Shangri Lingua

How to say “dog” in Thai

หมา

mǎa

/mǎː/

หมา means dog.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: rising

This is the everyday word. สุนัข (sù-nák) is the more polite one, and it’s what you’ll see on signs.

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

  • หมาตัวนี้ไม่กัด

    mǎa dtua née mâi gàt/mǎː tua níː mâj kàt/

    This dog doesn’t bite.

How it’s spelled

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

  • 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.

  • ม

    “m” is the sound that starts the word.

    mo ma, from ม้า (horse)Low class

    A loop at the top left, a second loop at the bottom left, and a W-shaped base. Compare น.

  • 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 rising

  1. The silent ห in front gives ม high class rules.
  2. There’s no tone mark, so the kind of syllable decides.
  3. It ends on a long vowel, which you can hold, so the syllable is live.
  4. High class and live gives a rising tone.

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

Learn to write it

The Shangri Lingua app teaches หมา 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.

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Browse all Thai vocabulary.