Shangri LinguaHow to say “love” in Thai
รัก
/rák/
รัก means to love.
Pronunciation and usage
Tone: high
ฉันรักเธอ (chǎn rák toe) is “I love you”. Add น่า (nâa), “worth”, and you get น่ารัก (nâa rák), the everyday word for “cute”.
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
- ฉันรักแม่
chǎn rák mâe/t͡ɕʰǎn rák mɛ̂ː/
I love my mother.
How it’s spelled
Thai is written in a fixed order, which isn’t always the order you hear. Here’s each letter of รัก in the order you’d write it.
- ร
“r” starts the word.
ro ruea, from เรือ (boat)Low class
A wavy flag across the top, a drop down the right, and a small loop at the bottom.
- ั
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.
- ก
“k” ends the word.
ko kai, from ไก่ (chicken)Mid class
No loop at all: a beak at the top left and two legs. Compare ภ and ถ, which add a loop.
Why the tone is high
- It starts with ร, which is low class.
- There’s no tone mark, so the kind of syllable decides.
- It ends in “k”, a sound that stops short, so the syllable is dead.
- Low class and dead depends on the vowel too. This one is short, which gives a high tone.
New to consonant classes and live or dead syllables? See how Thai tones work.
Learn to write it
The Shangri Lingua app teaches รัก 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.