Classifier or unit count (คำลักษณนาม) is essential when you count something in Thai language, so if you would like to speak like a Thai knowing how to use unit count is a must.
The pattern is
noun (something you are counting) + amount + classifier
For example;
two women ผู้หญิง 2 คน pûu-yĭng 2 kon
five bottles of beer เบียร์ 5 ขวด beer 5 kùat
four glasses of water น้ำเปล่า 4 แก้ว náam-bplào 4 gâeo
I have two books ผมมีหนังสือ 2 เล่ม pŏm mii năng-sŭe 2 lêm
She bought 10 shirts เขาซื้อเสื้อ 10 ตัว kăo súe sûea 10 dtua
When you place food order at the restaurant, let’s say you order two PadThai, three bottles of Chang Beer and one glass of ice. The orders in Thai are:
เอาผัดไท 1 จาน เบียร์ช้าง 3 ขวดแล้วก็น้ำแข็ง 1 แก้ว
ao “PadThai 1 jaan”, “bia cháang 3 kùat” láew-gôr “náam-kăeng 1 gâeo”
Please don’t feel frightened that there are too many unit counts to remember. I think in everyday like we use about 5-10 unit counts. Here is the list of the common Thai classifiers.
kon คน people
dtua ตัว animals, clothes, tables, chairs, letters of alphabet, cigarettes etc.
lêm เล่ม books, notebooks, magazines, *knives, *candles
an อัน pieces of candy, ashtrays, round object, objects with unknown classifiers.
lûuk ลูก fruit, mountains, balls and other round things.
fong ฟอง eggs
krûeang เครื่อง radios, T.V.s, refrigerators, computers, electrical or mechanical machines.
kan คัน cars, motorbikes, bikes, *spoons, *forks, umbrellas
chán ชั้น floors of building, grades of class in schools, classes of train or airplane seats
hâwng ห้อง rooms
dàwk ดอก flowers
kráng ครั้ง times (number of occurrences)
yàang อย่าง kinds of things, number of things
kûu คู่ pairs of thing or couple
rûeang เรื่อง movies, plays, stories
dtôn ต้น trees
chút ชุด set of things, suits, dresses
lăng หลัง houses
And we use ‘container’ as the unit count of food
bai ใบ bags, glasses, cups, fruits, plates, bottles, boxes, sheets of paper
jaan จาน numbers of plates, rice, food etc.
gâeo แก้ว numbers of glasses of beer, water etc.
tûai ถ้วย numbers of cups of tea, coffee, soup etc.
Next time you count, let’s count like a Thai:)
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Kruu Mod, Khor thot krap,
Is this corect or have it to be song jaan, or is 1 jaan 2
When you place food order at the restaurant, let’s say you order two PadThai, three bottles of Chang Beer and one glass of ice. The orders in Thai are:
เอาผัดไท 1 จาน เบียร์ช้าง 3 ขวดแล้วก็น้ำแข็ง 1 แก้ว
ao “PadThai 1 jaan”, “bia cháang 3 kùat” láew-gôr “náam-kăeng 1 gâeo”
What you said is correct. เก่งมากค่ะ 🙂
Send me you address I want learn thai
Send me you address
How would you ask for 2 bowls of quail fried quail eggs?
And how do you ask for both hard boiled and quail eggs.
For example:
I would like both the hard boiled quail eggs and the fried quail eggs, one bowl of each, please. (Or are those card board baskets the quail eggs come in as street food called something other than a “bowl”?)
And what about those sticky rice doughnuts. Do those count as “round things”?
What is the classifier for triangle shaped things, like those sticky rice kanom or those delicious fried yellow bean things?
Quail eggs in Thai is ไข่นกกระทา /kài nók grà-taa/, ‘fried’ is ทอด /tâwd/ so ‘fried quail eggs’ in Thai is ไข่นกกระทาทอด /kài nók grà-taa tâwd/.
‘Boiled’ in Thai is ต้ม /dtôm/ so ‘boiled quail eggs’ in Thai is ไข่นกกระทาต้ม /kài nók grà-taa dtôm/.
The card board basket they use at street vendor is called ถาด /tàad/ (tray)
You can place order by saying ‘I would like to have one tray of fried quail eggs and one tray of boiled quail eggs’ –> เอาไข่นกกระทาทอด 1 ถาด ao kài nók grà-taa tâwd 1 tàad แล้วก็ láew-gâw (and) ไข่นกกระทาต้ม 1 ถาด kài nók grà-taa dtôm 1 tàad.
