Thai Vowels | สระภาษาไทย

There are 32 vowel sounds (blimey!). 24 of them are presented in pairs. Each pair has a short sound and a long sound. What about the other 8? They're sad lonely vowels :'( Well, actually they're called 'สระเกิน' which means 'excess vowels' and aren't really considered as vowels, but still. We'll talk in detail later on. Here's a full list of the vowels:

So... The brown boxes are the short vowel sounds and the green ones are the long ones.

Ps. เียะ, เือะ, and ัวะ have no English equivalent. You could try shortening the sound that's paired with them.

The grey boxes are 'excess vowels' as they are formed with a consonant sound, for instance, ำ = /a/ + /m/. Now you might be wondering 'what's going on with the ใ and ไ?' 'what's the difference?'. Well, there's no difference, pronunciation-wise. However, only 20 words in the whole language are written with the 'ใ' which are:

1. ใหญ่ yài = big

2. ใหม่ mài = new

3. ให้ hâi = to give

4. สะใภ้ sà-pái = daughter-in-law

5. ใช้ chái = to use

6. ใฝ่ fài = to aim, to expect

7. ใจ jai = heart, mind

8. ใส่ sài = to wear, to put in

9. หลงใหล lŏng-lăi = fascinated

10. ใคร krai= who?

11. ใคร่ krâi = to desire

12. ใบ bai = sheet, document

14. ใส săi = clear

14. ใด dai = which?

15. ใน nai = in

16. ใช่ châi = yes

17. ใต้ dtâi = south, under

18. ใบ้ bâi = to give a hint, mute

19. ใย yai = web

20. ใกล้ glâi = near

There's even a poem for that to help learners remember those words! Thai is so extra LOL

For those who are interested in reading the poem, check this out ;)

What about the black boxes? They're no longer used. So, don't bother learning them.

Where Do Vowels Go?

Well... where don't vowels go? A vowel can be placed anywhere in a word; before, after, above, or below the consonant letter depending on which vowel we're talking about. In my video, the white circles represent a consonant letter.

Check out my video to get an idea of how they're pronounced!

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