Learn Myanmar Language with Burmese Script, MP3 audio, PDF and unique grammar color-coding: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, particles, postpositional markers, interjections.

Naing Tinnyuntpu is no stranger to systematic and efficient approach. He came from manufacturing environment with Bachelor's and Master's in Industrial Engineering (USA).

His notable contributions to the semiconductor industry were the techniques recognized by Sematech as ‘Administrative Quality Best Practices’ during his process engineering days with now defunct IC chip making division of Hewlett-Packard in Singapore.

Born and raised in Yangon, he has lived in six countries and knowledgeable in unrelated areas including self-taught programming languages. His free online Burmese lessons serve as an effective communication bridge among tourists and growing numbers of foreign business managers with the Myanmar people.

Ordinal numbers are usually used up to the third. For example, to describe the floor levels in buildings, the first, second, and third are used. After the third, people usually say lay htut instead of za1-doat-hta1 htut. In school books, the 9th grade is called na1-wa1-ma1 dun3 meaning 9th grade, but in conversation, people usually say ko3-dun3 which means grade 9.

ORDINAL NUMBER TABLE
ENGLISH ↑↓	AUDIO ↑↓
1st - First	pa1-hta1-ma1
2nd - Second	du1-ti1-ya1
3rd - Third	tut-ti1-ya1
4th - Fourth	za1-doat-hta1
5th - Fifth	pyin2-sa1-ma1
6th - Sixth	hsut-hta1-ma1
7th - Seventh	thut-ta1-ma1
8th - Eighth	ut-hta1-ma1
9th - Ninth	na1-wa1-ma1
the 10th - tenth	dut-tha1-ma1

Zero, minus, decimal, fractional numbers, percentage % points & basic mathematical terms in Burmese

Burmese word for zero is thone2-nya1. In upper Myanmar, temperature in celsius could drop below zero at night in cool seasons. thone2-nya1 out means sub zero. a-pu2 chain2 means temperature. You can say a-pu2 chain2 thone2-nya1 out shi1 deare2 to mean the temperature is sub-zero.

If you want to be more precise, you can use a-hnoat| minus figures. a-hnoat hnit means minus 2. a-pu2 chain2 a-hnoat hnit shi1 deare2 means the temperature is minus 2 (-2°C).

Minus 2 in this case is the a-nain1-zone3 | the lowest temperature. a-myin1-zone3 | the highest temperature in the same region could reach above 95°F.

Decimal numbers are expressed digit by digit after point | dut-tha1-ma1. The word dut-tha1-ma1 also refers to the ordinal number tenth.

For example,

thone3-zeare1 -- 30+
lay3 -- 4
dut-tha1-ma1 -- point
thone3 -- 3
lay3 -- 4
nga3 -- 5

means 34.345.

Try to think in terms of piles | pone2 of items to remember the fractional numbers | a-pine3 ga1-nun3. Suppose you have four piles | lay3-pone2 of sugar, and you offer me 3 piles | thone3-pone2 out of 4, you are giving me lay3-pone2 thone3-pone2, or three quarter (¾).

What about proportions? If you divide a big pile into 15 piles, and give 5 people in the ratios of 5:4:3:2:1, the first person gets 5 piles and the last person only gets 1 pile. In Burmese, the ratio is called a-cho3.

So, hnit a-cho3 tit is 2 is to 1, 2 to 1 ratio, or (2:1).

You can use the above pone2 word to describe any fractional numbers. However, if you have two pone2 and given away one pone2, it is better to use the word ta1-wet, which means half | (½). ta1-wet ti1-ti1 means exactly half the amount. ta1-wet ni3-ba3 means almost half. ta1-wet kjau2 refers to over the half amount.

If you don't know the exact numbers, you can give approximate | khan1-hmun3-chay2 numbers. When you say, khan1-hmun3-chay2 ta1-htoun1, it means approximately 1,000 or 1000 plus-minus 10 (1000±10), which could go either way.

When you say the average life expectancy of male population is 65 in this town, you are referring to pfyan3-hmya1, which is the mean mu (μ) in normal bell-curve distribution.

When I start using strange Greek alphabets like α, β confidence levels, Χ Chi-Square distributions, arrival rate λ and so on, I am using a branch of mathematics known as kain3 ga1-nun3 | Statistics.

If I try to solve simultaneous equations with not so strange alphabets like 3X + 4Y + 5Z= 0, I need the knowledge of et-kha1-ya2 thin2 cha2, where et-kha1-ya2 means alphabet, and thin2-cha2 means math. So, Burmese word for Algebra is et-kha1-ya2 thin2-cha2. There is no Burmese word for Calculus though.

