Thai Numbers 1 to 100: Digits, Words and How to Count

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The Thai numbers 1 to 10 are หนึ่ง (nùeng), สอง (sǒong), สาม (sǎam), สี่ (sìi), ห้า (hâa), หก (hòk), เจ็ด (jèt), แปด (pàet), เก้า (gâo) and สิบ (sìp). A hundred is ร้อย (rói). Every number up to 99 is built from those words, with two irregular forms: a final one is เอ็ด, and twenty is ยี่สิบ.

Thai also has its own number symbols, the digits ๑ ๒ ๓, though most of what you read day to day uses 1 2 3. This post gives the numbers in Thai digits, Thai words and romanization, then shows how tens and hundreds work, how to count things, and where you will actually meet the Thai digits.

Thai numbers 1 to 10: digits, words and pronunciation

Thai digits work exactly like ours: ten digits, the same place values, so ๑๐ is 10.

For pronunciation, the accents in the romanization draw the tone. Most of these numbers are on the low tone: 1, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 10. Zero, 2 and 3 are rising, and 5 and 9 are falling. Thai tones are part of the word, so it pays to learn each number with its tone from the start. Thai Tones Explained shows how the five tones sound.

The g in gâo and the p in pàet have no puff of air after them. That is the difference between these letters and kh or ph.

One you will see in a Thai chat: five is ห้า, so 555 reads “ha ha ha”. The more fives, the louder the laugh.

A note on spelling: our app romanizes สอง and สี่ in more than one way, and this post copies each form as the app has it. So you will see sǒong, sǒng and sǎwng for 2, and sìi and sèe for 4. The Thai is the same word each time.

Thai numbers 1 to 100: how the tens work

Thai numbers are built like sums. From 11 to 19, say ten and then the one:

The tens work the same way round. สามสิบ is “three-ten”, thirty. Say the number of tens, then สิบ:

To get any other number, say the ten and then the one, with nothing in between. A few that come up in the course:

That is the whole of 1 to 100. Once you know ten words and the two irregular forms below, you can say all of them.

The two irregular forms: เอ็ด and ยี่

A final one is เอ็ด (èt). Eleven is สิบเอ็ด (sìp-èt), not “ten-one”, and 21 is ยี่สิบเอ็ด (yîi-sìp-èt). The Royal Society of Thailand gives the rule for any number of two or more digits: if the last digit is 1, you say เอ็ด. So 31, 41 and the rest follow it, and so does 101, which it reads as ร้อยเอ็ด or หนึ่งร้อยเอ็ด.

Twenty is ยี่สิบ (yîi sìp). It is never “two-ten”. ยี่ is a separate word for two, and the Royal Institute dictionary lists it for this use. It stays inside bigger numbers, so 120 is ร้อยยี่สิบ (rói yîi sìp). Only the tens change: two hundred is plain สองร้อย (sǒong rói). So 21 uses both irregular forms, and the word-for-word สองสิบหนึ่ง is wrong.

Hundreds, thousands and beyond

Bigger numbers follow the same order, largest first. Prices are a good place to see it:

Notice the first three. “A hundred” can be หนึ่งร้อย or just ร้อย. The course uses both, and the Royal Society gives both for 101, so listen for ร้อย at the start of a price.

After a thousand, Thai has words that English lacks. Ten thousand is one word, and so is a hundred thousand:

The course uses ล้าน for a province of more than a million people: หนึ่งล้านคน (nùeng láan khon).

How to count things in Thai

You cannot put a number straight in front of a noun. Thai says the thing, then the number, then a counting word called a classifier: หนังสือสามเล่ม (nǎng-sǔue sǎam lêm) is three books, and รถสองคัน (rót sǒong khan) is two cars. English does this now and then, in “two cups of tea” or “three sheets of paper”. Thai does it every time.

People take คน, books take เล่ม, and cars take คัน. If you do not know the right classifier, อัน (an) counts small things in general and will usually be understood: เอาสองอัน (ao sǎwng an), “I’ll take two”. หนึ่ง is the only number that may also follow the classifier: หนังสือเล่มหนึ่ง (nǎng-sǔue lêm nùeng) is “a book”.

To ask how many, put กี่ (gìi) in front of the classifier: เอากี่แก้วครับ (ao gìi gâew khráp), “How many glasses would you like?”. Ages work the same way, with ปี (pii), years, in the classifier’s place: อายุยี่สิบปี (aa-yú yîi sìp pii) is twenty years old.

Where you meet Thai digits

Everyday shops and phones use Western digits. The Thai digits ๐ ๑ ๒ ๓ ๔ ๕ ๖ ๗ ๘ ๙ turn up on official notices, temple signs and some price boards. These examples all come from the signs in the course:

บ. is short for baht. The last line has a second trap: official dates use the Buddhist Era, พ.ศ. (phaw-sǎw), which is 543 years ahead of the Western year, so 2026 is 2569. To read any of these, you need only the ten shapes in the chart at the top of this post.

Where Sawasdee comes in

In Sawasdee, our Thai app for iPhone, iPad and Android, the numbers are free to look up: under Script & reference there is a list from 0 to a million, with the Thai digit, the word and the romanization, and you can tap each one to hear it. The audio is text-to-speech, built into the app.

The lessons are part of the course. Unit 7, Numbers 0–100, has you read price tags at a market. Unit 36, Counting Things, teaches the classifiers. Unit 90, Reading Real Thai, is where the Thai digits come back, on signs and notices. Those units are part of Premium. The first five units of the 100 are free, including all 44 consonants and the five tones, and the prices above are put to work in How to Order Food in Thai.