Yes, the sticky rice doughnuts is considered as round things, you can use “อัน/an/” as classifier as well as triangle shaped snacks. 🙂
Hi Mod,
what is the classifier of chopsticks?
How to say ” Please give me 2 pairs of chopsticks.”
What is the meaning of the word “duay” in Yindee duay” or “Gep ngeern duay krap”?
Kawpkoon maakmaak!!
Henry
Classifier for anything that comes in a pair is “คู่ kûu”
You can make a request ขอตะเกียบ 2 คู่ kăw dtà-gìap 2 kûu 🙂
“ด้วย dûai” has several meanings;
[1] It is a particle used with telling someone to do something , ‘gep dtang’ is a phrase used when asking for a bill, it is literally translated as ‘collect the money’, so you tell the waiter to collect your money then the particle ‘duai’ is used to make it polite.
[2] “duai” means ‘too, as well’ , it is used when you want to join in –> do something + “duai”
Example; your friend is going to a market and you want to join, so you can say “bpai duâi” (go too).
[3] “duai” is used to express your feeling toward someone
– ยินดี yin-dii means ‘to be pleased’ , “yin-dii dûai” means ‘I am pleased for you’ or ‘congratulations’
– ดีใจ dii-jai means ‘glad’ , ‘dii-jai dûai’ means ‘I am happy for you’ as well as ‘congratulations’
– เสียใจ sǐa-jai means ‘sad’ , ‘sǐa-jai dûai’ means ‘I am sorry to hear that’
Hope this helps. 🙂
Thank you very much Mod.
I will go to เชียงใหม่ next month, I hope I can speak some “pa sa Thai”.
Hi P’Mod,
I have noticed that in your videos when you say ‘I’, you use your name instead of ‘chun’. Eg: Mod ja bpai gin kaao. Instead of ‘chun ja bpai gin kaao’. Do I use my name when saying ‘I’ or do I use ‘chun’. I’m slightly confused!!
Thanks!
Sawatdii ka Nong Deescha, there are many ways to address yourself in Thai language. It depends on the relationship between you and the person you are talking to. ‘chan’ is usually used when talking to a close friend, ‘rao’ is used when talking to a friend that is not so close. It is common for Thai women to address ourselves with our nicknames when talking to an older person or address yourself in general. 🙂
Please read this lesson: Understand Thai Pronoun ‘I’ –> https://learnthaiwithmod.com/?p=1076
Hey Teacher,
I really like your website and your videos !
I have a question :
Classifiers are use to count. But it’s also use to show something right ?
like : หมาตัวนี้
If i want to ask to someone : What is it ? (and showing something)
Do I have to use classifiers ?
: อันนี้อะไร ?
Or can i just say : นี่อะไร ?
It’s confusing me !
If i’m in the street and I want to ask “what is this ?” (showing food) Do I have to use a classifiers or not ? And if yes, which one ?
Thankss
Sawatdee ka Jeff, apologies for my late response.
Classifier is also used to indicate something like you mentioned, that is correct. 🙂
You can also use นี่ which means ‘this’ without a noun and classifier, so อันนี้อะไร and นี่อะไร is the same.
Love these videos, i’m teaching English in thailand and trying to learn some Thai while I am here.
How would you say “Can I have one more pillow?”
Hello Mod.
I have seen classifier tee for food/dishes like this:
sandwich neung tee
or
tom yam neung tee
When to use tee and when to use jaan/tuai/chaam?
Is it true that you can use a general classifier an for small things and
a general classifier laang for big things?
Sawatdee ka Tom,
ที่ /tîi/ is used as a classifier in formal situation for ‘serving’. It is usually used by the waiters in restaurants. If you go to eat on the street, they will just use the container i.e. jaan/tuai/chaam as it is doesn’t need to be formal.
อัน /an/ can be used as a general classifier for small things. 🙂
I am not sure what “laang” is (perhaps you meant the word หลัง /lăng/ that is used with houses?), but we don’t have a general classifier for big things. 🙂
สวยด้วยเก่งด้วย Keep up your good work! ^^
ขอบคุณมากค่ะ ^^
Hi mod,
I enjoy your videos especially the ones with role play-it really helps to hear the words used in sentences.
