ตั้ง

As Many as

Level 3

Use ตั้ง before a quantity to mean ‘as many as’, ‘as much as’, or ‘a full…’. The amount feels large to the speaker.

How It Works

Emphasize An Amount Or Duration
ตั้ง can present an amount as much or a period as long. In รอตั้งสองชั่วโมงแล้ว, it comes before สองชั่วโมง and gives the reading a full two hours.

Read The Four Examples
The money sentence emphasizes a hundred million baht. The eating sentence has ตั้งเยอะ, emphasizing the amount eaten. The shirt sentence presents five thousand baht as a high price. These are the speaker’s descriptions in the examples, without measurements of an actual person’s wealth or a market price.

Compare The Intended Meaning
The one-baht card asks for only one baht, expressed with แค่. ตั้ง instead adds emphasis to an amount. Choose the expression matching the requested statement; the exercise does not set a numerical threshold for using ตั้ง.

A Starting Point Is Different
ตั้งแต่ marks where or when something begins. อยู่ที่นี่ตั้งแต่ปี 2010 gives 2010 as the starting year of the stay. That calendar year is a starting point in this sentence, rather than the quantity being emphasized.

Examples (4)

  1. รอตั้งสองชั่วโมงแล้ว

    I've been waiting for a full two hours already!

    Word by Word: wait | as many as | two | hour | already

    ตั้ง presents the two-hour wait as long. The sentence alone does not identify a particular feeling such as frustration.

  2. เขามีเงินตั้งร้อยล้านบาท

    He has as much as a hundred million baht.

    Word by Word: he | have | money | as many as | hundred | million | baht

    ตั้ง emphasizes the stated money amount as large; this is an illustrative sentence rather than a verified account of someone’s wealth.

  3. กินตั้งเยอะ ทำไมไม่เห็นอิ่มเลย

    You ate so much, how are you not full?

    Word by Word: eat | as many as | a lot | why | not | see | full | at all

    Using 'ตั้ง' before 'เยอะ' (a lot) intensifies the quantity of food consumed.

  4. เสื้อตัวนี้ราคาตั้งห้าพันบาท

    This shirt costs a whopping five thousand baht.

    Word by Word: shirt | classifier | this | price | as many as | five | thousand | baht

    The speaker uses 'ตั้ง' to express that they find the price of the shirt to be very high.

Common Mistakes

  • Placing 'ตั้ง' after the number.

    รอสองชั่วโมงตั้งแล้ว
    รอตั้งสองชั่วโมงแล้ว

    This task practises รอตั้งสองชั่วโมงแล้ว, with ตั้ง before สองชั่วโมง. The displayed alternative places ตั้ง after the quantity and does not reproduce that requested amount-emphasizing phrase.

  • Confusing 'ตั้ง' with 'ตั้งแต่' (since).

    อยู่ที่นี่ตั้งปี 2010
    อยู่ที่นี่ตั้งแต่ปี 2010

    'ตั้ง' emphasizes a total amount, while 'ตั้งแต่' is used to indicate a starting point in time.

  • Say He Has Only One Baht.

    เขามีเงินตั้งหนึ่งบาท
    เขามีเงินแค่หนึ่งบาท

    The requested statement is เขามีเงินแค่หนึ่งบาท, He has only one baht. แค่ supplies only. ตั้ง emphasizes an amount instead, so it does not give that requested limiting meaning. This task does not classify every contextual use of a small number with ตั้ง.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

ตั้งLevel 3As Many as

Learn This First

To use 'ตั้ง' correctly, you need to understand how Thai handles quantities. It functions as a prefix to a standard number-classifier phrase to add an emotional nuance of surprise or emphasis on how large the amount is. Therefore, you must first be comfortable with Thai numbers and the 'Number + Classifier' word order.

Words in This Pattern

ตั้งตั้ง