“Thai language in Everyday Conversation with Foreigners”

1
Instructor: Orrathip Geerativudhipong

Introduction of Thai Sound System

Thai sound system is a set of Thai sounds that are separated into three sub-sets:
consonant sounds, vowel sounds, and tones.

Consonant Sounds

 There are 44 consonant alphabets for writing.

 There are 21 consonant sounds for speaking.

 One consonant sound can be written with different alphabets.

 Each consonant alphabet has a tone.

 Each consonant alphabet represents only one consonant sounds.

 There are 34 consonant alphabets are used as the final consonants.

 There are just 8 final sound according to the position or the movement in our mouth.

Writing and reading skills are not required in this course of “Thai language in everyday
conversation with foreigners”. Therefore, learners do not need to remember Thai consonant
alphabets.

Thai romanization is used as the transliteration to transcribe Thai consonant sounds in this
course for learners to learn to listen and speak Thai language instead of using Thai consonant
alphabets. This course uses a standard Thai sound system with the Thai romanization to help
learners understand Thai sounds and pronunciation of each word in Thai language.

Thai romanization of consonants

Thai consonants Romanized characters

Initial consonants Final consonants
ก g k
ข, ฃ kh k
ค, ฅ, ฆ kh k

Mahidol University
 “Thai language in Everyday Conversation with Foreigners”
2
Instructor: Orrathip Geerativudhipong

ง ng ng
จ j t
ฉ, ฌ ch none
ช ch t
ซ, ศ, ษ, ส s t
ญ y n
ฎ, ด d t
ฏ, ต t t
ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ถ, ท, ธ th t
ณ, น n n
บ b p
ป p p
ผ ph none
ฝ f none
พ, ภ ph p
ฟ f p
ม m m
ย y none
ร r n
ล, ฬ l n
ว w none
ห, ฮ h none
อ a none

Notes:

Phonetically “h” is the symbol for aspirated sound, that is, the sound followed by a puff
of air when pronounced according to the phonetic rules:

 [g] represents ก which is an unaspirated sound, that is, the sound without a puff

of air when pronounced. [kh] therefore represents ข ฃ ค ฅ ฆ which are aspirated

sounds.
 [p] represents ป which is an unaspirated sound. [ph] therefore represents ผ พ ภ

which are aspirated sounds.

 [t] represents ต ฏ which are unaspirated sounds. [th] therefore represents ฐ ฑ ฒ ถ

ท ธ which are aspirated sounds.

Mahidol University
 “Thai language in Everyday Conversation with Foreigners”
3
Instructor: Orrathip Geerativudhipong

ZOOM: Thai Consonant Sounds

ก=g

This sound is Voiceless unaspirated velar stop

When you pronounce this sound, the back of tongue touch on the velar.

ข, ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ = kh

This sound is Voiceless aspirated velar stop

When you pronounce this sound, the back of tongue up to the velar.

ง = ng

This sound is Voiced velar nasal

When you pronounce this sound, the back of tongue up to the velar.

จ=j

This sound is Voiceless unaspirated palatal affricate

When you pronounce this sound, the front of tongue up to the hard palatal.

ฉ, ฌ, ช = ch

This sound is Voiceless aspirated palatal affricate

When you pronounce this sound, the front of tongue up to the hard palatal.

Mahidol University
 “Thai language in Everyday Conversation with Foreigners”
4
Instructor: Orrathip Geerativudhipong

ซ, ศ, ษ, ส = s

This sound is Voiceless alveolar fricative

When you pronounce this sound, the tongue tip close to the alveolar

ญ, ย = y

This sound is Voiced palatal approximant

When you pronounce this sound, the front of tongue up to the hard palatal.

ฎ, ด = d

This sound is Voiced unaspirated alveolar stop

When you pronounce this sound, the tongue tip up to the alveolar.

ฏ, ต = t

This sound is Voiceless unaspirated alveolar stop

When you pronounce this sound, the tongue tip up to the alveolar.

ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ถ, ท, ธ = th

This sound is Voiceless aspirated alveolar stop

When you pronounce this sound, the tongue tip up to the alveolar.

Mahidol University
 “Thai language in Everyday Conversation with Foreigners”
5
Instructor: Orrathip Geerativudhipong

ณ, น = n

This sound is Voiced alveolar nasal

When you pronounce this sound, the tongue tip up to the dental-alveolar.

บ=b

This sound is Voiced unaspirated bilabial stop

When you pronounce this sound, the lower bilabial up to the upper bilabial.

ป=p

This sound is Voiceless unaspirated bilabial stop

When you pronounce this sound, the lower bilabial up to the upper bilabial.

ผ, พ, ภ = ph

This sound is Voiceless aspirated bilabial stop

When you pronounce this sound, the lower bilabial up to the upper bilabial.

ฝ, ฟ = f

This sound is Voiceless labiodental fricative

When you pronounce this sound, the lower bilabial up to the upper dental.

