How to Read Numbers in Thai: Counting, Prices, and Phone Numbers

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Number

Number	Thai	Read
1	หนึ่ง	nung
2	สอง	song
3	สาม	saam
4	สี่	sii
5	ห้า	haa
6	หก	hok
7	เจ็ด	jed
8	แปด	paed
9	เก้า	kaao
10	สิบ	sib

Listen:

Number	Thai	Read
11	สิบเอ็ด	sib ed
12	สิบสอง	sib song
13	สิบสาม	sib saam
14	สิบสี่	sib sii
15	สิบห้า	sib haa
16	สิบหก	sib hok
17	สิบเจ็ด	sib jed
18	สิบแปด	sib paed
19	สิบเก้า	sib kaao
20	ยี่สิบ	yii sib

Listen:

Number	Thai	Read
21	ยี่สิบเอ็ด	yii sib ed
30	สามสิบ	saam sib
31	สามสิบเอ็ด	saam sib ed
40	สี่สิบ	sii sib
41	สี่สิบเอ็ด	sii sib ed
50	ห้าสิบ	haa sib
51	ห้าสิบเอ็ด	haa sib ed

Listen:

Number	Thai	Read
100	หนึ่งร้อย	nung rooi
1,000	หนึ่งพัน	nung phan
10,000	หนึ่งหมื่น	nung muun
100,000	หนึ่งแสน	nung saen
1,000,000	หนึ่งล้าน	nung laan
10,000,000	สิบล้าน	sib laan
100,000,000	หนึ่งร้อยล้าน	nung rooi laan
1,000,000,000	หนึ่งพันล้าน	nung phan laan

Listen:

Ordinal Numbers in Thai

The numbers above are cardinal numbers, the ones you use to count. Thai also has ordinal numbers, for saying “first,” “second,” “third,” and so on. Ordinals in Thai are simple: put ที่ (thii) in front of the cardinal number you already know.

Ordinal	Thai	Read
1st	ที่หนึ่ง	thii nung
2nd	ที่สอง	thii song
3rd	ที่สาม	thii saam
4th	ที่สี่	thii sii
5th	ที่ห้า	thii haa
6th	ที่หก	thii hok
7th	ที่เจ็ด	thii jed
8th	ที่แปด	thii paed
9th	ที่เก้า	thii kaao
10th	ที่สิบ	thii sib

You’ll see ที่ used this way on floor numbers, room numbers, and rankings, for example “ห้องที่สาม” (hong thii saam), room three.

There’s one exception. For “the first,” Thai often uses แรก (raek) instead of ที่หนึ่ง, especially with time-related words. “ครั้งแรก” (khrang raek) means “the first time,” and “วันแรก” (wan raek) means “the first day.” Use ที่หนึ่ง for rankings and positions in a sequence, and แรก when you mean the first occurrence of something.

Ordinal-style counting also comes up when Thais talk about dates and calendar months. For the full system of days, months, and years, see Basic Thai Vocabularies: How to Call Day, Month and Year in Thai.

Thai Number Classifiers You’ll Actually Use

In English, you can say “two cats” and stop there. In Thai, counting a noun needs a third word called a classifier, and the word order flips: noun, then number, then classifier. “Two cats” becomes “แมวสองตัว” (maeo song tua), literally “cat two [animal classifier].”

Every noun has a classifier that goes with it, and the classifier usually matches the shape or category of the thing you’re counting. Here are the ones you’ll run into most often as a beginner.

Classifier	Read	Used for	Example
คน	khon	People	คนสองคน (khon song khon) = two people
ตัว	tua	Animals, clothing, furniture	แมวสองตัว (maeo song tua) = two cats
ใบ	bai	Bags, tickets, flat or hollow objects	กระเป๋าสองใบ (krapao song bai) = two bags
ชิ้น	chin	General pieces or items	เค้กสองชิ้น (kek song chin) = two pieces of cake
แก้ว	kaew	Glasses of a drink	น้ำสองแก้ว (naam song kaew) = two glasses of water
ขวด	khuad	Bottles	เบียร์สองขวด (bia song khuad) = two bottles of beer
อัน	an	General small objects when you don’t know the specific classifier	ของสองอัน (khong song an) = two things

If you forget the exact classifier for something, อัน is the safe fallback most Thai speakers will understand, even if it’s not the textbook-correct choice.

