Shangri Lingua

How to say “good” in Thai

ดี

dee

/diː/

ดี means good.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: mid

It builds many everyday expressions: สบายดี (sà-baai dee) means “I’m well”, and ใจดี (jai dee), “good heart”, means kind.

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

  • วันนี้อากาศดี

    wan-née aa-gàat dee/wan.níː ʔaː.kàːt diː/

    The weather is good today.

How it’s spelled

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

  • ด

    “d” starts the word.

    do dek, from เด็ก (child)Mid class

    A rounded top, with the line curling back inside at the top left. Compare ต.

  •  ี

    The vowel “long i”. Sits on top of the consonant.

    sara ii

    Like sara i, with a small stroke on the right.

Why the tone is mid

  1. It starts with ด, 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 ดี 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 likes and feelings

Browse all Thai vocabulary.