How do Thai vowels work?
Thai vowels work as marks written around a syllable's first consonant, and Mooteach's alphabet reference plays every vowel form.
A final consonant, if there is one, comes after it. So when you read, find the consonant first, then look around it for the vowel. In the forms on this page a dotted circle stands for the consonant.
Where are Thai vowels written?
Thai vowels are written after, above, below, before or around the consonant, as the words below show.
Each word below shows one of the places a vowel can sit.
- After the consonant: maa, "to come", has the long aa after its m.
- Above: dii, "good", has the long ii above its d.
- Below: duu, "to watch", has the long uu below its d.
- Before: bpai, "to go", has its ai written before the bp.
- On several sides: rian, "to study", wraps its ia around the r, and ruea, "boat", uses three sides at once.
- มา
- ดี
- ดู
- ไป
- เรียน
- เรือ
Why are some Thai vowels written before the consonant?
Some Thai vowels are written before the consonant by a habit of the script, but they are still said after it.
For example, bpai starts with bp, even though the ai comes first on the page. Khmer and several scripts of India, which belong to the same family as Thai writing, also put some vowel signs before the consonant. When you type Thai, you type the vowel first, in the order it is written; see typing in Thai.
What is the difference between short and long vowels?
The difference between short and long Thai vowels is how long you hold them, which can change the word.
Ná is a short word that softens a sentence; náa, with a long vowel, means an aunt or uncle on your mother's side who is younger than her.
- นะ
- น้า
Here are the twelve pairs, each with the short form first. Play them one after the other to hear the length. A few of the short forms are rare and appear in almost no common words.
- ◌ะ
- ◌า
- ◌ิ
- ◌ี
- ◌ึ
- ◌ือ
- ◌ุ
- ◌ู
- เ◌ะ
- เ◌
- แ◌ะ
- แ◌
- โ◌ะ
- โ◌
- เ◌าะ
- ◌อ
- เ◌อะ
- เ◌อ
- เ◌ียะ
- เ◌ีย
- เ◌ือะ
- เ◌ือ
- ◌ัวะ
- ◌ัว
Length matters for the tone too: a syllable that ends in a short vowel is dead, which changes the tone rules. Thai tones explains live and dead syllables. In our romanization a doubled letter marks most long vowels, as in a and aa; reading romanization lists the exceptions.
How many vowels does Thai have?
Thai has 32 vowel forms, as Thai schools teach them.
They are the twelve short and long pairs above, four extra vowels and four vowel letters, all on this page. The sounds are fewer. Thai has nine vowels, each short or long, plus the combinations ia, uea and ua.
What are the extra Thai vowels?
The extra Thai vowels are four forms that spell a vowel with its ending sound, am, ao and two ways to write ai, plus four vowel letters.
The two ai forms sound the same. The second one, máai múan, is used in only about twenty words, which Thai children learn as a list.
- ◌ำ
- ไ◌
- ใ◌
- เ◌า
Four more are letters rather than signs. The first two spell rue and ruue, mostly in words that came into Thai from Sanskrit. The last two spelled lue and luue and are no longer used. A double r, ror hǎn, also works as a vowel: it spells a short a before a final consonant, and an when nothing follows it.
- ฤ
- ฤๅ
- ฦ
- ฦๅ
- รร
Why do some Thai words have no written vowel?
Some Thai words have no written vowel because some vowels change shape or disappear before a final consonant.
A syllable with a final consonant and no written vowel is usually read with a short o, as in คนkon, "person". Short a before a final consonant is written with a small mark above the consonant instead of its usual form, as in วันwan, "day", and short e takes the vowel shortener, as in เด็กdèk, "child". Both marks are on tone marks and special characters.
Is there an app for learning Thai vowels?
Yes, there is an app for learning Thai vowels: Mooteach, whose alphabet reference plays the name of every vowel form in a male and a female voice and whose writing practice has you trace each vowel sign stroke by stroke.
See how Mooteach compares with other Thai apps.
