Lesson Notes

Introduction to Thai Writing

In this lesson you'll learn the basics of Thai writing.

The Thai Alphabet

The Thai language has 44 consonants, 32 vowels, 4 tone marks, and various other
symbols for pronunciation. 
Also, in the Thai writing system, there are no spaces between words. Instead,
spaces in a Thai text indicate the end of a clause or sentence. Let's see an
example:

1. ฉั นเป็ นนักเรียน ฉั นต ้องไปโรงเรียนทุกวัน 

chăn bpen nák-riian chăn dtâwng bpai roong-riian thúk wan.
"I'm a student. I have to go to school every day."

We use space to indicate the end of a sentence.

You may feel it's difficult, but Thai and English are more similar than you think.  
First, Thai language is read and written horizontally from left to right. And just
like the ABCs in English, you mix consonants with vowels to make syllables and
words.

The Thai Consonants

In Thai language, there are 44 consonant letters. But since many of the
consonants produce the same sound, the 44 consonants produce only 21 distinct
initial consonant sounds when used at the beginning of a syllable and 6 final
consonant soundswhen used at the end of a syllable. 
Another important thing you need to know about Thai consonants is that Thai
consonants are divided into three classes: middle, high, and low. 
These three classifications are very important when you mix consonants with
accent marks in order to make a correct intonation.

The Thai Vowel

Vowels in Thai are called สระ (sà-rà). In Thai, there are 32 vowels in total, with
16 different vowel symbols that combine into different patterns. And out of these
32 vowels, 18 are basic vowels, which each exist in long and short pairs.  
The length of the vowel sound is much more important in Thai than it is in
English. Let's say you are saying the word "love" in short and long duration; the
meaning of the word does not change. However, this does not apply to Thai
language. The same word with different short and long vowels create different
meanings.
For example, ติ (dtì) and ตี (dtii). The first word ติ with the shorter sound means
"to criticize." If you say it a bit longer, ตี, it means "to hit."
Another example is บุตร (bùt) or "offsprings," and บูด (bùut) or "to be rotten."

Another thing you need to know is that unlike English, not all vowel forms
follow consonants. Some appear above consonants and some below. And
complex form vowels can be placed around the consonants.

Tone marks

Thai is a tonal language with 5 tones that are indicated by 4 tone marks:

หิว (the vowel is above: ิ )

ดู (the vowel is below: ู)

เบา (the vowel is around the consonant: เ_า)

เรือ (complex form of vowel> it's around and above: เื อ)

The fifth is just normal (mid tone) and has no mark.

These tone marks are important, as it helps you apply the correct tone. In writing,
these tone marks are always placed above an initial consonant

Basic Bootcamp

In this lesson, we'll focus on teaching you the most useful Thai words and phrases
for absolute beginners!

Expressing Thanks and Forgiveness

The best phrase to learn when studying a new language is one that expresses
gratitude and appreciation. If you had to learn only a single phrase, this would be
it!

1. ขอบคุณ 
khàawp khun
"thank you"

If you want to expresse even greater thanks, you just add มาก (mâak) after the
ขอบคุณ (khàawp khun):
 1. ขอบคุณมาก 
khàawp khun mâak
"thank you very much"

Do you know that in Thai, just saying ขอบคุณ (khàawp khun) or ขอบคุณมาก
(khàawp khun mâak) can sound a bit rude without polite particles?

Polite particles are words that are added to the end of sentences to make them
sound polite. The most common polite particles are ครับ (khráp) for men and ค่ะ
(khâ) for women.

So, if a woman wants to say "thank you," she will say:

1. ขอบคุณค่ะ 
khàawp khun khâ or
2. ขอบคุณมากค่ะ 
khàawp khun mâak khâ

and for men:

1. ขอบคุณครับ 
khàawp khun khráp or
2. ขอบคุณมากครับ 
khàawp khun mâak khráp

The next phrase we'll teach you is perhaps the second most useful phrase of all.
It's to apologize or to excuse yourself:

1. ขอโทษ 
khǎaw-thôot
"excuse me" or "I'm sorry"

Use this phrase when you want to grab a waiter's attention or when you bump into
someone on the street!

Imagine you're on the street and you want to stop someone to ask them for
directions, you can say ขอโทษ (khǎaw-thôot). Don't forget to add khráp, if you
are a guy, and khâ, if you are a woman.

Where is...?

Asking where something is is an incredibly important and useful phrase to learn.

You're going to need this when asking where the bathroom, the train station, or
where the hotel is.
To ask where something is, put the Thai word for "where," ทีไ่ หน (thîi-năi), first,
followed by verb "to be," อยู่ (yùu), and then add the place you want to find.

