Language/Thai/Grammar/Thai-Classifiers

Thai Classfifiers

To describe a specific number of a given noun, different classifiers are used.

This is quite difficult and takes a long time to remember. If you want to say two animals; สตวสองตว [sat song dtua]. You can’t say สองสตว [song sat] like you would in English, the amount needs to come after the noun.

So the structure is:

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NOUN+AMOUNT+CLASSIFIER.

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If you want to order three beers it would go like this; ขอเบยรสามขวด [khor bia saam khuat]. There are some groups that use the same classifiers e.g. round objects and fruits use both ลก [luuk].

Stay with me as I give you a list of the most used classifiers, and some rarely used:

ลก [luuk]

Used for fruits, round objects, bullets etc. กลวยหนงลก [gluay nueng luuk] (one banana), but if that is a whole bunch you need to use หว [wii] - กลวยหนงหว [gluay nueng wii].

ขวด [khuat]

Used for bottles (both glass and plastic).

อน [an]

Used in general for smaller objects. This is probably the first classifier you will learn, and many foreigners use it as a universal classifier for everything. That’s okay for a beginning, but learn the correct ones before อน becomes a bad, bad habit.

คน [kon]

Used for people/humans/friends etc.

ชน [chin]

Used for smaller objects, mainly food. เคกสองชน [kake song chin] (two pieces of cake).

ตว [dtua]

Used for animals, furniture, letters, numbers, pieces of clothes etc. เกาอสตว [gao-ii sii dtua] (four chairs). Let’s say you want to get ten fish at the market; เอาปลาสบตว [ao bplaa sib dtua], but if that fish has been made into sushi you would call it ชน [chin] because it is no longer a whole fish. The same goes for a steak etc.

ค [kuu]

Used for pairs e.g. shoes, earrings. NOT used for jeans nor socks. รองเทาคละเทาไหร [rong tao kuu la taorai] (how much for a pair of shoes?).

เลม [lem]

Used for books and magazines.

คน [kan]

Used for vehicles e.g. cars, motorcycles and bicycles etc.

เมด [met]! Used for pills, nuts, gems, and seeds in general. ตองการไทลนอลกเมด [dtong gaan Tylenol gii met] (how many Tylenol pills do you need?). Can also be used for drops/hard round pieces of candy.

ถง [tang]

Meaning tank (container)/bucket and are being used in relation to tanks (containers)/buckets e.g. ยกไดกถง [yok dai gii tang] (how many tanks (containers)/buckets can you lift/ carry?), where you simply answer; ยกไดสองถง [yok dai song tang] (I can lift/carry two tanks (containers)/buckets).

แผน [pan]

Used for pieces of paper, CD’s and other thin flat objects e.g. a thin cracker.

ผน [puen]

Used for bed sheets, blankets, towels, mats etc.

จาน [jan]

Used for plates.

ใบ [bai]

Used for slips of paper e.g. bills.

ฟอง [fong]

Used for eggs and bubbles.

ถง [tung] Used for bags and pouches.

แทง [taeng]

Used for pencils and longer bars. Here is อน [an] often used by foreigners, which is acceptable but not correct.

ดาม [daam]

Used for pens. Here is อน [an] often used by foreigners, which is acceptable but not correct.

เรอน [ruean]

Used for clocks and watches; นาฬกาสองเรอน [naa li gaa song ruean] (two watches/clocks).

ครง [krang]!

Used for occurrence number e.g. third time; ครงทสาม [krang thii saam]. And; กครง [gii krang] (how many times?)!

หน [hon]

Same as ครง [krang] though very formal. Never used in spoken language, but used in songs and poems. This is one of the classifiers rarely used. You probably will never use this one, but it is good to know the meaning.

เชอก [chueak]

Used for elephants. Even though an elephant is an animal they are not called ตว [dtua].

ผล [pon]!

Used for fruits, though very formal and is never used in spoken language. This is also one of the rarely used classifiers. For fruits use ลก [luuk]

Sources

https://www.thaiguide.dk/download/Straight-To-The-Point-Emil-Vohlert.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0yoUAagls_67jPH-dCdHquWbtiBEtGL7YJlwDBpBbCYdffvec2onbK3wg