Your Ultimate Thai Pronunciation Guide

Let’s start with a little bit of pronunciation in Thai vocabulary before further explaining Thai consonants.

พยัญชนะ (phá-yan-chá-ná) is “consonant” in Thai, and there are forty-four consonants in the Thai language. Fortunately for you, some of the consonants sound the same, so these consonants only produce twenty-seven sounds. And some of them are pretty similar to sounds in English. So let’s learn Thai consonant pronunciation.

As a Thai language learner, you’ve probably learned the Thai alphabet already, likely the way that Thai children learn it. However, in this article, the order of the alphabet will be different from that. Consonants with the same sound will be grouped together so that it’s easier for you to remember and practice the pronunciation.

1- Thai Consonants that are Familiar to English Native Speakers

2- Thai Consonants that are New to English Native Speakers

In the Thai language, there are also consonant sounds that are new to English speakers. Fortunately, most of them are similar to the sounds of the more familiar Thai consonant sounds. Their consonant sounds are in a lower tone, and you may notice that the Thai consonants that sound similar to each other also look similar when written. Learning these sounds will be easier if you pair and remember their consonant sounds together.

สระ (sà-rà) is “vowel” in Thai. There are twenty-one vowels in the Thai language, and these twenty-one Thai vowels create thirty-two sounds. That’s a lot compared to other languages! Luckily, most of the vowel sounds aren’t new to English native speakers, so with a little practice, you can get the hang of it in no time.

1- Thai Vowel Sounds that are Familiar to English Native Speakers

Most Thai vowel sounds can also be paired together. In each pair, one has a short sound while the other one has a long sound. English native speakers are likely to be more familiar with long Thai vowel sounds.

2- Thai Vowel Sounds that are New to English Native Speakers

There are eight vowel sounds that English native speakers are not familiar with. But there’s some good news: Not all of these vowel sounds are used often nowadays, so you don’t have to remember all of them!

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เสียงวรรณยุกต์ (sǐiang wan-ná-yúk) is “tone” in Thai, and tone is very important in the Thai language. Fully understanding tone will help your pronunciation in Thai grammar tremendously. For Thai learners, “tone” is the part that makes listening, as well as pronunciation, difficult in Thai. However, the lesson below will help you to understand the concept of tone and its relationship with consonant sounds.

1- Tone Pronunciation

There are five tones in the Thai language. “Tone” is similar to music, so you should think of tones in the language as tones of music. For romanization, there are four tone marks. We’ll use the sound กา (gaa) as an example.

กา (gaa)

Thai Tone Word	สามัญ (sǎa-man)	เอก (èek)	โท (thoo)	ตรี (dtrii)	จัตวา (jàt-dtà-waa)
Thai Word	กา	ก่า	ก้า	ก๊า	ก๋า
Romanization	gaa	gàa	gâa	gáa	gǎa
Romanization Tone	none	-̀	-̂	-́	-̌
Tone Name	Mid tone	Low tone	Falling tone	High tone	Rising tone
Tone Level

The table above shows how Thai people ผันวรรณยุกต์ (phǎnwan-ná-yúk)which is “the way to put five tones in each word” in Thai. 

Thai people start with the mid-toned word กา (gaa). The next word is one tone lower than the mid-toned word: ก่า (gàa). The third word is one tone higher than the mid-toned word: ก้า (gâa). The fourth word has the highest tone: ก๊า (gáa). The last word has the lowest tone: ก๋า (gǎa). Here are the words ordered based on tone, from lowest to highest.

• ก๋า (gǎa)
• ก่า (gàa)
• กา (gaa)
• ก้า (gâa)
• ก๊า (gáa)

2- Consonant Sounds and Tones

Consonant sounds and consonant tones are related in the Thai language; they influence each other. You may have noticed above that the example consonant works with all five tones. However, not all Thai consonants can do that. Take, for example, the sound พา (phaa).

พา (phaa)

Thai Tone Word	สามัญ (sǎa-man)	เอก (èek)	โท (thoo)	ตรี (dtrii)	จัตวา (jàt-dtà-waa)
Thai Word	พา	-	พ่า	พ๊า	-
	-	ผ่า	ผ้า	-	ผา
Romanization	phaa	phàa	phâa	pháa	phǎa
Romanization Tone	none	-̀	-̂	-́	-̌
Tone Name	Mid tone	Low tone	Falling tone	High tone	Rising tone
Tone Level

If you order these words according to the tone, from lowest to highest, it will be as follows:

• ผ๋า (phǎa)
• ผ่า (phàa)
• พา (phaa)
• พ่า or ผ้า (phâa)
• พ๊า (pháa)

You may notice from the example above that to complete all of the tones, two consonant sounds are needed. That’s because the sound of some consonants can be pronounced in only three tones. 