For example, if you want to ask "Where is the bathroom?" you can say:

1. ห ้องน้ำอยูท
่ ไี่ หน 
hâawng náam yùu thîi-năi

For the train station, it'll be:

1. สถานีรถไฟอยูท ่ ไี่ หน 

sà-thăa-nii rót fai yùu thîi-năi

You might have noticed that this sentence structure is different from the

English. Rather than saying "Where is the bathroom?" in Thai, it goes "The
bathroom is where?"

Now let's see some vocabulary so that you can use it in the sentence.
Here are some of the most common words you'll need to learn:

1. โรงแรม 
roong-raaem
"hotel"
ื้  
2. ร ้านสะดวกซอ
ráan sà-dùuak sùue
"convenience store"
3. เซเว่น 
see-wên
"Seven-Eleven" or "convenience store"

WHAT IS STRESS?

Stress refers to the prominence or relative emphasis placed on certain syllables in

a word.

When you say the word "unbelievable" for example, do you notice how the "lie"
is accentuated?

That's because it's stressed.

Stressed syllables are pronounced longer and louder than unstressed syllables. 
Unstressed syllables on the other hand, are shortened and quieter than stressed
syllables. 
WHY IS STRESS IMPORTANT?

Stress is important because it impacts the meaning of a word or sentence. 

Compare these two English examples:

1. "I gave Sally a present on her Birthday." (incorrect)

2. "I gave Sally a present on her Birthday." (correct)

Or how about these two examples?

1. "You want my computer?" (as opposed to something else)

2. "You want my computer?" (as opposed to someone else's)

Notice how stressing a different syllable in a word, or stressing particular words in

a sentence, can conjure a different meaning in English. 
Stress works in a very similar fashion in Thai. 

STRESS IN THAI

There are two general principles for stress in Thai:

1. Monosyllabic words are always stressed.

o ข ้า
khâa
"I"
o คุณ
khun
"you"
2. The last syllable of a word is always stressed

o กะซวก 
gà-sûuak
"to wolf down"
o สหี น ้า
sǐi nâa
"facial expression"
These two principles cover the basis of Thai stress. For irregular words, there is
no typical pattern, you'll just have to memorize them on a word to word basis.

We mentioned earlier that we can stress syllables by pronouncing them longer and
louder than other syllables.

But wait, how can we stress syllables by making them longer when we already
use vowel length to differentiate between short and long vowels?—Unfortunately,
language isn't always so simple. The same property, vowel length, operates on
two levels in Thai. One of them, is to indicate stress.

Stress adds another layer of complexity to Thai pronunciation, because unlike

English, you also have to factor in the contrast between short and long vowel
lengths. This makes the distinctions less apparent in Thai than it is in English.
However, it's this minute difference which truly sets apart beginners from fluent
speakers of Thai.

The difference in vowel length between stressed and unstressed syllables, is even
*more* important than the difference between short and long vowels.

This means that any stressed syllable will be comparitively longer than an
unstressed syllable, *even if* that unstressed syllable has a long vowel.

Therefore, a stressed short vowel would actually be longer than an unstressed

long vowel.

We can lay out the durations as such: 

short A—long A—stressed short A—stressed long A 

This can be quite confusing. Fortunately though, stressed syllables often align
naturally with long vowels.

1. มหาวิทยาลัย
má-hăa-wít-thá-yaa-lai
"university"
2. บ ้านพักตากอากาศ
bâan  phák  dtàak-aa-gàat
"weekend house"

Notice how the syllables, which contain long vowels, are stressed.
Syllables with long vowels and/or final consonants are typically stressed.

This isn't always the case however, as you can sometimes encounter long vowels
in unstressed syllables too. 
In which case, you would you need to pronounce them shorter:

1. หมาป่ า
măa bpàa
"wolf"

Even though both the first and second syllables contain a long vowel, the first
long vowel is pronounced shorter than the second one because the syllable is
unstressed.

UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES

Unlike stressed syllables, which often follow typical pronunciation rules,

unstressed syllables can sometimes have irregular pronunciations that are harder
to predict. They're the ones that we need to look out for.

There are several changes that can occur when a syllable is unstressed:

1. Shortening of long vowels

2. Glottal stop disappears
3. Changes to a mid tone

Let's take a look at each of them in a bit more detail.

1. Shortening of Long Vowels

As we just saw previously, long vowels can be shortened when it's in a syllable
that is unstressed. This is typical for compound words, or words that have root
words in them.

