How to say To be sick in Thai
To be sick in Thai is ป่วย (bpùay)
ป่วย
bpùay
To be sick; Ill
Tap the word to hear it. That's real premium audio from the HearThai Academy library — the same audio the app teaches with.
Why ป่วย sounds the way it does
Thai tone isn't random — it's produced by four things working together in each syllable: the initial consonant's class, the vowel's length, whether the syllable ends live or dead, and any tone mark. Read the row, get the tone.
| Syllable | Class | Vowel | Ending | Mark | Tone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ป่วย | MID | LONG | LIVE | ◌่mai ek | LOW |
ป่วย in a sentence
เขาทำงานไม่ได้เพราะกำลังป่วย
He cannot work because he is currently sick.
Common questions
How do you say to be sick in Thai?
To be sick in Thai is ป่วย, pronounced bpùay. Play the audio above to hear it spoken by a premium Thai voice — the tones are the part that spelling can't teach you.
What tones does ป่วย use?
ป่วย has 1 syllable: ป่วย (bpùay) is low tone.
Is the romanization bpùay enough to pronounce it?
No — and this is the trap most learners fall into. Romanization shows you the letters, not the pitch shape your voice has to make. Thai speakers hear the tone first. Use the spelling to recognize the word, and use the audio to learn it.
The short version
- ป่วย (bpùay) means to be sick.
- It has 1 syllable, carrying the low tone.
- Its tone comes from the consonant class, vowel length, live/dead ending and tone mark — not from memorizing it word by word.
- Reading the romanization is not the same as hearing it. Play the clip until you can say it back without looking.
- One word is a start. Thai fluency is an ear that recognizes thousands — which is what HearThai Academy trains.
That's one word.
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