Language Information
Thai alphabet is syllabic, consisting of 44 basic consonants representing 21 distinct consonant sounds, each with an inherent vowel: [o] in medial position and [a] in final position. The [a] is usually found in words of Sanskrit, Pali or Khmer origin while the [o] is found native Thai words.
The 18 other vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs are indicated using diacritics which appear in front of, above, below of after the consonants they modify.
For some consonants there are multiple letters. Originally they represented separate sounds, but over the years the distinction between those sounds was lost and the letters were used instead to indicate tones.
Thai is a tonal language with 5 tones. The tone of a syllable is determined by a combination of the class of consonant, the type of syllable (open or closed), the tone marker and the length of the vowel.
There are no spaces between words, instead spaces in a Thai text indicate the end of a clause or sentence.
The direction of writing in the Thai language is horizontal from left to right.
Consonants
Consonants
are divided into three classes: middle, high and low, which help to determine
the tone of a syllable. The sounds represented by some consonants change when
they are used at the end of a syllable (indicated by the letters on the right
of the slash below). Some consonants can only be used at the beginning of a
syllable.
The following chart contains Thai
consonants, their names and transcription.
|
Symbol |
|
Name |
Class |
|
Symbol |
|
Name |
Class |
|
ก |
k |
kor kai (chicken) |
M |
|
น |
n |
nor nuu (mouse) |
L |
|
ข |
kh/k |
khor khai (egg) |
H |
|
บ |
b/p |
bor baimaai (leaf) |
M |
|
ฃ |
kh/k |
khor khuat (bottle) [obsolete] |
H |
|
ป |
p |
por plaa (fish) |
M |
|
ค |
kh/k |
khor khwaai (water buffalo) |
L |
|
ผ |
ph |
phor phueng (bee) |
H |
|
ฅ |
kh/k |
khor khon (person) [obsolete] |
L |
|
ฝ |
f |
for faa (lid) |
H |
|
ฆ |
kh/k |
khor ra-khang (bell) |
L |
|
พ |
ph/p |
phor phaan (tray) |
L |
|
ง |
ng |
ngor nguu (snake) |
L |
|
ฟ |
f/p |
for fan (teeth) |
L |
|
จ |
j/t |
jor jaan (plate) |
M |
|
ภ |
ph/p |
phor samphao (sailboat) |
L |
|
ฉ |
ch |
chor ching (cymbals) |
H |
|
ม |
m |
mor maa (horse) |
L |
|
ช |
ch/t |
chor chaang (elephant) |
L |
|
ย |
y |
yor yak (ogre) |
L |
|
ซ |
s/t |
sor soo (chain) |
L |
|
ร |
r/n |
ror ruea (boat) |
L |
|
ฌ |
ch |
chor choe (bush) |
L |
|
ฤ |
rue |
ror rue (short) * |
- |
|
ญ |
y/n |
yor ying (woman) |
L |
|
ฤๅ |
rue |
ror rue (long) * |
- |
|
ฎ |
d/t |
dor chadaa (headdress) |
M |
|
ล |
l/n |
lor ling (monkey) |
L |
|
ฏ |
t |
tor patak (goad) |
M |
|
ฦ |
lue |
lor lue (short) * |
- |
|
ฐ |
th/t |
thor santhaan (base) |
H |
|
ฦๅ |
lue |
lor lue (long) * |
- |
|
ฑ |
th/t |
thor naangmonthoo (dancer) |
L |
|
ว |
w |
wor waen (ring) |
L |
|
ฒ |
th/t |
thor phuuthao (old person) |
L |
|
ศ |
s/t |
sor saalaa (pavilion) |
H |
|
ณ |
n |
nor neen (novice monk) |
L |
|
ษ |
s/t |
sor reusii (hermit) |
H |
|
ด |
d/t |
dor dek (child) |
M |
|
ส |
s/t |
sor seua (tiger) |
H |
|
ต |
t |
tor tao (turtle) |
M |
|
ห |
h |
hor hiip (chest) |
H |
|
ถ |
th/t |
thor thung (sack) |
H |
|
ฬ |
l/n |
lor julaa (kite) |
L |
|
ท |
th/t |
thor thahaan (soldier) |
L |
|
อ |
** |
or aang (basin) |
M |
|
ธ |
th/t |
thor thong (flag) |
L |
|
ฮ |
h |
hor nok-huuk (owl) |
L |
* Consonant-vowel
combination characters, not members of any group.
** อ is a special case in that at the beginning of a word it
is used as a silent initial for syllables that start with a vowel.
