Home and daily lifeMovie in Thai
“Movie” in Thai is หนังnǎng; you'll also hear ภาพยนตร์pâap-pá-yon (formal).
film, movie; skin, leather noun
- nǎng rising
- Rising: start low, dip, then rise to the top, like a doubtful “Really?”
Classifier: เรื่องrûeang · story; matter, topic (about …)
film (formal) noun
- pâap falling
- pá high
- yon mid
- Falling: start high and drop clearly, like a firm “No!”
- High: start high and go a little higher, a bit tense; don’t let it fall.
How to use it
Thais say หนังnǎng: ดูหนังduu nǎng is to watch a film, and a cinema is โรงหนังroong-nǎng. The word also means skin or leather, and the old shadow-puppet theatre of the South, played with leather puppets, is หนังตะลุงnǎng dtà-lung. Posters and the news use the formal ภาพยนตร์pâap-pá-yon. Films are counted with เรื่องrûeang, "story".
Mind the tone: หนังnǎng rises, while นั่งnâng, to sit, falls.
Don't mix it up
-
นั่งnâng
to sit
Falling tone: to sit.
Other spellings you'll see
There's no single official way to write Thai in English letters. We mark the tone of every syllable; online you'll also find:
- nung
- naang
- phapphayon
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Written by the Learn Thai For Free team
Audio: AI voices, quality-checked for tones