Numbers in Thai are only a stacking of quantities like in English:

1,234
One thousand two hundreds thirty four

๑๒๓๔
หนึ่ง พัน สอง ร้อย สาม สิบ สี่
[nɯng^L p^han^M sɔ~ng^R rɔ~i^H sa~m^R sip^L si~^L]
/ one thousand(s) two hundred(s) three ten(s) four /

Beyond the place name (hundreds, thousands…), there are only very few rules to remember:

• In _11, _21, up to _91, the figure 1 is pronounced [et^L] and not [nɯng^L]
• 20s are pronounced [yi~^F sip^L …] and not [sɔ~ng^R sip^L …]

The table below introduces the essential elements for constructing numbers from 10 up to 9,999,999.

Numbers like 100, 1,000, 10,000… can either be pronounced as is (ร้อย [rɔ~i^H]…) or by saying “one” plus the place name (like saying “one hundred”, “one thousand”, but also “one ten thousands”…):

100: หนึ่ง ร้อย [nɯng^L rɔ~i^H]
10,000: หนึ่ง หมื่น [nɯng^L mɯ~n^L]…

For numbers over 9,999,999, just use lower levels place names multiplied by 1,000,000:

100,000,000 = one hundred million = ร้อย ล้าน [(nɯng^L) rɔ~i^H la~n^H]

Exercices

1. Pronounce the following numbers in Thai:

2. Read the following numbers:

And here is for more (select the range of number into which you want to train and click NEW to get a new number):

Here we are. There is quite a lot of information in this article, so take your time. Learn the figures from 1 to 9 first, then progressively go learning the place names and start to build/read more complex numbers.

Also, do not hesitate to comment an dto share this article if it pleases you!

Cheers,
Stéphane