The previous example "wolf", for instance, is a compound of two root words: 1.
"dog" + 2. "forest" = 3. "wolf"

1. หมา
măa
"dog"
2. ป่ า
bpàa
"forest"
3. หมาป่ า
măa-bpàa
"wolf"
Using the incorrect stress pattern would result in two separate words—"dog" and
"forest".

Compound words of this nature will always have the beginning root vowel
shortened.

1. น้ำ
náam
"water"

น้ำแข็ง
náam-khăeng
"ice"
2. ได ้
dâai
"able to"

ได ้ยิน
dâai yin
"to hear"

2. Glottal Stop Disappears

Do you remember this sound from lesson 5? It's that stopping sound, or the hypen
in 'uh-oh'.

It typically occurs at the end of a syllable that has a short vowel. This abrupt
pause sound is often dropped in unstressed syllables, causing the short vowel at
the end to continue into the next syllable.

1. กะลา
gà-laa
"coconut shell"
2. แสดง
sà-daaeng
"to act"
3. แมลง
má-laaeng
"bug, insect"

3. Unstressed Syllables Change to a Mid Tone

Despite what is written, tones in unstressed syllables actually default to a mid

tone.
 1. ฉลาด 
cha-laat → chà-làat
"smart"
2. ฝรั่ง
fà-ràng → fa-ràng
"guava"
3. สมุด 
sa-mut → sà-mùt
"notebook"

The Focus of This Lesson is to Review

You've made it to the last lesson! Do you feel more confident about speaking in
Thai now?
In this last lesson, we'll wrap things up by quizzing you on the material that we've
covered in this series.

Make sure to practice out loud with this lesson!

You know all the parts and pieces, but can you speak Thai with a natural accent?
Are you ready? Let's go!

Let's Practice!

Try to pronounce the following words correctly:

1. ป่า
"forest"

Did you pronounce the consonant sound correctly?

Remember, Thai contrasts between a hard B, an unaspirated P, and an
aspirated P. This example uses an unaspirated P sound like the P in 'spin'.
2. ป่า
bpàa
"forest"

We covered this sound back in lesson 5.

1. ชอื่
"name"
 Did you pronounce the vowels correctly? One of the vowel sounds doesn't
exist in English. It's the 'unrounded U'. You want to make a U sound, but
instead of rounding your lips, try spreading them instead.
2. ชอื่
chûue
"name"

We covered this sound back in lesson 3.

1. ร้าน
ráan
"store"
2. ร้านค้า 
ráan-kháa
"shops"
3. เดิน 
dooen
"walk"
4. เดินทาง 
dooen-thaang
"journey"

Remember, compound words generally have the long vowel shortened in the
beginning syllable because it's unstressed.

1. ร้าน
ráan
"store"
2. ร ้านค้า 
ráan-kháa
"shops"
3. เดิน 
dooen
"walk"
4. เดินทาง 
dooen-thaang
"journey"
④

1. สว ัสดีคะ่ ยินดีทไี่ ด้รจ

ู ้ ักค่ะ
sà-wàt-dii khâ yin-dii thîi dâai rúu-jàk khâ
"Hello, Nice to meet you."

Could you identify all the tones? 

The first syllable is a low tone, the third syllable is a mid tone, the fourth syllable
is a high tone, and the seventh tone is a falling tone.
Lesson Transcript
Hello guys! Welcome back, I’m Jay, and today we are going to do Top 10
Hardest Words to pronounce. Let’s begin!

1. กรุงเทพมหานคร (grung-thêep-má-hăa-ná-khaawn) Bangkok

กรุงเทพมหานคร (grung-thêep-má-hăa-ná-khaawn)

If you go to Bangkok and you hear people talk about Bangkok they’ll say
grung-thêep because conversation-wise it’s easier to pronounce it like
that, grung-thêep. But a longer name is กรุงเทพมหานคร (grung-thêep-má-
hăa-ná-khaawn). But do you know that the real name of Bangkok is
actually the largest city name in the world! Even for Thai it’s very
difficult to remember the whole name. So the whole name of Bangkok is
Krung-thep-maha-nakorn-boworn-ratana-kosin-mahintar-ayudhya-amaha-
dilok-pop-nopa-ratana-rajthani-burirom-udom-rajniwes-mahasat-arn-
amorn-pimarn-avatar-satit-sakattiya-visanukam.

Yay! It’s like, I was rapping!

2. ข ้าวขาว (khâao khăao) white rice

One is like higher than the other, so ข ้าวขาว (khâao khăao) means “white
rice”. The rice that we eat. That’s called ข ้าวขาว (khâao khăao).

