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ОглавлениеThai Consonants
There are 44 consonant characters in Thai representing 20 consonant sounds. The following listing follows Thai alphabetical order. Of these 44 consonants, the two underlined are obsolete.
ก ข ฃ ค ฅ ฆ ง จ ฉ ช ซ ฌ ญ ฎ ฏ ฐ ฑ ฒ ณ ด ต ถ ท ธ
น บ ป ผ ฝ พ ฟ ภ ม ย ร ล ว ศ ษ ส ห ฬ อ ฮ
| Consonant sound | Consonant form (Thai word) | Sounds like |
| k | กิน kin | g as in go |
| kh | ขา khǎa | k as in kind |
| ng | งู ngou | ng as in singing |
| j | จาน jaan | j as in jet |
| ch | ฉัน chǎn | ch as in chat |
| s | ซื้อ súe | s as in sun |
| y | ยา yaa | y as in you |
| d | เดิน doen | d as in do |
| t | เต้น tên | t as in stop |
| th | ไทย thai | t as in teach |
| n | น้ำ nám | n as in nine |
| b | บาน bâan | b as in boy |
| p | ไป pai | p as in spot |
| ph | พ่อ phâw | p as in pan |
| f | ฟัน fan | f as in fun |
| m | แมว maew | m as in man |
| r | เรียน rian | r as in rat |
| l | ลอง lawng | l as in let |
| w | วัด wát | as in win |
| h | หิว hǐw | h as in hand |
Stop ending
When these consonants appear at the end of a word, they are not voiced aloud.
| Consonant sound | Consonant form (Thai word) | Sounds like |
| k | จาก jàak | g as in bag |
| t | พูด phôut | d as in loud |
| p | ครับ khráp | b as in tab |
Vowels
There are 18 single vowels in Thai, which appear singly or in combination. Thai vowels have two “sounds”: short and long.
1. Short vowels
There are nine “short” vowels and dipthongs:
| Vowel sound | Vowel form (Thai word) | Sounds like |
| a | จะ jà | a as in but |
| i | สิ sì | i as in hit |
| ue | รึ rúe | as o in lesson |
| u | ดุ dù | u as in put |
| e | เตะ tè | e as in get (shorter) |
| ae | และ láe | ae as in cat (shorter) |
| o | โปะ pò | o as in only (shorter) |
| aw | เกาะ kàw | aw as in hot |
| oe | เถอะ thòe | oe as in uh |
2. Long vowels
Each of the short vowels and dipthongs above has its long counterpart. There are also two further long dipthongs, ai and ao:
| Vowel sound | Vowel form (Thai word) | Sounds like |
| aa | ชา chaa | aa as in far |
| ii | ดี dii | ii as in tea |
| ue | มือ mue | ue as in umm |
| ou | ปู pou | ou as in too |
| e | เท the | e as in late |
| ae | แจ jae | ae as in fan |
| o | โม mo | o as in cold |
| aw | ขอ khǎw | aw as in saw |
| oe | เบอ boe | oe as in her |
| ai | ไจ/ใจ jai | ai as in high |
| ao | เรา rao | ao as in out |
*Note: the letter อ in Thai can be pronounced a, e, i, o, or u, depending on the letter combination in which it appears. For example:
| อ่าน àan | a as in at |
| เอ็ด èt | e as in egg |
| อิ่ม ìm | i as in it |
| อ้วน oûan | o as in on |
| อุ่น ùn | u as in up |
Tones
Thai has only 5 distinctive tones; mid, low, falling, high, and rising. They all carry tone marks except for mid-level tones. The pitch of a particular word changes its meaning.
