Thai language

Not to be confused with Tai languages or Central Tai languages.

Thai, or Central Thai (historically Siamese; Thai: ภาษาไทย), is a Tai language of the Kra–Dai language family spoken by the Central Thai, Mon, Lao Wiang, Phuan people in Central Thailand and the vast majority of Thai Chinese enclaves throughout the country. It is the sole official language of Thailand.

Thai
Central Thai, Siamese
ภาษาไทย, Phasa Thai
"Phasa Thai" (literally meaning "Thai language") written in Thai script
Pronunciation	[pʰāːsǎːtʰāj]
Region	Thailand (Central Thailand and Thai Chinese enclaves throughout country) Cambodia (Koh Kong province) Myanmar (Kengtung District)
Ethnicity	Central Thai, Thai Chinese, Mon, Lao Wiang, Phuan
Native speakers	L1: 21 million (2000) L2: 40 million (2001) Total: 61 million
Language family	Kra–Dai Tai Southwestern Chiang Saen Sukhothai Thai
Writing system	Thai script Thai Braille Khom Thai (religious use)
Official status
Official language in	Thailand
Recognised minority language in	Cambodia Laos Malaysia Myanmar
Regulated by	Royal Society of Thailand
Language codes
ISO 639-1	th
ISO 639-2	tha
ISO 639-3	tha
Glottolog	thai1261
Linguasphere	47-AAA-b
Dark Blue: Majority Light Blue: Minority

A native Thai speaker, recorded in Bangkok

Thai is the most spoken of over 60 languages of Thailand by both number of native and overall speakers. Over half of its vocabulary is derived from or borrowed from Pali, Sanskrit, Mon and Old Khmer. It is a tonal and analytic language. Thai has a complex orthography and system of relational markers. Spoken Thai, depending on standard sociolinguistic factors such as age, gender, class, spatial proximity, and the urban/rural divide, is partly mutually intelligible with Lao, Isan, and some fellow Thai topolects. These languages are written with slightly different scripts, but are linguistically similar and effectively form a dialect continuum.

Thai language is spoken by over 69 million people (2020). Moreover, most Thais in the northern (Lanna) and the northeastern (Isan) parts of the country today are bilingual speakers of Central Thai and their respective regional dialects because Central Thai is the language of television, education, news reporting, and all forms of media. A recent research found that the speakers of the Northern Thai language (also known as Phasa Mueang or Kham Mueang) have become so few, as most people in northern Thailand now invariably speak Standard Thai, so that they are now using mostly Central Thai words and only seasoning their speech with the "Kham Mueang" accent. Standard Thai is based on the register of the educated classes by Central Thai and ethnic minorities in the area along the ring surrounding the Metropolis.

In addition to Central Thai, Thailand is home to other related Tai languages. Although most linguists classify these dialects as related but distinct languages, native speakers often identify them as regional variants or dialects of the "same" Thai language, or as "different kinds of Thai". As a dominant language in all aspects of society in Thailand, Thai initially saw gradual and later widespread adoption as a second language among the country's minority ethnic groups from the mid-late Ayutthaya period onward. Ethnic minorities today are predominantly bilingual, speaking Thai alongside their native language or dialect.

Classification

Further information: Kra–Dai languages, Tai languages, and Tai peoples

Standard Thai is classified as one of the Chiang Saen languages—others being Northern Thai, Southern Thai and numerous smaller languages, which together with the Northwestern Tai and Lao-Phutai languages, form the Southwestern branch of Tai languages. The Tai languages are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family, which encompasses a large number of indigenous languages spoken in an arc from Hainan and Guangxi south through Laos and Northern Vietnam to the Cambodian border.

Standard Thai is the principal language of education and government and spoken throughout Thailand. The standard is based on the dialect of the central Thai people, and it is written in the Thai script.

Example of divergence among the Kra-Dai Languages

Kra-Dai

Hlai languages Kam-Sui languages Kra languages Be language  Tai languages  Northern Tai languages Central Tai languages Southwestern Tai languages Northwestern Tai languages Khamti language Tai Lue language Shan language others Chiang Saen languages Northern Thai language Sukhothai language Thai language Southern Thai language Lao‑Phuthai languages Tai Yo language Phuthai language Lao language (PDR Lao, Isan language)

History

Thai has undergone various historical sound changes. Some of the most significant changes occurred during the evolution from Old Thai to modern Thai. The Thai writing system has an eight-century history and many of these changes, especially in consonants and tones, are evidenced in the modern orthography.

