Thai Now

สวัสดี ยินดีที่ได้รู้จัก! Happy Thai National Language Day, native Thais and Thai language learners!

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗶 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱?

Why is it that there are many consonants in Thai with the same sound?

There are many answers to this and we'll try to explain them one by one.

But before that, try to think that somewhere around the world, another non-English speaker is also wondering why C and K have the same sound. Why CAT is spelled CAT and not KAT, or why CAKE is not KAKE. Why PHYSICAL and not FISIKAL. It just so happens that in Thai are bunch more of this Cs and Ks.

The answers are very simple and you don't have to overthink about this question again:

1. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗶 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲. Phonetic languages have the same spelling the way they speak it. That is why it is easy for the speakers to spell some words even though it's their first time hearing a word. Meaning, there are no other alternative sounds by altering its spelling. Some examples of phonetic languages are Turkish, Tamil, Korean, Tagalog and more. English is NOT a phonetic language. You can clearly observe by the way sound changes when you alter the spelling.

2. 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀. The consonants ข ฃ ค ฅ and ฆ all produce aspirated [kʰ] sound, however, ฃ and ฃ are high class consonants and ค ฅ and ฆ are low class consonants. ฃ and ฅ are now obsolete, meaning they are no longer commonly used. These obsolete characters are borrowed from Sanskrit and might have evolved from a different sound to the sound that we know today.
High Class: ข --- ฃ
Low Class: ค --- ฅ --- ฆ

3. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗼. Due to many borrowed words from Sanskrit, Thais cannot pronounce some of their sounds, that's why they used another character to represent it.

Example: ภ [bʰ] became [pʰ]
ธ [dʰ] became [tʰ]

In Sanskrit ภ has originally aspirated [bʰ] sound, but because Thais cannot pronounce an aspirated B, they used [pʰ] just like พ. The same way for ธ, it's hard for Thais to pronounce an aspirated [dʰ] from Sanskrit so they used the aspirated [tʰ] sound like ท. Remember, Thai and Sanskrit come from two different language families: Tai-Kadai and Indo-European, respectively.

Practice writing your Thai letters

The letter ม (maw máa) looks like a mug.

It is written by starting at the loop above, going down to form another loop, then curving to the right. Then, from right, go up to form a straight line.

Always remember that in writing Thai letters, you always start at the loop.

Your third Thai consonant is one of the most commonly used and easiest letter to remember in the Thai alphabet - the letter ม (maw máa).

Maw Máa sounds just like the letter M in English and its final and initial sounds are the same. Meaning, even if placed at the end of a syllable, the sound does not change.

The word "saam" means three in English. The letter า is a vowel.

In maw máa, 'maw' is the sound of letter ม while máa is a sample of a word that starts with ม. Máa means HORSE in English.

Your third Thai consonant is one of the most commonly used and easiest letter to remember in the Thai alphabet - the letter ม (maw máa).

Maw Máa sounds just like the letter M in English and its final and initial sounds are the same. Meaning, even if placed at the end of a syllable, the sound does not change.

The word "saam" means three in English. The letter า is a vowel.

In maw máa, 'maw' is the sound of letter ม while máa is a sample of a word that starts with ม. Máa means HORSE in English.

LET'S HAVE A REVIEW! 📚✏️

Can you still remember our first two Thai consonants and one vowel? These letters are used in saying สวัสดี in Thai.

1. ส (sǎw sǔa)
Initial Sound- S
Final Sound- T

2. ว (waw waaen)
Initial Sound- W
Final Sound- W

3. -ะ (short vowel aa)

Thai speakers often use the politeness particles the same way Filipinos use 𝘱𝘰 and 𝘰𝘱𝘰. For male speakers, they usually add ครับ (khrap) at the end of their sentence, and for female speakers, they add ค่ะ (kha).

To greet someone in Thai, simple say สวัสดี and add ครับ (if you are male), or ค่ะ (if you are female). Simple right?

Let's learn more Thai consonants!

If you have questions, you may drop them in the comment section or send us a private message. Khawp kun khrap!

สวัสดีตอนเย็น 🌙

To say good evening in Thai, you can use sà-wàt-dii dton-yen. The word dton-yen means evening while sà-wàt-dii is a common Thai greeting that, when combined, means good evening. Good evening in Thai is often used around 5PM to 7PM.

If you wanted to learn more about Thai language and culture, comment down your queries and suggestions or send us a message!

You’ll often hear Thai speakers use khráp (for male speakers) and khâ (for female speakers) at the end of their speech. Many people don’t know the meaning of those words because it actually doesn’t have any direct translation in English. However, this may sound familiar to the Tagalog 𝘱𝘰 and 𝘰𝘱𝘰 in a sense.

Khráp and khâ are called politeness particles and they are used as markers to indicate courtesy and to soften the impact of a sentence.

For example:
สวัสดีครับ (sa-wat-dii khrap),
สวัสดีค่ะ (sa-wat-dii kha).

The first vowel that you will learn from Thai alphabet is from these two words – the short vowel a (-ะ).

Most of the Thai vowels have short and long sounds, such as the short i sound in “blip” and the long ee sound “beep.”

Short vowel a is used in the words ครับ and ค่ะ. However, each of them have different ways on how it is written.

Notice, that when short vowel a is used at the end of a word, -ะ is used.

If short vowel a is used between two consonants, one of the two tails will be placed above the preceding consonant.

อรุณสวัสดิ์

There are two ways you can say good morning in Thai. In most formal occasions, à-run sà-wàt is used in a polite manner. à-run means sunrise and sà-wàt means good. Sometimes, Thais also use sà-wàt-dii dton-cháo (สวัสดีตอนเช้า) as an alternative. However, both of these greetings are not very common. Instead you will hear them use sà-wàt-dii as a greeting when you wake up in the morning or when you go to have your breakfast.

If you wanted to learn more about Thai language and culture, comment down your queries and suggestions or send us a message. ☀️🌻

Practice writing your Thai letters

The letter ว (waw wǎaen) is written by starting at the loop, then going up to form a large curve at the top.

Always remember that in writing Thai letters, you always start at the loop.