Money and Currency

Thai currency is called “baht”. There are both coins and banknotes in Thai baht.

There are 6 types of coins: 25 satang coin*, 50 satang coin*, 1 baht coin, 2 baht coin, 5 baht coin, 10 baht coin.

There are 5 types of banknotes: 20 baht banknote, 50 baht banknote, 100 baht banknote, 500 baht banknote and 1,000 baht banknote

*Satang works similarly to cents in dollars. 100 satangs are equal to 1 baht. However, this unit is too small right now, and it’s rarely seen in everyday life.

Example:

7.25 (jed baht yii sib haa sa tang)

= เจ็ดบาทยี่สิบห้าสตางค์

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= seven baht twenty-five satang

20.50  (yii sib baht haa sib sa tang)

= ยี่สิบบาทห้าสิบสตางค์

= Twenty baht fifty satang

351 (saam rooi haa sib ed baht)

= สามร้อยห้าสิบเอ็ดบาท

Three hundred fifty-one baht

4,600 (sii phan hok rooi baht)

= สี่พันหกร้อยบาท

= Four thousand six hundred baht

50,100 (haa muun nung rooi baht)

= ห้าหมื่นหนึ่งร้อยบาท

= Fifty thousand one hundred baht

790,000 (jed saen kaao muun baht)

= เจ็ดแสนเก้าหมื่นบาท

= seven hundred and ninety thousand baht

1,284,900 (nung laan song saen paed muun sii phan kaao rooi baht )

= หนึ่งล้านสองแสนแปดหมื่นสี่พันเก้าร้อยบาท

= One million two hundred and eighty-four thousand nine hundred baht

Saying Prices at the Market

Reading a number on a price tag is one skill. Asking for that number, and trying to talk it down, is another. These are the phrases you’ll actually use at a market stall or a street food cart.

• Asking the price. อันนี้ราคาเท่าไหร่ (an nii raakhaa thao rai) = “How much is this?”
• Saying it’s too expensive. แพงไป (phaeng pai) = “Too expensive.”
• Asking for a discount. ลดหน่อยได้ไหม (lot noi dai mai) = “Can you lower it a bit?”
• Asking for something cheaper. ถูกกว่านี้มีไหม (thuuk kwaa nii mii mai) = “Do you have anything cheaper than this?”

Add ครับ (khrap) to the end of a sentence if you’re a man, or ค่ะ (kha) if you’re a woman. It’s a small politeness marker, but it makes a real difference in how a bargaining exchange comes across.

Bargaining is normal at markets and with street vendors, but it isn’t expected at malls, convenience stores, or restaurants with printed menus, where prices are fixed. For more everyday phrases beyond numbers, see Basic Thai Phrases for Everyday Use.

Read Phone Number in Thai

When it comes to reading phone number in Thai, you can read it straightaway without having to read “-“. Let’s take this phone number “02-321-4589” as an example.

It’s read as ศูนย์-สอง-สาม-สอง-หนึ่ง-สี่-ห้า-แปด-เก้า (suun-song-saam-song-nung-sii-haa-paed-kaao)

Remark: The number “02” is used for landline numbers only.

Read House Number in Thai

When it comes to reading a house number, you need to read “/” (thab) as well.

For example, if the house number is 403/250, it’s read as สี่-ศูนย์-สาม-ทับ-สอง-ห้า-ศูนย์ (sii-suun-saam-thab-song-haa-suun)

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the questions learners ask most often about reading Thai numbers and money.

How do you count from 1 to 10 in Thai?