Early spread

According to a Chinese source, during the Ming dynasty, Yingya Shenglan (1405–1433), Ma Huan reported on the language of the Xiānluó (暹羅) or Ayutthaya Kingdom, saying that it somewhat resembled the local patois as pronounced in Guangdong Ayutthaya, the old capital of Thailand from 1351 - 1767 A.D., was from the beginning a bilingual society, speaking Thai and Khmer. Bilingualism must have been strengthened and maintained for some time by the great number of Khmer-speaking captives the Thais took from Angkor Thom after their victories in 1369, 1388 and 1431. Gradually toward the end of the period, a language shift took place. Khmer fell out of use. Both Thai and Khmer descendants whose great-grand parents or earlier ancestors were bilingual came to use only Thai. In the process of language shift, an abundance of Khmer elements were transferred into Thai and permeated all aspects of the language. Consequently, the Thai of the late Ayutthaya Period which later became Ratanakosin or Bangkok Thai, was a thorough mixture of Thai and Khmer. There were more Khmer words in use than Tai cognates. Khmer grammatical rules were used actively to coin new disyllabic and polysyllabic words and phrases. Khmer expressions, sayings, and proverbs were expressed in Thai through transference.

Thais borrowed both the Royal vocabulary and rules to enlarge the vocabulary from Khmer. The Thais later developed the royal vocabulary according to their immediate environment. Thai and Pali, the latter from Theravada Buddhism, were added to the vocabulary. An investigation of the Ayutthaya Rajasap reveals that three languages, Thai, Khmer and Khmero-Indic were at work closely both in formulaic expressions and in normal discourse. In fact, Khmero-Indic may be classified in the same category as Khmer because Indic had been adapted to the Khmer system first before the Thai borrowed.

Old Thai

Old Thai had a three-way tone distinction on "live syllables" (those not ending in a stop), with no possible distinction on "dead syllables" (those ending in a stop, i.e. either /p/, /t/, /k/ or the glottal stop that automatically closes syllables otherwise ending in a short vowel).

There was a two-way voiced vs. voiceless distinction among all fricative and sonorant consonants, and up to a four-way distinction among stops and affricates. The maximal four-way occurred in labials (/p pʰ b ʔb/) and denti-alveolars (/t tʰ d ʔd/); the three-way distinction among velars (/k kʰ ɡ/) and palatals (/tɕ tɕʰ dʑ/), with the glottalized member of each set apparently missing.

The major change between old and modern Thai was due to voicing distinction losses and the concomitant tone split. This may have happened between about 1300 and 1600 CE, possibly occurring at different times in different parts of the Thai-speaking area. All voiced–voiceless pairs of consonants lost the voicing distinction:

• Plain voiced stops (/b d ɡ dʑ/) became voiceless aspirated stops (/pʰ tʰ kʰ tɕʰ/).
• Voiced fricatives became voiceless.
• Voiceless sonorants became voiced.

However, in the process of these mergers, the former distinction of voice was transferred into a new set of tonal distinctions. In essence, every tone in Old Thai split into two new tones, with a lower-pitched tone corresponding to a syllable that formerly began with a voiced consonant, and a higher-pitched tone corresponding to a syllable that formerly began with a voiceless consonant (including glottalized stops). An additional complication is that formerly voiceless unaspirated stops/affricates (original /p t k tɕ ʔb ʔd/) also caused original tone 1 to lower, but had no such effect on original tones 2 or 3.

The above consonant mergers and tone splits account for the complex relationship between spelling and sound in modern Thai. Modern "low"-class consonants were voiced in Old Thai, and the terminology "low" reflects the lower tone variants that resulted. Modern "mid"-class consonants were voiceless unaspirated stops or affricates in Old Thai—precisely the class that triggered lowering in original tone 1 but not tones 2 or 3. Modern "high"-class consonants were the remaining voiceless consonants in Old Thai (voiceless fricatives, voiceless sonorants, voiceless aspirated stops). The three most common tone "marks" (the lack of any tone mark, as well as the two marks termed mai ek and mai tho) represent the three tones of Old Thai, and the complex relationship between tone mark and actual tone is due to the various tonal changes since then. Since the tone split, the tones have changed in actual representation to the point that the former relationship between lower and higher tonal variants has been completely obscured. Furthermore, the six tones that resulted after the three tones of Old Thai were split have since merged into five in standard Thai, with the lower variant of former tone 2 merging with the higher variant of former tone 3, becoming the modern "falling" tone.