How about this? 1+1 = 10. Illogical? That's the logic behind the digital world, and ni3-pyin2-nya2, Information Technology (IT).

If the probability of rain within 24 hours is 60%, you say chout-hseare2 ya2-khine2-hnome3, where ya2-khine2-hnome3 means percentage.

Suppose the quality level of your production reaches six sigma (6σ), the defective level is very low, and you have achieved almost zero defect. In previous decades, customers were quite happy with

ko3-zeare1 nga3 -- 95
dut-tha1-ma1 -- point
nga3 -- 5
ya2-khine2-hnome3 -- percent

= (95.5%) quality level based on the sampling plan, but that is not good enough in this day of tough competition.

You can use the word ya2-khine2-hnome3 pyay1 to refer to 100%. This term is usually used to indicate the support that politicians hope to get from the people. pyay1 means "filled up" or "full amount".

What are the measure words? When you say "a glass of water", or "a cup of tea", "glass" and "cup" are measure words, also known as numerical classifiers. Burmese, just like the Chinese, has several of those measure words for different types of nouns (objects, concepts, people, and animals, etc.) that do not have English equivalents.

CLICK TABLE HEADER COLUMNS TO SORT BY ASCENDING OR DESCENDING ORDER OF ENGLISH OR ROMANIZATION.

List of Numerical Classifiers (Sortable)
ENGLISH ↑↓	AUDIO ↑↓
a person	lu2 ta1 yout
two persons	lu2 hna1 yout
30 comrades	yeare3-bau2 thone3 jate
a crowd of people	lu2 oat ta1 oat
a herd of cattle	nwa3 ta1 oat
a swarm of bees	pya3 ta1 oat
one animal	ta1-rate-hsun2 ta1 goun2
a dog	khway3 ta1 goun2
two dogs	khway3 hna1 koun2
a litter of puppies	khway3-tha3-pout ta1 oat
three birds	hnget thone3 goun2
four fishes	nga3 lay3 goun2
a shoal of fish	nga3 oat ta1 oat
a plane	lay2-yin2-pyan2 ta1 zi3
a boat; a ship	thin3-bau3 ta1 zi3
a bicycle	set-bain3 ta1 zi3
a car	ka3 ta1 zi3
a house	ain2 ta1 lone3
a tree	thit-pin2 ta1 bin2
a bundle of sticks	htin3 ta1 zi3
a bundle of mustard	mone2-hnyin3 ta1 zi3
a pair of shoes	pfa1-nut ta1 yan2
an umbrella	hti3 ta1 choun3
a shirt	ain3-ji2 ta1 hteare2
a pair of trousers	boun3-bi2 ta1 hteare2
a watch	na2-yi2 ta1 lone3
a light bulb	mi3-lone3 ta1 lone3
a computer	koon2-pyu2-ta2 ta1 lone3
a radio	radio ta1 lone3
a TV set	TV ta1 lone3
a hat	oat-htoat ta1 lone3
a book	sa2-oat ta1 oat
a piece of paper	sa2-ywet ta1 ywet
a pack of cards	pfeare3-htoat ta1 htoat
a pencil	kheare3-dun2 ta1 choun3
a knife	da3 ta1 choun3
a pot	oh3 ta1 lone3
a pair of chopsticks	tu2 ta1 zone2
a chair	htine2-khone2 ta1 lone3
a table	za1-bweare3 ta1 lone3
a cup of tea	la1-pfet-yay2 ta1 khwet
a slice of bread	poun2-mone1 ta1 chut
a jar of jam	yo2 ta1 ba1-lin3
a glass of beer	be2-ya2 ta1 khwet
a bottle of Whisky	wit-sa1-ki2 ta1 ba1-lin3
a plate of rice	hta1-min3 ta1 ba1-gun2
an order of rice noodle	mone1-hin3-kha3 ta1 bweare3
a packet of noodles	khout-hsweare3 ta1 htoat
a bunch of grapes	za1-byit-thi3 ta1 khine2
a bunch of banana	hnga1-pyau3-thi3 ta1 pfe3
a banana	hnga1-pyau3-thi3 ta1 lone3
an apple	pan3-thi3 ta1 lone3
a kernel of corn	pyoun3-pfu3 ta1 zi1
an ear of corn	pyoun3-pfu3 ta1 pfu3
a bar of soap	hsut-pya2 ta1 doun1 or kheare3
a heap of rubbish	a-hmite-pone2 ta1 bone2
a chain of events	a-pfyit-a-pyet ta1 khu1
a song	tha1-chin3 ta1 boat
a story	pone2-pyin2-lay3 ta1 khu1

Lesson 12: Learn to say, "I earn $ 123,456,789 a second!"

