Thai Letters and Sounds

Thai Letters, Symbols and Sounds

Updated by Raz:

6/10/2006

Number of visits:

Source:

http://www.geocities.com/raz_h_h

Following are all Thai letters and symbols with their sounds by the international phonetic script (by IPA), as used in Raz’s Thai dictionary and as used in the Thai official Romanization.

For proper display of the international phonetic symbols please download and install the IPA's Phonetic font.

For proper display of the Thai letters and symbols please download and install a Thai font.

Thai Letter may have different sounds at the beginning of a syllable (“original”) or at the end of a syllable (“final”).

Thai	Intl. phonetic		Raz’s dictionary		Thai official		Remarks
Letters	original	final	original	final	original	final	Class
ก	k¦	k¦	k_g	k_g	k	k	Mid
ข	kú	k¦	k_h	k_g	kh	k	High
ฃ	kú	k¦	k_h	k_g	kh	k	High	Obsolete !
ค	kú	k¦	k_h	k_g	kh	k	Low
ฅ	kú	k¦	k_h	k_g	kh	k	Low	Obsolete !
ฆ	kú	k¦	k_h	k_g	kh	k	Low	not common
ง	÷	÷	ñ_g	ñ_g	ng	ng	Low
จ	t‚¦	t°¦	ch_j	t_d	ch (!)	t	Mid
ฉ	t‚ú	t°¦	ch	t_d	ch	t	High
ช	t‚ú	t°¦	ch	t_d	ch	t	Low
ซ	s	t°¦	s	t_d	s	t	Low
ฌ	t‚ú	t°¦	ch	t_d	ch	t	Low	not common
ญ	j	n	y	n	y	n	Low
ฎ	d	t°¦	d	t_d	d	t	Mid	not common
ฏ	t°¦	t°¦	t_d	t_d	t	t	Mid	not common
ฐ	tú	t°¦	t_h	t_d	th	t	High	less common
ฑ	tú	t°¦	t_h	t_d	th	t	Low	not common
ฒ	tú	t°¦	t_h	t_d	th	t	Low	not common
ณ	n	n	n	n	n	n	Low	not common
ด	t°¦	t°¦	d	t_d	d	t	Mid
ต	t°¦	t°¦	t_d	t_d	t	t	Mid
ถ	tú	t°¦	t_h	t_d	th	t	High
ท	tú	t°¦	t_h	t_d	th	t	Low	ทร = s
ธ	tú	t°¦	t_h	t_d	th	t	Low	less common
น	n	n	n	n	n	n	Low
บ	b	p¦	b	p_b	b	p	Mid
ป	p¦	p¦	p_b	p_b	p	p	Mid
ผ	pú	p¦	p_h	p_b	ph	p	High
ฝ	f	p¦	f	p_b	f	p	High
พ	pú	p¦	p_h	p_b	ph	p	Low
ฟ	f	p¦	f	p_b	f	p	Low
ภ	pú	p¦	p_h	p_b	ph	p	Low	less common
ม	m	m	m	m	m	m	Low
ย	j	ö	y	y	y	i	Low
ร	r	n	r	n	r	n	Low	รร = a / an
ฤ	(see below)		(see below)		(see below)		Low	not common
ล	l	n	l	n	l	n	Low
ฦ	(see below)		(see below)		(see below)		Low	Obsolete !
ว	w [ù]	¬	w	w	w	o	Low
ศ	s	t°¦	s	t_d	s	t	High	less common
ษ	s	t°¦	s	t_d	s	t	High	less common
ส	s	t°¦	s	t_d	s	t	High
ห	h	(never)	h	(never)	h	(never)	High
ฬ	l	n	l	n	l	n	Low	not common
อ	Ö	(never)	’	(never)	(none)	(never)	Mid
ฮ	h	(never)	h	(never)	h	(never)	Low

Thai	Intl. phonetic		Raz’s dictionary		Thai official		Remarks
Vowels
×ะ	aÖ		×a’		a		× = consonant Short vowels are always closed.
×ั×	a		×a×		a		× = consonant Short vowels are always closed.
×า[×]	aÉ		×a:[×]		a
× ิ[×]	iÖ	i	×i’	×i×	i	i
× ี[×]	iÉ		×i:[×]		i
× ึ[×]	¸Ö	¸	×ue’	×ue×	ue	ue
× ือ	¸É		×ue:		ue
× ื×	¸É		×ue:×		ue
×ุ [×]	uÖ	u	×u’	×u×	u	u
×ู [×]	uÉ		×u:[×]		u
เ×ะ	eÖ		×e’		e		* The shortening symbol appears only when there is no tonal mark.
เ× ็×	e		×e× *		e
เ× [×]	eÉ	e	×e:[×]	×e× *	e	e
แ×ะ	«Ö		×ae’		ae
แ× ็×	«		×ae× *		ae
แ× [×]	«É	«	×ae:[×]	×ae× *	ae	ae
โ×ะ	oÖ		×o’		o
× ×	o		×o×		o
โ× [×]	oÉ		×o:[×]		o
เ×าะ	¿Ö		×o_a’		o (!)
× ็อ ×	¿		×o_a× *		o (!)		←	not common
×อ[×]	¿É	¿	×o_a:[×]	×o_a×	o (!)	o (!)
เ×อะ	\Ö		×oe’		oe
เ×อ	\É		×oe:		oe
เ×ย	\Éö		×oe:y		oei
เ× ิ×	\É	\	×oe:×	×oe×	oe	oe
เ× ียะ	ÇiÉaÖ		×i:a’		ia
เ× ีย [×]	ÇiÉa		×i:a[×]		ia
เ× ือะ	Ç¸ÉaÖ		×ue:a’		uea
เ× ือ [×]	Ç¸Éa		×ue:a[×]		uea
×ัวะ	ÇuÉaÖ		×u:a’		ua
×ัว [×]	ÇuÉa		×u:a[×]		ua
×ํา	am	aÉm	×am	×a:m	am	am
ใ×	aö	aÉö	×ay	×a:y	ai	ai
ไ×	aö	aÉö	×ay	×a:y	ai	ai
เ×า	a¬		×aw		ao