Old Thai (Sukhothai) consonant inventory

	Labial				Dental/ Alveolar				(Alveolo-) Palatal			Velar			Glottal
Nasal	[m̊] หม		[m] ม		[n̊] หน		[n] น, ณ		[ɲ̊] หญ		[ɲ] ญ	[ŋ̊] หง		[ŋ] ง
Plosive/ Affricate	[p] ป	[pʰ] ผ	[b] พ, ภ	[ʔb] บ	[t] ฏ, ต	[tʰ] ฐ, ถ	[d] ท, ธ	[ʔd] ฎ, ด	[tɕ] จ	[tɕʰ] ฉ	[dʑ] ช	[k] ก	[kʰ] ข	[g] ค, ฆ	[ʔ] อ
Fricative	[f] ฝ		[v] ฟ		[s] ศ, ษ, ส		[z ~ ʑ] ซ					[x] ฃ		[ɣ] ฅ	[h] ห
Trill					[r̊] หร		[r] ร
Approximant	[ẘ] หว		[w] ว		[l̥] หล		[l] ล		[j̊] หย	[j] ย	[ʔj] อย

Historical Sukhothai pronuncation

Letters	IPA	Word in Sukhothai (in Modern Thai script)	Pronunciation in IPA (excluding tone)	Meaning and Definitions
วรรค ก | Varga Kor
ก	k	เกิด	kɤːt	v. to be born
ข	kʰ	ของ	kʰɔːŋ	n. thing
ฃ	x	ฃึ้น (ขึ้น)	xɯn	v. to go up
ค	g	ครู	gruː	n. teacher
ฅ	ɣ	ฅวาม (ความ)	ɣwaːm	n. affair; matter; content
ฆ	g	ฆ่า	gaː	v. to kill
ง	ŋ	งก	ŋok	adj. greedy
หง	ŋ̊	หงอก	ŋ̊ɔːk	v. to whiten (hair)
วรรค จ | Varga Jor
จ	tɕ	ใจ	tɕaɯ	n. heart
ฉ	tɕʰ	ฉาย	tɕʰaːj	v. to shine (on something)
ช	dʑ	ชื่อ	dʑɯː	n. name
ซ	z - ʑ	ซ้ำ	zam	adv. repeatedly
ญ	ɲ	ญวน	ɲuan	v. Vietnam (archaic)
หญ	ɲ̊	หญิง	ɲ̊iŋ	n. woman
วรรค รฏ | Varga Ra Tor
ฎ	ʔd	ฎีกา	ʔdiː.kaː	n. petition notice
ฏ	t	ฏาร	taː.raʔ	n. Ganymede
ฐ	tʰ	ฐาน	tʰaːn	n. base, platform
ณ	n	เณร	neːn	n. novice monk
วรรค ต | Varga Tor
ด	ʔd	ดาว	ʔdaːw	n. star
ต	t	ตา	taː	n. eye
ถ	tʰ	ถอย	tʰɔj	v. to move back
ท	d	ทอง	dɔːŋ	n. gold
ธ	d	ธุระ	du.raʔ	n. business; affairs; errands
น	n	น้ำ	naːm	n. water
หน	n̊	หนู	n̊uː	n. mouse
วรรค ป | Varga Por
บ	ʔb	บ้าน	ʔbaːn	n. house
ป	p	ปลา	plaː	n. fish
ผ	pʰ	ผึ้ง	pʰɯŋ	n. bee
ฝ	f	ฝัน	fan	n. dream
พ	b	พ่อ	bɔː	n. father
ฟ	v	ฟัน	van	n. tooth
ภ	b	ภาษา	baː.saː	n. language
ม	m	แม่	mɛː	n. mother
หม	m̊	หมา	m̊aː	n. dog
อวรรค | Avarga
อย	ʔj	อย่า	ʔjaː	adv. do not
ย	j	เย็น	jen	adj. cold
หย	j̊	เหยียบ	j̊iap	v. to step on
ร	r	รัก	rak	v. to love
หร	r̊	หรือ	r̊ɯː	conj. or
ล	l	ลม	lom	n. wind
หล	l̥	หล่อ	l̥ɔː	adj. handsome
ว	w	วัน	wan	n. day
หว	ẘ	หวี	ẘiː	n. comb
ศ	s	ศาล	saːn	n. court of law
ษ	s	ฤๅษรี (ฤๅษี)	rɯː.siː	n. hermit
ส	s	สวย	suaj	adj. beautiful
อ	ʔ	อ้าย	ʔaːj	n. first born son

Early Old Thai

Further information: Proto-Tai

Early Old Thai also apparently had velar fricatives /x ɣ/ as distinct phonemes. These were represented by the now-obsolete letters ฃ kho khuat and ฅ kho khon, respectively. During the Old Thai period, these sounds merged into the corresponding stops /kʰ ɡ/, and as a result the use of these letters became unstable.