Many Burmese people seem to be fascinated with nun2-but | numbers. Even in this modern day with scientific knowledge, it is not unusual for Myanmar people to consult astrologers and choose the most auspicious dates for important personal occasions and business undertakings. Some have even developed their own "system" to predict the winning lottery numbers!!

10,000, 5000, 1000, 500 and 200 Kyat Notes

Here's a tip to prevent you from the culture shock. In a recent edition of the Lonely Planet's Myanmar Travel, one of the authors noted that Myanmar people tend to exaggerate with numbers. Perhaps, this is the culture where losing credibility is deemed not so important as in some other parts of the world. To be fair, let's face it. You will always find people who like to brag a little.

ADDED NOTE: This article was first written sometime back in late 2011 or early 2012. As for bragging people in Yangon, it still stands correct (at least for some), as mentioned in one of Burmese Proverbs and Traditional Sayings.

kjwa3 means to brag.

de2 -- this
koun2 -- reference to a guy or an animal
nga1-kjwa3 -- braggart
beare3 -- affirmation ending word

de2 koun2 nga1-kjwa3 beare3 -- What a braggart!

If you look at it from the positive angle, this is freedom like nowhere else in the world. You are free to exaggerate all you want (about yourself, that is) -- regardless of what you say is true or not. That's why the spoken language is called za1-ga3 where ka3 in a sense means to exaggerate. The tradition probably goes back to generations -- long before "spin-doctors" came onto the stage of American politics.

In any case, earning 123,456,789 dollars a second is a bit too much -- just a tiny bit too much. How about 123,456 kyats a month? We will learn to say 1,2,3 up to 99,999,999 in Burmese. In case you don't know, "9" was considered a lucky number by a late well-known Burmese individual. In those days, Burma had strange currency denominations such as 45 kyats and 90 kyats, which had the digits all add up to number 9.

Reference Tables for Burmese Numerals

First, let's start with the very basic from 1 to 9.

Numbers from 1 to 9 (Sortable)
1-9 ↑↓	Myanmar Script ↑↓	Pronunciation ↑↓
1	၁	tit
2	၂	hnit
3	၃	thone3
4	၄	lay3
5	၅	nga3
6	၆	chout
7	၇	khoon2-nit
8	၈	shit
9	၉	ko3

To say 1,2,3 in the multiple of 10's such as 10,20,30, etc., the general format is to add the word hseare2 after 1,2,3. However, there are slight changes in the pronunciations of 1,2 and 7 in the spoken language.

NOTE: the word hseare2

may sound like zeare2

for 30, 40, 50 and 90. In general, if you have trailing zero's after, 3,4,5 and 9, people soften the consonant when spoken.

10X Numbers from 10 to 90
10-90	Myanmar Script	Pronunciation
10	၁၀	ta1-hseare2
20	၂၀	hna1-hseare2
30	၃၀	thone3-zeare2
40	၄၀	lay3-zeare2
50	၅၀	nga3-zeare2
60	၆၀	chout-hseare2
70	၇၀	khoon2-na1-hseare2
80	၈၀	shit-hseare2
90	၉၀	ko3-zeare2

To say 1,2,3 in the multiple of 100's such as 100, 200, 300, etc., the general format is to add the word ya2 after 1,2,3. Note the similarities with the 10's in the pronunciation of 1,2 and 7.

100X Numbers from 100 to 900
100-900	Myanmar Script	Pronunciation
100	၁၀၀	ta1-ya2
200	၂၀၀	hna1-ya2
300	၃၀၀	thone3-ya2
400	၄၀၀	lay3-ya2
500	၅၀၀	nga3-ya2
600	၆၀၀	chout-ya2
700	၇၀၀	khoon2-na1-ya2
800	၈၀၀	shit-ya2
900	၉၀၀	ko3-ya2

To say 1,2,3 in the multiple of 1000's such as 1000, 2000, 3000, etc., the general format is to add the word htoun2 after 1,2,3.

1000X Numbers from 1,000 to 9,000
1,000X	Myanmar Script	Pronunciation
1,000	၁၀၀၀	ta1-htoun2
2,000	၂၀၀၀	hna1-htoun2
3,000	၃၀၀၀	thone3-htoun2
4,000	၄၀၀၀	lay3-htoun2
5,000	၅၀၀၀	nga3-htoun2
6,000	၆၀၀၀	chout-htoun2
7,000	၇၀၀၀	khoon2-na1-htoun2
8,000	၈၀၀၀	shit-htoun2
9,000	၉၀၀၀	ko3-htoun2

Just remember the four zero's word in Burmese. It is called thoun3. Note that it is pronounced in the 3rd tone. Don't confuse this word with the thousand, htoun2, which is in the second tone.

