Sawasdee kha! Welcome to RL’s language classes! Today, we’re going to do some basic math – let’s learn to count in Thai!

Knowing how to count in Thai can be very handy when you visit a local market or a grocery shop. And even when a vendor understands English, they would appreciate the customer being able to use Thai numbers.

The good news is that counting in Thai is really simple, as the Thai numerals follow the same Hindu-Arabic system used in the West. All you need is to learn the names of the digits. If you have studied any Chinese martial art, you may already be familiar with some of the words!

Let’s go from zero to ten right now:

0 – Soon;
1 – Nueng;
2 – Song;
3 – Sam;
4 – See;
5 – Ha;
6 – Hock;
7 – Chet;
8 – Pet;
9 – Gau;
10 – Sip.

Please note that the above is not the RTGS (Royal Thai General System of Transcription) but my own choice of corresponding English words which give you a better understanding of what exactly you are saying.

As per RTGS, the Thai word for zero is spelled as “sun” while three is spelled as “sam,” which can mislead a native English speaker.

Numbers from 11 to 99 are no big deal either, as they are formed by first saying how many tens you mean, and then adding the required number of ones:

13 – Sip sam (“ten + three”);
30 – Sam sip (“three tens”);
40 – See sip (“four tens”);
55 – Ha sip ha (“five tens + five”);
69 – Hock sip gau (“six tens + nine”).

Please note that Thais use an archaic version of 1 in anything from 11 up (“et” instead of “neung”) and an archaic version of 20 (“yi sip” instead of “song sip”), so:

11 – Sip et (“ten, one”);
31 – Sam sip et (“three tens + one”);
20 – Yi sip (“pair of tens”);
21 – Yi sip et (“pair of tens + one”).

All you need to count from 100 to 999 and further is knowing the words for bigger numerals – “roi” for hundred, “phan” for thousand, and “lan” for million. Here you go:

100 – Nueng roi (“one hundreds”);
200 – Song roi (“two hundreds”);
330 – Sam roi sam sip (“three hundreds, three tens”);
441 – See roi see sip et (“four hundreds, four tens + one”);
5555 – Ha phan ha roi ha sip ha (“five thousands, five hundreds, five tens and five”).

Now that you’re all prepared, don’t miss your next opportunity to practice your numbers at a local market! Or impress a Tops cashier by answering her standard English question in Thai:

– Do you have The One Card?
– Mee kha. Soon gau gau, song song sam, sam song chet…