We suggest that you remember the consonant sounds in pairs. In each pair, one consonant sound, พ (ph) in this case, can produce three tones: mid tone, falling tone, and high tone. The other consonant sound, the lower tone one which is ผ (ph) in this case, can produce the low tone, falling tone, and rising tone. 

If you understand the influence of consonant sounds and tones on each other, and can remember consonant sounds in pairs, it will help you a lot with your pronunciation.

Now that you know all the basics, it will take time for you to practice until you can do this fluently. This isn’t an easy topic, and you may make some mistakes as you learn and practice. Here’s a list of mistakes that Thai learners are likely to make about Thai pronunciation. Once you know these, you can practice more and be careful to avoid these issues, which will bring you closer to perfect Thai pronunciation.

1- Similar Consonant Sounds

In Thai language, there are seven pairs of consonant sounds that are pretty similar to each other. In each pair, one consonant sound is a lower tone than the other one. Since you’re not familiar with all of them yet, you may mistake them as the same sound. Also, consonant sounds of some pairs have exactly the same romanization, so if you can’t read Thai, you may not notice the difference.

2- ร and ล Sounds

ร and ล don’t count as a consonant pair, but they do have pretty similar sounds. Even some Thai people nowadays are unable to pronounce these two sounds properly. It’s quite similar to the difference between how you pronounce “L” and “R.” When you pronounce ล (”L”), your tongue touches your top gum behind your front teeth. However, when you pronounce ร (”R”), your tongue rolls behind your front teeth.

3- Vowel Sounds

There are a lot of vowel sounds in the Thai language, and you’re not really familiar with many of them. If you can’t read Thai, but pronounce Thai words based on their romanization, it can be very confusing. On top of the similarities between short and long vowel sounds, some of the vowels themselves can sound pretty similar, so do be aware of them.

4- Short and Long Vowel Sounds

There are ten pairs of short and long vowel sounds in the Thai language. The issue that most Thai learners face is that they’re not sure how short or long words should be pronounced. You may pronounce short-sounded vowels too long, or pronounce long-sounded vowels too short, making you unable to communicate the word you want to say correctly.

5- Tone

The tone is a confusing part of Thai pronunciation, especially for those whose native language doesn’t have tone. The first issue is that words with different tones may sound all the same to you. And the second issue is that you may not be able to pronounce the tone right. It will take some time for you to get used to this.

If you reach this point, it means that you’ve already learned all the necessary lessons to perfect your Thai pronunciation. There’s a lot to learn and remember. We want to make this topic easier for all Thai learners, so ThaiPod101.com will give you some suggestions and tips for improving your Thai pronunciation.

1- Learn Thai Consonants

Some Thai learners learn to speak Thai by reading romanization. You may notice from the lesson above that romanization of some consonants are the same, despite having different consonant sounds. So you may be easily confused with the consonant pronunciations. We suggest that you learn and remember Thai consonants well, as this will help a lot with your Thai pronunciation.

2- Learn Thai Vowels

Similar to Thai consonants, you should try to learn and remember Thai vowels. This will help fix the issue of short and long vowels, to some extent, as the main reason for confusion is relying on romanization for pronunciation. 

3- Learn the Influence of Thai Consonants and Tones on Each Other

We’ve already explained this above, but we would like to emphasize that you really should try your best to understand this. When you pronounce Thai words, you may feel like it’s hard to pronounce the right tone for some of them. That’s because certain consonant sounds don’t go with certain tones. If you understand their influence on each other, it will be easier for you when you pronounce Thai words and phrases. 

4- Learn New Words and Phrases Along with their Pronunciation 

When you learn a new lesson or practice a conversation, make sure to practice the pronunciation along the way. Don’t be shy to listen and repeat what you hear out loud many times, to make sure that you get the pronunciation right. 

Looking for lessons regarding basic Thai words with pronunciation or basic Thai phrases with pronunciation is a good idea. And of course, you can find good lessons like that on ThaiPod101.com. One example is our Thai number (1-10) pronunciation page.

5- Observe How Thai People Move their Mouths when Pronouncing Words

In spite of doing all the tips above, you may still find some pronunciation difficult. For example, Thai name pronunciation can be hard for Thai learners. Another trick is to observe how Thai people move their mouths when they pronounce words. In short, to have Thai pronunciation like a native speaker, listen to and watch native speakers! 

6- Watch Videos on ThaiPod101.com

When you practice Thai pronunciation, it will be easier if you hear and see the word in both Thai and romanization. Video lessons from ThaiPod101.com provide you with all that. We have interesting and fun lessons for you to choose from, so don’t forget to check out this easy way of improving your Thai pronunciation!