If you are used to expressing those numbers in terms of thousands in your language, you will need to re-adjust the learning. Try to see 2,0000 figure instead of 20,000.

NOTE: thoun3

can be soften to dthoun3

for 30,000, 40,000, 50,000, and 90,000.

10,000X Numbers from 10,000 to 90,000
10,000X	Myanmar Script	Pronunciation
10,000	၁၀၀၀၀	ta1-thoun3
20,000	၂၀၀၀၀	hna1-thoun3
30,000	၃၀၀၀၀	thone3-dthoun3
40,000	၄၀၀၀၀	lay3-dthoun3
50,000	၅၀၀၀၀	nga3-dthoun3
60,000	၆၀၀၀၀	chout-thoun3
70,000	၇၀၀၀၀	khoon2-na1-thoun3
80,000	၈၀၀၀၀	shit-thoun3
90,000	၉၀၀၀၀	ko3-dthoun3

The higher numbers are expressed in thain3. Remember, it has five trailing zero's. It is used as a base for even higher numbers in the multiple of 10, 100, and 1000 to that base.

The usage of thain3 in the unit one hundred thousand is comparable to "lakh" often used with units of money in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Hong Kong.

Place the word thain3 after the numbers from 1 to 19. ta1-thain3 means, 1,00000 = 100,000 = one hundred thousand in English.

hseare2-dthain3 means 10X the thain3 = 10,00000 = 1,000,000 = one million in English.

Place the word thain3 before the numbers from 20 onwards. For example, thain3 hna1-hsare2 means 20X the thain3 = 20,00000 = 2,000,000 = 2 million in English.

thain3 ta1-toun2 means 1000X the thain3 = 1000,00000 = 100,000,000. One thousand thain3 is one hundred million.

If you have numbers with 3,4,5,9, and 10 in front the zero, you may hear people soften the words to sound like dthain3.

Higher Numbers from 100,000 to 100,000,000
100,000X	Myanmar Script	Pronunciation
100,000 = 1,00000	၁၀၀၀၀၀	ta1-thain3
1,000,000 = 10,00000	၁၀၀၀၀၀၀	hseare2-dthain3
1,500,000 = 15,00000	၁၅၀၀၀၀၀	hseare1-nga3 dthain3
1,800,000 = 18,00000	၁၈၀၀၀၀၀	hseare1-shit thain3
2,000,000 = 20,00000	၂၀၀၀၀၀၀	thain3 hna1-hseare2
4,000,000 = 40,00000	၄၀၀၀၀၀၀	thain3 lay3-zeare2
10,000,000 = 100,00000	၁၀၀၀၀၀၀၀	thain3 ta1-ya2
100,000,000 = 1000,00000	၁၀၀၀၀၀၀၀၀	thain3 ta1-htoun2

So, how would you say 654321 in Burmese? Here is a formula. You always start with the highest multiple of 10X. The above number has 6 digits (with the place for 5 trailing zeros), so start with thain3. It is pretty much straight forward as shown below:

chout-thain3 -- 6,00000 +
nga3-dthoun3 -- 50000 +
lay3-htoun2 -- 4000 +
thone3-ya2 -- 300 +
hna1-hseare1 -- 20 +
tit -- 1

654,321 = ၆၅၄၃၂၁

There is one small detail. The word "hseare2", which is used for 10X as in 10, 20, 30 .... 80, 90 is pronounced in the first tone as hseare1 when it is followed by a single digit number from 1 to 9 such as in the above example.

Numbers between 10 and 100 with non-zero last digit

thone3-zeare1 -- 30 +
lay3-- 4

chout-hseare1 -- 60 +
shit-- 8

ko3-zeare1 -- 90 +
ko3 -- 9

34 - 68 - 99 ( ၃၄ ၊ ၆၈ ၊ ၉၉ ။ )

OK, quiz time! How would you then say "11"?

