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Consonants:
Vowels:
Tones:
Numbers:
Phrases:

 

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Phrases 1

Guide to pronunciation

Consonants

Consonants ar considerably easier to pronounce in thai than vowels since all but a few have english eqivalents. The sounds you will find as intial consonants of syllables are as follows:

Aspirated sounds---consonants with a "huh" sound in them.

b banana
ch cheese
d door
f free
h happy
k kiss
p pinch
s sit
t take

It is important to recognize the above sounds as aspirates, because some thai letters also have an unaspirated version, which is not the case in English. There are:

(b)p pronounced like a sharp p with "uh" sound removed.
(d)t pronounced like a sharp t with "uh" sound removed.
g gas
j jump
l letter
n new
ng sing
r red
w win
y yellow

The range of consonant sound at the end of thai syllables are much fewer than group above. they are the unaspirated sound p, t and k which should ideally be pronouced (b)p, (d)t and g but have not been written as such for simplicity sake. Also y, n, w and ng occur as final consonant sounds as do long and short vowels.

g ch th y
kh y th r
k d n l
kh t b w
k th (b)p s
kh th ph s
ng (ŋ) th f s
j n ph h
ch d f l
ch t ph or * vowel
s th m h

 Vowels

Many thai vowels have a long and a short version. For example:

aih air a ar
euh eur i ee
eh ey oo
oh oe o or

There are a very large number of vowel sounds in thai. You will need to presevere with pronunciation practice here, using the full list of vowel sounds below:

a tan
ar cart
ai try
i spit
ee free
eh like a short and sharp exclamation " eh?"
er perk   without pronouncing "r"
ey prey
o spot
oe toe
oo shoot
or worn   without pronouncing "r"
u put

Diphthongs

Other vowel sounds are made by combining two vowels. For example:

air air , fair
aih a shortened version of air above
ear ear, dear
eua no comparable sound in english except "Eugha!"
euh may said in english "uh?"
eur the closed sound in english is a exclamation of revulsion: "eugha"
ia a shortened version of ear above
oey oeil  (in french)
ow cow
ua mature

 
Short Long
-ะ a -า ar
-ิ i -ี ee
-ึ euh -ื eur
-ุ u -ู oo
เ-ะ eh เ- ey
เเ-ะ aih เเ- air
โ-ะ oh โ- oe
เ-าะ o -อ or
เ-อะ erh เ-อ er
เ-ียะ ia เ-ีย ear
เ-ือะ eua  เิ-ืิอ eua
-ัวะ ua -ัว ua
r ฤา
Don't use ฦา
-ำ อำ am
ไ- ไอ ai
ใ- ใอ ai

เ-า

เิอา ow

Tones

Thai is tonal language and script has 5 different tones represented by 4 different tones marks. In the phonetic transcriptions devised in this chapter, the tonal system is repressented by the following tone marks above the first vowe of each syllable:

Tone Pitch Symbol

Meaning

Mid tone normal speaking with the voice at a steady pitch kar คา  to dangle
High tone pitched slightly higer than normal kàr ข่า  galanga (a spice used in cooking)
Low tone pitched slightly lower than normal kár ค้า  to trade
Falling tone pitched high and falling sharply kâr ฆ่า  to kill
Rising tone pitched low and rising sharply kăr ขา   a leg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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