Thai Numbers Explained — From Market Prices to Phone Numbers

Numbers are day-one knowledge in any language and Thai numbers are actually one of the easier parts of learning Thai.

The base numbers: 0 — ศูนย์ (suun). 1 — หนึ่ง (nueng). 2 — สอง (song). 3 — สาม (saam). 4 — สี่ (see). 5 — ห้า (haa). 6 — หก (hok). 7 — เจ็ด (jet). 8 — แปด (bpaet). 9 — เก้า (kao). 10 — สิบ (sip).

Building larger numbers: 11 = สิบเอ็ด (sip et) — note: 1 after a ten becomes "et," not "nueng." 20 = ยี่สิบ (yee sip) — note: 2 in the tens position becomes "yee." 100 = ร้อย (roi). 1,000 = พัน (pan). 10,000 = หมื่น (meun). 1,000,000 = ล้าน (laan).

Practical usage: At the market, "Thao rai?" = How much? Thai people often use fingers to show numbers. Learn to recognise prices fast.

Phone numbers: Read digit by digit, just like English. Practice with your own number in Thai.

A useful quirk: Half is expressed as "khrueng" (ครึ่ง). So "haa roi khrueng" = 550 baht.

Thai numbers are logical, predictable, and learnable in an afternoon.