Nong Chang the baby elephant

Thai numbers: counting from 1 to 10 and beyond

Thai numbers are friendly: learn ten words and a couple of rules and you can count to ninety-nine. Each number below has its Thai digit, a spelling and a sound button.

Numbers 1 to 10

Tap the speaker to hear each word, or the turtle to hear it slowly.

Building bigger numbers

Most numbers are built like a sum. Twelve is “ten two”: สิบสอง (sìp-sɔ̌ɔng). Thirty is “three ten”: สามสิบ (sǎam-sìp). Forty-five is สี่สิบห้า (sìi-sìp-hâa).

There are two special rules. When a number ends in one after ten, you say เอ็ด (èt) instead of หนึ่ง: eleven is สิบเอ็ด (sìp-èt) and twenty-one is ยี่สิบเอ็ด (yîi-sìp-èt). And twenty is ยี่สิบ (yîi-sìp), not “two ten”.

Thai digits

Thailand uses the same 0 to 9 digits as English almost everywhere, including prices and phone numbers. You'll still see Thai digits (๐ ๑ ๒ ๓ ๔ ๕ ๖ ๗ ๘ ๙) on banknotes, temple signs, official documents and some menus, so they are worth recognising.

Ways to practise

Keep going with Nong Chang

These words come from our free Thai course for families: 6 levels of short lessons, audio for every word, speaking practice and a kids' mode.

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