ข ้าว(khâao) means “rice”, and ขาว (khăao) means “white”, so together it’s
“white rice”. ข ้าวขาว (khâao khăao).
3. ควาย (khwaai) buffalo

In Thailand there are a lot of buffalos in rural areas, but it looks very
different from those in the states, like, in the states if you're talking
buffalo it’s more of like a bigger, like more hairy, like hairy creators
usually; but Thai buffalos look very different, like, they’re hairless,
smaller in size. You can see a lot of that in Thailand.

4. ตัดทอน (dtàt thaawn) reduce

Actually the first word ตัด(dtàt) meaning “cut”, is like cut down
something, so ตัดทอน (dtàt thaawn) means “reduce”. But it’s quite
formal, for me I don’t really use this word, myself. personally I don’t
really use this word, but you can see it in the documents, news. So, ตัด
ทอน (dtàt thaawn) reduce.

5. ทฤษฎี (thrít-sà-dii) theory

In Thai, it’s ทฤษฎี (thrít-sà-dii). Ok to tell you a secret, even I don't

pronounce this word property when I talk, because it's very difficult to
pronounce it correctly. In the lines I just say ทฤษฎี (thrít-sà-dii), ทฤษฎี
(thrít-sà-dii), but it’s wrong though. So the correct way to pronounce it is
ทฤษฎี (thrít-sà-dii).

6. ประพฤติ (bprà-phrúet) behave

ประพฤติ (bprà-phrúet) “behave”. Let's practice again, ประพฤติ (bprà-

phrúet), (bprà) and then (phrúet), like the L sound, within the word, so it’s
like ประพฤติ (bprà-phrúet).

7. รุนแรง (run raaeng) violent

รุนแรง (run raaeng) “violent”, the only difficult part is you have to click
your tongue while you're speaking, like R, you can try, RRRRR, like that.
And then when you use it, when you fought over it, it would be รุนแรง
(run raaeng).

8. อร่อย (a-ròi) delicious

So อร่อย (a-ròi), อร่อย (a-ròi), อร่อย (a-ròi), and you say it faster, อร่อย
(a-ròi). But don't confuse this word to “what”, which is อะไร (a-rai). For
me, I have a foreigner friend, and I always ask him to say this sentence,
which is “everything is delicious”, อะไรอะไรก็อร่อย (a-rai a-rai gâaw a-
ròi), อะไร (a-rai) is “what”, so it’s “Whatever you eat is delicious.” อะไร
อะไรก็อร่อย (a-rai a-rai gâaw a-ròi).

9. โรงเรียน (rong riian) school

Same as what I have taught you so far, the R sound. โรงเรียน (rong riian),
so say it faster. โรงเรียน (rong riian), that’s “school”

10. ง่าย (ngâai) easy

10. ง่าย (ngâai) meaning “easy”, like thinking of “singing”, the NG sound,
you used that sound in front of the word. ง่าย (ngâai), ง่าย (ngâai). Is it
easy? ง่ายมัย
้ (ngâai mái)? I don’t think it is, but it’s a good word to learn.

Now we are done with the lesson, how many can you actually
pronounced? I know it's difficult, even for me it’s difficult, so don’t be
discouraged by this lesson, just try practice it. But anyway, okay, thank
you for watching, and don't forget to subscribe our channel, see you next
time. Bye!

Lesson Notes
Grammar

The Focus of this Lesson is Two Low Class Consonants and One
Vowel: Maaw máa, Naaw nǔu, and Long a

The Thai alphabet is made up of 44 consonants. That might seem like a lot to

you now. But if you just learn a few at a time you'll see that they're not difficult to
master. Thai is read from left to right just like English. The letters of the Thai
alphabet are grouped into three consonant classes: low, middle, and high. In this
lesson we'll learn 3 low class consonants.

Each Thai consonant has a name made up of two parts. The first part of the
name is the sound that the letter makes as the initial sound of a syllable. The last
part of the name is some word that contains that letter. These names make it easier
to remember the letters.

In addition to the consonants, the Thai script has 32 vowels. That sounds like a
lot, but most of them are pairs of long and short vowels, so it's not as hard as you
think. Thai vowels have to be written and attached to a consonant. They can
appear above, below, in front, behind, or all around a consonant.

Thai has 5 different tones. Tone means how high or low the pitch of a sound is.
The 5 tones are: mid, low, falling, high, and rising. Or if we use the sound กา
(gaa) as an example, the 5 tones are กา ก่า ก ้า ก๊า ก๋า (gaa gàa gâa gáa gǎa). If
you make the wrong tone you won't be easily understood.

