Thai Numbers
Thai numbers are one of the easiest parts of the language — a small, regular system with only two real irregularities. This page covers all of it: the Thai numerals, the words, how to pronounce them, and the two rules that catch every learner. Then you can drill it.
The Thai numerals
Thai has its own set of digits. In daily life Thailand mostly uses the Arabic numerals you already know, but the Thai ones still appear on temple signs, government documents, lottery tickets, and the dual-price boards at some tourist sites — where the Thai price is written in Thai numerals and the foreigner price in Arabic ones.
| Number | Thai numeral | Thai | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | ๐ | ศูนย์ | sǔun |
| 1 | ๑ | หนึ่ง | nèung |
| 2 | ๒ | สอง | sǎawng |
| 3 | ๓ | สาม | sǎam |
| 4 | ๔ | สี่ | sìi |
| 5 | ๕ | ห้า | hâa |
| 6 | ๖ | หก | hòk |
| 7 | ๗ | เจ็ด | jèt |
| 8 | ๘ | แปด | pàet |
| 9 | ๙ | เก้า | kâao |
They stack exactly like Arabic digits, so ๒๐ is 64 and ๒๐๐ is 640. If you can read the ten symbols above, you can read any Thai numeral.
Thai numbers 1–10
These ten words are the foundation. Every other number in the language is built from them.
| Number | Thai numeral | Thai | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ๑ | หนึ่ง | nèung |
| 2 | ๒ | สอง | sǎawng |
| 3 | ๓ | สาม | sǎam |
| 4 | ๔ | สี่ | sìi |
| 5 | ๕ | ห้า | hâa |
| 6 | ๖ | หก | hòk |
| 7 | ๗ | เจ็ด | jèt |
| 8 | ๘ | แปด | pàet |
| 9 | ๙ | เก้า | kâao |
| 10 | ๑๐ | สิบ | sìp |
Thai is tonal, and the marks above the vowels (à, á, â, ǎ) are tones, not stress. Romanisation can only get you close — two learners reading the same spelling out loud often produce different things. This is exactly why the drill plays audio rather than leaving you with the letters.
11–20, and the first rule
Tens are simple: สิบ (sìp) means ten, and you just add the unit after it. สิบสอง is 12, literally "ten two".
But one is different. When 1 lands in the units place of a bigger number, it stops being หนึ่ง (nèung) and becomes เอ็ด (èt). So 11 is สิบเอ็ด, never สิบหนึ่ง.
| Number | Thai numeral | Thai | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | ๑๑ | สิบเอ็ด | sìp èt |
| 12 | ๑๒ | สิบสอง | sìp sǎawng |
| 13 | ๑๓ | สิบสาม | sìp sǎam |
| 14 | ๑๔ | สิบสี่ | sìp sìi |
| 15 | ๑๕ | สิบห้า | sìp hâa |
| 16 | ๑๖ | สิบหก | sìp hòk |
| 17 | ๑๗ | สิบเจ็ด | sìp jèt |
| 18 | ๑๘ | สิบแปด | sìp pàet |
| 19 | ๑๙ | สิบเก้า | sìp kâao |
| 20 | ๒๐ | ยี่สิบ | yîi-sìp |
The tens, and the second rule
Every ten is just its digit plus สิบ: 30 is สามสิบ ("three ten"), 40 is สี่สิบ, and so on.
Except twenty. You would expect สองสิบ, but 2 in the tens place becomes ยี่ (yîi), giving ยี่สิบ. That form only exists here.
| Number | Thai numeral | Thai | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | ๑๐ | สิบ | sìp |
| 20 | ๒๐ | ยี่สิบ | yîi-sìp |
| 30 | ๓๐ | สามสิบ | sǎam-sìp |
| 40 | ๔๐ | สี่สิบ | sìi-sìp |
| 50 | ๕๐ | ห้าสิบ | hâa-sìp |
| 60 | ๖๐ | หกสิบ | hòk-sìp |
| 70 | ๗๐ | เจ็ดสิบ | jèt-sìp |
| 80 | ๘๐ | แปดสิบ | pàet-sìp |
| 90 | ๙๐ | เก้าสิบ | kâao-sìp |
| 100 | ๑๐๐ | หนึ่งร้อย | nèung-róoi |
1. A trailing 1 above ten is เอ็ด (èt), not หนึ่ง.
2. A 2 in the tens place is ยี่ (yîi), not สอง.
Learn those two and the rest is pure arithmetic.
Reading a table is not the same as recognising a number when someone says it at speed. That takes drilling.
