Shangri LinguaHow to say “sour” in Thai
เปรี้ยว
/prîaw/
เปรี้ยว means sour.
Pronunciation and usage
Tone: falling
The spelling has an r, but it often drops out in casual speech, so you’ll also hear bpîao.
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
- เปรี้ยวมาก
bprîao mâak/prîaw mâːk/
Very sour.
- ไม่เปรี้ยว
mâi bprîao/mâj prîaw/
Not sour.
How it’s spelled
Thai is written in a fixed order, which isn’t always the order you hear. Here’s each letter of เปรี้ยว in the order you’d write it.
- เ
Part of the vowel “ia”. Written first, but heard after the consonants.
sara e
One tall stroke with a small loop at the bottom. Compare แ.
- ป
“bp” starts the word.
po pla, from ปลา (fish)Mid class
Same as บ, but the right side rises tall.
- ร
“r” joins the ป, so the word starts “bpr”.
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.
- ี
Together with เ and ย, this makes the vowel “ia”.
sara ii
Like sara i, with a small stroke on the right.
- ้
Mai tho, a tone mark. It goes above the consonant, on top of the vowel already there.
mai tho
A small curve, like a tiny 2.
- ย
Part of the vowel “ia”.
yo yak, from ยักษ์ (giant)Low class
A loop at the top, an S-curve down the left, and a flat base.
- ว
“w” ends the word.
wo waen, from แหวน (ring)Low class
A small arch curling over to the right, with a loop at the lower left.
Why the tone is falling
- It starts with ป, which is mid class.
- 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 has a Thai writing course that teaches every letter in this word. You write 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 tastes
Learn these words together in the lesson Have you eaten yet?, or browse all Thai vocabulary.