At some point in the history of Thai, an alveolo-palatal nasal phoneme /ɲ/ also existed, inherited from Proto-Tai. A letter ญ yo ying also exists, which is used to represent an alveolo-palatal nasal in words borrowed from Sanskrit and Pali, and is currently pronounced /j/ at the beginning of a syllable but /n/ at the end of a syllable. Most native Thai words that are reconstructed as beginning with /ɲ/ are also pronounced /j/ in modern Thai, but generally spelled with ย yo yak, which consistently represents /j/. This suggests that /ɲ/ > /j/ in native words occurred in the pre-literary period. It is unclear whether Sanskrit and Pali words beginning with /ɲ/ were borrowed directly with a /j/, or whether a /ɲ/ was re-introduced, followed by a second change /ɲ/ > /j/. The northeastern Thai dialect Isan and the Lao language still preserve the phoneme /ɲ/, which is represented in the Lao script by ຍ, such as in the word ຍຸງ (/ɲúŋ/, mosquito). This letter is distinct from the phoneme /j/ and its Lao letter ຢ, such as in the word ຢາ (/jàː/, medicine). The distinction in writing has been lost in the informal writing of the Isan language with the Thai script and both sounds are represented by ย /j/ (See: Comparison of Lao and Isan).

Proto-Tai also had a glottalized palatal sound, reconstructed as /ʔj/ in Li Fang-Kuei (1977). Corresponding Thai words are generally spelled หย, which implies an Old Thai pronunciation of /hj/ (or /j̊/), but a few such words are spelled อย, which implies a pronunciation of /ʔj/ and suggests that the glottalization may have persisted through to the early literary period.

Vowel developments

The vowel system of modern Thai contains nine pure vowels and three centering diphthongs, each of which can occur short or long. According to Li (1977), however, many Thai dialects have only one such short–long pair (/a aː/), and in general it is difficult or impossible to find minimal short–long pairs in Thai that involve vowels other than /a/ and where both members have frequent correspondences throughout the Tai languages. More specifically, he notes the following facts about Thai:

• In open syllables, only long vowels occur. (This assumes that all apparent cases of short open syllables are better described as ending in a glottal stop. This makes sense from the lack of tonal distinctions in such syllables, and the glottal stop is also reconstructible across the Tai languages.)
• In closed syllables, the long high vowels /iː ɯː uː/ are rare, and cases that do exist typically have diphthongs in other Tai languages.
• In closed syllables, both short and long mid /e eː o oː/ and low /ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː/ do occur. However, generally, only words with short /e o/ and long /ɛː ɔː/ are reconstructible back to Proto-Tai.
• Both of the mid back unrounded vowels /ɤ ɤː/ are rare, and words with such sounds generally cannot be reconstructed back to Proto-Tai.

Furthermore, the vowel that corresponds to short Thai /a/ has a different and often higher quality in many of the Tai languages compared with the vowel corresponding to Thai /aː/.

This leads Li to posit the following:

1. Proto-Tai had a system of nine pure vowels with no length distinction, and possessing approximately the same qualities as in modern Thai: high /i ɯ u/, mid /e ɤ o/, low /ɛ a ɔ/.
2. All Proto-Tai vowels were lengthened in open syllables, and low vowels were also lengthened in closed syllables.
3. Modern Thai largely preserved the original lengths and qualities, but lowered /ɤ/ to /a/, which became short /a/ in closed syllables and created a phonemic length distinction /a aː/. Eventually, length in all other vowels became phonemic as well and a new /ɤ/ (both short and long) was introduced, through a combination of borrowing and sound change. Li believes that the development of long /iː ɯː uː/ from diphthongs, and the lowering of /ɤ/ to /a/ to create a length distinction /a aː/, had occurred by the time of Proto-Southwestern-Tai, but the other missing modern Thai vowels had not yet developed.

Not all researchers agree with Li. Pittayaporn (2009), for example, reconstructs a similar system for Proto-Southwestern-Tai, but believes that there was also a mid back unrounded vowel /ə/ (which he describes as /ɤ/), occurring only before final velar /k ŋ/. He also seems to believe that the Proto-Southwestern-Tai vowel length distinctions can be reconstructed back to similar distinctions in Proto-Tai.