Thai script has 4 different tone symbols, which help to indicate different tones in
writing. But they don't automatically tell you which tone a syllable is. The
consonant class, length of the vowel, and type of ending sound also factor in. If
that sounds like a lot to keep track of, don't worry. We'll tackle each tone rule one
by one so you won't feel overwhelmed. OK, are you ready to learn your first Thai
consonant? Let's begin!

The Consonant ม (maaw máa)

Remember how I said each letter has two parts to its name? The first part of ม
(maaw-máa) is มอ (maaw) because it makes the sound "m" just like the letter M.
And ม ้า (máa) is a word that means "horse."

Most Thai letters start with a small circle which we call the head of the letter.
Some are written clockwise and some are written counter-clockwise. The head of
ม is written clockwise, and then the rest of the letter is written with one
continuous line. There is a second loop in the bottom left corner, then we bring
the line over to the lower right corner, and then keep drawing the line up to the top
right corner.

If you want an easy way to remember the shape of this letter think of a coffee mug
with a broken handle. The head on the top and the loop on the bottom are where
the handle used to be attached. This will help you to remember that ม has the head
and loop on the same side. And of course, ม and "mug" both start with the same
sound "m."

The Consonant น (naaw nǔu)

It makes the sound "n" just like the letter N. Do you know what animal น (naaw
nǔu) is named after? หนู nǔu means "rat" in Thai. I bet you're thinking that น
looks very similar to ม. Well, you're right. The only difference between the shape
of these two letters is น has the loop on the right side instead of the left side.
That's why I said you should remember a mug for ม that has a broken handle on
the left side.

น is handwritten like this. The head is drawn clockwise, and the loop is in the
lower right corner.

The Vowel สระ อา (sà-rà a - "long a")

Now you know two Thai consonants, but we need to learn some vowels before we
can start making words. Remember that the Thai alphabet is entirely consonants.
Vowels are a separate group of symbols that orbit around the consonants. The
Thai word for "vowel" is สระ (sà-rà). Each vowel's name is made up of the
word สระ plus the sound that the vowel makes. The first vowel that we'll learn is
สระ อา. It is written to the right of a consonant, but a lot of other vowels will be
found in different positions. Vowels can be long or short. In this case, สระ อา is a
long vowel that makes the sound อา "aa," like the A in "father."

สระ อา is very easy to write. Just draw a slightly curved line going to the right,
and then drop straight down. It looks a little like a cane or walking stick. If you
think of the sentence "My father walks with a cane", it will help you remember
the shape of สระ อา.

You will never see สระ อา written just by itself like this. It always has to follow a
consonant. Let's use the consonants we learned to demonstrate. ม followed by สระ
อา is the word มา (maa). This is the verb "to come." Let's practice writing  it
together. ม, สระ อา, มา.

Practice Words

Now let's try a new word. This time we'll start with น.

น followed by สระ อา makes นา (naa).

This is the word for "rice field." Let's write it again together. น, สระ อา, นา.

Many Thai consonants have different sounds at the beginning and end of
syllables. But these two consonants ม and น don't change their sound. So you can
make another word very easily just by adding another น to the end of นา (naa).

