Nouns

Thai nouns (คำนาม) are straightforward in form but carry a complex system of classifiers and quantification that learners must master. A noun in Thai never changes its ending to mark singular or plural. The same word serves for “book” and “books,” and listeners rely on context or additional words to know how many items are meant. For example, the word for “book” is
หนังสือ
and without any modifiers it could refer to one book or many books, depending on the surrounding sentence.

When you need to specify an exact number, Thai places the numeral before the noun and inserts a classifier between them. Classifiers (ลักษณนาม, láksà-náam) categorize nouns by shape, function, or inherent property. Each category of noun has its own classifier, and omitting it makes the phrase sound incomplete. To say “two books,” you combine the numeral, the classifier, and the noun:
สอง เล่ม หนังสือ

เล่ม is the classifier used for bound printed materials such as books or notebooks. If you tried to say simply สองหนังสือ, native speakers would feel something is missing.

Different types of objects use different classifiers. Flat objects like sheets of paper or plates take แผ่น, slender items like pens or trees take ด้าม, vehicles take คัน, and animals take ตัว. Thus, to say “three plates” or “five cats,” you use:
สาม แผ่น จาน
ห้า ตัว แมว

If quantity is understood or irrelevant, you may omit both numeral and classifier and rely purely on context. The word แมว alone could mean “cat” or “cats” in a general sense.

Thai nouns do not encode gender. The word คน always means “person,” regardless of male or female, and children and adults share the same word. To express “a person” you use the numeral and classifier construction:
หนึ่ง คน

หนึ่ง means “one” and คน is the classifier for people, yielding “one person,” which functions much like the English indefinite article “a person.”

Possession is simple. The thing possessed comes first, followed by the particle ของ (“of”), and then the possessor. For “my car,” you say:
รถ ของ ฉัน

Here รถ means “car,” ของ marks possession, and ฉัน is “I/me.”

Proper nouns—names of people, places, or organizations—follow the same rules. The name สมชาย remains unchanged for singular or plural reference; if you speak of the Somchai family collectively, you add ครอบครัว before the name:
ครอบครัว สมชาย

When listing two or more nouns, Thai uses กับ (“and”) between each pair. For “rice and curry,” you say:
ข้าว กับ แกง

For three items—“fish, shrimp, and pork”—you simply repeat กับ:
ปลา กับ กุ้ง กับ หมู

Because the core noun never morphs, mastering classifiers, numerals, and context cues allows you to express precise quantities, ownership, and lists with consistent, reliable patterns. Regular practice with everyday objects will help these structures become second nature.