Shangri Lingua

How to say “aunt” in Thai

ป้า

bpâa

/pâː/

ป้า means aunt (older than your parent).

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: falling

This means an aunt older than your parent. It’s also a friendly way to address an older woman, such as someone running a food stall.

Reading the romanization: the mark over a vowel shows its tone. bp and dt are a p and a t with no puff of air, while plain p, t and k have the puff. The IPA shows the exact sounds, and Learn the IPA explains how to read it.

Examples

  • ป้าของฉันอยู่เชียงใหม่

    bpâa kǒng chǎn yòo chiang-mài/pâː kʰɔ̌ːŋ t͡ɕʰǎn jùː t͡ɕʰiaŋ.màj/

    My aunt lives in Chiang Mai.

How it’s spelled

Thai is written in a fixed order, which isn’t always the order you hear. Here’s each letter of ป้า in the order you’d write it.

  • ป

    “bp” starts the word.

    po pla, from ปลา (fish)Mid class

    Same as บ, but the right side rises tall.

  •  ้

    Mai tho, a tone mark. It goes above the consonant.

    mai tho

    A small curve, like a tiny 2.

  • า

    The vowel “long a”. Written after the consonant.

    sara aa

    A hook over the top and a straight drop down.

Why the tone is falling

  1. It starts with ป, which is mid class.
  2. It has mai tho. Mid class with mai tho gives a falling tone.

Mai tho doesn’t always mean one tone: it gives a falling tone on mid and high class letters, and a high tone on low class.

New to consonant classes and live or dead syllables? See how Thai tones work.

Learn to write it

The Shangri Lingua app teaches ป้า in its Thai writing course. You write the word one letter at a time, with your finger or Apple Pencil, and the app checks each letter and gives you more help if you get stuck. Get it on the App Store.

More people and family

Browse all Thai vocabulary.