First Consonants and Vowels

Middle class consonants

Learn and memorize these 6 consonants from the middle class.

It's not a must to memorize each letter's name and meaning — you'll be able to read Thai without knowing them. But knowing the names helps when you ask a Thai person to spell a word for you, since some letters share the same sound.

Tap any letter to hear its name.

Middle class6 letters

Letter	Sound	Name	Meaning
ก	kɔɔ	ไก่ (kày)	a chicken
จ	cɔɔ	จาน (caan)	a plate
ด	dɔɔ	เด็ก (dèk)	a kid
ต	tɔɔ	เต่า (tàw)	a turtle
บ	bɔɔ	ใบไม้ (bay-máay)	a leaf
ป	pɔɔ	ปลา (plaa)	fish

Practice: match the letters

Each letter's name comes with a memory word. Tap a letter, then tap the picture of its memory word. When you get a pair right, you'll hear the letter's name.

Match each letter with the picture of its name.

0 of 6 matched

Practice: letter names

This one is optional. Tap the play button to hear a letter's name, then choose the letter.

practiceWhich letter do you hear?

Listen

Vowels

The word "vowel" in Thai is สระ (sà-rà) . Let's learn these 6 vowels: three short ones and their three long partners. The letter อ stands in for the consonant.

Tap any vowel to hear how it sounds.

Short and long vowels6 vowels

A changed vowel

The form of some vowels changes when a syllable has a final consonant. You saw above that the vowel a has two forms: อะ and อั.

For example

จะ (cà) จ + อะ — no final consonant, so the vowel keeps its original form อะ.

จับ (càp) จ + อะ + บ — the final บ changes the vowel to อั.

Practice: short or long?

Look at each vowel and choose whether it is short or long. Once you get it right, tap the play button to hear it.

practiceIs this vowel short or long?

อู

อิ

อา

อุ

อี

อะ

Tone rules

Here is a reminder of the tone rules for middle class consonants without a tone mark. Every letter in this lesson is middle class, so these two rules are all you need.

Open syllable

mid tone

Syllables ending with the sounds n, ng, m, w, or y, or with a long vowel.

Syllables with the vowels อำ (-am), เอา (-aw), ไอ (ay), or ใอ (ay).

For example

กา (kaa) no final consonant + a long vowel → mid tone

กิน (kin) it ends with the sound n → mid tone

Closed syllable

low tone

Syllables ending with the sounds k, t, or p, or with a short vowel.

For example

จะ (cà) no final consonant + a short vowel → low tone

จับ (càp) it ends with the sound p → low tone

Let's practice reading

Reading 1

Syllables with middle class consonants and all six vowels you've learned so far. Try to read each one out loud first, then tap it to hear it and check.

Read each syllable, then tap it to check.

Reading 2

Syllables with น and บ as a final consonant.

Note

น (n) is a new consonant in this chapter, but for now you'll only use it as a final consonant. You'll meet it properly as an initial consonant when we reach the low class consonants.

Read each syllable, then tap it to check.

Did you notice?

When a syllable has a final consonant, the type of vowel doesn't affect the tone. For example, even though กัน (kan) has a short vowel, it's a mid tone because of the น (n) ending.

Practice: mid or low?

Read each syllable and work out its tone with the two rules. Once you get it right, you can see its reading and tap the play button to hear it.

practiceWhat is the tone of this syllable?

ดี

ติ

จะ

ปาน

กัน

ดุ

กับ

ปู

จีบ

ดิน

Practice: real words you can read

Many of the syllables above are real Thai words. Read each word, then choose its meaning. Once you get it right, you can see its reading and tap the play button to hear it.

practiceWhat does this word mean?

ตา

กิน

ดี

บิน

จาน

ปู

ดิน

ดู

ปี

จูบ

Recap

✓ What you can do now

✓Read 6 middle class consonants, with the sounds k, c, d, t, b, and p

✓Read 3 short vowels (a, i, u) and their 3 long partners (aa, ii, uu)

✓Recognize the changed form of the a vowel when a syllable has a final consonant, as in จะ (cà) → จับ (càp)

✓Work out mid and low tones for middle class syllables from the type of syllable

✓Read syllables that end with the sounds n and p, like กิน (kin) and กับ (kàp)

Middle class consonants

Practice: match the letters

Practice: letter names

Vowels

A changed vowel

Practice: short or long?

Tone rules

mid tone

low tone

Let's practice reading

Reading 1

Reading 2

Practice: mid or low?

Practice: real words you can read

Recap

Keep learning Thai with us.

Choose a lesson part