Phonology

Consonants

Initials

Standard Thai distinguishes three voice-onset times among plosive and affricate consonants:

• voiced
• tenuis (unvoiced, unaspirated)
• aspirated

Where English makes a distinction between voiced /b/ and unvoiced aspirated /pʰ/, Thai distinguishes a third sound – the unvoiced, unaspirated /p/ that occurs in English only as an allophone of /pʰ/, for example after an /s/ as in the sound of the p in "spin". There is similarly a laminal denti-alveolar /d/, /t/, /tʰ/ triplet in Thai. In the velar series there is a /k/, /kʰ/ pair and in the postalveolar series a /tɕ/, /tɕʰ/ pair, but the language lacks the corresponding voiced sounds /ɡ/ and /dʑ/. (In loanwords from English, English /ɡ/ and /d͡ʒ/ are borrowed as the tenuis stops /k/ and /tɕ/.)

In each cell below, the first line indicates International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the second indicates the Thai characters in initial position (several letters appearing in the same box have identical pronunciation). The letter ห, one of the two h letters, is also used to help write certain tones (described below).

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	(Alveolo-) Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		/m/ ม	/n/ ณ, น		/ŋ/ ง
Plosive/ Affricate	voiced	/b/ บ	/d/ ฎ, ด
	tenuis	/p/ ป	/t/ ฏ, ต	/tɕ/ จ	/k/ ก	/ʔ/ อ
	aspirated	/pʰ/ ผ, พ, ภ	/tʰ/ ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ถ, ท, ธ	/tɕʰ/ ฉ, ช, ฌ	/kʰ/ ข, ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ
Fricative		/f/ ฝ, ฟ	/s/ ซ, ศ, ษ, ส			/h/ ห, ฮ
Approximant		/w/ ว	/l/ ล, ฬ	/j/ ญ, ย
Rhotic/Liquid			/r/ ร

Finals

Although the overall 44 Thai consonant letters provide 21 sounds in case of initials, the case for finals is different. For finals, only eight sounds, as well as no sound, called mātrā (มาตรา) are used. To demonstrate, at the end of a syllable, บ (/b/) and ด (/d/) are devoiced, becoming pronounced as /p/ and /t/ respectively. Additionally, all plosive sounds are unreleased. Hence, final /p/, /t/, and /k/ sounds are pronounced as [p̚], [t̚], and [k̚] respectively.

Of the consonant letters, excluding the disused ฃ and ฅ, six (ฉ ผ ฝ ห อ ฮ) cannot be used as a final and the other 36 are grouped as following.

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	/m/ ม	/n/ ญ, ณ, น, ร, ล, ฬ		/ŋ/ ง
Plosive	/p/ บ, ป, พ, ฟ, ภ	/t/ จ, ช, ซ, ฌ, ฎ, ฏ, ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ด, ต, ถ, ท, ธ, ศ, ษ, ส		/k/ ก, ข, ค, ฆ	/ʔ/
Approximant	/w/ ว		/j/ ย

Clusters

In Thai, each syllable in a word is articulated independently, so consonants from adjacent syllables (i.e. heterosyllabic) show no sign of articulation as a cluster. Thai has specific phonotactical patterns that describe its syllable structure, including tautosyllabic consonant clusters, and vowel sequences. In core Thai words (i.e. excluding loanwords), only clusters of two consonants occur, of which there are 11 combinations:

• /kr/ (กร), /kl/ (กล), /kw/ (กว)
• /kʰr/ (ขร, คร), /kʰl/ (ขล, คล), /kʰw/ (ขว, คว)
• /pr/ (ปร), /pl/ (ปล)
• /pʰr/ (พร), /pʰl/ (ผล, พล)
• /tr/ (ตร)

The number of clusters increases in loanwords such as /tʰr/ (ทร) in อินทรา (/ʔīn.tʰrāː/, from Sanskrit indrā) or /fr/ (ฟร) in ฟรี (/frīː/, from English free); however, these usually only occur in initial position, with either /r/, /l/, or /w/ as the second consonant sound and not more than two sounds at a time.

Vowels

The vowel nuclei of the Thai language are given in the following table. The top entry in every cell is the symbol from the International Phonetic Alphabet, the second entry gives the spelling in the Thai script, where a dash (–) indicates the position of the initial consonant after which the vowel is pronounced. A second dash indicates that a final consonant follows.

