Shangri Lingua

How to say “rice field” in Thai

นา

naa

/naː/

นา means rice field.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: mid

ทำนา (tam naa), “do field”, is the verb for growing rice, and ชาวนา (chaao naa) is a rice farmer.

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

  • พ่อทำนาทุกปี

    pôr tam naa túk bpee/pʰɔ̂ː tʰam naː tʰúk piː/

    My father farms the rice fields every year.

How it’s spelled

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

  • น

    “n” starts 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.

  • า

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

    sara aa

    A hook over the top and a straight drop down.

Why the tone is mid

  1. It starts with น, which is low class.
  2. There’s no tone mark, so the kind of syllable decides.
  3. It ends on a long vowel, which you can hold, so the syllable is live.
  4. Low 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 นา 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.

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