Travis Gore
Thai Phonetic Alphabet
This website uses a phonetic system to represent the sounds in the Thai language. Why learn a phonetic system instead of learning to read the Thai alphabet? Think of a phonetic system like training wheels. A phonetic system uses as much of what you already know as possible. You may benefit from a phonetic system if you are going to Thailand on vacation and you want to learn phrases to communicate but you aren’t ready to commit to learning the Thai alphabet. There may be other reasons why you would need a phonetic alphabet, but the important thing to remember is that, as stated before, these are training wheels. They’ll get you off the ground. But if you really want to learn the Thai language, you’ll need to learn to read the Thai alphabet.
This system is designed to avoid almost all special characters and only uses the 26 letters of the English language alphabet, parentheses to indicate tones, and hyphens to group sounds together. This makes it easier to type.
This system is designed to be learned as fast as possible. Most of it you already know!
That being said, this system is designed to be learned as fast as possible. The goal is that you will be able to correctly pronounce Thai words and phrases in just a day or two because you actually know most of what is in this system. I will break it down in the following way:
- How Tones are represented
- What you already know
- What you need to learn
- Cheat sheet – COMING SOON
- Bonus Round: Practice! – COMING SOON
How can you use the following information practically? Take a little time to review everything on this page. As previously mentioned, much of these sounds you already know! Then, the cheat sheet at the end will be something you can print out or keep available in some other way to reference different parts of the website as you go along and learn phrases. You can also use the system to easily write down new phrases that you hear and want to remember.
How Tones are Represented
In Thai, there are 5 tones. There is a low tone (L), high tone (H), rising tone (R), falling tone (F), and no tone, which is also considered a tone.
On this website, the tones are represented by the characters mentioned above, are always written in capital letters and surrounded by parentheses: (). When there is no tone, there will be no capital letter at the end of the sentence.
All syllables will be spelled in lowercase letters. As a reminder, a syllable is simply a single sound. For example, the word ‘truck’ in English makes one sound, but you have to make two sounds to say the word, ‘candle.’ Words made up of multiple syllables will be combined by a hyphen so you know where one word ends and a new word begins. Let’s look at an example:
พัฒนา
pat(H)-ta(H)-naa
What You Already Know
Below are vowels that are pronounced the same in Thai and English. Note, though, that when you see the below vowels throughout the website, they will be consistent. For example, the letter ‘I’ in the words ‘sit’ and ‘fight’ are not pronounced the same in English. But when you see the letter ‘i’ used to represent a Thai word on this website, it will always be pronounced like ‘tip’ or ‘sit.’
One note before you start:
In Thai, there are long vowels and short vowels. As you would expect, short vowels produce a short sound and long vowels produce the same sound, but longer.
In this phonetic system, short vowels will be shown by a single vowel, while long vowels will be shown by a double vowel. For example:
Thai has both long vowels and short vowels
Long vowels will be represented by a double vowel like ‘aa’
1.กะ 2. กา
1. ga(L) 2. gaa
Vowel Sounds You Already Know
Here are a list of vowel sounds that are pronounced almost exactly the same in Thai as in English.
LETTER
a
Explanation
As in ‘cat’
Example
กะ – ga(L)
Sound
aa
As in ‘cat’ but longer (caaat)
กา – gaa
i
As in ‘tip’
กิ – gi(L)
ii
Though this is a longer version of the above letter, it is pronounced like we say the single letter ‘e’ in English or like ea in ‘seat’ or ‘ee’ in flee or the ‘ea’ in ‘flea.’ Good thing you’re learning Thai and not English.
กี – gii
u
As in ‘you’
ดุ – du(L)
uu
As in ‘you’ but longer (youuuu)
ดู – duu
e
As in ‘set’
เดะ – de(L)
ee
This is a longer version of the above letter, thus it is pronounced like the ‘e’ in ‘set,’ just longer. Note, it is not pronounced like a long ‘e’ in ‘teeth.’
