Shangri LinguaHow to say “three” in Thai
สาม
/sǎːm/
สาม means three.
Pronunciation and usage
Tone: rising
Animals are counted with ตัว (dtua), which is also used for clothes and furniture. So three cats is แมวสามตัว, “cat three body”.
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
- ฉันมีแมวสามตัว
chǎn mee maew sǎam dtua/t͡ɕʰǎn miː mɛːw sǎːm tua/
I have three cats.
How it’s spelled
Thai is written in a fixed order, which isn’t always the order you hear. Here’s each letter of สาม in the order you’d write it.
- ส
“s” starts the word.
so suea, from เสือ (tiger)High class
Like ล, with a flick at the top.
- า
The vowel “long a”. Written after the consonant.
sara aa
A hook over the top and a straight drop down.
- ม
“m” ends the word.
mo ma, from ม้า (horse)Low class
A loop at the top left, a second loop at the bottom left, and a W-shaped base. Compare น.
Why the tone is rising
- It starts with ส, which is high class.
- There’s no tone mark, so the kind of syllable decides.
- It ends in “m”, a sound you can hold, so the syllable is live.
- 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 สาม 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 numbers
Browse all Thai vocabulary.