Is Thai hard to learn to read?
Thai is not as hard to learn to read as it looks, because its spelling is mostly regular, and Mooteach's reading practice puts each new rule straight into real words.
Once you know the rules, the spelling tells you how to say most words, tone included. What takes time is the number of pieces: 44 consonants, vowels that can sit on any side of a consonant, tone rules, and no spaces between words. Each of these is learned in steps, and you can read your first real words within days.
What do you need to know before you read Thai?
Before you read Thai you need to know the consonants and their classes, the vowels, and the tone rules.
- The consonants. There are 44, two of them no longer used, in three classes: middle, high and low. The class decides the tone, so learn each letter with its class. The Thai alphabet lists them all.
- The vowels. A vowel is a sign written around a consonant: after it, above it, below it, before it or on several sides. Thai vowels shows every form.
- The tone marks. Four marks can sit above a consonant. Together with the consonant class and the end of the syllable, they give one of five tones.
- The direction. Thai is read left to right, like English. It has no capital letters, little punctuation and no spaces between words.
How do you read a Thai syllable?
You read a Thai syllable in four steps: first consonant, vowel, final consonant and tone.
- Find the first consonant. A vowel written before it is still said after it.
- Find the vowel around that consonant, and note whether it is short or long.
- Check for a final consonant, the letter that closes the syllable after the vowel.
- Work out the tone from the first consonant's class, how the syllable ends and any tone mark.
Here are six words read that way. Play each one after you have worked it out.
- มา
- ไป
- กิน
- ปาก
- ข้าว
- รถ
- maa, "to come": ม, an m and a low-class consonant, then the long aa written after it. A low-class syllable that ends in a long vowel, with no mark, is mid.
- bpai, "to go": the vowel ai is written first, but you say the consonant ป first. It is middle class with no mark, so the tone is mid.
- gin, "to eat": ก, the short i written above it, and น as the final n. A final n keeps the syllable live, so the tone is mid.
- bpàak, "mouth": ป, the long aa, and ก closing it with a k sound. A syllable cut off by k is dead, and a middle-class dead syllable is low.
- kâao, "rice": ข, a high-class k, the long aa and ว as a final w. The second tone mark sits above the k, and with a high-class consonant it gives a falling tone.
- rót, "car": ร and ถ with no vowel written between them, so the vowel is a short o, and ถ at the end is said as a t. A low-class syllable that is dead with a short vowel is high.
At the end of a syllable many letters change their sound: ถ is said as a t, and ร as an n. Every final comes down to one of eight sounds: k, t, p, m, n, ng, w or y. A final k, t or p is stopped short, without the small puff of air English gives it. Each letter's page gives its sound at the start and at the end of a syllable.
What are live and dead syllables?
Live and dead syllables are the two kinds of Thai syllable the tone rules depend on, and you tell them apart by how the syllable ends.
A live syllable ends in a long vowel, or in an m, n, ng, w or y sound, as in กินgin. The vowels am, ai and ao count as live too. A dead syllable ends in a short vowel, or is cut off by a k, t or p sound, as in ปากbpàak. Whether a syllable is live or dead is one of the three things that decide its tone; Thai tones has the full tables.
How do tone marks change a word?
Tone marks change a Thai word's tone together with the class of its first consonant.
A tone mark sits above the consonant that starts the syllable, or above the second letter when the syllable starts with a cluster or a silent h, and what it means depends on the class that syllable follows. The first mark gives a low tone with a middle-class or high-class consonant, and a falling tone with a low-class one. The second mark gives a falling tone with a middle-class or high-class consonant, and a high tone with a low-class one. The third and fourth marks are rare and mostly sit on middle-class consonants.
- ไก่
- ข้าว
In gài, "chicken", the first mark sits on a middle-class g, so the tone is low. In kâao, "rice", the second mark sits on a high-class k, so the tone is falling.
What does a silent h do in Thai?
A silent h in Thai is not said but moves the syllable to the high-class tone rules.
When ห is written before one of the low-class consonants for ng, y, n, m, r, l or w, it is not said. It changes the tone: the syllable follows the rules for a high-class consonant instead of a low-class one. Compare maa, "to come", with mǎa, "dog". The only difference in the spelling is the silent h, and it turns a mid tone into a rising one.
- มา
- หมา
Three words that all sound like mai show how much the spelling carries. Without the h, the first mark on a low-class m gives a falling tone: mâi, "not". With the silent h and the same mark, the syllable follows the high-class rules and is low: mài, "new". With the silent h and no mark, it is rising: mǎi, the word that turns a sentence into a yes or no question.
- ไม่
- ใหม่
- ไหม
The same thing happens in both syllables of nǎng-sǔue, "book", whose first syllable starts with a silent h. A silent อ does the same job in four common words, making the y that follows it take the middle-class rules, as in yàak, "to want to".
- หนังสือ
- อยาก
Why do some Thai words have no written vowel?
Some Thai words have no written vowel because a short o or a short a is understood between the consonants.
Two consonants with nothing between them, where the second one ends the syllable, are usually read with a short o, as in kon, "person", and rót, "car".
