Thai (ภาษาไทย)

Thai is a Tai-Kadai language spoken by about 60 million people mainly in Thailand (ประเทศไทย), where it is an offical language and the de facto national language. There are also Thai speakers in other places, including 153,000 in the USA, 64,800 in Taiwan, 58,800 in Germany, 55,400 in Australia, 43,600 in Sweden and 30,000 in Malaysia.

Thai at a glance

Native name: ภาษาไทย (phasa thai) [pʰāːsǎːtʰāj]
Language family: Kra-Dai, Tai, Southwestern Tai, Chiang Saen, Thai
Number of speakers: c. 60 million
Spoken in: Thailand, USA, Taiwan, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Malaysia and other countries
First written: c. 1292
Writing system: Thai alphabet
Status: Official language in Thailand. Recognised minority language in Cambodia, Malaysia and Myanmar

Thai is closely related to Lao, and northern dialects of Thai are more or less mutually intelligible with Lao, particularly the Lao spoken in northern Thailand. Thai vocabulary includes many words from Pali, Sanskrit and Old Khmer.

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Thai alphabet (ตัวอักษรไทย)

It is thought that the Thai alphabet was based on the Old Khmer alphabet, which dates from 611 AD. The oldest known inscriptions in Thai appeared in about 1292 AD. According to tradition, the Thai alphabet was created by King Ramkhamhaeng (พ่อขุนรามคำแหงมหาราช).

The Thai alphabet is used to write Thai, Sanskrit, Pali, and a number of minority languages spoken in Thailand.

Notable features

Type of writing system: Abugida / Syllabic Alphabet consisting of 44 basic consonants, each with an inherent vowel: [o] in medial position and [a] in final position. The [a] is usually found in words of Sanskrit, Pali or Khmer origin while the [o] is found native Thai words. The 18 other vowels and 6 diphthongs are indicated using diacritics which appear in front of, above, below of after the consonants they modify.
Writing direction: left to right in horizontal lines.
8 of the letters are used only for writing words of Pali and Sanskrit origin.
For some consonants there are multiple letters. Originally they represented separate sounds, but over the years the distinction between those sounds was lost and the letters were used instead to indicate tones.
Thai is a tonal language with 5 tones. The tone of a syllable is determined by a combination of the class of consonant, the type of syllable (open or closed), the tone marker and the length of the vowel. More details.
There are no spaces between words, instead spaces in a Thai text indicate the end of a clause or sentence.

Thai alphabet and pronunciation

The Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS), the official standard for the romanisation of Thai, is used here. Many other romanisation systems are used elsewhere.

Consonants (พยัญชนะ)

Thai Consonants

A recording of the Thai alphabet by ปัณณวิช ตันเดชานุรัตน์ (Pannawit Tandaechanurat)

How to write write and pronounce Thai consonants:

Notes

Consonants are divided into three classes: low (เสียงต่ำ), mid (เสียงกลาง) and high (เสียงสูง) , which help to determine the tone of a syllable.
The sounds represented by some consonants change when they are used at the end of a syllable (indicated by the letters on the right of the slash). Some consonants can only be used at the beginning of a syllable.
Duplicate consonants represent different Sanskrit and Pali consonants sounds which are pronounced identically in Thai.
The letter o ang acts as a silent vowel carrier at the beginning of words that start with a vowel.
The names of the consonants are acrophonic and intended to help with learning them.

Vowel diacritics (รูปสระ)

Thai vowel diacritics

How to write write and pronounce Thai vowels:

Numerals (ตัวเลขไทย)

Thai numerals

A recording of these numbers by ปัณณวิช ตันเดชานุรัตน์

How to write write and pronounce Thai numerals:

Thai punctuation and tone markers

A recording of the Thai tone marker names by ปัณณวิช ตันเดชานุรัตน์

Tone indication

Tone	Example
mid tone (เสียงสามัญ)	ไมล์ [mai] - mile
low tone (เสียงเอก)	ใหม่ [mài] - new, again
falling tone (เสียงโท)	ไม่ [mâi] - no, not
high tone (เสียงตรี)	ไม้ [mái] - wood
rising tone (เสียงจัตวา)	ไหม [măi] - question particle / silk

The tone of a syllable is determined by a combination of the following factors:

The type of vowel: short or long: Short vowels are found in syllables with no written vowel (e.g. นม); those ending in -ะ (e.g. โต๊ะ); those with the -็ mark (e.g. เป็น); and those with -ั , -ิ , -ึ or -ุ.; Other vowels are long.; NB: "short" here means "short in the context of the tone rules" and such vowels are not necessarily pronounced short.
The type of syllable: open (คำเป็น) or closed (คำตาย): Open syllables end with m, n, ɳ or a long vowel.; Closed syllables end with p, t, k or a short vowel
The class (low, middle or high) of the syllable: The class of a syllable is usually that of the first consonant, unless the first consonant has no vowel mark, or the second consonant is a sonorant, e.g. สลบ pronounced: [สะหฺลบ]
The tone marker: When a tone marker is used it is placed on the last initial consonant.

