Shangri Lingua

How to say “I” in Thai

ฉัน

chǎn

/t͡ɕʰǎn/

ฉัน means I, me.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: rising

This is the “I” most women use, while men usually say ผม (pǒm). It’s also what you’ll see written in songs and textbooks, whoever is speaking.

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

  • ฉันรักเมืองไทย

    chǎn rák meuang tai/t͡ɕʰǎn rák mɯaŋ tʰaj/

    I love Thailand.

How it’s spelled

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

  • ฉ

    “ch” starts the word.

    cho ching, from ฉิ่ง (cymbals)High class

    Arches over from a loop on the left, with a second loop at the bottom right.

  •  ั

    The vowel “short a”. Sits on top, when a final consonant follows, as in รัก.

    mai han akat

    A small loop with a stroke rising to the right.

  • 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.

By the rules this has a rising tone, but in everyday speech people usually say chán, with a high tone.

Why the tone is rising

  1. It starts with ฉ, which is high class.
  2. There’s no tone mark, so the kind of syllable decides.
  3. It ends in “n”, a sound you can hold, so the syllable is live.
  4. High class and live gives a rising tone.

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

Learn to write it

The Shangri Lingua app teaches ฉัน 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 people and family

Browse all Thai vocabulary.