Now you have the word นาน (naan), which means "a long time."
Lesson Transcript
สวัสดีคะ่ , ดิฉันปรารถนาค่ะ! Welcome to Thaipod101.com’s ตัวอักษรไทย Made
Easy!
The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn the Thai alphabet: ตัวอักษรไทย!
Over the next 25 lessons, you'll learn everything there is about the reading and
writing of the Thai language. By the end, you’ll be able to read Thai menu items,
communicate online, and make your way through Thailand easier. Learning to
read and write Thai will also help you to speak Thai better! Are you ready? Then
let's go!
The Thai alphabet is made up of 44 consonants. That might seem like a lot to you
now. But if you just learn a few at a time you'll see that they're not difficult to
master. Thai is read from left to right just like English. The letters of the Thai
alphabet are grouped into three consonant classes: low, middle, and high. In this
lesson we'll learn 3 low class consonants.
Each Thai consonant has a name made up of two parts.
The first part of the name is the sound that the letter makes as the initial sound of
a syllable. The last part of the name is some word that contains that letter. These
names make it easier to remember the letters.
In addition to the consonants, the Thai script has 32 vowels. That sounds like a
lot, but most of them are pairs of long and short vowels, so it's not as hard as you
think. Thai vowels have to be written and attached to a consonant. They can
appear above, below, in front, behind, or all around a consonant.
Thai has 5 different tones. Tone means how high or low the pitch of a sound is.
The 5 tones are: mid, low, falling, high, and rising. Or if we use the sound กา
(gaa) as an example, the 5 tones are กา ก่า ก ้า ก๊า ก๋า (gaa gàa gâa gáa gǎa). If you
make the wrong tone you won't be easily understood.
Thai script has 4 different tone symbols, which helps to indicate different tones in
writing. But they don't automatically tell you which tone a syllable is. The
consonant class, length of the vowel, and type of ending sound also factor in. If
that sounds like a lot to keep track of, don't worry. We'll tackle each tone rule one
by one so you won't feel overwhelmed. OK, are you ready to learn your first Thai
consonant? Let's begin!
Let's start with the letter ม (maaw máa). Remember how I said each letter has two
parts to its name? The first part of ม (maaw-máa) is มอ (maaw) because it makes
the sound "m" just like the letter M. And ม ้า (máa) is a word that means "horse".
Most Thai letters start with a small circle which we call the head of the letter. The
head of ม is written clockwise, and then the rest of the letter is written with one
continuous line. If you want an easy way to remember the shape of this letter
think of a coffee mug with a broken handle. The head on the top and the loop on
the bottom are where the handle used to be attached. This will help you to
remember that ม has the head and loop on the same side. And of course, ม and
"mug" both start with the same sound!
Now it’s time to take out your pencils! We’re going to practice writing. Find some
paper and follow along.
OK, here we go! Start with the head, go down and make a loop, go to the right,
and then back up.
See how easy that was! Now you're going to learn your second consonant.
The next consonant is น (naaw nǔu). It makes the sound "n" just like the letter N.
Do you know what animal น (naaw nǔu) is named after? หนู nǔu means "rat" in
Thai. I bet you're thinking that น looks very similar to ม. Well, you're right. The
only difference between the shape of these two letters is น has the loop on the
right side instead of the left side. That's why I said you should remember a mug
for ม that has a broken handle on the left side.
น is handwritten like this. The head is drawn clockwise, and the loop is in the
lower right corner.
Now you know two Thai consonants, but we need to learn some vowels before we
can start making words.
Remember that the Thai alphabet is entirely consonants. Vowels are a separate
group of symbols that orbit around the consonants. The Thai word for "vowel" is
สระ (sà-rà). Each vowel's name is made up of the word สระ plus the sound that the
vowel makes.
The first vowel that we'll learn is สระ อา. It is written to the right of a consonant,
but a lot of other vowels will be found in different positions. Vowels can be long
or short. In this case, สระ อา is a long vowel that makes the sound อา "aa", like
the A in "father".
สระ อา is very easy to write. Just draw a slightly curved line going to the right,
and then drop straight down. It looks a little like a cane or walking stick. If you
think of the sentence "My f*a*ther walks with a cane.", it will help you remember
the shape of สระ อา.
You will never see สระ อา written just by itself like this. It always has to follow a
consonant. Let's use the consonants we learned to demonstrate. ม followed by สระ
อา is the word มา (maa). This is a verb, meaning "to come".
Let's practice writing it together. ม, สระ อา, มา.
Now let's try a new word. This time we'll start with น.
น followed by สระ อา makes นา (naa). This is the word for "rice field".
Let's write it together. น, สระ อา, นา.
Many Thai consonants have different sounds at the beginning and end of
syllables. But these two consonants ม and น don't change their sound. So you can
make another word very easily just by adding another น to the end of นา (naa).
Now you have the word นาน (naan), which means "a long time".
Let's write it now! น, สระ อา, น, นาน.
Wow! You've already learned how to write 3 words in Thai. See, it's not that hard
after all.
Now it's time for Pradthana's Points.
Practice writing these letters and words until it becomes second nature. Keep a
notebook and write the letters many times while saying their names out loud. That
way the shape of the letter, the sound it makes, and the letter's name will sink deep
into your memory.
Did you notice that all the words you learned today are pronounced with a mid
tone? It's not just random. There's a rule for it, and in the next ตัวอักษรไทย Made
Easy Lesson you'll learn your first rule for reading tones in Thai. See you there!
สวัสดีคะ่ !
Lesson Notes
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Grammar

The Focus of This Lesson is the first 2 tone marks: mái-èek and mái-thoo.

So far we've learned about tone rules based on how words are spelled. But there
are also 4 tone marks which can be used to change the tone of a word. The
following points are important notes to remember about the Thai tone marks:

 Tone marks are written above the initial consonant.

