The (Very) Basics Of Thai Script

A Note On The Transliteration System Used Here

RTGS is probably the most widely used system - most phrasebooks and Thai-English dictionaries use a system based on it.

However, the transliteration into English on this page follows no formal system.

The best way to understand the pronunciation of a particular letter, syllable, word or phrase is to listen to native speakers. Even then there are distinct differences from region to region.

Good Luck !

The Thai Language

Thai is a tonal, monosyllablic (?) language.

Written Thai

Thai script was developed during the Sukhotai period of Thai history, in around the year 1280 (1823BE).

Written Thai consists of characters for consonants, vowels and tones, plus numerals and a few special typographical symbols.

There are 42 consonant symbols (or letters), but only 21 separate consonant sounds.

There are 32 vowel symbols (or letters), which are used separately and in combination to produce 48 different vowel sounds (including a few diphthongs).

There are 5 tone symbols. Somewhat confusingly, some tone tone symbols represent a different tone with different consonants.

Thai is written from left to right, the same as English.

There are usually no spaces between syllables. Or between words. Or even between sentences.

Consonants

There are 44 Thai consonants, of which two are obsolete.

Each letter has a two-part name: the first part indicates approximately the sound the letter represents (and is pronounced to rhyme roughly with the English words "pour", "pore" and "paw"); the second part is a word that (usually) begins with that letter (think "A is for apple", etc)

Two of the 44 consonants are obsolete.

Of the remaining 42, half-a-dozen are fairly rare. You'll work out which ones are the most common once you start trying to read roadsigns in Thai! Four (Aw aang, raw rua, waw ween and yaw yak) are also used to form vowels (thay are marked with a * below)

Vowels

Thai vowels are positioned around the consonant they go with. By 'around', we mean that they may appear above, below, before, or after the consonant, and in some cases a single vowel may consist of symbols in more than one of these locations.

These are the basic vowel symbols. Each will always appear in a specific position in relation to its consonant:

Vowel Sounds

The vowels, in combination with each other (and with four of the consonants - aw aang, raw rua, waw ween and yaw yak) combine in about 50 different ways to produce 24 different vowel sounds (according to the RTGS). The hyphen represents a consonant.

Tones

This is the part that's most complicated for English speakers (and indeed, speakers of any non-tonal language).

Syllables

All syllables consist of the three elements consonant + vowel + tone. Sometimes the vowel and /or the tone is implicit, and there are no symbols for them. Sometimes a syllable will have one consonant (an open syllable), and sometimes it will have two (a closed syllable)

Here are a few one-syllable words as examples:

Numerals

In Thailand Roman numerals are now the norm. However, in some places you may see Thai numerals.

Special Symbols

There are several special typographical characters, representing things like "etc", "end of paragraph" etc.