Shangri LinguaHow to say “two” in Thai
สอง
/sɔ̌ːŋ/
สอง means two.
Pronunciation and usage
Tone: rising
Numbers come after the noun, followed by a counting word: กาแฟสองแก้ว (gaa-fae sǒng gâew) is “coffee two glasses”. Twenty is irregular: ยี่สิบ (yêe-sìp).
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
- ขอกาแฟสองแก้ว
kǒr gaa-fae sǒng gâew/kʰɔ̌ː kaː.fɛː sɔ̌ːŋ kɛ̂ːw/
Two coffees, please.
How it’s spelled
Thai is written in a fixed order, which isn’t always the order you hear. Here’s each letter of สอง 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.
- อ
Here อ is the vowel, like the “aw” in “saw”.
o ang, from อ่าง (basin)Mid class
A closed egg shape with a small head inside at the top. Carries a vowel when a syllable starts with one.
- ง
“ng” ends the word.
ngo ngu, from งู (snake)Low class
Compact: a loop at the middle left, a line running down to the foot, then straight up the right.
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 “ng”, 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 สอง 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.