Learn to Read Thai Script

• A syllable or word ends with n, ŋ, m, w or y consonant sounds is an open syllable.
• A syllable or word ends with k, t or p consonant sounds is a close syllable.

For example:

• ดีด (dìit) is a closed syllable because it has ด (t) ending sound.
• จะ (ca) is a closed syllable because it has a short vowel.

• Any syllable or word contains the vowel – ำ (-am), ไ- (-ay), ใ- (-ay) and เ-า (-aw), it is an open syllable.

There are 44 Thai consonants and they are divided into 3 different classes including high class, middle class and low class. Each class of the Thai consonant has its own tone’s rules.

Note: The letter ฃ (kh) and ฅ (kh) are no longer used but they are still counted as members of the Thai consonant.

There are 28 vowels in Thai and they are divided into 3 groups including single vowel, mixed vowel and vowel with an ending sound. The form of some vowels can change when a word has a final consonant.

For example:

• เ-ะ / เ- ็ (e) vowel has 2 forms. เ-ะ is the original form and เ- ็ is the changed form. Example words, เตะ (tè) and เต็ม (tem).

Moreover, the length of the vowel sound is also important because it can change the meaning of the word.

Note: The vowel form after the / (slash) is the changed form of the vowels.

There are 44 consonants in Thai but only 35 of them are used as the final consonants. The letters ฃ (kh), ฅ (kh), ฉ (ch), ฌ (ch), ผ (ph), ฝ (f), อ (ʔ), ห (h) and ฮ (h) are not used as a final consonant. However, there are only 8 final consonant sounds out of these 35 consonants, which means some of the final consonants share the same sound.

There are 5 tonal sounds in the Thai language but there are 4 tone marks. The tone is another essential part in learning Thai because when the tone of the word changes, the meaning of the word changes as well. (Click here to listen to the 5 tonal sounds in the Thai language.)

The tone mark is always put above the initial consonant of the word. If the word has a top-position vowel, it is placed above the vowel.

The following table shows the tone rule of each class of the consonant including high class, middle class and low class consonants. You will also see that the type of syllable plays a part in the tone system as well.