The Thai language lacks grammatical number. A count is usually expressed in the form of an uninflected noun followed by a number and a classifier. "Five teachers" is expressed as "teacher five person" khru ha khon Khon "person" is a type of referent noun that is also used as the Thai part of speech called in English a linguistic classifier, or measure word. In Thai, counting is kannap ; the classifier, laksananam Variations to this pattern do occur, and there really is no hierarchy among Thai classifiers. A partial list of Thai words that also classify nouns can be found in Wiktionary category: .
Main numbers
Zero to ten
Thai is written as oval 0 when using Arabic numerals, but a small circle ๐ when using traditional numerals, and also means in other contexts. It is from Sanskritśūnya, as are the [|alternate names for numbers] one to four given below; but not the counting 1. Thai names for N +1 and the regular digits 2 through 9 as shown in the table, below, resemble those in Chinese varieties as spoken in Southern China, the homeland of the overseas chinese living in South East Asia. In fact, the etymology of Thai numerals 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 is Middle Chinese, while the etymology of Thai numeral 5 is Old Chinese, as illustrated in the table below Numerical digitcharacters, however, are almost identical toKhmer numerals. Thai and Lao words for numerals are almost identical, however, the numerical digits vary somewhat in shape. Shown above is a comparison between three languages using Cantonese and Minnan characters and pronunciations. Shown below is a comparison between three languages using Khmer numerals. Thai and Lao. The Thai transliteration uses the Royal Thai General System of Transcription.
Ten to a million
Sanskrit lakh designates the place value of a digit, which are named for the powers of ten: the unit's place is lak nuai ; ten's place, lak sip ; hundred's place, lak roi, and so forth. The number one following any multiple of sip becomes et. The number ten is the same as Minnan 十. Numbers from twenty to twenty nine begin with yi sip. Names of the lak sip for 30 to 90, and for the lak of 100, 1000, 10,000, 100,000 and million, are almost identical to those of the like Khmer numerals. For the numbers twenty-one through twenty-nine, the part signifying twenty: yi sip, may be colloquially shortened to yip. See the alternate numbers section below. The hundreds are formed by combining roi with the tens and ones values. For example, two hundred and thirty-two is song roi sam sip song. The words roi, phan, muen, and saen should occur with a preceding numeral, so two hundred ten, for example, is song roi sip, and one hundred is either roi or nueng roi. Nueng never precedes sip, so song roi nueng sip is incorrect. Native speakers will sometimes use roi nueng with different tones on nueng to distinguish one hundred from one hundred and one. However, such distinction is often not made, and ambiguity may follow. To resolve this problem, if the number 101 is intended, one should say roi et.
Numbers above a million
Numbers above a million are constructed by prefixing lan with a multiplier. For example, ten million is sip lan, and a trillion is lan lan.
Decimal and fractional numbers
Colloquially, decimal numbers are formed by saying chut where the decimal separator is located. For example, 1.01 is nueng chut sun nueng. Fractional numbers are formed by placing nai between the numerator and denominator or using x suan y to clearly indicate. For example, is nueng nai sam or nueng suan sam. The word set can be omitted. The word khrueng is used for "half". It precedes the measure word if used alone, but it follows the measure word when used with another number. For example, kradat khrueng phaen means "half sheet of paper", but kradat nueng phaen khrueng means "one and a half sheets of paper".
Negative numbers are formed by placing lop in front of the number. For example, −11 is lop sip et.
Ordinal numbers
s are formed by placing thi in front of the number. They are not considered a special class of numbers, since the numeral still follows a modified noun, which is thi in this case.
Thai
RTGS
IPA
meaning
ที่หนึ่ง
thi nueng
first
ที่สอง
thi song
second
ที่สาม
thi sam
third
ที่สี่
thi si
fourth
ที่#
thi #
#st, #nd, #rd, #th
Alternate numbers
Ai
Ai is used for "first born " or for the first month, duean ai, of the Thai lunar calendar.
Ek
is from Paliḗka, "one" Ek is used for one ; first, more prominent than tho โท second, in tone marks, education degrees and military ranks; and for the lead actor in a role. In antiquity, a seventh daughter was called luk ek, though a seventh son was luk chet.
Et
Et, meaning "one", is used as last member in a compound number.
Tho
Tho is from Pali dūā, "two". Tho is used for two and for the second-level rank in tone marks, education degrees and military ranks.
Yi
Yi is still used in several places in Thai language for the number two, apart from song : to construct twenty and its combinations twenty-one through twenty-nine; to name the second month, duean yi, of the traditional Thai lunar calendar; and in the Thai northern dialectthin pha yip, which refers to the Year of the Tiger.
Tri & Trai
Tri and trai are from Sanskrit trāyaḥ, "three". These alternatives are used for three; third rank in tone marks, education degrees and military ranks; and as a prefix meaning three.
Chattawa
Chattawa is the Pali numeral four; used for the fourth tone mark and as a prefix meaning fourth in order or quadruple in number.
Lo
Lo means a dozen or twelve. It is usually used for trade. It may also mean jar or bottle.
Yip
Yip in colloquial Thai is an elision or contraction of yi sipat the beginning of numbers twenty-one through twenty-nine. Therefore, one may hear yip et, yip song, up to yip kao. Yip may have a long vowel or be elided further into a short vowel.