The numbers 1 to 10 are nung (1, หนึ่ง), song (2, สอง), saam (3, สาม), sii (4, สี่), haa (5, ห้า), hok (6, หก), jed (7, เจ็ด), paed (8, แปด), kaao (9, เก้า), and sib (10, สิบ). From 11 onward, Thai just combines sib (ten) with the unit digit, so 11 is sib ed (สิบเอ็ด) and 12 is sib song (สิบสอง).

How do you say a price in Thai baht?

Say the number, then add baht (บาท). For example, 351 baht is saam rooi haa sib ed baht (สามร้อยห้าสิบเอ็ดบาท). If there is a decimal amount, it is satang (สตางค์): 7.25 baht is jed baht yii sib haa sa tang (เจ็ดบาทยี่สิบห้าสตางค์).

Why is the number 1 sometimes read as “ed” instead of “nung”?

Nung (หนึ่ง) is the normal word for 1, but when 1 lands in the final (units) digit of a longer number, such as 11, 21, or 51, that trailing 1 is read as ed (เอ็ด) instead. That is why 51 is haa sib ed, not haa sib nung.

What is satang, and how does it relate to baht?

Satang (สตางค์) is Thailand’s minor currency unit, similar to cents against a dollar: 100 satang equal 1 baht. In practice, satang coins are rarely used or seen today, though they are still technically legal tender.

How do you read a Thai phone number out loud?

Each digit is read individually, and the dashes are skipped. For 02-321-4589, you would say suun-song-saam-song-nung-sii-haa-paed-kaao (ศูนย์-สอง-สาม-สอง-หนึ่ง-สี่-ห้า-แปด-เก้า). The 02 prefix specifically marks a landline number.

How do you read a Thai house number that has a slash in it?

Read each digit in order and say thab (ทับ) for the slash. House number 403/250 is read sii-suun-saam-thab-song-haa-suun (สี่-ศูนย์-สาม-ทับ-สอง-ห้า-ศูนย์).

How do you say large numbers like 100,000 or 1,000,000 in Thai?

Thai has dedicated words for each order of magnitude: muun (หมื่น) for 10,000, saen (แสน) for 100,000, and laan (ล้าน) for 1,000,000. So 790,000 is jed saen kaao muun (เจ็ดแสนเก้าหมื่น), and 1,000,000 is nung laan (หนึ่งล้าน).

Does this lesson cover Thai’s own number script, or just how to say numbers?

This lesson covers how to pronounce ordinary Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3…) in spoken Thai, using the romanized reading and Thai script for each number word. It does not cover Thailand’s separate native numeral characters (๑ ๒ ๓…), which is a different topic.

How do you say ordinal numbers like “first” or “second” in Thai?

Put ที่ (thii) in front of the cardinal number: ที่หนึ่ง (thii nung) is first, ที่สอง (thii song) is second, and ที่สาม (thii saam) is third. The exception is “the first,” which often uses แรก (raek) instead, as in ครั้งแรก (khrang raek), “the first time.”

What is a Thai classifier, and why do I need one to count things?

A classifier is a word Thai grammar requires when you count a noun, similar to saying “two sheets of paper” in English instead of just “two papers.” The word order is noun, number, then classifier, for example แมวสองตัว (maeo song tua), “two cats.” Different classifiers apply to different categories of nouns, such as ตัว for animals or แก้ว for glasses of a drink.

How do you ask for a discount in Thai?

The most common phrase is ลดหน่อยได้ไหม (lot noi dai mai), “Can you lower it a bit?” Add ครับ if you’re a man or ค่ะ if you’re a woman at the end to sound polite. Bargaining is normal at markets and with street vendors, but not at fixed-price stores or restaurants.

What to Read Next

• 100 Basic Thai Words for Beginners
• A List of 3000 Most Common Thai Words
• How to Read Number, Money, Phone Number, and House Number in Thai
• Basic Thai Phrases for Everyday Use
• 325 Common Thai Phrases with Pronunciation and Audio
• Basic Thai Vocabularies: How to Call Day, Month and Year in Thai