Shangri Lingua

How Thai tones work

Thai spelling tells you the tone of a word. Once you know the consonant class and the kind of syllable, you can work it out.

Five tones

Thai has five tones, and a tone is part of the word: the same syllable in a different tone is a different word. In romanization, the mark over the vowel shows the tone. Mid tone has no mark.

  • Mid

    Level, in the middle of your voice

    คา kaa, “stuck” /kʰaː/

  • Low

    Lower than your normal voice, staying low

    ข่า kàa, “galangal” /kʰàː/

  • Falling

    Starts high, then drops

    ค่า kâa, “value” /kʰâː/

  • High

    Held high, climbing a little

    ค้า káa, “to trade” /kʰáː/

  • Rising

    Dips low, then climbs

    ขา kǎa, “leg” /kʰǎː/

Three classes

Every Thai consonant belongs to one of three classes. The class of the first consonant in a syllable helps set its tone. Classes aren’t about sound: ข and ค are both “k” with a puff of air, but in different classes.

  • Mid (9)ก จ ฎ ฏ ด ต บ ป อ
  • High (11)ข ฃ ฉ ฐ ถ ผ ฝ ศ ษ ส ห
  • Low (24)All the others

Live and dead syllables

A syllable is live if you can hold its sound, and dead if it stops short.

  • LiveEnds in a long vowel, or in m, n, ng, w, y
  • DeadEnds in a short vowel, or in k, p, t

มา · มาก

มา ends on a long vowel, so it’s live. มาก stops on a k, so it’s dead.

Tones with no tone mark

With no mark, class and syllable type decide the tone. Low class dead syllables also depend on vowel length.

  • Mid, liveMid tone
  • Mid, deadLow tone
  • High, liveRising tone
  • High, deadLow tone
  • Low, liveMid tone
  • Low, dead, shortHigh tone
  • Low, dead, longFalling tone

ปาก · รัก

ปาก: mid class, dead, so low tone. รัก: low class, dead and short, so high tone.

Tones with a tone mark

A mark overrides that table. What it means still depends on class. Mai tri and mai chattawa appear on mid class only.

  • Mai ek, mid or highLow tone
  • Mai ek, lowFalling tone
  • Mai tho, mid or highFalling tone
  • Mai tho, lowHigh tone
  • Mai tri, midHigh tone
  • Mai chattawa, midRising tone

ไก่ · ไม่

Same mark, different class: ไก่ (mid) is low tone, and ไม่ (low) is falling.

The silent leader

A silent ห in front of a low class consonant lends it high class rules. It only happens before sonorants: ง ญ น ม ย ร ล ว. Four words do the same with อ before ย, using mid class rules.

หมา

ห is silent, ม is low class, but the word follows high class rules. Live, so rising: mǎa.

Writing order

You write in a fixed order, which isn’t always the order you hear.

  • 1Leading vowel, if any: เ แ โ ใ ไ
  • 2The consonant
  • 3A vowel above or below it
  • 4The tone mark, at the very top
  • 5Any vowel or consonant that follows

ไม่

Heard as m-ai with a tone, but written ไ, then ม, then mai ek.

See these rules at work on every word in Thai vocabulary, where each page explains how its tone comes out.