How to Read Thai Tones ? | การอ่านภาษาไทย
- K Milton
- Dec 9, 2022
- 6 min read
Updated: Dec 12, 2022
Before you get started, I have a checklist for you. Make sure you've learnt all of this before you start reading this post. Have fun!!
First of all, I'm glad you've made it here. Congratulations! Without any further ado, let's dive into reading tones. Here's a cheat sheet for you. You can simply use this chart as a reference whenever you're reading. But If you're a person who tries to figure out the logic behind things like I am, continue reading. We're going to town, folks!
I also have a more-visual chart here:
whichever you prefer!
As I've mentioned in my 'Tones 101' post: There are 5 tones, but there are only 4 tone marks. The tone marks are as follows:
่ (เอก èk) | ้ (โท toh) | ๊ (ตรี dtree) | ๋ (จัตวา jàt-dtà-waa) |
To identify the tone of each syllable, you must consider;
Which class is the initial consonant in? High? Middle? or Low?
Is it a dead or live syllable?
Which tone mark is being used here?
I'll try to make it sound as simple as possible.
Let's start with live syllables. The default tone (with no tone mark) sounds like how you read the letter (NOT THE NAME!!). For example; ก --> gor (mid), ข --> kŏr (rising), ค --> kor (mid) So, whenever it's a live syllable with no tone mark, middle & low-class consonants make a mid-tone while high-class consonants make a rising tone.
Try: High Class: ขิม kĭm ผา păa ฝน fŏn ถุง tŭng สวย sŭuay หิน hĭn ฉัน chăn >> Rising Tone
Middle Class: กิน gin ใจ jai ดิน din เตือน dteuuan บัง bang peun อาย aai >> Mid Tone
Low Class: คิว kiw ชาย chaai ลวง luuang ซึม seum ยำ yam ไทย tai ฟอง fong ใน nai เมือง meuuang พุง pung โวย woi งอน ngon >> Mid Tone
Not so complicated, eh?
There's one more thing to talk about before we add the tone marks. As you see in the chart, there's a (ห) in the same box as the high-class consonant. That's ห นำ, or the silent 'h'. It is when you have double initial consonants with ห as a first consonant letter, followed by a paired low-class consonant letter. We'll talk about this in my next post. For now, all you have to know is that ห changes the given low-class consonant's function. So, instead of following the rules for low-class consonants, you follow the ones for high-class consonants.
e.g.
Low Class: นา naa ยี yee มู moo งาย ngaai วี wee ไล lai >> Mid Tone
ห + Low Class: หนา năa หยี yĕe หมู mŏo หงาย ngăai หวี wĕe ไหล lăi >> Rising Tone
Now, let's add tone marks to them. The rules applied to middle-class consonants are the basic tone mark rules.
Middle-class consonant with live syllable:
no tone mark | ่ (เอก èk) | ้ (โท toh) | ๊ (ตรี dtree) | ๋ (จัตวา jàt-dtà-waa) |
mid | low | falling | high | rising |
Excerpt from the chart:
e.g. กา (gaa) ก่า (gàa) ก้า (gâa) ก๊า (gáa) ก๋า (găa)
Low-class consonants can make only 3 tones (when the paired low-class consonants are paired with a high-class consonant, you'll get all 5) The tones are; mid, falling, and high. Since mid-tone doesn't require a tone mark, we're left with 2 tone marks. So... which ones are we using????
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.
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Yup! ่ (เอก èk) and ้ (โท toh). ่ gives you a falling tone, and ้ gives you a high tone.
Low-class consonant with live syllable:
no tone mark | ่ (เอก èk) | ้ (โท toh) | ๊ (ตรี dtree) | ๋ (จัตวา jàt-dtà-waa) |
mid | falling | high | - | - |
Excerpt from the chart:
e.g. คา (kaa) ค่า (kâa) ค้า (káa)
High-class consonants also make only 3 tones; low, falling, and rising (the falling tone overlaps with low-class consonants). Since they already have a rising tone as the default tone, so there's no use for ๋ (จัตวา jàt-dtà-waa) so we're left with 2 tone marks. Once again, we use ่ (เอก èk) and ้ (โท toh). The tone mark ' ่' gives you a low tone, and ' ้' gives you a falling tone.