 If there is a vowel above the consonant, then the tone mark is placed above
the vowel.
 If 2 letters are forming an initial consonant cluster, then the tone mark
goes over the second consonant in the cluster.
 The tone that a tone mark produces depends on the class of the initial
consonant.
 If there is an initial consonant cluster, it is the class of the first consonant
which counts.

The tone marks override all of the tone rules based on spelling, so for any syllable
that has a tone mark the only thing you need to know is which tone mark it is and
the consonant class of the initial consonant. The length of the vowel and whether
or not the syllable has a live or dead ending does not matter.
The four tone marks are called ไม ้เอก (mái-èek), ไม ้โท (mái-thoo), ไม ้ตรี (mái-
dtrii), and ไม ้จัตวา (mái-jàt-dtà-waa).

The words เอก, โท, ตรี, and จัตวา originally came from an Indian language, and
they simply mean "1" "2" "3" and "4."

ไม้เอก (mái-èek)

The first tone mark is ไม ้เอก. It looks just like a short vertical line placed over the
initial consonant.

We are going to cover each tone rule for using tone marks one by one starting
with how they affect middle class consonants. So the rule for using  ไม ้เอก with
middle class consonants is:

 Middle class consonants with ไม ้เอก make low tone.

Example 1

ไก่ (gài), meaning "chicken": we have the initial consonant ก, which makes the
sound "g." The vowel สระ ไอ ไม ้มลาย is written to its left. Then the tone mark
ไม ้เอก is written above. This is a middle class consonant, so according to the rule
we just learned, ไม ้เอก gives it a low tone. 

This is how to write it in order: สระ ไอ ไม ้มลาย, ก,  ไม ้เอก.

Example 2

เบือ
่ (bùuea), meaning "to be bored": the initial consonant is บ. The vowel is สระ
เอือ, which is written using สระ เอ to the left, สระ อื above, and อ to the right of
the consonant. And the tone mark ไม ้เอก is written above the vowel. เบือ ่ has a
low tone because of ไม ้เอก paired with a middle class consonant.

This is how to write it in order: สระ เอ, บ, สระ อื, ไม ้เอก, อ.

ไม้โท (mái-thoo)

The second tone symbol is called ไม ้โท (mái-thoo). Like all the tone symbols,
ไม ้โท is written above the initial consonant and any vowels that sit on top of the
consonant.

To write ไม ้โท: start with a small clockwise head, then make a little hook pointing
to the left.

The rule for using ไม ้โท with middle class consonants is:
  Middle class consonants with ไม ้โท make falling tone.

Example:

แก้ว (gâaeo), meaning "glass": the initial middle class consonant is ก. The vowel
สระ แอ is written on its left side. And the final consonant is ว. Without any tone
mark this would be said as แกว (gaaeo) with a mid tone. But แกว is a totally
different word, which means "hint" or "clue." Adding the tone mark ไม ้โท above
the consonant makes แก ้ว with a falling tone.

ไม้เอก (mái-èek) and ไม้โท (mái-thoo)

It is possible to use both tone marks in the same word: ไม ้เอก and ไม ้โท.

Example:

ต่างด้าว (dtàang-dâao), meaning "alien" or "foreigner": the first syllable has the
initial consonant ต, and the second syllable has the initial consonant ด. Both are
middle class consonants.

 The rule for using ไม ้เอก is: middle class consonants with ไม ้เอก make
low tone.
 The rule for ไม ้โท is: middle class consonants with  ไม ้โท make falling
tone.

So ต่างด้าว should have a low tone for the first syllable and a falling tone for the
second syllable.
Writing tip:

When writing words that have tone marks, always write the vowel symbols that
go below or above the letter before writing the tone mark. The same is true when
you are typing on a computer. If you type the vowel and tone symbol in the wrong
order, you won't be able to find the word that you are looking for in a search or
dictionary app.

Lesson Transcript
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สวัสดีคะ่ , ดิฉันปรารถนาค่ะ! Welcome to Thaipod101.com’s ตัวอักษรไทย
Made Easy!

The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn the Thai alphabet: ตัวอักษร
ไทย!
In the last lesson you learned the letters ธ ณ ญ and ภ, and the vowel สระ
อำ. Do you remember how to write them all?

In this lesson, you’re going to learn about the first 2 tone marks…

Ready to start? Then let's go!

So far we've learned about tone rules based on how words are spelled. But
we also have 4 tone marks which can be used to change the tone of a
word.

Tone marks are written above the initial consonant. If there is a vowel
above the consonant, then the tone mark is placed above the vowel.

