Shangri Lingua

How to say “big” in Thai

ใหญ่

yài

/jàj/

ใหญ่ means big.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: low

Like other Thai adjectives, it comes after the noun: บ้านใหญ่ (bâan yài), “house big”, is a big house.

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

  • บ้านหลังนี้ใหญ่มาก

    bâan lǎng née yài mâak/bâːn lǎŋ níː jàj mâːk/

    This house is very big.

How it’s spelled

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

  • ใ

    The vowel “ai”. Written first, but heard after the consonant.

    sara ai mai muan

    Tall, with a loop curling inside the top. Compare ไ.

  • ห

    Silent, and written only to change the tone: it makes the next letter follow high class rules.

    ho hip, from หีบ (chest)High class

    Like ท, with a small extra loop at the top of the right leg. Also silently raises the letter after it.

  • ญ

    “y” is the sound that starts the word.

    yo ying, from หญิง (woman)Low class

    Wide, like ฌ, ending in a curved line underneath. Rare.

  •  ่

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

    mai ek

    A single short vertical stroke.

Why the tone is low

  1. The silent ห in front gives ญ high class rules.
  2. It has mai ek. High class with mai ek gives a low tone.

Mai ek doesn’t always mean one tone: it gives a low tone on mid and high class letters, and a falling 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 ใหญ่ 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 size and length

Browse all Thai vocabulary.