Shangri Lingua

How to say “house” in Thai

บ้าน

bâan

/bâːn/

บ้าน means house, home.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: falling

This means a house and also home, so กลับบ้าน (glàp bâan) is “go home”. It starts many village names too, spelled “Ban” on maps.

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

  • บ้านของคุณอยู่ที่ไหน

    bâan kǒng kun yòo têe nǎi?/bâːn kʰɔ̌ːŋ kʰun jùː tʰîː nǎj/

    Where is your house?

How it’s spelled

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

  • บ

    “b” starts the word.

    bo baimai, from ใบไม้ (leaf)Mid class

    A loop at the top left, a flat base, and a right side that stops level. Compare ป.

  •  ้

    Mai tho, a tone mark. It goes above the consonant.

    mai tho

    A small curve, like a tiny 2.

  • า

    The vowel “long a”. Written after the consonant.

    sara aa

    A hook over the top and a straight drop down.

  • น

    “n” ends the word.

    no nu, from หนู (mouse)Low class

    A loop at the top left, ending in a small loop at the bottom right. Compare ม.

Why the tone is falling

  1. It starts with บ, which is mid class.
  2. It has mai tho. Mid class with mai tho gives a falling tone.

Mai tho doesn’t always mean one tone: it gives a falling tone on mid and high class letters, and a high tone on low class.

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

Learn to write it

The Shangri Lingua app teaches บ้าน 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 places and things

Browse all Thai vocabulary.