Shangri Lingua

How to say “picture” in Thai

ภาพ

pâap

/pʰâːp/

ภาพ means picture.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: falling

This is the slightly more formal word. In everyday speech you’ll also hear รูป (rôop).

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

  • ภาพนี้สวยมาก

    pâap née sǔai mâak/pʰâːp níː sǔaj mâːk/

    This picture is very beautiful.

How it’s spelled

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

  • ภ

    “p” starts the word.

    pho samphao, from สำเภา (sailing ship)Low class

    Like ก, with a loop outside the left foot. Compare ถ, whose loop is inside.

  • า

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

    sara aa

    A hook over the top and a straight drop down.

  • พ

    “p” ends the word.

    pho phan, from พาน (tray)Low class

    A loop outside the top of the stem, and a W that rises high. Compare ผ.

Why the tone is falling

  1. It starts with ภ, which is low class.
  2. There’s no tone mark, so the kind of syllable decides.
  3. It ends in “p”, a sound that stops short, so the syllable is dead.
  4. Low class and dead depends on the vowel too. This one is long, which gives a falling tone.

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

Learn to write it

The Shangri Lingua app teaches ภาพ 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 basic words

Browse all Thai vocabulary.