High-class consonant with live syllable:
no tone mark | ่ (เอก èk) | ้ (โท toh) | ๊ (ตรี dtree) | ๋ (จัตวา jàt-dtà-waa) |
rising, (ห) | low | falling | - | - |
Excerpt from the chart:
e.g. ขา (kăa) ข่า (kàa) ข้า (kâa)
NOTE: Look carefully
| mid | low | falling | high | rising |
Middle | กา (gaa) | ก่า (gàa) | ก้า (gâa) | ก๊า (gáa) | ก๋า (găa) |
Low | คา (kaa) | | ค่า (kâa) | ค้า (káa) | |
High, (ห) | | ข่า (kàa) | ข้า (kâa) | | ขา (kăa) |
Do you see how it somehow makes sense?
Moving on to dead syllables. Let's talk about the default tone first. Middle-class consonants and high-class consonants are not very fussy. They both give a low tone regardless of the vowel length
e.g. กะ (gà) กาก (gàak) ขะ (kà) ขาก (kàak)
Low-class consonants, on the other hand, give two different tones depending on the length of the vowel.
Short Vowel Sound = High Tone
Long Vowel Sound = Falling Tone
e.g. คะ (ká) คาด (kâat)
Are you ready for tone marks? Nobody is but here we go!
So, typically middle-class consonants make all 5 tones, yeah? Since with no tone mark, it's a low tone then there's no mid-tone here. And there's no use of ่ (เอก èk)! The rest stay the same.
Middle class consonant with dead syllable:
no tone mark | ่ (เอก èk) | ้ (โท toh) | ๊ (ตรี dtree) | ๋ (จัตวา jàt-dtà-waa) |
low | - | falling | high | rising |
Excerpt from the chart:
e.g. กะ (gà) ก้ะ (gâ) ก๊ะ (gá) ก๋ะ (gă)
High-class consonants make 2 tones; low and falling. Since no tone mark already makes a low tone, we don't need ่ (เอก èk) and to get a falling tone, we use .... you've guessed it, ้ (โท toh)!!
High class consonant with dead syllable:
no tone mark | ่ (เอก èk) | ้ (โท toh) | ๊ (ตรี dtree) | ๋ (จัตวา jàt-dtà-waa) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
low | - | falling | - | - |
Excerpt from the chart:
e.g. ขะ (kà) ข้ะ (kâ)
Low-class consonants are of course the fussy ones. Let's start with short vowel sounds. Theoretically, They make 3 tones; high, falling, and rising. But the rising tone here is very rare. I, a native speaker, have never used it. It is also incorrect to use it in writing. Remember the default tone for this? YUP! high. What does that mean? We don't need ๊ (ตรี dtree)!
Low-class consonant with dead syllable (short vowel sound):
no tone mark | ่ (เอก èk) | ้ (โท toh) | ๊ (ตรี dtree) | ๋ (จัตวา jàt-dtà-waa) |
high | falling | - | - | rising but wtf r u doing here tho ur just impossible to pronounce |
Excerpt from the chart:
e.g. คะ (ká) ค่ะ (kâ) ค๋ะ (kă)
Note: In spoken Thai 'ค่ะ' is pronounced with a low tone just like 'ขะ'
Long vowel sounds are relatively common. They make 2 tones; falling and high. Since the default tone is the falling tone, we don't need ้ (โท toh) ... or do we? YUP, I'm as confused as you are. ้ (โท toh) gives you a high tone.
Low-class consonant with dead syllable (long vowel sound):
no tone mark | ่ (เอก èk) | ้ (โท toh) | ๊ (ตรี dtree) | ๋ (จัตวา jàt-dtà-waa) |
falling | - | high | - | - |
Excerpt from the chart:
e.g. คาบ (kâap) ค้าบ (káap)
My observation is: Low-class consonants focus on 3 main tones (screw the rising), namely; mid, falling, and high. As we've seen in live syllables ่ (เอก èk) gives you a falling tone and ้ (โท toh) gives you a high tone. They try to make it the same with dead syllables, but dead syllables with a low-class consonant as an initial consonant don't have the mid-tone as the default tone. Therefore, when a high tone is the default tone, ่ (เอก èk) gives you a falling tone, just like with live syllables. And when a falling tone is the default tone, ้ (โท toh)
gives you a high tone, once again, just like with live syllables.
Trust me, it will eventually sink in. I personally had never got these rules right before I started teaching. A native Thai can probably say all the tones right but can't read them until they're 7 or 8 years old. These tone rules are taught in school from Prathom 1 (age 7) until Matthayom 1 (age 13). Believe it or not, some students at a higher level can't even read tones correctly despite 6 years of learning them. So... take all the time you need, and keep practising it.
For a better understanding, watch my video on YouTube and hear me pronounce the words!
You can also practise this by reading short stories along with me.
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Thank you for your support ❤️
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