Shangri Lingua

How to say “go” in Thai

ไป

bpai

/paj/

ไป means to go.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: mid

ไปไหน (bpai nǎi), “where are you going?”, is a casual greeting. Like “have you eaten yet?”, it doesn’t need a detailed answer.

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

  • ฉันจะไปตลาด

    chǎn jà bpai dtà-làat/t͡ɕʰǎn t͡ɕàʔ paj tà.làːt/

    I will go to 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 ไป in the order you’d write it.

  • ไ

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

    sara ai mai malai

    Tall, with a wave across the top. Compare ใ.

  • ป

    “bp” starts the word.

    po pla, from ปลา (fish)Mid class

    Same as บ, but the right side rises tall.

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 vowel that always counts as 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 ไป 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 getting around

Browse all Thai vocabulary.