เด – dee
o
As in ‘boat’
จน – jon – Note: Not pronounced like ‘John’ or ‘Joan’, but somewhere in between
oo
As in ‘boat’ but longer (booaaaat)
โอ – doo (Note: not pronounced like ‘do’ but like ‘dough’
Consonant Sounds You Already Know
Here are a list of the consonant sounds that are pronounced almost exactly the same in Thai as in English.
LETTER
b
Explanation
As in ‘beer.’ Now you want a beer.
Example
บา – baa
Sound
ch
As in ‘chain’
ชา -chaa
d
As in ‘deer’
ดา – daa
f
As in ‘fan’
ฟา – faa
g
As in ‘gate’
กา – gaa
h
As in ‘hat’
หา – haa(R)
j
As in ‘jeans’
จา – jaa
l
As in ‘leaf’
ลา – laa
m
As in ‘milk’
มา – maa
n
As in ‘needle’
นา – naa
p
As in ‘pear’
พา – paa
s
As in ‘soap’
ซา – saa
w
As in ‘waffle.’ Now you want a waffle. Me too.
วา – waa
y
As in ‘yard’
ยา – yaa
What You Need To Learn
Here is the reality: Perhaps no two languages produce exactly the same sounds. So it isn’t always possible to simply say, “Oh, this letter sounds like the ‘t’ in English..” etc.
The following letters either have a subtly different or vastly different pronunciation between Thai and English. The best thing you can do is devote time to studying these sounds, listening to them and trying to replicate them many times, and eventually they will stick. Remember: learning anything, including a language, is much like getting physically fit in a gym. It takes work, struggle, and time, and no one can do it for you. But it is worth the effort.
Vowel Sounds You’ll Need To Learn
LETTER
uw
Explanation
This one is tough! Grit your teeth and smile and try to make a ‘uw’ sound. Then listen to the audio to the right. Were you close? Are you happy now that you are smiling?
Example
อึ – uw(L)
Sound
uuw
Same as above, but longer.
อื – uuw
ei
This one is a bit more subtle. It is similar to the sound of saying the letter ‘A’ in English, or the a in ‘say,’ yet the sound is produced more in the back of the throat. Similar to a sound you might make when imitating a goat. No joke.
แอะ – ei(L)
eei
Same as above but longer.
แอ – eei
er
I’m reluctant to use ‘r’ as part of a vowel because I don’t want to mix anyone up but frankly, it kind of sounds like an ‘almost’ r. Say the word ‘Teacher,’ but try to say that r at the end as subtly as possible. That ‘er’ at the end is how you pronounce the ‘er’ vowel sound in Thai.
เลอะ – ler(H)
eer
Same as above, but longer.
เจอ – jer
aw
This is similar to the sound below (read that one first), but you’ll notice that, being shorter, it is only like you are pronouncing half of the w.
เอาะ – aw(L)
aaw
Hey, you actually already know this one. It is like you would say ‘aww’ about a cute baby or a puppy in English. Or, if you’ve never felt those emotions before, it is like the ‘aw’ in ‘law.’
กอ – gaaw
Consonant Sounds You’ll Need To Learn
LETTER
r
Explanation
The ‘r’ is always pronounced as a rolling ‘r.’ Like Adele, rolling in the deep.
Example
รา – raa
Sound
t
‘t’ sounds similar to the ‘t’ sound in English but it is very important to recognize the subtle difference. Say ‘toe’ out loud in English. Notice there is a small puff of air that comes out with the ‘t’ sound. You need to exaggerate that puff of air to correctly pronounce the ‘t’ in Thai. Try it out loud. Say ‘taa’ but try to push a bit more air out when you do it. That is the taa that you see to the right.
ทา – taa
kh
Much like the ‘t’ above, the k is always pronounced with a puff of air. However, if you want to produce something closer to the native sound, it also begins with a slightly guttural sound, like when you scoff at someone in disgust and disbelief. If you haven’t done that, I don’t have another example. You must have nice friends.