Summary of Thai tone rules

An introduction to Thai tones:

Downloads

Download Thai alphabet charts in Excel, Word or PDF format

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Sample text in Thai

เราทุกคนเกิดมาอย่างอิสระ เราทุกคนมีความคิดและความเข้าใจเป็นของเราเอง เราทุกคนควรได้รับการปฏิบัติในทางเดียวกัน.

A recording of this text by Jo S.

Transliteration

Rao túk kon gèrt maa yàang ìt-sà-rà, rao túk kon mee kwaam kît láe kwaam kâo jai bpen kŏng rao ayng. Rao túk kon kuan dâi ráp gaan bpà-dtì-bàt nai taang dieow gan.

Transliteration by http://www.thai2english.com/online/

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

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Sample videos in Thai

- Learn Thai with Glossika
- ThaiPod101.com - Learn Thai with Free Podcasts
- Find Thai Tutors with LanguaTalk
- Learn Thai with Ling

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Links

Information about the Thai language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_language
http://www.geckovilla.com/Thai_Language.html

Online Thai lessons and other resources
http://www.thai-language.com
http://langhub.com
http://www.thai-flashcards.com
http://ressources.learn2speakthai.net/all-maanii-books/
https://lingopolo.org/thai/online-lessons
http://www.youtube.com/user/thailanguagehut
http://polymath.org/thai.php
http://ilovelanguages.org/thai.php
https://www.expatden.com/learn-thai/
http://www.thaipod101.com/

A New Life in Thailand by Nigel Cobbett - a comprehensive ebook guide to travel and living in Thailand, and the Thai language
http://nigelcobbett.weebly.com

Online Thai dictionaries
http://www.thai-language.com/dict/
http://dictionary.meelink.com
http://lexitron.nectec.or.th/2009_1/
http://www.thai2english.com

Information about Thai transliteration and Romanization systems
http://slice-of-thai.com/pronunciation-guides/

Thai phrases
http://thai-language.com/ref/phrases
http://thaiarc.tu.ac.th/thai/thphrase.htm
https://www.tielandtothailand.com/easy-useful-thai-phrases-words/
https://wikitravel.org/en/Thai_phrasebook

Online Thai keyboards and translation
https://translatiz.com/keyboard/thai-kedmanee
https://translatiz.com/keyboard/thai-pattachote
https://translatiz.com/th

Online Thai radio
https://onlineradiobox.com/th/thailandworldservice/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/thai

Your name in Thai
http://www.cnx-translation.com/your-name-in-thai.php

Information about King Ramkhamhaeng the Great
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramkhamhaeng

Tai-Kaidai languages

Ahom, Aiton, Bouyei, Isan, Kam, Khamti, (Tai) Khün, Lao, Lue, Northern Thai (Kam Mueang), Nùng, Shan, Sui, Tai Dam, Tai Dón, Tai Hongjin, Tai Laing, Tai Nuea, Tai Phake, Tai Ya, Thai, Thai Song, Yang Zhuang, Zhuang

Languages written with the Thai script

Akha, Bisu, Isan, Kuy, Northern Khmer, Northern Pwo, Nyah Kur, Pāli, Sanskrit, Thai, Thai Song, Urak Lawoi’

Abugidas / Syllabic alphabets

Ahom, Aima, Arleng, Badagu, Badlit, Basahan, Balinese, Balti-A, Balti-B, Batak, Baybayin, Bengali, Bhaiksuki, Bhujimol, Bilang-bilang, Bima, Blackfoot, Brahmi, Buhid, Burmese, Carrier, Chakma, Cham, Cree, Dehong Dai, Devanagari, Dham Lipi, Dhankari / Sirmauri, Ditema, Dives Akuru, Dogra, Ethiopic, Evēla Akuru, Fox, Fraser, Gond, Goykanadi, Grantha, Gujarati, Gunjala Gondi, Gupta, Gurmukhi, Halbi Lipi, Hanifi, Hanuno'o, Hočąk, Ibalnan, Incung, Inuktitut, Jaunsari Takri, Javanese, Kaithi, Kadamba, Kamarupi, Kannada, Kawi, Kharosthi, Khema, Khe Prih, Khmer, Khojki, Khudabadi, Kirat Rai, Kōchi, Komering, Kulitan, Kurukh Banna, Lampung, Lanna, Lao, Lepcha, Limbu, Lontara/Makasar, Lota Ende, Magar Akkha, Mahajani, Malayalam, Meitei (Modern), Manpuri (Old), Marchen, Meetei Yelhou Mayek, Meroïtic, Masarm Gondi, Modi, Mon, Mongolian Horizontal Square Script, Multani, Nandinagari, Newa, New Tai Lue, Ojibwe, Odia, Ogan, Pahawh Hmong, Pallava, Phags-pa, Purva Licchavi, Qiang / Rma, Ranjana, Rejang (Kaganga), Sasak, Savara, Satera Jontal, Shan, Sharda, Sheek Bakrii Saphaloo, Siddham, Sinhala, Sorang Sompeng, Sourashtra, Soyombo, Sukhothai, Sundanese, Syloti Nagri, Tagbanwa, Takri, Tamil, Tanchangya (Ka-Pat), Tani, Thaana, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Tigalari, Tikamuli, Tocharian, Tolong Siki, Vatteluttu, Warang Citi

Other writing systems

Page last modified: 16.03.23

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