Learn how to read Thai numbers
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Intro |
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| Hi everybody! Jay here. Welcome to Ask a Teacher, where I’ll answer some of your most common Thai questions. | |
| The Question | |
| The question for this lesson is: How do I read Thai numbers? | |
| Explanation | |
| When you go to tourist attractions or read cultural, printed media in Thailand, you might come across these weird letters that maybe, you’ve never seen before. (show examples of Thai numbers ๑๖๗๓) In fact, these are Thai numerals, and today I’m going to teach you how to read them. These numerals are derived from the Khmer numerals, which traditionally were used in Thailand. | |
| The only common numeral with the standard number system is 0 sǔun. The rest are different. Here are the numbers 0 through 9 in Thai numerals: ๑ (nùeng “one”), ๒ ( sǎawng “two”), ๓ (săam “three”), ๔ (sìi “four”), ๕ (hâa “five”), ๖ (hòk “six”), ๗ (jèt “seven”), ๘ (bpàaet “eight”), ๙ (gâao “nine”). The usage of these numerals are the same as the standard numbers. For example, 79 is written as ๗๙ jèt sìp gâao in Thai numerals. | |
| Nowadays, Thai numbers are usually used in historical attractions in Thailand, to state the price of tickets, or when the situation is extremely formal, such as official announcements from the royal family. Thai numerals are considered sophisticated and traditional. They’re also used when there's the need to emphasize the cultural importance of an event or object. For example, when addressing the previous kings of Thailand, like “Rama IX,” in Thai we write ราชกาลที่ ๙ (rát-chá-gaan thîi gâo). This is similar to the usage of Roman numerals. | |
Outro |
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| Pretty interesting, right? | |
| If you have any more questions, please leave a comment below! | |
| Bye! สวัสดี ค่ะ (sà-wàt-dii khâ) |
5 Comments
HideWhat Thai learning question do you have?
Hello Tom,
Thank you very much for your comment. There are same both on video and vocabulary but they just in the different front and it a lot bigger writing in the video but you can see that they look exactly the same. Just the line in the middle of number ๓ and ๗ is not come down touching the line like it does in the video. Hope that’s help. Please let me know if you have any future questions. I will be glad to help you. We wish you have a good progress with Thai.
Have a good day.
Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
Hi there,
In the video above the Thai numbers are shown with different symbols than in the vocabulary section above. Which symbols do we use?
Hello James,
Thank you very much for your comment and question. Good news for everyone we do not very much Thai numerals and the romanized numbers in everyday life.We use Arabic numerals in everyday life.Hope that’s help. Please let me know if you have any future question. I will be glad to help. We wish you have a good progress with Thai.
Have a nice day.
Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
Are thai numerals use in everyday life in Thailand or do they use the romanized numbers? for example if I buy Tom Yum soup on the streets do they use Thai numerals?