Thai Alphabet and Pronunciation Guide (Consonants)
thai alphabet consists of 44 consonant letters, and 21 vowel symbols with 32 vowel sounds. here i’ve listed down the 44 consonants with their identical sounds in english. and the symbols in the parenthesis are their coordinate ipa.
ก (k) : gala, games, goat, garlic, gun
ข (kʰ) : car, cry, calm, kin, candy
ฃ (kʰ) : can, could, because, kind, coffee *obsolete*
ฅ (kʰ) : cold, crab, keen, cup, care *obsolete*
ค (kʰ) : come, colony, carry, keep, call
ฆ (kʰ) : command, clock, cake, key, climb
ง (ŋ) : thing, cling, strong, painting, bring
จ (tɕ) : jewellery, judge, joke, enjoy, just
ฉ (tɕʰ) : chew, show, shark, shallow, pressure
ช (tɕʰ) : sharp, shadow, cheese, shine, should
ซ (s) : sell, seal, someone, solo, sing
ฌ (tɕʰ) : choke, shake, shore, shall, shame
ญ (j) : yellow, yard, yarn, yes, yam
ฎ (d) : damp, dull, dream, dog, dark
ฏ (t) : similar to ㄸ in korean, d in chinese (弟弟、豆腐、大、打)
ฐ (tʰ) : team, teal, tan, tomb, tamarind
ฑ (tʰ) : total, torch, tool, tin, time
ฒ (tʰ) : tone, tear, teen, trade, tech
ณ (n) : know, now, need, no, night
ด (d) : don’t, dance, deal, door, doom
ต (t) : similar to ㄸ in korean, d in chinese (弟弟、豆腐、大、打)
ถ (tʰ) : tell, to, take, towel, tea
ท (tʰ) : trap, tower, troop, two, true
ธ (tʰ) : talk, try, toddler, tail, town
น (n) : never, new, nine, nanny, numb
บ (b) : about, break, brand, business, breathe
ป (p) : similar to ㅃ in korean, b in chinese (爸爸、笔、帮、拜)
ผ (pʰ) : pen, park, proud, play, plan
ฝ (f) : far, feel, fly, find, fin
พ (pʰ) : penny, power, paw, pebble, paper
ฟ (f) : for, fool, freedom, reflect, flower
ภ (pʰ) : people, party, pyjamas, place, pan
ม (m) : million, miles, me, more, moment
ย (j) : yank, you, yawn, year, youth
ร (r ) : the ร sound is neither american nor chinese r. it’s similar to the one in spanish, italian, russian, tagalog, etc.
ล (l) : love, alone, lay, lie, light
(do take note that in informal conversations, most thai drop the rolling r sound from ร and pronounce it as ล instead)
ว (w) : way, wind, wheel, whale, walk
ศ (s) : start, side, seem, reason, seat
ษ (s) : sun, sand, sky, sea, soul
ส (s) : secret, search, seven, safe, sit
ห (h) : heart, heat, heal, hike, hollow
ฬ (l) : life, lake, loop, lean, low
อ (ʔ) : even, always, apple, amber, army
ฮ (h) : how, hill, hand, hug, house
