List of Thai counting words
Thai counting words (also called classifiers or category words ) are used to form the plural . Such counting words are also common in other languages.
Use of the counting words
The counting words are always to be used in the Thai language when forming the plural and when a certain or indefinite amount is to be expressed.
Examples (Thai and pronunciation in IPA ):
- two people = คน สอง คน [ kʰon sɔ̌ːŋ kʰon ] ( kʰon = human, sɔ̌ːŋ = two)
- many horses = ม้า หลาย ตัว [ máː lǎːi tʰuːa ] ( máː = horse, lǎːi = many)
List of count words
| Thai | IPA | Nouns |
|---|---|---|
| กระบอก | [ krabɔ̀ːk ] | Firearms |
| กระป๋อง | [ krapɔ̌ŋ ] | Cans with contents |
| กลุ่ม | [ klùm ] | Groups of people |
| ก้อน | [ can ] | lump-shaped objects: batteries, ice cubes, cakes, cookies, soap, stones; Set, compilation, pile or pile of things |
| กั ณ ฑ | [ Kan ] | Sutras |
| ก้าน | [ kâːn ] | matches |
| กิ่ง | [ kìŋ ] | Branches (of trees), tusks (of elephants) |
| แก้ว | [ kɛ̂ːu ] | Glasses with content |
| ขณะ | [ kʰànà ] | Governments (period) |
| ขบวน | [ kʰabuan ] | Trains, processions |
| ขวด | [ kʰùat ] | Bottles with contents |
| ข้อ | [ kɔ̂ː ] | Problems |
| ข้าง | [ kʰâːŋ ] | A pair of items: legs, ears, individual earrings |
| โขลง | [ klǒŋ ] | Herds of elephants |
| คน | [ kʰon ] | People |
| คัน | [ kʰan ] | Vehicles, forks, spoons, umbrellas |
| คู | [ kʰûː ] | Pairs of objects: chopsticks, earrings, shoes, gloves |
| เครื่อง | [ kʰrɨ̂aŋ ] | machinery |
| จาน | [ tʃaːn ] | Plate of food |
| ฉบับ | [ tʃabàp ] | Letters, documents, papers, newspapers |
| ช่อ | [ tʃɔ̂ː ] | Bouquets of flowers |
| ชัน | [ tʃán ] | School classes and levels |
| ชาม | [ tʃaːm ] | large bowls with contents |
| ชิ้น | [ tʃín ] | disc-shaped objects: amulets, slices of bread, cakes, cookies |
| ชุด | [ tʃʰút ] | Set / compilation of objects |
| ชุด | [ tʃút ] | Governments |
| เชือก | [ tʃɨ̂ak ] | Elephants (single) |
| ซอง | [ sɔːŋ ] | Envelopes, boxes and packages with contents, cigarette boxes |
| ซี่ | [ sîː ] | Ribs, teeth |
| ดวง | [ duaŋ ] | Lamps, stars, suns, stars, planets, lightbulbs, stamps, hearts (ใจ) |
| ดอก | [ dɔ̀ːk ] | single flowers, key |
| ด้าม | [ dâːm ] | Brooms, pens |
| ตน | [ sound ] | Ghosts, giants, hermits |
| ต้น | [ ton ] | Plants, trees, pillars |
| ตัว | [ tua ] | Garments, shirts, pants, towels, furniture, chairs, tables, fans, animals, tools, |
| ตู | [ tûː ] | Refrigerators |
| ถ้วย | [ tʰûai ] | small bowls or cups with contents |
| ถุง | [ tʰǔŋ ] | Bags, sacks |
| นาย | [ naːi ] | People, respected persons, soldiers, officials |
| บาน | [ baːn ] | Windows, doors, mirrors |
| ใบ | [ bai ] | small objects: tickets, tickets, pillows, individual bananas, bags, pictures, drawings, sheets, cans with contents, empty bottles, empty glasses, empty cups, empty bowls, empty plates of large fruits, hats, suitcases, large bags, sheets of paper, Razor blades, eggs, cigarette boxes |
| ปอน ด | [ pɔːn ] | Loaves |
| แปลง | [ plɛːŋ ] | Pieces of land |
| ผืน | [ pʰɨ̌ːn ] | Towels, sheets, pieces of land, mats |
| แผง | [ phɛ̌ːŋ ] | Medicine boxes |
| แผ่น | [ pʰɛ̀ːn ] | flat objects (panes, mirrors, tables, boards, sheets of paper) |
| แพ็ ค | [ pɛk ] | Packs |
| ฟอง | [ fɔːŋ ] | Eggs |
| ม วน | [ muan ] | Rolls: toilet paper, video and cassette tapes, cigarettes, film |
| มื้อ | [ mɨ́ː ] | Meals |
| เม็ด | [ mèt ] | very small objects (candies, pills) |
| รอบ | [ rɔ̂ːp ] | Anniversaries, theatrical performances, cycles, revolutions |
| รูป | [ rûːp ] | simple monks, statues |
| เรื่อง | [ rɨ̂aŋ ] | Films (feature films) |
| เรือน | [ rɨan ] | Clocks |
| โรง | [ roːŋ ] | Hotels, schools |
| ลำ | [ lam ] | Boats, planes |
| ลูก | [ lûːk ] | round objects: eggs, fruits, coconuts; Mountains, keys |
| เล่ม | [ lêm ] | Books, knives |
| วง | [ woŋ ] | Rings |
| วัด | [ wát ] | Wats (temple) |
| สาย | [ sǎːi ] | Rivers, roads |
| เส้น | [ sên ] | linear objects: belts, strands of hair, necklaces, pasta, streets |
| หลอด | [ lɔ̀ːt ] | Spools of thread, tubes |
| หลัง | [ lǎŋ ] | Buildings, houses |
| หวี | [ wǐ ] | Bananas, tufts ("comb") |
| ห่อ | [ hɔ̀ː ] | wrapped packages |
| ห้อง | [ hɔːŋ ] | Rooms, rooms, school classes |
| หัว | [ hǔa ] | whole potatoes |
| แห่ง | [ hɛ̀ŋ ] | Locations, hotels, temples |
| แหล่ง | [ lɛ̀ŋ ] | Locations |
| องค | [ ˀoŋ ] | Kings, Buddha statues, high-ranking monks |
| อัน | [ ˀan ] | universal counting word for objects (can always be used in case of doubt); Glasses, tools |
Special rules
In some cases, the count words are identical to the nouns they are supposed to denote, e.g. B. with bags ถุง [ tʰǔŋ ]. In such cases, the counting words can be omitted in informal conversations.
Example (words in brackets can be omitted):
- How many temples are there in Chiang Mai? = ที่ เชียงใหม่ มี (วัด) กี่ วัด [ tʰîː tɕʰiaŋmài miː (wát) kìː wát ]
- She / he sang many songs = เขา ร้อง (เพลง) หลาย เพลง แล้ว [ kʰǎu rɔ́ːŋ ( pʰleːŋ) lǎːi pʰleːŋ lɛ́ːu ]
See also
literature
- James Higbie; Snea Thinsan: Thai Reference Grammar: the structure of spoken Thai . Bangkok 2003 ISBN 974-8304965
- GB McFarland: Thai-English Dictionary . Stanford University Press, Stanford 1944, ISBN 0-8047-0383-3
- Josef Rohrer: Dictionary German-Thai . Windows on the World Publishing Co., Ltd., Bangkok, 2000. ISBN 3-89687-321-0