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LESSON 11 the silent อ in thai
In lesson 2, you have learnt อ (ʔ) consonant and -อ (-ɔɔ) vowels. But in this lesson, you will learn it as a silent preceding letter. In Thai language, you will see only 4 words which has อ (ʔ) and ย (y) together and อ (ʔ) is silent. When you read these words, you do not pronounce อ (ʔ), but ย (y). However, the tone’s rule will be base on อ (ʔ) rule, which is the rule of middle class consonant.
Reading
Thai Meaning Note
อย่า Do not They are all 'low' tone words because of the ่ tone mark.
อยู่ To be located, to live, stay
อย่าง 1. Types, kinds
2. Classifier of things in general
3. A prefix used to show that something is done in a certain way or manner
4. Like, as
อยาก want to This is also 'low' tone but because it is a closed syllable.
You will see the silent อ (ʔ) mentioned again in lesson 21 Leading Consonant since it belongs to that topic. I put this silent อ (ʔ) topic in this early lesson because there are just four of them and they are ones of the most commonly used words in Thai.
Just as the next lesson, the silent ห (h) which have the same logic. You should learn it at the early stage because there are many words written in this form and many of them are frequently used words.