I see some people here have trouble remembering the 10 classifiers,from my other thai studies i believe you can merely repeat the noun instead of using the classifier for example, pom mee bahn bahn sorng instead of pom mee bahn sorng lang.
What do you think?
hi! I really appreciate your videos. I really want to learn thai that’s why i’m doing self-study and by the help of your videos. thank you so much. It will help a lot to me. :))
Hullo Mod. At classifier lem why is there a * at knives and candles and at classifier kan *spoons and forks
Sawatdee ka Chester,
Yes, the word “lem” is also classifier for knives and candles. “kan” is classifier for cars, spoons and forks. I am sorry I don’t know the reason why one word is a classifier for different things.
no problem i was just wondering why there is a star “*” there. ha ha ha your videos are good (cck gamlang gaai and som nam naa are my favourite). sawatdii kap 🙂
something i did in thailand a lot was eat soup. lots of soup. more soup than you can shake a stick at. so how would i ask
can i have 2 bowls of pork noodle soup
ao som ???? moo ??? ???
i always saw you are thai language video i get more knowledge and idea, but only 5 minute then after i forget all the words. i think one day i also forget my name.
I learn the question word ใด้ ไหม, now you wrote ใด้ มั้ย, I do not see and do not know this before. Do I learn wrong?
“ไหม” is a formal written language. When Thai people say this question word, it is pronounced with high tone so there is a new way to write this word to match the new pronunciation.
Personally, I prefer to write มั้ย. 🙂
i am always be the practice thai language and also saw the tv but i can’t the remember the any words, so you have to any suggestion for me how is to improve the thai language?
Hi kruu Mod,
You are such a great Thai teacher on website, I love to learn it very much and I hope some days soon in the near future I will speak and understand Thai language very well. kop kun krap!
When I went to BKK on last Thuesday(at the time, I met you with my co-workers near the Korean town! Wow!), I bought some clothes and pouch in the ‘Jim Thompsons’ as a gift for my family. When I check the bill, I said “thang-mot thao-rai khrap?”
But I don’t know what is different between ‘thang-mot’ and ‘kho-la’. Can you explain about this?
Sawatdee ka Yeong, yes I remember we met. : )
ทั้งหมด /tang-mot/ means ‘altogether’,but I am not sure about the word ‘kho-la’ you mentioned. Could you give a me a context please? kop kun ka. 🙂
I think I was misinformed.
“Kheo thot mak khrap~^^”
Haaa, I thing,
Mod mii gra- bpao sip song bai. – at least 😉
Thank you Mod , I like to learn with you!!
You are so beautiful !!! Its a true pleasure!!
I hope i can speak thai for meet more people awesome like you !!
I wish the best for you.
thank you for this new lesson
Thanks Kru Mod. You are the best!
What is the classifier for websites? เล่ม?
The classifier for website is the word ‘website’เว็บไซต์ or in short เว็บ /web/. When the noun and the classifier are identical, the noun can be dropped.
Example; I have three websites: ผมมี(เว็บไซต์) 3 เว็บไซต์ you can just say ผมมี 3 เว็บไซต์.
Khun Mod,
the list above shows that ตัว is the classifier for cigarettes บุหรี่ . Would ตัว also be used for packs of cigarettes (ซอง ?) ?
Thank you for clarification.
the word pack in Thai is ซอง /song/;
He smoked two packs of cigarettes เขาสูบบุหรี่ 2 ซอง
็He smoked two cigarettes เขาสูบบุหรี่ 2 ตัว
🙂
Thank you!
thank you Mod for this new video.
Hi mod, nice to meet you. Indi didai lujak kun ^^.
If I want to one more boild rice in the restaurant, how can I order it?
haii..i’m a new learner of thai language and aaaa i found it so complicated to speak fluently in thai language..hahaa
but it’s really nice to try and i think it will be cool if know even just a very little bit of this language..so your blog is really helpful for me.sa-wat di kha..:)
Dearest Mod,
I would like know how to pronunciation these word.
I have difficult thai tone……..
Can you help me a video?
thanks………
It is good to know that we only need to learn 5 – 10 of these.
I have tried to learn others but forget them 2 days after I
learn them.
คำลักษณนาม..how to pronounce?
It is คำลักษณนาม (คำ ลัก สะ หนะ นาม kam lák-sà-nà-naam).