Shangri LinguaHow to say “buy” in Thai
ซื้อ
/sɯ́ː/
ซื้อ means to buy.
Pronunciation and usage
Tone: high
ซื้อของ (súe kǒng), “buy things”, means to go shopping. The opposite, to sell, is ขาย (kǎai).
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
- แม่ไปซื้อผักที่ตลาด
mâe bpai súe pàk têe dtà-làat/mɛ̂ː paj sɯ́ː pʰàk tʰîː tà.làːt/
My mother went to buy vegetables at the market.
How it’s spelled
Thai is written in a fixed order, which isn’t always the order you hear. Here’s each letter of ซื้อ in the order you’d write it.
- ซ
“s” starts the word.
so so, from โซ่ (chain)Low class
Like ช with a zigzag in the loop.
- ื
The vowel “long ue”. Sits on top of the consonant.
sara uee
Like sara i, with two small strokes on the right.
- ้
Mai tho, a tone mark. It goes above the consonant, on top of the vowel already there.
mai tho
A small curve, like a tiny 2.
- อ
Not heard. With no final consonant, this vowel takes a silent อ after it.
o ang, from อ่าง (basin)Mid class
A closed egg shape with a small head inside at the top. Carries a vowel when a syllable starts with one.
Why the tone is high
- It starts with ซ, which is low class.
- It has mai tho. Low class with mai tho gives a high 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 ซื้อ 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 shopping and money
- บาท
bàat/bàːt/
- เงิน
ngoen/ŋɤn/
- ถูก
tòok/tʰùːk/
- ร้าน
ráan/ráːn/
Browse all Thai vocabulary.