Start drilling →21–99
Now it is mechanical: tens word, then units word. Both rules can appear in the same number — 21 is ยี่สิบเอ็ด, using both.
| Number | Thai numeral | Thai | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | ๒๑ | ยี่สิบเอ็ด | yîi-sìp èt |
| 22 | ๒๒ | ยี่สิบสอง | yîi-sìp sǎawng |
| 25 | ๒๕ | ยี่สิบห้า | yîi-sìp hâa |
| 29 | ๒๙ | ยี่สิบเก้า | yîi-sìp kâao |
| 31 | ๓๑ | สามสิบเอ็ด | sǎam-sìp èt |
| 42 | ๔๒ | สี่สิบสอง | sìi-sìp sǎawng |
| 55 | ๕๕ | ห้าสิบห้า | hâa-sìp hâa |
| 68 | ๖๘ | หกสิบแปด | hòk-sìp pàet |
| 71 | ๗๑ | เจ็ดสิบเอ็ด | jèt-sìp èt |
| 89 | ๘๙ | แปดสิบเก้า | pàet-sìp kâao |
| 99 | ๙๙ | เก้าสิบเก้า | kâao-sìp kâao |
Hundreds and thousands
Thai has a separate word for each place value, and you build numbers by naming each one in turn:
| Value | Thai | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | ร้อย | róoi |
| 1,000 | พัน | phan |
| 10,000 | หมื่น | mèun |
| 100,000 | แสน | sǎen |
| 1,000,000 | ล้าน | láan |
The one that surprises English speakers is that Thai has dedicated words for ten thousand (หมื่น) and a hundred thousand (แสน). English would say "twenty-five thousand"; Thai says "two หมื่น five พัน". You have to regroup the number in your head, and that is the thing that makes prices hard at speed.
| Number | Thai | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | หนึ่งร้อย | nèung-róoi |
| 101 | หนึ่งร้อยเอ็ด | nèung-róoi èt |
| 150 | หนึ่งร้อยห้าสิบ | nèung-róoi hâa-sìp |
| 555 | ห้าร้อยห้าสิบห้า | hâa-róoi hâa-sìp hâa |
| 1,000 | หนึ่งพัน | nèung-phan |
| 1,500 | หนึ่งพันห้าร้อย | nèung-phan hâa-róoi |
| 2,400 | สองพันสี่ร้อย | sǎawng-phan sìi-róoi |
| 25,000 | สองหมื่นห้าพัน | sǎawng-mèun hâa-phan |
| 100,000 | หนึ่งแสน | nèung-sǎen |
| 340,000 | สามแสนสี่หมื่น | sǎam-sǎen sìi-mèun |
Where this actually bites
Recognising a written number is the easy half. The hard half is hearing one at conversational speed, when nothing is written down:
- Prices. A market seller saying สองร้อยห้าสิบ (250) does not pause between the words.
- Taxi and tuk-tuk fares. Usually rounded hundreds, which is a small set worth over-drilling.
- Phone numbers. Read digit by digit, fast.
- Room and gate numbers, addresses, bus routes.
- Time. Thai has its own time-of-day system layered on top of the numbers.
Common mistakes
- Saying สิบหนึ่ง for 11. The single most common error. It is สิบเอ็ด.
- Saying สองสิบ for 20. It is ยี่สิบ.
- Freezing above a thousand because you are converting through English grouping instead of learning หมื่น and แสน directly.
- Learning to read but not to hear. You will meet these numbers spoken far more often than written.
How to actually learn them
Thai numbers are a small, closed, regular system — not thousands of separate facts. That makes them ideal for short bursts of retrieval practice: being tested, rather than reviewing. Combine that with spaced repetition, where the ones you keep missing come back sooner and the ones you know fade to occasional check-ins, and a few focused minutes a day is genuinely enough.
That is exactly what LekThai does. It shows you a number and asks you to say it, or plays one and asks you to type it — then tracks which ones you keep getting wrong and feeds them back to you more often.
Reading a table is not the same as recognising a number when someone says it at speed. That takes drilling.
Start drilling →Questions
Do I need to learn the Thai numerals?
Not urgently. Thailand uses Arabic numerals for most everyday purposes. Learning the ten Thai symbols takes about ten minutes though, and it pays off on temple signage, official documents, and the dual-price boards where the Thai price is written in Thai digits.
Are Thai numbers hard?
They are one of the easier parts of Thai. The system is completely regular apart from two exceptions (เอ็ด for a trailing 1, ยี่ for 2 in the tens). The difficulty is not the rules — it is recall speed when someone says a number at you.
Why is 11 not "ten one"?
A 1 in the units place of any number above ten becomes เอ็ด (èt). So 11 is สิบเอ็ด, 21 is ยี่สิบเอ็ด, and 101 is หนึ่งร้อยเอ็ด. Standalone 1 is still หนึ่ง.
What is หมื่น and แสน?
Ten thousand and one hundred thousand. Thai gives these their own words rather than building them from "thousand" like English does, so 25,000 is "two หมื่น five พัน". Regrouping on the fly is the main hurdle in prices and salaries.
How long does it take?
Most people can read and say 1–100 reliably within a few days of short daily sessions. Hearing them at natural speed takes longer — that is a recall speed problem, and the only fix is repetition under time pressure.
Is LekThai free?
Yes. It runs in your browser, needs no account, and stores progress only on your device. You can also add it to your home screen and use it offline.