คา – khaa
ng
You probably actually know this. Think of the word, ‘song’. That word ends in an ‘ng.’ We often end words in ‘ng’ but some Thai words start with ‘ng,’ too. Try saying, ‘ngaa’ like to the right. Not too hard, huh?
งา – ngaa
dt
Ok, you can do this! Think of the word duck… feel where you put your tongue to make that sound? It is on the ridge on the roof of your moth, right above your front teeth. Try putting your tongue there and saying, ‘duh, duh.’ Ok, now move your tongue down so it is pressing up against the back of your front teeth. Make the same sound. Can you hear how it sounds slightly harder when you make the sound from the back of your front teeth? That is the ‘dt’
ตา – dtaa
bp
In Thai there is the soft ‘b’ (in this system, represented by the ‘b’) and then the hard ‘b’ (represented by the ‘bp’). Try to say the word ‘baa’ as gently as you can, without a puff of air. Your lips simply go from touching to opening. Now press your lips together tightly and force out a harder ‘b’ sound without a puff of air. This is ‘bp’
ปา – bpaa
Double Vowels
Double vowels aren’t anything new to you at this point. They are really just two of the vowels that you have learned above at some point that have been combined to make a single sound. I just didn’t want you to be surprised when you ran into them all of a sudden! There may seem like a lot, but again, they are really just practice. You know all of these sounds by now.
LETTER
ai
Explanation
Like the ‘ie’ in pie.
Example
ไอ – ai
Sound
aai
Same as above but longer
อาย – aai
ao
Like the ‘ow’ in cow.
เอา – ao
aao
Same as above but longer.
อาว – aao
ia
Like the ‘ia’ in ‘MAMA MIA!’ (It doesn’t work unless you do the Italian gesture where you put your fingers against your thumb and shake them.
เอีย – ia
iao
Like combining the ‘ee’ in see with the ‘ow’ in cow to make ‘eeow’.
เอียว – iao
ua
Like combining the ‘o’ in do and the ‘uh’ in ‘uh, where did I put my pants? to make ‘o-uh’
อัว – ua
uai
Like combining the ‘o’ in do and the ‘ie’ in ‘pie’ to make ‘o-ie’
อวย -uai
uwa
You know ‘uw’ from above where you grit your teeth and smile and make a uw sound? That is this, but you add an ‘a’ from ‘cat’ at the end to make ‘uw-a’
เอือ – uwa
uwai
Same as above with the ‘uw’ but then you add the ‘ie’ from pie. ‘uw-ie’
เอือย – uwai
aawi
Like the cute ‘aww’ when you see a baby but you add ‘i’ from tip at the end.
ออย – aawi
eeri
Same as that subtle ‘er’ at the end of ‘teacher’ that you learned above combined with the ‘i’ in tip.
เอย – eeri
ui
The ‘u’ in you combined with the ‘i’ in tip.
อุย – ui
iu
It is like trying to say the word ‘eel’ but with a ‘w’ at the end instead of an ‘l’
อิว – iu
eo
Combining the ‘a’ in say and the ‘o’ in show… ‘ey-ow’
เอ็ว – eo
eeo
Same as above, but longer.
เอว – eeo
eioo
Like the ‘a’ sound from above when you are pretending to make a goat noise, but then you add ‘o’ from show at the end of it – ‘ei-ow’
แอว – eioo
Cheat Sheet
Hey, that wasn’t so hard, was it? So, now that your brain is bursting with knowledge, how can you use this information practically? Below you will find a PDF cheat sheet that you can print out and carry with you as you browse the website. You can also use it to write down new words that you hear but don’t yet know how to spell in Thai.
COMING SOON!
Conclusion
Thank you for taking the time to review this phonetic system. Honestly, it isn’t the only one out there and it may not even be the best fit for you. If you have a system you like better, go for it! This system is simply a tool to help you access the Thai language as fast as possible. I’m determined to keep it as simple as possible, to not use any special characters, and to keep improving it so that it can benefit as many as possible. With that in mind, feel free to leave any feedback in the comments section below!
