Shangri Lingua

How to say “work” in Thai

งาน

ngaan

/ŋaːn/

งาน means work, job, event.

Pronunciation and usage

Tone: mid

This means work, but also an event or party. ทำงาน (tam-ngaan), “do work”, is the verb “to work”.

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

  • วันนี้ฉันมีงานเยอะ

    wan-née chǎn mee ngaan yóe/wan.níː t͡ɕʰǎn miː ŋaːn jɤ́ʔ/

    I have a lot of work today.

How it’s spelled

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

  • ง

    “ng” starts 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.

  • า

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

    sara aa

    A hook over the top and a straight drop down.

  • น

    “n” ends the word.

    no nu, from หนู (mouse)Low class

    A loop at the top left, ending in a small loop at the bottom right. Compare ม.

Why the tone is mid

  1. It starts with ง, which is low class.
  2. There’s no tone mark, so the kind of syllable decides.
  3. It ends in “n”, a sound you can hold, so the syllable is live.
  4. Low class and live gives a mid tone.

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

Learn to write it

The Shangri Lingua app teaches งาน 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.