Shangri Lingua

How to say “will” in Thai

จะ

jà

/t͡ɕàʔ/

จะ means will (future).

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: low

Thai verbs never change form for tense. Put this before a verb to show that something is going to happen.

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

  • พรุ่งนี้ฉันจะไปทำงาน

    prûng-née chǎn jà bpai tam-ngaan/prûŋ.níː t͡ɕʰǎn t͡ɕàʔ paj tʰam.ŋaːn/

    I will go to work tomorrow.

How it’s spelled

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

  • จ

    “j” starts the word.

    cho chan, from จาน (plate)Mid class

    Arches over the top and down the right, then curls back to a loop in the middle.

  • ะ

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

    sara a

    Two small curls, one stacked on the other.

Why the tone is low

  1. It starts with จ, which is mid class.
  2. There’s no tone mark, so the kind of syllable decides.
  3. It ends on a short vowel, which stops short, so the syllable is dead.
  4. Mid class and dead gives a low tone.

New to consonant classes and live or dead syllables? See how Thai tones work.

Learn to write it

The Shangri Lingua app teaches จะ 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.