Shangri Lingua

How to say “very” in Thai

มาก

mâak

/mâːk/

มาก means very, a lot.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: falling

This comes after the word it strengthens, so “very good” is ดีมาก (dee mâak). In speech it’s often doubled for emphasis.

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

  • ขอบคุณมาก

    kòp-kun mâak/kʰɔ̀ːp.kʰun mâːk/

    Thank you very much.

How it’s spelled

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

  • ม

    “m” starts 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.

  • า

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

    sara aa

    A hook over the top and a straight drop down.

  • ก

    “k” ends the word.

    ko kai, from ไก่ (chicken)Mid class

    No loop at all: a beak at the top left and two legs. Compare ภ and ถ, which add a loop.

Why the tone is falling

  1. It starts with ม, which is low class.
  2. There’s no tone mark, so the kind of syllable decides.
  3. It ends in “k”, 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 มาก 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.