If 2 letters are forming an initial consonant cluster, then the tone mark
goes over the second consonant in the cluster.

The tone that a tone mark produces depends on the class of the initial
consonant. Or if there is an initial consonant cluster, it is the class of the
first consonant which counts.

The good news is that tone marks override all of the tone rules based on
spelling. So for any syllable that has a tone mark, the only thing you need
to know is which tone mark it is and the consonant class of the initial
consonant. The length of the vowel and whether or not the syllable has a
live or dead ending does not matter.

The four tone marks are called ไม ้เอก (mái-èek), ไม ้โท (mái-thoo), ไม ้ตรี
(mái-dtrii), and ไม ้จัตวา (mái-jàt-dtà-waa).

The words เอก , โท, ตรี , and จัตวา originally came from an Indian
language, and they simply mean "1" "2" "3" and "4".

The first tone mark is ไม ้เอก. It looks just like a short vertical line placed
over the initial consonant.

We are going to cover each tone rule for using tone marks one by one
starting with how they affect middle class consonants. So the rule for
using ไม ้เอก with middle class consonants is:

Middle class consonants with ไม ้เอก make low tone.

Here is one example. This is a very common word that you hear all the
time, especially in restaurants. Do you think you can read it?

We have the initial consonant ก, which makes the sound "g". The vowel
สระ ไอ ไม ้มลาย is written to its left. Then the tone mark ไม ้เอก is written
above.

This is a middle class consonant, so according to the rule we just learned,

ไม ้เอก gives it a low tone. So we pronounce this word as ไก่ (gài). Maybe
you already knew that ไก่ means "chicken".

Let's write ไก่ again. In order:

สระ ไอ ไม ้มลาย, ก, ไม ้เอก. ไก่ (gài) with a low tone.

Here's another word written using ไม ้เอก .

It reads เบือ
่ (bùuea), which means "to be bored". The initial consonant is
บ . the vowel is สระ เอือ, which is written using สระ เอ to the left, สระ อื
above, and อ to the right of the consonant. And the tone mark ไม ้เอก is
written above the vowel.

This is how you write เบือ

่ in order:

สระ เอ, บ, สระ อื, ไม ้เอก, อ. เบือ

่
เบือ
่ also has a low tone because of ไม ้เอก paired with a middle class
consonant.

Now it's time to introduce the second tone symbol. It's called ไม ้โท (mái-
thoo).

Like all the tone symbols, ไม ้โท is written above the initial consonant and
any vowels that sit on top of the consonant.

We write ไม ้โท starting with a small clockwise head. And then we make a
little hook pointing to the left.

The rule for using ไม ้โท with middle class consonants is:

Middle class consonants with ไม ้โท make a falling tone.

Let's use the word แก ้ว (gâaeo) as an example. แก ้ว means "glass". The

initial middle class consonant is ก.

The vowel สระ แอ is written on its left side. And the final consonant is ว.
Without any tone mark this would be said as แกว (gaaeo) with a mid tone.
But แกว is a totally different word, which means "hint" or "clue".

Adding the tone mark ไม ้โท above the consonant makes แก ้ว with a
falling tone.

Do you remember the rule about using ไม ้เอก with middle class
consonants? Here is a word that uses both ไม ้เอก and ไม ้โท.

The word is ต่างด ้าว (dtàang-dâao), which means "alien" or "foreigner".

The first syllable has the initial consonant ต, and the second syllable has
the initial consonant ด. Both are middle class consonants.
The rule for using ไม ้เอก was:

Middle class consonants with ไม ้เอก make a low tone.

And the rule for ไม ้โท is:

Middle class consonants with ไม ้โท make a falling tone.

So we can see that ต่างด ้าว should have a low tone for the first syllable
and a falling tone for the second syllable.

Let's practice writing ต่างด ้าว together. I will say each part in the order
they are written so you can remember the correct order for spelling.

ต, ไม ้เอก, สระ อา, ง, ด, ไม ้โท, สระ อา, ว.

ต่างด ้าว (dtàang-dâao)

Now it's time for Pradthana’s Points.

When writing words that have tone marks, always write the vowel
symbols that go below or above the letter before writing the tone mark.
The same is true when you are typing on a computer. If you type the
vowel and tone symbol in the wrong order, you won't be able to find the
word that you are looking for in a search or dictionary app.

Do you know the name for Bangkok's famous 3-wheeled motor taxis? In
the next ตัวอักษรไทย Made Easy Lesson you'll learn what they're called,
and most of all, how to write it! See you there! สวัสดีคะ่ !