Thai tone calculator

How do you work out a Thai tone?

From the spelling, in three steps. Find the class of the syllable's first consonant: middle, high or low. Decide whether the syllable is live or dead. Then look for a tone mark above the consonant. Pick the three here and the calculator gives the tone and the rule behind it, with a word that follows the same rule.

Each letter's page in the Thai alphabet gives its class. Thai tones has the full rule tables and pairs of words to train your ear.

What are live and dead syllables?

A live syllable ends in a long vowel, or in an m, n, ng, w or y sound. You can hold it, the way you can hold the end of "moon". A dead syllable ends in a short vowel, or is cut off by a p, t or k sound, like the end of "cat". For a dead syllable that starts with a low-class consonant and has no mark, the vowel's length also counts.

Do tone marks always decide the tone?

Yes. Once a syllable has a tone mark, whether it is live or dead no longer matters: the mark and the consonant's class give the tone. The third and fourth marks, máai dtrii and máai jàt-dtà-waa, are written almost only on middle-class consonants, mostly in loanwords and in words that copy a sound.

Is there an app for learning Thai tones?

Yes, there is an app for learning Thai tones: Mooteach, whose romanization marks the tone of every syllable and whose listening practice trains your ear on words that differ only in tone.

See how Mooteach compares with other Thai apps.