• The system of counting numbers in Thai is quite logical and easy to use once you know the numbers from one to ten. The usual pattern is just to give a numeral followed by a unit to say the number of that unit.

  • สามสิบ (sǎam-sìp ) ➤ "thirty"

• We create the number "thirty" by giving the numeral "three" followed by the unit "tens." This indicates "three tens," or "thirty." We use the same pattern with any sized unit.

  • สามร้อย (sǎam-ráawy) ➤ "three hundreds"

  • สามพัน (sǎam-phan) ➤ "three thousands"

  • สามหมื่น (sǎam-mùuen) ➤ "three ten-thousands"; “thirty thousand”

  • สามแสน (sǎam-sǎaen) ➤ "three hundred-thousands"

  • สามล้าน (sǎam-láan) ➤ "three millions"

• We form complex numbers by stringing together these units, and the "ones" units comes last and doesn't need to be indicated by another word.

  • So we would say "1,234,567" as:

    • หนึ่งล้าน สองแสน สามหมื่น สี่พัน ห้าร้อย หกสิบ เจ็ด

      (nùeng-láan sǎawng-sǎaen sǎam-mùuen sìi-phan hâa-ráawy hòk-sìp-jèt)

• There are just two important irregularities that we need to point out.

  • For "eleven" and other numbers ending in a "one," we use the word เอ็ด (èt) instead of หนึ่ง (nùeng).

  • The other irregularity is that the word we use for "twenty" is yîi-sìp.

  • So "twenty-one" is ยี่สิบเอ็ด (yîi-sìp-èt), not สองสิบหนึ่ง (sǎawng-sìp-nùeng).

Vocabulary & Phrases

• คุณอายุเท่าไหร่ (khun aa-yú thâo-rài)

  • This phrase is the question "How old are you?"

  • คุณ (khun) means “you.“

  • อายุ (aa-yú) means “age.“

  • เท่าไหร่ (thâo-rài) means “how many/how much?“

• อายุ (aa-yú)

  • This word means the "age" of living things.

  • We also use it in the expression หมดอายุ (mòt aa-yú), which means "expired," such as when talking about food that is past its expiration date.

• แก่ (gàae)

  • This is an adjective meaning "old."

  • However, we only use it for living things.

  • The adjective we use to describe "old" inanimate objects is เก่า (gào).

• กว่า (gwàa)

  • กว่า (gwàa) is an adjective meaning "more than."

  • It teams up with other adjectives to form comparative adjectives we use to describe the difference between two nouns.

  • The pattern is: Noun 1 + adjective + กว่า (gwàa) + noun 2

    • สตีฟสูงกว่าสุภาณี (sà-dtíip sǔung gwàa sù-phaa-nii.)

      ➤ "Steve is taller than Supanee."

  • One more thing you will often hear is the word กว่า (gwàa), which we use with numbers to give rough amounts or estimates.

  • When following a number, it means "a little more than that."

    • For example, if you bought a new camera that cost 11,650 baht, and your friend asks you how much it cost, you can just say หมื่นกว่าบาท (mùuen gwàa bàat).

    • By that, you mean it was a little bit more than ten thousand baht, but not nearly as much as twenty thousand baht.

How to Tell Someone Your Age in Thai

• When telling someone's age in Thai, we usually say the number of years followed by the word for "year," ปี (bpii).

• However, there is a special word for "year" that we use only when giving the age of small children.

  • Instead of ปี (bpii), you would use ขวบ (khùuap).

• There is no set-in-stone rule, but you would normally say the number of ขวบ (khùuap) when giving the age of children up to about twelve years old.

• From about thirteen years and up, you would start to use ปี (bpii) to describe their age.