Monophthongs of Thai. From Tingsabadh & Abramson (1993:25)

Diphthongs of Thai. From Tingsabadh & Abramson (1993:25)

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	/i/  -ิ	/iː/  -ี	/ɯ/  -ึ	/ɯː/  -ื-	/u/  -ุ	/uː/  -ู
Mid	/e/ เ-ะ	/eː/ เ-	/ɤ/ เ-อะ	/ɤː/ เ-อ	/o/ โ-ะ	/oː/ โ-
Open	/ɛ/ แ-ะ	/ɛː/ แ-	/a/ -ะ, -ั-	/aː/ -า	/ɔ/ เ-าะ	/ɔː/ -อ

Each vowel quality occurs in long-short pairs: these are distinct phonemes forming distinct words in Thai.

The long-short pairs are as follows:

Long					Short
Thai	IPA	Example			Thai	IPA	Example
–า	/aː/	ฝาน	/fǎːn/	'to slice'	–ะ	/a/	ฝัน	/fǎn/	'to dream'
–ี	/iː/	กรีด	/krìːt/	'to cut'	–ิ	/i/	กริช	/krìt/	'kris'
–ู	/uː/	สูด	/sùːt/	'to inhale'	–ุ	/u/	สุด	/sùt/	'rearmost'
เ–	/eː/	เอน	/ʔēːn/	'to recline'	เ–ะ	/e/	เอ็น	/ʔēn/	'tendon, ligament'
แ–	/ɛː/	แพ้	/pʰɛ́ː/	'to be defeated'	แ–ะ	/ɛ/	แพะ	/pʰɛ́ʔ/	'goat'
–ื-	/ɯː/	คลื่น	/kʰlɯ̂ːn/	'wave'	–ึ	/ɯ/	ขึ้น	/kʰɯ̂n/	'to go up'
เ–อ	/ɤː/	เดิน	/dɤ̄ːn/	'to walk'	เ–อะ	/ɤ/	เงิน	/ŋɤ̄n/	'silver'
โ–	/oː/	โค่น	/kʰôːn/	'to fell'	โ–ะ	/o/	ข้น	/kʰôn/	'thick (soup)'
–อ	/ɔː/	กลอง	/klɔ̄ːŋ/	'drum'	เ–าะ	/ɔ/	กล่อง	/klɔ̀ŋ/	'box'

There are also opening and closing diphthongs in Thai, which Tingsabadh & Abramson (1993) analyze as /Vj/ and /Vw/. For purposes of determining tone, those marked with an asterisk are sometimes classified as long:

Long		Short
Thai script	IPA	Thai script	IPA
–าย	/aːj/	ไ–*, ใ–*, ไ–ย, -ัย	/aj/
–าว	/aːw/	เ–า*	/aw/
เ–ีย	/ia/	เ–ียะ	/iaʔ/
–	–	–ิว	/iw/
–ัว	/ua/	–ัวะ	/uaʔ/
–ูย	/uːj/	–ุย	/uj/
เ–ว	/eːw/	เ–็ว	/ew/
แ–ว	/ɛːw/	–	–
เ–ือ	/ɯa/	เ–ือะ	/ɯaʔ/
เ–ย	/ɤːj/	–	–
–อย	/ɔːj/	–	–
โ–ย	/oːj/	–	–

Additionally, there are three triphthongs. For purposes of determining tone, those marked with an asterisk are sometimes classified as long:

Thai script	IPA
เ–ียว*	/iaw/
–วย*	/uaj/
เ–ือย*	/ɯaj/

Tones

The five phonemic tones of Standard Thai pronounced with the syllable '/naː/':

There are five phonemic tones: mid, low, falling, high, and rising, sometimes referred to in older reference works as rectus, gravis, circumflexus, altus, and demissus, respectively. The table shows an example of both the phonemic tones and their phonetic realization, in the IPA. Moren & Zsiga (2006) and Zsiga & Nitisaroj (2007) provide phonetic and phonological analyses of Thai tone realization.

Thai language tone chart

Notes:

1. Five-level tone value: Mid [33], Low [21], Falling [41], High [45], Rising [214]. Traditionally, the high tone was recorded as either [44] or [45]. This remains true for the older generation, but the high tone is changing to [334] among youngsters.
2. For the diachronic changes of tone value, see Pittayaporn (2007).
3. The full complement of tones exists only in so-called "live syllables", those that end in a long vowel or a sonorant (/m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /j/, /w/).
4. For "dead syllables", those that end in a plosive (/p/, /t/, /k/) or in a short vowel, only three tonal distinctions are possible: low, high, and falling. Because syllables analyzed as ending in a short vowel may have a final glottal stop (especially in slower speech), all "dead syllables" are phonetically checked, and have the reduced tonal inventory characteristic of checked syllables.