Vowels
The vowels each exist in long-short pairs: these are distinct phonemes
forming unrelated words in Thai, but usually transliterated the same. The long-short pairs are as follows (a dash (–) indicates
the position of the initial consonant after which the vowel is pronounced):
|
Long |
Short |
||||
|
Thai |
|
Explanation |
Thai |
|
Explanation |
|
–า |
a: |
a in "father" |
–ะ |
a |
u in "nut" |
|
–ี |
i: |
ee in "see" |
–ิ |
i |
y in "greedy" |
|
–ู |
u: |
ue in "blue" |
–ุ |
u |
oo in "look" |
|
เ– |
e: |
a in "lame" |
เ–ะ |
e |
e in "set" |
|
แ– |
æ: |
a in "ham" |
แ–ะ |
æ |
a in "at" |
|
–ื |
ɨ: |
u in French "dur" (long) |
–ึ |
ɨ |
u in French "du" (short) |
|
เ–อ |
ə: |
u in "burn" (long) |
เ–อะ |
ə |
u in "burn" (short) |
|
โ– |
o: |
ow in "bowl" |
โ–ะ |
o |
oa in "boat" |
|
–อ |
ɔ: |
aw in "raw" |
เ–าะ |
ɔ |
o in "for" |
The basic vowels
can be combined into diphthongs as follows:
|
Long |
Short |
||||
|
Thai |
|
Explanation |
Thai |
|
Explanation |
|
–าย |
aːj |
I in "I" (stressed) |
ไ–, ใ–, ไ–ย |
ɑj |
I in "I" |
|
–าว |
aːw |
ao in "Lao" |
เ–า |
aw |
ow in "cow" |
|
เ–ีย |
iːa |
ea in "ear" (long) |
เ–ียะ |
ia |
ea in "ear" |
|
|
|
|
–ิว |
iw |
ew in "new" (short) |
|
–ัว |
uːa |
ewe in "newer" |
–ัวะ |
ua |
ure in "pure" (short) |
|
–ูย |
uːj |
ooee in "cooee!" |
–ุย |
uj |
uey in "bluey" |
|
เ–ว |
eːw |
a in "lame" + o in "poke" |
เ–็ว |
ew |
e in "set" + o in "poke" |
|
แ–ว |
æːw |
a in "ham" + o in "poke" |
|
|
|
|
เ–ือ |
ɨːa |
u in French "dur" + a in "father" |
|
|
|
|
เ–ย |
əːj |
u in "burn" + y in "yes" |
|
|
|
|
–อย |
ɔːj |
oy in "boy" (long) |
|
|
|
|
โ–ย |
oːj |
oe in "Chloe" |
|
|
|
Additionally,
there are three triphthongs, all of which are
long:
|
Thai |
|
Explanation |
|
เ–ียว |
iow |
ee + aow |
|
–วย |
uɛj |
oo + I in "I" |
|
เ–ือย |
ɨɛj |
u in French "dur" + I in "I" |
Numerals
There are five phonemic
tones: middle, low, high, rising and falling. They are indicated in the written
script by a combination of the class of the initial consonant (high, mid or
low), vowel length (long or short), closing consonant (unvoiced/plosive or voiced/sonorant)
and sometimes one of four tone marks. The tonal rules are shown in the
following chart:
|
Tone of syllable |
||||
|
Syllable |
Initial consonant |
|||
|
Tone mark |
Syllable composition |
High class |
Mid class |
Low class |
|
none |
long vowel or vowel plus sonorant |
rising |
mid |
mid |
|
none |
long vowel plus plosive |
low |
low |
falling |
|
none |
short vowel at end or plus plosive |
low |
low |
high |
|
mai ek –่ |
any |
low |
low |
falling |
|
mai tho –้ |
any |
falling |
falling |
high |
|
mai tri –๊ |
any |
high |
high |
high |
|
mai chattawa –๋ |
any |
rising |
rising |
rising |
The letters ห (high class) and sometimes อ (mid class) are used as silent letters
before another consonant to produce the correct tone. In polysyllabic words, an
initial high class consonant with an implicit vowel renders the following
syllable also high class.
There are a few
exceptions to this system, notably the pronouns chan
and khao, which are both pronounced with a
high tone rather than the rising tone indicated by the script.
Grammar
The word order in Thai is
Subject-Verb-Object, although the subject is often omitted. As in many Asian
languages, the Thai pronominal system varies according to the sex and relative
status of speaker and audience.
Adjectives follow the noun. A duplicated adjective is used for emphasis,
e.g. คนอ้วนๆ (khon uan uan)- "a really fat
person."
Comparatives take the form "A X กว่า (gwa) B" (A is more X than B). The superlative
is expressed as A X ที่สุด (theesut).
Verbs do not inflect (i.e. do not
change with person, tense, voice, mood or number) nor are there any
participles. Duplication conveys the idea of doing the verb a lot. The passive
voice is indicated by the insertion of โดน (dohn) or ถูก (thuuk)
before the verb. Tense is conveyed by tense markers before or after the verb: กำลัง (gamlang) before the verb for ongoing action (like
English -ing form) or อยู่ (yuu) after the verb for the present; จะ (ja) before the verb for the
future; ได้ (dai) before the verb (or a time expression) for the
past.
Many adverbs are expressed by a
duplicated adjective. Adverbs usually follow the verb.
Nouns are uninflected and have no
gender; there are no plural forms or articles. Plurals are expressed by adding
"nouns of multitude" (ลักษณนาม) or
classifiers in the form of noun-number-classifier, e.g. "teacher five
person" for "five teachers".
While in English, such classifiers
are usually absent ("four chairs") or optional ("two bottles of
beer" or "two beers"), a classifier is almost always used
in Thai (hence "chair four item" and "beer two bottle").
Subject pronouns are often omitted,
while nicknames are often used where English would use a pronoun. There are
specialized pronouns in the royal and sacred Thai languages. The following are
appropriate for conversational use:
|
ผม (phom) |
I/me (masculine) |
|
ดิฉัน (di-chan) |
I/me (feminine) |
|
ฉัน (chan) |
I/me (masculine or feminine; informal) |
|
คุณ (khun) |
You (polite) |
|
เธอ (thœ) |
You (informal) |
|
เรา (rao) |
We |
|
เขา (khao) |
He/she |
|
มัน (man) |
It |
|
พวกเขา (phuak-khao) |
They |
|
พี่ (phee) |
Older brother or sister (often used loosely for older non-relatives) |
|
น้อง (nong) |
Younger brother or sister (often used loosely for younger non-relatives) |
The particles are often
untranslatable words added to the end of a sentence to indicate respect, a request,
encouragement or other moods (similar to the use of intonation in English), as
well as varying the level of formality. They are not used in written
|
นะ
(na) |
Request |
|
เ จ๊ะ (ja) |
|
|
จ้ะ, จ้า or จ๋า (ja) |
Emphasis |
|
ละ or ล่ะ (la) |
|
|
สิ
(si) |
Emphasis or an imperative |
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