Shangri LinguaHow to say “grow” in Thai
โต
/toː/
โต means to grow, big.
Pronunciation and usage
Tone: mid
This means to grow up, and also to be big. โตแล้ว (dtoh láew), “grown already”, is how you’d say someone is an adult now.
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
- ลูกของฉันโตแล้ว
lôok kǒng chǎn dtoh láew/lûːk kʰɔ̌ːŋ t͡ɕʰǎn toː lɛ́ːw/
My child has grown up.
How it’s spelled
Thai is written in a fixed order, which isn’t always the order you hear. Here’s each letter of โต in the order you’d write it.
- โ
The vowel “oh”. Written first, but heard after the consonant.
sara o
Tall, with a curved flag on top.
- ต
“dt” starts the word.
to tao, from เต่า (turtle)Mid class
Same body as ด, with a notch in the top.
Why the tone is mid
- It starts with ต, 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 โต 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 size and length
Browse all Thai vocabulary.