Unchecked syllables

Tone	Thai	Example	Phonemic	Phonetic	Gloss
Mid	สามัญ	คา	/kʰāː/	[kʰäː˧]	'stick'
Low	เอก	ข่า	/kʰàː/	[kʰäː˨˩] or [kʰäː˩]	'galangal'
Falling	โท	ค่า	/kʰâː/	[kʰäː˦˩]	'value'
High	ตรี	ค้า	/kʰáː/	[kʰäː˦˥] or [kʰäː˥]	'to trade'
Rising	จัตวา	ขา	/kʰǎː/	[kʰäː˨˩˦] or [kʰäː˨˦]	'leg'

Checked syllables

Tone	Thai	Example	Phonemic	Phonetic	Gloss
Low (short vowel)	เอก	หมัก	/màk/	[mäk̚˨˩]	'marinate'
Low (long vowel)	เอก	หมาก	/màːk/	[mäːk̚˨˩]	'areca nut, areca palm, betel, fruit'
High	ตรี	มัก	/mák/	[mäk̚˦˥]	'habitually, likely to'
Falling	โท	มาก	/mâːk/	[mäːk̚˦˩]	'a lot, abundance, many'

In some English loanwords, closed syllables with a long vowel ending in an obstruent sound have a high tone, and closed syllables with a short vowel ending in an obstruent sound have a falling tone.

Tone	Thai	Example	Phonemic	Phonetic	Gloss
High	ตรี	มาร์ก	/máːk/	[mäːk̚˦˥]	'Marc, Mark'
High	ตรี	ชาร์จ	/tɕʰáːt/	[tɕʰäːt̚˦˥]	'charge'
Falling	โท	เมกอัป	/méːk.ʔâp/	[me̞ːk̚˦˥.ʔäp̚˦˩]	'make-up'
Falling	โท	แร็กเกต	/rɛ́k.kêt/	[rɛk̚˦˥.ke̞t̚˦˩]	'racket'

Grammar

From the perspective of linguistic typology, Thai can be considered to be an analytic language. The word order is subject–verb–object, although the subject is often omitted. Additionally, Thai is an isolating language lacking any form of inflectional morphology whatsoever. Thai pronouns are selected according to the gender and relative status of speaker and audience.

Adjectives and adverbs

There is no morphological distinction between adverbs and adjectives. Many words can be used in either function. They follow the word they modify, which may be a noun, verb, or another adjective or adverb.

คน

khon

/kʰōn

อ้วน

uan

ʔûan/

คน อ้วน

khon uan

/kʰōn ʔûan/

'a fat person'

คน

khon

/kʰōn

ที่

thi

tʰîː

อ้วน

uan

ʔûan

เร็ว

reo

rēw/

คน ที่ อ้วน เร็ว

khon thi uan reo

/kʰōn tʰîː ʔûan rēw/

'a person who became fat quickly'

Comparatives take the form "A X กว่า B" (kwa, /kwàː/), 'A is more X than B'. The superlative is expressed as "A X ที่สุด" (thi sut, /tʰîː sùt/), 'A is most X'.

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

อ้วน

uan

ʔûan

กว่า

kwa

kwàː

ฉัน

chan

tɕʰǎn/

เขา อ้วน กว่า ฉัน

khao uan kwa chan

/kʰǎw ʔûan kwàː tɕʰǎn/

'S/he is fatter than me.'

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

อ้วน

uan

ʔûan

ที่สุด

thi sut

tʰîː sùt/

เขา อ้วน ที่สุด

khao uan {thi sut}

/kʰǎw ʔûan tʰîː sùt/

'S/he is the fattest (of all).'

Adjectives in Thai can be used as complete predicates. Because of this, many words used to indicate tense in verbs (see Verbs:Tense below) may be used to describe adjectives.

ฉัน

chan

/tɕʰǎn

หิว

hio

hǐw/

ฉัน หิว

chan hio

/tɕʰǎn hǐw/

'I am hungry.'

ฉัน

chan

/tɕʰǎn

จะ

cha

tɕàʔ

หิว

hio

hǐw/

ฉัน จะ หิว

chan cha hio

/tɕʰǎn tɕàʔ hǐw/

'I will be hungry.'

ฉัน

chan

/tɕʰǎn

กำลัง

kamlang

kām.lāŋ

หิว

hio

hǐw/

ฉัน กำลัง หิว

chan kamlang hio

/tɕʰǎn kām.lāŋ hǐw/

'I am hungry right now.'

