Shangri Lingua

How to say “fish” in Thai

ปลา

bplaa

/plaː/

ปลา means fish.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: mid

Menus usually spell it pla. You’ll also find it in fish sauce, náam bplaa, literally “fish water”.

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

  • ปลาทอด

    bplaa tôt/plaː tʰɔ̂ːt/

    Fried fish.

  • น้ำปลา

    náam bplaa/náːm plaː/

    Fish sauce.

  • แม่ซื้อปลาสองตัว

    mâe súe bplaa sǒng dtua/mɛ̂ː sɯ́ː plaː sɔ̌ːŋ tua/

    My mother bought two fish.

How it’s spelled

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

  • ล

    “l” joins the ป, so the word starts “bpl”.

    lo ling, from ลิง (monkey)Low class

    An arch with a loop at the foot on the left. Compare ส.

  • 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

  1. It starts with ป, which is mid class.
  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. 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 ปลา 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 meats

Learn these words together in the lesson Have you eaten yet?, or browse all Thai vocabulary.