Combined	Intl. phonetic		Raz’s dictionary		Thai official		Remarks
Vowels
ฤ	r¸Ö	riÖ r\Ö	rue’	ri’ roe’	rue	ri roe		not common
ฤๅ	r¸É		rue:		rue			not common
ฦ	l¸Ö		lue’		lue			Obsolete !
ฦๅ	l¸É	luÉ	lue:		lue			Obsolete !
ก็	k¦¿ßÉ		k_gô_a:		ko (!)		Specific word

Tonal	Intl. Phonetic &		Raz’s dictionary		Thai official		Remarks
marks	(tonal mark above		the vowel symbol)
No mark	Mid class, Live syllable:			ˉ	No tonal marks in Thai official Romanization !		The Thai tonal mark appears uppermost above the consonant.
	Mid class, Dead syllable:			`	No tonal marks in Thai official Romanization !		The Thai tonal mark appears uppermost above the consonant.
	High class, Live syllable:			ˇ			←	“Rising” tone
	High class, Dead syllable:			`			←	“Low” tone
	Low class, Live syllable:			ˉ			←	“Mid” tone
	Low class, Dead syllable, Short vowel:			΄			←	“High” tone
	Low class, Dead syllable, Long vowel:			ˆ			←	“Falling” tone
×่	Mid class:			`			The tones are defined by the tonal mark, the class of the leading consonant of the syllable, the ending of the syllable and the length of the vowel. Dead syllable is a syllable that ends with a stop-final sound (’, k, t, p). Live syllable is a syllable that ends with a sonorant finel.
	High class:			`
	Low class:			ˆ
×้	Mid class:			ˆ
	High class:			ˆ
	Low class:			΄
×๊	Mid class:			΄
×๋	Mid class:			ˇ

Other	Intl. Phonetic &		Raz’s dictionary		Thai official		Remarks
symbols
×์	Kills a consonant, a syllable or a preceding cluster (makes it silent)						“Killing” mark
×…×ฯ	Marks a word or phrase abbreviation
ฯลฯ	= etc.
×…×ๆ	Marks a repetition of the preceding word or phrase

Thai							Remarks
Numerals
๐	0						The traditional numerals are much less common than the western numerals.
๑	1
๒	2
๓	3
๔	4
๕	5
๖	6
๗	7
๘	8
๙	9

Traditional	Intl. phonetic		Raz’s dictionary		Thai official		Remarks
symbols
×ํ	a÷		×añ_g		ang		These symbols are usually used to write the traditional buddhist Pali language in Thai.
×๎×	Consonant cluster mark (kind of schwa or “no vowel”)
×ฺ× / ××ฺ	Consonant cluster mark or final-consonant mark (kind of schwa or “no vowel”)
๏	Paragraph, sentence, or poem stanza begin marker						These traditional symbols are used in anchient Thai books.
ฯ	Sentence or a stanza end marker
๚	Chapter or episode end marker
๛	Story end marker

* The following consonant clusters can appear in Thai, but only at the beginning of a syllables:
กร , กล , กว , ขร , ขล , ขว , คร , คล , คว , ปร , ปล , ผร , ผล , พร , พล , ตร .
Other consonant groupings are not read as clusters. when it’s not the case of Thai short vowel o there will be a short a¡ in between them or ¿É before ร .

There is no consonant cluster sound at the end of a Thai syllable.

* Thai short vowels are always closed by a glottal-stop (Ö) or by the written consonant.

* The “stress” of Thai words is on the last syllable.

* The symbol ×์ is used often in foreign words to avoid severe mispronunciation according to the Thai rules.
The common Mid and Low class Thai letters are used for western foreign words and names, while the letter represent their original sounds and not their final sounds. Moreover ก is used also for g, จ also for j, ช also for sh, ธ for th, ว or ฟ also for v and ซ also for z. ส is used for s at the end of a syllable vs. ซ for z.

Thai Letters, Symbols and Sounds

Mid

Paragraph, sentence, or poem stanza begin marker