Alphabet Letters in Thai Language

Alphabet in Thai Language

Learning the Thai alphabet is important in mastering the Thai Language. Thai alphabet configuration is applied in a daily conversation. With out the Thai alphabet, it is impossible to speak the Thai words and phrases properly even if anyone understand how to write those phrases in Thai. Learn More

Like any language, the far better a person pronounce a letter in a word, the more understood you’ll be in talking the Thai language. Following are website links which directs you to the Thai alphabet and exactly how it is pronounced in English.

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• Thai Vowels
• Thai Consonants
• Thai Diphthongs

Vowels in Thai Alphabet

Thai has a complicated set of vowels and diphthongs that distinguishes between vowel length (short and long) and vowel position (front and back). In Thai script, vowel signs are always written around consonants and the letter ก (k) is used here to demonstrate. This list follows the Royal Thai General System of Transcription (except that some long vowels are doubled).
ka กะ	like 'a' in "car" (short vowel)
kaa กา	like 'a' in "father" (longer than "a")
kae แก	like 'a' in "man" (short vowel: "แกะ")
ke เก	like 'e' in "bed" (short vowel: "เกะ")
ki กิ	like 'y' in "greedy"
kii กี	like 'ee' in "see" (longer than "i")
ko กอ	like 'o' in "torn" (short vowel: "เกาะ")
ko โก	like 'oa' in "moan" (short vowel: "โกะ")
koe เกอ	like 'i' in "sir" (short vowel: "เกอะ")
ku กุ	like 'oo' in "hoop"
kuu กู	like 'ue' in "blue" (longer than "u")
kue กือ	frontal version of "u" (akin to German "ü", French "du", not found in English) (short vowel: "กึ")
kam กำ	like 'um' in "dummy"
kai ใก/ไก	like 'i' in "fight"
kia เกีย	like 'ea' in "idea"
kua กัว	similar to 'oo' in "poor" (British English)
kuea เกือ	like "ue" followed by a short "a"
kao เกา	like 'ow' in "cow"

Consonants in Thai Alphabet

Thai distinguishes between aspirated ("with a puff of air") and unaspirated ("without a puff of air") consonants. Unaspirated consonants exist in English too, but never alone: compare the sound of 'p' in "pot" (aspirated) and "spot" (unaspirated). Many English speakers find it helpful to pronounce an imperceptible little "m" in front to 'stop' the puff.
In Thai romanized with the Royal Thai General System (used on Wikitravel), the distinction is usually represented by writing aspirated consonants with "h" and unaspirated ones without it. In particular, "ph" represents a hard aspirated 'p' and not a soft 'f', and Phuket is thus pronounced "Poo-ket". Likewise, "th" is a hard aspirated 't' and hence Thailand is pronounced "Tie-land".
Other systems of romanization may use 'bp', 'dt' and 'g' for the unaspirated sounds, and 'p', 't', and 'k' for the aspirated sounds. This is not used in this guide.
b บ	like 'b' in "bed"
bp	not used here, but in other romanizations may represent unaspirated 'p'
ch ฉ ช ฌ	like 'ch' in "chop"
d ฎ ด	like 'd' in "dog"
dt	not used here, but in other romanizations may represent unaspirated 't'
f ฝ ฟ	like 'f' in "fun"
g	not used here, but in other romanizations may represent unaspirated 'k'
h ห ฮ	like 'h' in "help"
j จ	like 'j' or 'dg' in "judge"
k ก	like 'k' in "skate" (unaspirated)
kh ข ฃ ค ฅ ฆ	like 'c' in "Kate" (aspirated)
l ล ฦ ฬ	like 'l' in "love"
m ม	like 'm' in "mother"
n ณ น	like 'n' in "nice"
ng ง	like 'ng' in "sing", but can also be used at the beginning of words
p ป	like 'p' in "spit" (unaspirated)
ph ผ พ ภ	like 'p' in "pit" (aspirated)
r ร ฤ	very light 'r', often pronounced as 'l' or omitted entirely
s ซ ศ ษ ส	like 'ss' in "hiss",
t ฏ ต	like 't' in "stop"
th ฐ ฑ ฒ ถ ท ธ	like 't' in "top"
v	not used here, but in other romanizations may represent 'w'
w ว	like 'w' in "weight"
y ญ ย	like 'y' in "yes"

Semi Vowels/ Diphthongs in Thai Alphabet

Basic Thai grammar is fairly straightforward. Word order is subject-verb-object, as in English. Nouns and verbs do not conjugate, and there are no plurals or grammatical gender. Instead, a wide array of particles and markers are employed to indicate past tense, negation, etc.
phom kin khao ผมกินข้าว
I eat rice
Adjectives are placed after the noun, not before.
phom kin khao suai ผมกินข้าวสวย
I eat rice beautiful (I eat white rice)
The negation marker ไม mai goes before the verb.
phom mai kin khao ผมไม่กินข้าว
I not eat rice (I will not eat/am not eating rice)
The past tense marker แล้ว laew goes after the verb and its object (if any).
phom kin khao laew ผมกินข้าวแล้ว
I eat rice already (I ate rice)
Pronouns are often omitted if it's clear from the context who is doing what.

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