สวัสดีค่ะ, ดิฉันปรารถนาค่ะ! Welcome to Thaipod101.com’s ตัวอักษรไทย Made Easy! |
The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn the Thai alphabet: ตัวอักษรไทย! |
In the last lesson you learned the numbers ๔, ๕, and ๖ . Do you remember how to write them all? |
In this lesson, you’re going to learn how to write the rest of the Thai numerals plus a few irregular words… |
Ready to start? Then let's go! |
We just have 4 more Thai numbers to learn. The first one is "7", or เจ็ด (jèt) in Thai. If you remember the tone mark mái-dtrii from lesson 19, you'll notice that mái-dtrii and เจ็ด have the same shape. |
To write เจ็ด, start with a small clockwise head. Then make a heart shape that is open on the bottom. And then add a tail that goes off to the upper right. |
Here is the number "8", or แปด (bpàaet) in Thai. You may recognize the shape of this number from lesson 7. The same shape is used for the symbol ไม้ไต่คู้ (mái-dtài-khúu) which is written as part of the short vowel สระ เอะ (sà-rà è) when it has a final consonant following it. |
แปด is written with a clockwise head, then a line with one bump in it going to the left that then curves up around the top of the number. |
Next is the number "9", which is เก้า (gâo) in Thai. |
This number starts with a clockwise head at the bottom. Then the line curves over the top and straightens out. And it finishes with a little zig-zag shape in the upper right. |
The last Thai numeral to learn is zero, or ศูนย์ (sǔun) in Thai. It's very easy to remember because it looks almost the same as the zero from Arabic numerals. The only real difference is that ศูนย์ is drawn shorter and wider. |
Now let's practice writing the numbers from 1 to 10. |
๑, ๒, ๓, ๔, ๕, ๖, ๗, ๘, ๙, ๑๐ |
Thai has a few irregular spellings, but the good news is that even the irregular spellings tend to follow their own special rules that can be learned. |
The first irregular rule is that the consonant pair of ท and ร act like the letter ซ. So they make an S sound. |
One example of this is the word ทราย (saai), which means "sand". The cluster ท and ร make an initial S sound. |
The next common irregularity is the silent ร. This will happen in words where ร forms consonant clusters with จ, ซ, ศ and ส. When these happens, ร which is the second half of the cluster will not be pronounced. |
One example of this is the word จริง (jing), which means "real". it has an initial consonant cluster of จ and ร. But the ร is silent. So we pronounce this word as จิง (jing). |
Another important irregular spelling happens with the combination of อ and ย at the beginning of a word. ย is a low class consonant. But we can make it act like a mid class consonant by putting a silent อ in front of it. However there are only 4 words that do this. They are all very common words though, so you must memorize them. |
These 4 words are อย่า (yàa), อยู่ (yùu), อย่าง (yàang), อยาก (yàak). All 4 of these words have a low tone. The first 3 use the tone mark mái-èek to make a low tone, and the last word is low tone because it has a dead syllable ending. You might notice that you can replace อ with ห and get the same pronunciation, according to the rule we learn in lesson 15. Only we are using อ instead of ห for these 4 words. |
It is easiest to remember these four words in this order because they form an idiom. |
อย่า (yàa) means "dont". อยู่ (yùu) means "to stay" อย่าง (yàang) means "a type" or "a style" and อยาก (yàak) means "to want". |
So the phrase อย่าอยู่อย่างอยาก can be translated as "Don't exist in a state of desire" . It is also much like the English idiom "Want for nothing". |
The last irregular Thai word I want to tell you about is the word ไทย (thai) itself. If you look at how we spell the word Thai, you'll see that it has the initial consonant ท, with the vowel สระ ไอ. Then there is the letter ย stuck on the end. The ย doesn't really need to be there, and it doesn't change the sound of the word at all. But that's the way we spell it, so you have to remember it. |
Now it's time for Pradthana's Points. |
Nowadays the younger generation of Thai people is getting very free and relaxed about how they spell words, especially with online communication. When you make friends with Thai people online, you might notice many slang words and strange spellings that you don't recognize at first and can't find in the dictionary. |
Don't give up though. As your Thai vocabulary increases you'll get better at figuring out what people are really saying. |
I hope you enjoyed all the ตัวอักษรไทย Made Easy Lessons. And I hope you were able to learn a lot. Review the lessons as much as you need to, and you'll soon be surprised at how much Thai you can read. สวัสดีค่ะ! |
Comments
HideLet's practice the Thai numbers here! How do you write 79?
Hi Jean!
Thank you for your message and for bringing this to our attention. 😊 The Thai letter ฌ (ชอ /chaaw chooe/) is indeed an interesting one.
As an initial consonant, ฌ sounds like "ch" in "chop." For example, in the word ช้าง (/chaang/, meaning "elephant").
As a final consonant, ฌ is not commonly used in standard Thai, but it's good to be aware of its initial sound.
We're glad you're enjoying the lessons, and we'll make sure to look into the material regarding this letter.
Feel free to let us know if you have any questions.
ขอบคุณครับ/ค่ะ (khàawp-khun khráp/khâ) (Thank you)
Team ThaiPod101.com
Thank you so much for this amazing series! I can indeed read a surprising amount already, albeit veeeeeeeeery slowly :) I got the keyboard stickers as well so now the next step is to type more than one character every ten seconds.
Hi!
Hope this message finds you well.
I've just finished the lessons here for the Thai Alphabet and didn't find the material for ฌ, which I found to be named as Chaaw chooe.
Could you please tell me how it sounds like, both as initial and final in a syllable, plus an example of a word that contains it? Just like in all the classes?
Thank you so much in advance.
Best regards
Hello Jethro,
Thank you so much for your kind words! We're glad to hear that you enjoyed the course. If you have any further questions or need additional support, feel free to reach out. I hope you continue to find learning Thai enjoyable and rewarding!