- คน
- รถ
A consonant with no vowel that is followed by another syllable is often read with a short a, as in dtà-làat, "market", sà-nùk, "fun", and à-ròi, "delicious". In tà-nǒn, "road", both vowels are hidden: a short a, then a short o.
- ตลาด
- สนุก
- อร่อย
- ถนน
These words also show a leading consonant at work. When the second syllable starts with one of the low-class letters for ng, y, n, m, r, l or w, it usually takes its tone from the first consonant's class, just as it would after a silent h. That is why làat in "market" is low rather than falling, and nǒn in "road" is rising rather than mid. The other changes in the spelling are on Thai vowels.
How do you read two Thai consonants together?
You read two Thai consonants together either as a cluster, said with no vowel between them, or as a syllable with a hidden vowel.
Thai has a short list of clusters: g or k followed by r, l or w; bp or p followed by r or l; and dt followed by r. In a cluster, the first letter's class decides the tone, and a tone mark sits on the second letter.
- ปลา
- ครับ
Anything outside that list, like the t and l at the start of dtà-làat, "market", has a hidden vowel between the two letters. In everyday speech the r or l of a cluster is often dropped, so kráp often sounds like káp.
Why do some Thai letters make no sound?
Some Thai letters make no sound because a small mark called gaa-ran tells you not to say them, mostly in words borrowed from other languages.
It sometimes silences the letter before it too. In wan-jan, "Monday", the mark sits on the last letter, and the two letters at the end of the word are both silent.
- วันจันทร์
The mark, the tone marks and the other signs are on tone marks and special characters.
Why are there no spaces between Thai words?
There are no spaces between Thai words because Thai puts a space only at the end of a phrase or sentence, where English would put a comma or a full stop.
Here are four examples, each written in Thai without a space, with the words split in the romanization.
- กินข้าวหรือยัง
- ร้านอาหาร
- ภาษาไทย
- สบายดีไหม
How do you find where Thai words end?
You find where Thai words end by reading syllable by syllable and letting the spelling show where each one starts.
These clues in the spelling help:
- A vowel written before a consonant always starts a new syllable, so a gap usually falls just before it.
- A final consonant closes a syllable. Once a syllable has its vowel and a final, the next letter usually starts a new one.
- The words you know stand out. In gin kâao rǔue yang, "have you eaten yet?", you already know gin and kâao from this page, which leaves rǔue, "or", and yang, "yet".
- A space is a full stop or a comma, never a gap inside a phrase.
Splitting words gets easier as your vocabulary grows. Thai readers do not find words by rule; they recognize them, and so will you.
Do you need to read Thai, or is romanization enough?
You need to read Thai, because romanization only takes you so far, and Mooteach lets you switch romanization off as your reading grows.
Romanization lets you start speaking before you can read. Thai has no single way of writing its words in Latin letters, so the same word is spelled several ways on signs, menus and in apps, and many of those spellings show neither the tone nor the vowel length. The Thai script shows both, and it is what you see on every sign and in every message. Use romanization as a bridge, and turn it off once you know the common letters; reading romanization explains when.
What order should you learn to read Thai in?
You should learn to read Thai in this order, from the middle-class consonants to tone marks and longer words.
- The nine middle-class consonants and a few vowels written after or above the consonant, so you can read your first syllables.
- Final consonants and live and dead syllables.
- The high-class and low-class consonants, with the tone each class gives, a few letters at a time.
- The first two tone marks, which you will see every day. The other two are rare.
- The vowels written before or around the consonant, and the vowels that change shape or disappear.
- The silent h, leading consonants, clusters and silenced letters.
- Real text: menus, signs, product labels and messages, with romanization off.
How long does it take to learn to read Thai?
Learning to read Thai takes a few weeks to sound out simple words and two to three months to read most words slowly, at 15 to 20 minutes a day, a pace Mooteach's short lessons make easy to keep.
Reading quickly takes longer, because it depends on how many words you know and how fast you can spot where they end. Short daily practice works better than long, occasional sessions.
How do you practice reading Thai?
You practice reading Thai by sounding words out, checking them against the audio and reading aloud, which Mooteach's reading practice lets you do every day.
- Sound out, then check. Work out a word's sounds and tone before you hear it, then play the audio and compare.
- Read words made only of letters you know, and add new letters a few at a time.
- Read out loud. Saying each syllable ties the letters to the sounds and the tones.
- Read what is around you: menus, street signs, shop names and product labels are short and repeat the same words.
- Write and type the letters. Writing them by hand helps you tell look-alike letters apart; see how to write Thai letters and typing in Thai.
- Turn romanization off as soon as you can, and look at it only when you are stuck.
Is there an app for learning to read Thai?
Yes, there is an app for learning to read Thai: Mooteach, whose reading practice teaches the rules, not only the letters, by showing you a Thai word and asking how it is said, with wrong answers that differ only in tone or vowel length. Its alphabet reference plays the name of every letter and vowel in a male and a female voice, and you can switch off Show romanization once you can read.
See how Mooteach compares with other Thai apps.
