As I understand it, the correct order is

noun, number, classifier

eg

khao song jan

And listening to other people speaking Thai, I usually hear it this way, but I think I've also heard a couple of times:

(noun) an neung

coke khuad neung

So far I've only heard it with single items, so I'm wondering:

a) Am I hearing right?

Can you only reverse the order when you're talking about a single object?

c) Do you HAVE to reverse the order when you're talking about a single object?

Hope this makes sense, again sorry for transliteration, cannot read/write Thai yet.

a.) Am I hearing right?

Yes.

b.) Can you only reverse the order when you're talking about a single object?

Yes.

c.) Do you HAVE to reverse the order when you're talking about a single object?

No. 'Coke neung khuad' is fine, too.

You may also have noticed that when yelling orders to the kitchen, the classifier is often dropped, and this happens with single objects and multiple objects alike:

- 'khaao phad muu sawng - sai khai daao neung' - Two fried rice with pork, fried egg on one

- 'coke khuad' - 'bottle of coke'

Thank you

Also, while we're at it, can I please confirm that it's ok gai (chicken breast) not gai ok. I was saying gai ok before but I heard the somtum cart lady say it the other way around, so I've changed it recently.

Thank you

Also, while we're at it, can I please confirm that it's ok gai (chicken breast) not gai ok. I was saying gai ok before but I heard the somtum cart lady say it the other way around, so I've changed it recently.

Yep, your ears have heard correctly again. It is "ok gai" and not "gai ok"

Well, I am telling you based on the way I use. The order you mentioned (noun, number, classifier) is correct for almost cases. However, it may be some exceptions. According to the examples you asked. You can say "Coke khuad neung (โค๊กขวดนึง)" which we can also say "Coke neung khuad (โค๊กหนึ่งขวด)". Both sentences mean "a bottle of coke". However, the pronunciations of nueng in both sentences are a bit different (นึง and หนึ่ง) but it's hard for me to write each of them using transliteration. You may ask your Thai friend to read them for you. You may not be able to distinguish them though.

The prior sentence is more common in spoken language, but it is not a formal written language.

You can see that the oder of the second example (Coke khuad neung) is noun+classifier+number. However, it can be used this way when the number is neung (หนึ่ง or นึง) only. You cannot use this order for the other numbers such as 2,3,4, and so on. For example, you can say "Coke song (2) khuad"which means "two bottles of coke", but you cannot say "Coke khuad song".

Edited March 9, 200719 yr by jeabsun

Coke nung khuat one bottle of coke

vs

coke khuat nung a bottle of coke

In both languages the phrases have the same meaning.