Mahidol University
 “Thai language in Everyday Conversation with Foreigners”
6
Instructor: Orrathip Geerativudhipong

ม= m

This sound is Voiced bilabial nasal

When you pronounce this sound, the lower bilabial up to the upper bilabial.

ร=r

This sound is Voiced alveolar trill

When you pronounce this sound, the tongue tip up to the alveolar.

ล, ฬ = l

This sound is Voiced alveolar lateral

When you pronounce this sound, the tongue tip up to the alveolar.

ว=w

This sound is Voiced labiovelar approximant

When you pronounce this sound, the lower bilabial close to the upper bilabial.

ห, ฮ = h

This sound is Voiceless glottal fricative

This sound is produced from the glottal.

อ=a

This sound is Voiceless glottal stop

This sound is produced from the glottal.

Mahidol University
 “Thai language in Everyday Conversation with Foreigners”
7
Instructor: Orrathip Geerativudhipong

Vowel Sounds

 There are 28 vowel letters in Thai language.

 There are 24 vowel sounds in speaking

 Thai vowels are separated into 3 groups: single vowels, combined vowels, and extra

vowels.

 There are 18 single vowels letters of Thai language

 There are 6 combined vowels letters of Thai language

 There are 4 extra vowels letters of Thai language

Writing and reading skills are not required in this course of “Thai language in everyday
conversation with foreigners”. Therefore, learners do not need to remember Thai vowel
letters.

Thai romanization is used as the transliteration to transcribe Thai vowel sounds in this
course for learners to learn to listen and speak Thai language instead of using Thai vowel
letters. This course uses a standard Thai sound system with the Thai romanization to help
learners understand Thai sounds and pronunciation of each word in Thai language.

Thai romanization of vowels

Thai script for vowels Romanized characters

Single Vowels
อะ, อั, รร (with final consonant) a
อา a:
รร (without final consonant) an
อิ i
อี i:
อึ ue
อื ue:
อุ u
อู u:
เอะ, เอ็ e

Mahidol University
 “Thai language in Everyday Conversation with Foreigners”
8
Instructor: Orrathip Geerativudhipong

เอ e:
แอะ, แอ็ ae
แอ ae:
โอะ o
โอ o:
เอาะ, อ็ or
ออ or:
เออะ, เอิ er
เออ er:
Combine Vowels
เอียะ ia
เอีย ia
เอือะ uea
เอือ uea
อัวะ ua
อัว ua
Extra Vowels
อํา am
ใอ, ไอ, ไอย ai
เอา ao
Additional vowel scripts and characters
อาย a:y
เอย ery
อุย ui
โอย oi
เอือย ueai
อวย uai
อิว iw
เอ็ว, เอว ew
แอ็ว, แอว aew
เอียว iaw
ฤ (pronounced รึ ) rue
ฤา rue:
ฤ (pronounced ริ ) ri
ฤ (pronounced เรอ) rer
ฦ, lue
ฦา lue:

Mahidol University
 “Thai language in Everyday Conversation with Foreigners”
9
Instructor: Orrathip Geerativudhipong

Tones

 Thai language is a tonal language.

 There are 5 tones: mid tone, low tone, falling tone, high tone, and rising tone.

 There are tone marks of each four tones, except mid tone.

Figure 1 Thai tones chart

Source: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thai_tones.svg

In this course, number 1-5 are used to represent the five Thai tones instead of IPA
diacritics.

Five Thai Tones

Tone Tone Mark Number
Mid tone no tone mark 1
Low tone ◌่ 2
Falling tone ◌้ 3
High tone ◌๊ 4
Rising tone ◌๋ 5

Mahidol University
 “Thai language in Everyday Conversation with Foreigners”
10
Instructor: Orrathip Geerativudhipong

ZOOM: Thai Tones

กา ก่า ก้า ก๊า ก๋า

ga:1 ga:2 ga:3 ga:4 ga:5

ปา ป่ า ป้า ป๊ า ป๋ า

pa:1 pa:2 pa:3 pa:4 pa:5

อา อ่า อ้า อ๊า อ๋า

a:1 a:2 a:3 a:4 a:5

ตี ตี ตี ตี ตี

ti:1 ti:2 ti:3 ti:4 ti:5

พี ผี พี พี ผี

phi:1 phi:2 phi:3 phi:4 phi:5

ดู ดู่ ดู้ ดู๊ ดู๋

du:1 du:2 du:3 du:4 du:5

ปู ปู่ ปู้ ปู๊ ปู๋

pu:1 pu:2 pu:3 pu:4 pu:5

โจ โจ่ โจ้ โจ๊ โจ๋

jo:1 jo:2 jo:3 jo:4 jo:5

Mahidol University
 “Thai language in Everyday Conversation with Foreigners”
11
Instructor: Orrathip Geerativudhipong

โบ โบ่ โบ้ โบ๊ โบ๋

bo:1 bo:2 bo:3 bo:4 bo:5

โอ โอ่ โอ้ โอ๊ โอ๋

o:1 o:2 o:3 o:4 o:5

Mahidol University