Reading Thai Script

How Thai script works

Thai writes each syllable around a consonant, with vowel marks and tone marks placed to its left, right, top, or bottom. There are no spaces between words; spaces mark breaks between sentences and phrases.

The reading order is consonant → vowel → final consonant. Even when a vowel mark is written to the left of a consonant, you say the consonant first. For example, in ไปto go (pai), you read the ป (p) on the right before the ไ (ai) on the left.

• Consonants: 44 letters (including the obsolete ฃ and ฅ)
• Vowels: short and long vowels come in pairs, written with different marks
• Tones: determined by the consonant class, the tone mark, and how the syllable ends

Three consonant classes

Consonants are divided into mid, high, and low class. These classes describe how the tone is determined, not the pitch of the sound. The same sound can be written with letters from different classes (kh is ข and ค; th is ถ and ท).

อ is a silent letter placed at the start of a syllable that begins with a vowel (อาหารfood; dish aa-hǎan). In the romanization, g, dt, p have no puff of air and kh, th, ph do (see “Reading & Tones” for details).

Writing vowels

Vowel marks go around the consonant. In the table below, “◌” shows the position of the consonant. Long and short vowels have different forms, so it helps to learn them in pairs.

Short o has no written mark when a consonant follows it. คนclassifier for people (khon) is written with only ค and น.

ใ and ไ both sound ai (ใ is called ไม้ม้วน, and ไ is called ไม้มลาย). ใ appears in only 20 specific words; almost every other word uses ไ. Thai children learn these 20 words with a memory rhyme (กลอนไม้ม้วน).

Compounds built from these 20 words keep ใ as well (ใยแมงมุม spider silk, ข้างในinside inside). หลงใหล is one word; ใหล is not used on its own. The same sound spelled ไหล (to flow) uses ไ, so the meaning tells you which to write.

Final consonants

At the end of a syllable, each consonant takes one of eight sounds. k, t, p in particular are not released: you form the mouth position and stop, without an audible burst.

For example, ร in อาหารfood; dish is read “n,” ด in มดant is read “t,” and บ in ชอบto like is read “p.” Letters such as ฉ, ผ, ฝ, ห, อ, and ฮ do not appear in final position.

Tone rules

Three things determine the tone:

• The class of the initial consonant (mid, high, or low)
• The tone mark (◌่ ไม้เอก, ◌้ ไม้โท, ◌๊ ไม้ตรี, ◌๋ ไม้จัตวา, written at the top right of the consonant)
• How the syllable ends: a syllable ending in a long vowel or in m, n, ng, i, or o is a live syllable. A syllable ending in a short vowel or in k, t, or p is a dead syllable.

Note that the same mark gives different tones depending on the class. ◌้ gives a falling tone on mid- and high-class consonants, but a high tone on low-class consonants (ข้าวrice; meal khâao and น้องyounger sibling; younger person nɔ́ɔng).

Leading ห and อ

When ห comes before the low-class letters ง, ญ, น, ม, ย, ร, ล, or ว, they follow the high-class rules. The ห itself is silent.

• หมาdog (mǎa): ม is low class, but with ห it takes a rising tone
• หนาวcold (weather) (nǎao) and หมูpork; pig (mǔu): also rising
• หนักheavy (nàk) and ใหญ่big (yài): low tone in a dead syllable or with ◌่

Similarly, อ before ย makes it follow the mid-class rules. This occurs in only four words: อยากto want to (yàak), อยู่to be (at a place); to live (yùu), อย่า (yàa, “don't”), and อย่าง (yàang, “kind; like”).

Consonant clusters

When ร, ล, or ว comes second, the two consonants may be read together as one sound. The tone follows the class of the first letter.

• ปลาfish (plaa), กลับto return; to go back (glàp), ครับpolite sentence ending (male speakers) (khráp), ขวาright (khwǎa)
  In speech, r and l are often dropped (ครับpolite sentence ending (male speakers) as kháp, ปลาfish as paa, and so on)
• However, ทร is read “s” in many words: ทราบ (sâap, “to know”). In จร, ซร, ศร, and สร, the ร is also silent in many words: จริงๆ (jing-jing, “really”)

In two-syllable words, a short “a” is sometimes added after a first consonant that has no vowel mark, as in สวัสดีhello (sà-wàt-dii) and ตลาดmarket (dtà-làat). In ตลาดmarket, ล is low class, but it takes a low tone by following the rules of the mid-class ต before it.

Silent letters and other marks

Words not read as spelled

Some common words do not follow the rules. Learn these one at a time.

• น้ำwater; drink: has the short ◌ำ, but is read long, náam
• ไม้ (“wood”): has the short ไ, but is read long, máai
• เท้าfoot: has the short เ◌า, but is read long, tháao
• ก็ (“also; then”): the spelling suggests a low tone, but it is read with a long vowel and falling tone, gɔ̂ɔ

Learn by writing

You can practice the stroke order and name (กอ ไก่, ขอ ไข่, and so on) of all 44 consonants in Write Thai Letters. Tap a letter in the tables above to open its page.