Shangri LinguaHow to say “crow” in Thai
กา
/kaː/
กา means crow, kettle.
Pronunciation and usage
Tone: mid
The same word means a crow and a kettle. Saying กาน้ำ (gaa náam), “water kettle”, makes it clear which you mean.
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
- กาบินสูงมาก
gaa bin sǒong mâak/kaː bin sǔːŋ mâːk/
The crow flies very high.
How it’s spelled
Thai is written in a fixed order, which isn’t always the order you hear. Here’s each letter of กา in the order you’d write it.
- ก
“g” starts the word.
ko kai, from ไก่ (chicken)Mid class
No loop at all: a beak at the top left and two legs. Compare ภ and ถ, which add a loop.
- 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 mid
- It starts with ก, which is mid class.
- There’s no tone mark, so the kind of syllable decides.
- It ends on a long vowel, which you can hold, so the syllable is live.
- Mid class and live gives a mid tone.
New to consonant classes and live or dead syllables? See how Thai tones work.
Learn to write it
The Shangri Lingua app teaches กา 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 animals
- แมว
maew/mɛːw/
- หมา
mǎa/mǎː/
- ช้าง
cháang/t͡ɕʰáːŋ/
- ม้า
máa/máː/
- ปู
bpoo/puː/
- งู
ngoo/ŋuː/
Browse all Thai vocabulary.