Structure of Thai language (no spaces, vowel blocks)

Structure of Thai language (no spaces, vowel blocks)

In this video, I will give you some advice on how to determine where a word starts and ends in Thai. This topic can be particularly confusing because

  1. Thai script does not use spaces between words, and

  2. vowels can appear on any side of a consonant (on top, below, on the left and right side, and surrounding the consonant).

Let's use the sentence

'เรากินกาแฟกับชา'

(meaning 'we/I drink coffee and tea') as an example.

Click to see this sentence in different fonts (102 KB)

The main takeaways of this video are:

  • Tip 1: Identify the consonant and its associated vowel block.

  • Tip 2: Understand the meaning of the word.

Practical Thai reading - Everything you need to know to read Thai (Beginner - Advanced)

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Materials to download / How to use this course

  • How to take this course
  • Thai vowels PDF
  • Cheatsheet: Tone rules and consonants PDF
  • Cheatsheet: how vowels can change their shape (PDF)
  • Clusters PDF

Module 1 - High, Middle, Low: The Thai Consonant Story

  • 1️⃣ Lesson 1 - Middle class consonants + 8 vowels9
  • ◼️ Reading Reference - 1
  • ❓Quiz: Middle class consonants
  • ❓Quiz: Long or Short Vowel (I)
  • ◼️ Reading Practice - 1
  • 2️⃣ Lesson 2 - Low class consonants + 8 vowels6
  • ◼️ Reading Reference - 2
  • ❓Quiz: Low class consonant
  • ❓Quiz: Long or Short Vowel (II)
  • ◼️ Reading practice - 2
  • 3️⃣ Lesson 3 - High class consonants + 8 vowels12
  • ◼️ Reading Reference - 3
  • ❓Quiz: High class consonants
  • ❓Quiz: Long or Short Vowel (III)
  • ◼️ Reading practice - 3
  • 4️⃣ Lesson 4 - The rest of the low class consonants + the last 4 vowels
  • ◼️ Reading reference - 4
  • ❓Quiz: Low class consonant (II)
  • ◼️ Reading practice - 4
  • 5️⃣ Lesson 5 - Final ending consonants sounds + stop and draggable sounds
  • ◼️ Reading Reference - 5
  • ◼️ Reading Practice - 5
  • 6️⃣ Lesson 6 - What happens if a word ends in "s,l,k..." sounds?
  • ◼️ Reading reference - 6
  • Module 1 Summary
  • Practice reading though stories

Module 2 - All About Tones!

  • Introduction - What you need to know to determine tones?
  • 1️⃣ Lesson 1 - Every Syllable in Thai can have it's own tone!3
  • 2️⃣ Lesson 2 - Learn to pronounce the 5 Thai Tones!3
  • ◼️ Practice - Imitate my tones!1
  • ◼️ Practice - Choose the correct tone2
  • ◼️ Practice - determine the tones (All 5 tones)7
  • 3️⃣ Lesson 3 - What are the Thai tone marks called?
  • 4️⃣ Lesson 4 - Learn to read words with tone marks10
  • ◼️ Practice - Reading words with tone marks
  • 5️⃣ Lesson 5 - Draggable vs stop sounds
  • ◼️ Practice: Stop sound or Draggable sound
  • ❓Quiz: stop/ or draggable sound?
  • Stop and Draggable Review sound + Quiz explained
  • 6️⃣ Lesson 6 - Learn to read words without tone marks!2
  • ◼️ Practice - Reading words without tone marks!
  • ◼️ Practice - More on reading words without tone marks2
  • Read real sentences + Practice everything you learned so far!9

Module 3 - Fill in all the gaps!

  • About module 3 ⭐
  • Vowels that change the way they look4
  • Cheat sheet: Vowels that change the way the look
  • Structure of Thai language (no spaces, vowel blocks)3
  • อ as a tone changer (อยาก, อย่า, อย่าง, อยู่)
  • ห as a tone changer (i.e., หรู)
  • True clusters (i.e., กล, คว, ขร)1
  • The "N" final consonant sound
  • The "G" final consonant sound
  • The "D" final consonant sound
  • The "B" final consonant sound
  • Summary of the possible final consonant sounds
  • False clusters (สร, ศร -> ส)
  • Non-clusterable consonants (i.e., สม-, ฉล-,...)3
  • Consonant + ร = อน sound (i.e., กร = กอน)
  • Linking syllables in Thai
  • รร become a vowel (กรร = กัน)2
  • Which one to use ไ or ใ2
  • Some Thai words can be read multiple ways!
  • Sometimes the vowel duration changes
  • The different symbols in Thai writing
  • Rare letters in Thai
  • Irregular words in Thai
  • Learn the Thai numbers
  • All the sentences in different fonts (compilation)

I finished the course, where to go from here?

  • What to do next / Resources11
  • Practice reading with Thai reader (Beginner - Advanced)