That was a trick question. No, it's not

ta1-hseare1 -- 10 +
tit -- 1

In spoken Burmese, just omit ta1 in ta1-hseare1 (10 +) for numbers from 11 to 19 like examples below:

hseare1 -- 10 +
tit -- 1

hseare1 -- 10 +
nga3 -- 5

hseare1 -- 10 +
ko3 -- 9

11 - 15 - 19 ( ၁၁ ၊ ၁၅ ၊ ၁၉ ။ )

Numbers from 11-19
11-19	Myanmar Script	Pronunciation
11	၁၁	hseare1-tit
12	၁၂	hseare1-hnit
13	၁၃	hseare1-thone3
14	၁၄	hseare1-lay3
15	၁၅	hseare1-nga3
16	၁၆	hseare1-chout
17	၁၇	hseare1 khoon2-nit
18	၁၈	hseare1-shit
19	၁၉	hseare1-ko3

Millions and Billions

thun3 is the word for "million". chout-thun3 means six million. However, in the business world, you will hear people speak in terms of thain3 figure with 5 zero's instead. Six million is sixty thain3, or thain3 chout-hseare2. And, people usually round up the big numbers so you don't need to worry about saying the smaller numbers that follow the thain3 number such as htoun2 and ya2.

Present Myanmar government uses the term bi2-la1-yan2 "Billion" to announce the budget and expenses. This bi2-la1-yan2 is the American usage of billion equivalent to one thousand million. I need to clarify this because the British billion is a million million, and Americans call this a trillion.

The Burmese language newspaper "The Mirror" uses the term bi2-la1-yan2-na2 for billionaire.

Trillions

A million million or a trillion is a difficult concept to visualize. Let's see how many zero's behind it.

1
10
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000 = 1 million
10,000,000 = 10 million
100,000,000 = 100 million
1,000,000,000 = a billion (1,000 million)
10,000,000,000 = 10 billion
100,000,000,000 = 100 billion
1,000,000,000,000 = a trillion (1,000 billion)

The Burmese language uses the English loaned word Trillion as hta1-ri2-li2-yan2. For example, for the fiscal year 2015-2016, Myanmar government tax revenue is estimated to be 6.387 hta1-ri2-li2-yan2 Kyat.

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: Use of English loaned word 'Trillion' does not mean that Burmese language lacks words for very large numbers. There are words with Pali origin: ကုဋေ | ga1-day2 means ten millions. ကုဋေကဋာ | ga1-day2 ga1-da2 refers to millions and millions or 'zillions'. The less known word for American Trillion is ပကောဋိ | pa1-kau3-de1. However, those old words are not used in today's business world.

"Half" Numbers

There is one other common usage that you should know. khweare3 means half. In terms of math, there is an additional half value to the multiplier. For example, nga3 dthoun3 khweare3 means 55000. Let's do some math:

nga3 means 5

thoun3 means you need to multiply by 10000. ( 5 * 10000 = 50000)

khweare3 refers to the half of whatever multiplier you use, in this case, (1/2 * 10000= 5000).

Add this 5000 to 50000. (50000+5000= 55000)

So, khweare3 is the same as "half" in English when you say "A million and a half."

Another example on "half" numbers

chout thain3 khweare3 means 6,50000.

thain3 means you need to multiply by 1,00000. ( 6 * 1,00000 = 6,00000)

khweare3 refers to the half of the multiplier you use; in this case, (1/2 * 1,00000= 50000).

Add this 50000 to 6,00000. (6,00000 + 50000 = 6,50000)

A Review of numbers big and small

Selected Numbers from 1 to 6 Million (Sortable)
English ↑↓	Burmese	Pronunciation ↑↓
1	၁	tit
2	၂	hnit
3	၃	thone3
4	၄	lay3
5	၅	nga3
6	၆	chout
7	၇	khoon2-nit
8	၈	shit
9	၉	ko3
10	၁၀	ta1-hseare2
15	၁၅	hseare1-nga3
200	၂၀၀	hna1-ya2
3000 (3,000)	၃၀၀၀	thone3-htoun2
40000	၄၀၀၀၀	lay3-dthoun3
500000 (5,00000)	၅၀၀၀၀၀	nga3-dthain3
6000000 (60,00000)	၆၀၀၀၀၀၀	thain3 chout-hseare2
6000000 (6,000,000)	၆၀၀၀၀၀၀	chout-thun3

Now it's about time to exaggerate a little

So, finally, you should be able to say that you earn 123,456 kyats (a second, a minute, or whatever exaggeration you preferred.)

ta1 thain3 -- 1,00000 +
hna1 thoun3 -- 20000 +
thone3 htoun2 -- 3000 +
lay3 ya2 -- 400 +
nga3 seare1 -- 50 +
chout -- 6
kjut -- Kyat
ta1 set-kun1 -- 1 second
yah1 deare2 -- to receive + affirmative.

ta1-thain3 hna1-thoun3 thone3-htoun2 lay3-ya2 nga3-seare1 chout kjut ta1 set-kun1 yah1 deare2