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Thai Letters

Sound
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Learn to read the Thai consonants, a few sounds at a time.

What to practise
How to play

Not in the same room? Play online while you talk on a call, each on your own phone.

The letters

middle class

9 letters. With no tone mark a live syllable is mid tone; they're the only ones that take all four marks.

high class

11 letters. With no tone mark a live syllable is rising tone.

low class

24 letters. With no tone mark a live syllable is mid tone, like the middle class, but marks give different tones.

This device has no Thai voice, so the letters are silent. – stands for the consonant.

1–4 answer, Enter next
More info

How to play Thai Letters

Pick what to practise, then press Start. A Thai letter comes up with four or three choices; click one or press 1 to 4.

  • Sound: the sound the letter makes at the start of a syllable. Several letters share a sound (ข and ค are both kh), so learn them by class too.
  • Class: middle, high or low. You need the class to work out a word’s tone.
  • Name: every letter has a name word, like ก ไก่ (k for chicken). Find the letter a name belongs to.
  • All 44: sounds again, with the rare letters that only turn up in a few words.

Sprint gives you 60 seconds; a miss pauses the clock while you read why. Race the duck is 10 questions against the computer: a right answer is 1 point and the first right answer gets 1 more. Online, everyone answers the same question at once on their own phone, with the same scoring.

Tips

  • Start with the chart. Learn the 9 middle-class letters first: they’re the simplest for tones.
  • Letters at the end of a syllable often change sound: จ ช ด ต ส all end as t, and ร ล end as n.
  • อ is silent on its own. It holds a vowel at the start of a word: อา (aa).

More Thai: Thai Tones, Thai Word Race and the free Thai course, beginner to fluent.