Thai Alphabet Basics

Thai Consonants

1. Consonant Numbers

• There are 44 original consonants in the Thai alphabet, but only 42 are used today (rows 3 and 5 in the chart below are no longer used).
• While there are 44 consonants in the Thai alphabet, there are only 21 distinct sounds. Therefore, as you will see, many letters have different names and different characters but make the same sounds.

2. Consonant Names

• Names of consonants have two words.
  • The first word demonstrates the pronunciation of the letter.
  • The second word gives an example word.
  • For example, the first letter in the alphabet is . It is called gor gai. “Gor” demonstrates the initial sound the letter makes, which is a “g” sound. The second word, “gai” is the example word, which means “chicken.” That’s why the flashcards you will study have pictures on them–like this.

3. Initial vs final sounds.

• • Notice the column in the chart below called “initial / final sounds.”
  • The “initial” sound of a letter is the sound it makes when it’s the first letter of the word (or syllable).
  • The “final” sound of a letter is the sound it makes when it’s the last letter of the word (or syllable).
  • You don’t need to memorize the initial/final sounds for each letter–you will pick them up naturally when you learn words. Just remember that they exist, so you’re not confused when the “G” letter (above) sometimes makes a “K” sound.

4. Consonant Classes

• Each of the 44 Thai consonants fit into 1 of 3 classes. They are either…
  • low class
  • middle class
  • high class
• Each class of consonants has a set of pronunciation rules attached to them. You will learn about these rules later.

Important: Don’t look at the chart below and feel overwhelmed! You’re going to follow an easy, step-by-step learning process that you will enjoy–as opposed to trying to memorize the entire chart at once!

Thai Vowels

1. Thai Vowels and Placeholders
Thai vowels are never written alone. If we want to write just the vowel, we usually pair it with the consonant (อ), so it is not left alone, as you see below.

Two other common place holders you will see are the dash and the dotted circle (below). You’ll get used to seeing all three of these symbols very quickly. Note that when words are written, the place holders are dropped and replaced with consonants.

2. Vowel Names

The names of vowels do not have meanings like consonants do. Instead, each vowel is named “Sara” + the sound the letter makes (Sara means “vowel” in Thai). For example, you will learn 2 new vowels in this unit–they are named “Sara ee” and “Sara aah.” The vowel Sara ee is pronounced “ee“, and the vowel  Sara aah is pronounced “aah.” As there are no example words for vowels, there are no pictures on the flashcards.

3. Long and Short Vowels

• Each of the 32 Thai vowels are either long or short, which is very simple.
  • Short vowels have a “short” sound, like this… Ma.
  • Long vowels have a “long” sound, like this… Maaaa.

4. Look at the colors in the chart below.

• Notice that the letters in the first two green rows make the same sound, which is “ah“.
• The difference is that one is a short sound (ah), and the other is a long sound (aah).
• This is true for the first 28 rows, which means there are only 14 different sounds–but each sound is pronounced in both a “short” and “long” form.
• The letters in rows 29 and 30 make different sounds.
• The letters in rows 31 and 32 are no longer used in the Thai alphabet.

Important: Don’t look at the chart below and feel overwhelmed! You’re going to follow an easy, step-by-step learning process that you will enjoy–as opposed to trying to memorize the entire chart at once!