สวัสดีค่ะ sa-wat-dii kha
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
This was a really good course, I enjoyed it 👍
Hello Ricardo Álvarez Huerta,
Thank you for feedback. We glad to hear from you. ❤️👍Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I will be glad to help.
สวัสดีค่ะ sa-wat-dii kha
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
❤️
Hi Jamie,
Thank you. We're glad to hear that.😄 Hope you continue to enjoy learning with us. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I will be glad to help.
สวัสดีค่ะ sà-wàt-dii-khâ
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
These lessons were wonderful! A great first step to learning Thai.
Thank you!
ขอบคุณค่ะ
😄
Hello ทิมโมที,
Thank you. We're really glad and appreciated your feedback. Hope you continue to enjoy studying with us. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I will be glad to help.
สวัสดีค่ะ sà-wàt-dii-khâ
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
Thanks for the great lessons. I really enjoyed learning the Thai alphabet! ❤️
Thanks for these great alทphabet lessons! I really enjoyed learning the Thai alphabet.❤️
Hello Kidd Hansen,
Thank you. To go through lessons again is a good idea. I will share some more link to help related to Thai reading and pronunciation.
https://www.thaipod101.com/lesson-library/ultimate-thai-pronunciation-guide/
https://www.thaipod101.com/lesson-library/introduction-to-thai/
https://cdn.innovativelanguage.com/sns/em/content/lp/alphabet/eBook/thai.pdf
Hope that helps. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I will be glad to help.
สวัสดีค่ะ sà-wàt-dii-khâ
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
I completed all 25 lessons... It was easy and hard at the same time. Some of it is easy to pick up on and other parts of it feel very hard and rushed through. I tried my best and don't feel like i'm anywhere close to grasping the entirety of the lessons in "Thai Alphabet Made Easy". I'll probably have to go back through all of the lessons two or three times to get a better grasp on the alphabet the way things are spelled and sound. The instructor in these videos is a very good teacher and I really like her happy go lucky attitude.
Hi Vincent,
Thank you. You're right. ฌ เฌอ chaaw-chooe is low class consonant, It make the sound "ch'' sound as an initial consonant and make "t stop" final sound. Here are some examples words, ฌอน Sean; Shaun; Shawn [an English given name], ฌาน "chaan" means "Dhyana; meditation; thought; concentration of mind; one-pointed meditation". ฌาปนสถาน / ฌาปนกิจ / เข้าฌาน Hope that helps. Please let me know if you have any future questions. I will be glad to help. We hope you will make good progress with Thai.
สวัสดีค่ะ sà-wàt-dii-khâ
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
Hi!
I have been following this Thai Alphabet Made Easy series, and I feel like I missed an alphabet; ฌ.
Is there a lesson for this letter or did I miss it out? Sorry to disturb you!
Hi again Stef,
Here last bit of tone rules: Syllable without tone marks:
A syllable beginning with Middle class and high class have the same rules.
Begin syllable with Middle class or high class and end syllable with (dead) P/T/K = Low tone
Begin syllable with Middle class or high class and end syllable with (live) -m ม -n ญ,ณ,น,ร,ล,ฬ -ng ง = Mid tone
A syllable begin with low class consonants:
Begin syllable with low class consonants and end a syllable with (live) -m ม -n ญ,ณ,น,ร,ล,ฬ -ng ง = mid tone
Begin syllable with low class consonants and end a syllable with (dead) P/T/K + short vowel in the syllable = high tone
Begin syllable with low class consonants and end a syllable with (dead) P/T/K + long vowel vowel in the syllable = falling tone
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
Hi Stef,
Thank you. อิง mid tone / ฟ้า high tone / วะ high tone / รา mid tone / หะ low tone.
ก จ ด ต (ฎ ฏ) บ ป อ middle-class consonants
ข,ฃ ฉ ฐ,ถ ผ ฝ ศ,ษ,ส ห -high class consonant / all the less will be low class consonant
Final Consonant Sounds
dead -k ค,ฅ,ฆ ก ข,ฃ
-p พ,ฟ,ภ บ,ป
-t ช,ฌ,ฑ,ฒ,ท,ธ จ,ฎ,ฏ,ด,ต ฐ,ถ,ศ,ษ,ส
live -m ม -n ญ,ณ,น,ร,ล,ฬ -ng ง
Syllable with tone marks:
A syllable beginning with Middle class and high class have the same rules.
mái-èek gives low tone
mái-thoo gives falling tone
mái-dtrii gives high tone
mái-jàt-dtà-waa gives a rising tone.
A syllable begins with low class consonants. It is a bit different.
mái-èek gives falling tone
mái-thoo gives high tone
Next comment will be last bit of tone rules.
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com
Hello Thaipod101!
Can you please tell the tones of the following😁, with no explanations? sorry I can't remember all the tone rules😭😭
1. middle class initial consonant อ + short vowel สระ อิ + live ending final consonant ง =
2. low class initial consonant ฟ + long vowel สระ อา + with a mai tho ้ =
3. low class initial consonant ว + short vowel สระ อะ =
4. low class initial consonant ร + long vowel สระ อา =
5. high class initial consonant ห + short vowel สระ อะ =
Thanks!
Hi Marie,
A syllable begin with low class consonants:
Begin syllable with low class consonants and end a syllable with (live) -m ม -n ญ,ณ,น,ร,ล,ฬ -ng ง = mid tone
Begin syllable with low class consonants and end a syllable with (dead) P/T/K + short vowel in the syllable = high tone
Begin syllable with low class consonants and end a syllable with (dead) P/T/K + long vowel vowel in the syllable = falling tone
Have a good day.
ปริษา Parisa
Team ThaiPod101.com