7- Listen to Thai Songs

Learning Thai pronunciation is an oral lesson. Like a child that’s learning how to speak, it all starts with listening. If you listen to Thai words a lot, you’ll be more familiar with the accent and pronunciation. Thus, talking to Thai people is a good idea—but it won’t work if you’re not in Thailand. Using a Thai pronunciation app may help, but there’s an even more fun and laid-back way to practice your Thai pronunciation skills.

So we suggest that you listen to Thai songs. Listening to Thai songs is an enjoyable activity, and you can do this while doing other things, like driving or reading. The purpose of listening to Thai songs isn’t to try to understand the lyrics, but to become familiar with Thai pronunciation.

It’s been said that practice makes perfect, and of course this extends to mastering Thai pronunciation. Now that you’ve learned everything, let’s practice with some Thai words and phrases you can use in daily life. Some of them may be a little bit hard, but you can definitely do it.

1- “Hello” in Thai Pronunciation

• Thai language: สวัสดี
• Pronunciation: sà-wàt-dii

2- “Thank You” in Thai Pronunciation

• Thai language: ขอบคุณ
• Pronunciation: khàawp-khun

3- “Sorry” in Thai Pronunciation

• Thai language: ขอโทษ
• Pronunciation: khǎaw-thòot

4- “How are You?” in Thai Pronunciation

• Thai language: สบายดีมั๊ย
• Pronunciation: sà-baai-dii mái

5- “Congratulations” in Thai Pronunciation

• Thai language: ยินดีด้วย
• Pronunciation: yin-dii dûuai

6- “Happy Birthday” in Thai Pronunciation

• Thai language: สุขสันต์วันเกิด
• Pronunciation: sùk-sǎn waan-gòoet

7- “I Love You” in Thai Pronunciation

• Thai language: ฉันรักคุณ
• Pronunciation: chǎn rák khun

8- “The Food is Very Tasty” in Thai Pronunciation

• Thai language: อาหารอร่อยมาก
• Pronunciation: aa-hǎan à-ràauy mâak

9- “The Weather is Good” in Thai Pronunciation

• Thai language: อากาศดี
• Pronunciation: aa-gàat dii

10- “This is Funny” in Thai Pronunciation

• Thai language: ตลกจัง
• Pronunciation: dtà-lòk jang

Proper pronunciation is important, very important. Some say it’s even more important than getting the grammar perfectly correct! Why would this be?

1) Good Understanding 

If communicating with native speakers matters to you when learning Thai, you need to be understood when you talk, and you need to be able to understand the native speakers. After all, without understanding, the purpose of language is null and void! In order to be understood, you need to be able to speak the language in a way that is familiar to native speakers, or at least recognizable by them. 

When learning to speak a new language, you will learn that the more you progress the more intricate it becomes! For instance, almost every language has vocabulary that may look the same in writing, but because the words are pronounced differently, they have very different meanings. This means that you may say a word in Thai, and because of a slight change in pronunciation, the meaning of the word changes completely. Understandably, this can make for pretty embarrassing situations! At worst, your mispronounced Thai will sound garbled to a native speaker. 

Knowing the nuances of how a word or letter is pronounced will also help you to understand spoken Thai better.

No worries if this feels hard; you’re learning, and with our help at ThaiPod101, you will not have a problem with mispronunciation if you follow our advice and examples carefully.

2) Good Communication 

Not pronouncing Thai or any other language correctly can lead to a lot of frustration because you’re unable to express what you mean, and you will not be understood correctly. Even if you have total knowledge of Thai grammar, and can write it like a native, not knowing how to speak it properly will only make for very frustrating communication all around.

3) A Good Impression 

Even if you’re only a beginner, it is possible to speak any language correctly. This way, you are bound to make a good impression on native speakers, and when you’re more fluent, you will be likely to garner a lot more respect than a fumbling newbie speaker who doesn’t care much for correct pronunciation. 

People often have a lot of patience for someone who learns to speak a new language, but native speakers are more likely to address you and engage with you in conversation if you work hard on your accent. This is simply because you’ll be able to understand one another! So, proficiency in pronunciation can mean the difference between having none or plenty of Thai speaking friends. It will also serve you well in the workplace, and make you popular with your Thai speaking managers and employers or employees.

Learning to speak Thai properly is also a sign of respect for not only the language, but also the native speakers and their customs.

Congratulations on reaching the conclusion of this lesson! This means that you’ve learned everything you need to know about Thai pronunciation, as well as tips to perfect your Thai pronunciation. Now you just need to keep practicing. And once you get better with Thai pronunciation, don’t forget to check out other interesting and fun lessons at ThaiPod101.com!

Before you go, let us know in the comments how you feel about Thai pronunciation now! Do you feel more confident now that you’ve read our Thai pronunciation lessons, or are there still some parts you’re struggling with? We look forward to hearing from you!