ฉัน

chan

/tɕʰǎn

หิว

hio

hǐw

แล้ว

laeo

lɛ́ːw/

ฉัน หิว แล้ว

chan hio laeo

/tɕʰǎn hǐw lɛ́ːw/

'I am already hungry.'

• Remark ฉันหิวแล้ว mostly means 'I am hungry right now' because normally, แล้ว (/lɛ́ːw/) marks the change of a state, but แล้ว has many other uses as well. For example, in the sentence, แล้วเธอจะไปไหน (/lɛ́ːw tʰɤ̄ː tɕàʔ pāj nǎj/): 'So where are you going?', แล้ว (/lɛ́ːw/) is used as a discourse particle.

Verbs

Verbs do not inflect. They do not change with person, tense, voice, mood, or number; nor are there any participles. The language being analytic and case-less, the relationship between subject, direct and indirect object is conveyed through word order and auxiliary verbs. Transitive verbs follow the pattern subject-verb-object.

ฉัน

chan

/tɕʰǎn

1SG

ตี

ti

tīː

hit

เขา

khao

kʰǎw/

3SG

ฉัน ตี เขา

chan ti khao

/tɕʰǎn tīː kʰǎw/

1SG hit 3SG

'I hit him.'

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

3SG

ตี

ti

tīː

hit

ฉัน

chan

tɕʰǎn/

1SG

เขา ตี ฉัน

khao ti chan

/kʰǎw tīː tɕʰǎn/

3SG hit 1SG

'S/He hit me.'

In order to convey tense, aspect and mood (TAM), the Thai verbal system employs auxiliaries and verb serialization. TAM markers are however not obligatory and often left out in colloquial use. In such cases, the precise meaning is determined through context. This results in sentences lacking both TAM markers and overt context being ambiguous and subject to various interpretations.

ฉัน

chan

/tɕʰǎn

กิน

kin

kīn

ที่

thi

tʰîː

นั่น

nan

nân/

ฉัน กิน ที่ นั่น

chan kin thi nan

/tɕʰǎn kīn tʰîː nân/

'I eat there.'

ฉัน

chan

/tɕʰǎn

กิน

kin

kīn

ที่

thi

tʰîː

นั่น

nan

nân

เมื่อวาน

mueawan

mɯ̂a.wāːn/

ฉัน กิน ที่ นั่น เมื่อวาน

chan kin thi nan mueawan

/tɕʰǎn kīn tʰîː nân mɯ̂a.wāːn/

'I ate there yesterday.'

ฉัน

chan

/tɕʰǎn

จะ

cha

tɕàʔ

กิน

kin

kīn

ที่

thi

thîː

นั่น

nan

nân

พรุ่งนี้

phrungni

pʰrûŋ.níː/

ฉัน จะ กิน ที่ นั่น พรุ่งนี้

chan cha kin thi nan phrungni

/tɕʰǎn tɕàʔ kīn thîː nân pʰrûŋ.níː/

'I'll eat there tomorrow.'

The sentence chan kin thi nan can thus be interpreted as 'I am eating there', 'I eat there habitually', 'I will eat there' or 'I ate there'. Aspect markers in Thai have been divided into four distinct groups based on their usage. These markers could appear either before or after the verb. The following list describes some of the most commonly used aspect markers. A number of these aspect markers are also full verbs on their own and carry a distinct meaning. For example yu (อยู่) as a full verb means 'to stay, to live or to remain at'. However, as an auxiliary it can be described as a temporary aspect or continuative marker.

• Imperfective
  • อยู่ yu /jùː/
  • ไป pai /pāj/
  • ยัง yang /jāŋ/
  • กำลัง kamlang /kām.lāŋ/
  • เคย khoey /kʰɤ̄ːj/
• Perfective
  • ได้ dai /dâːj/
• Perfect
  • แล้ว laeo /lɛ́ːw/
  • มา ma /māː/
• Prospective/Future
  • จะ cha /tɕàʔ/

The imperfective aspect marker กำลัง (kamlang, /kām lāŋ/, currently) is used before the verb to denote an ongoing action (similar to the -ing suffix in English). Kamlang is commonly interpreted as a progressive aspect marker. Similarly, อยู่ (yu, /jùː/) is a post-verbal aspect marker which corresponds to the continuative or temporary aspect.

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

กำลัง

kamlang

kām.lāŋ

วิ่ง

wing

wîŋ/

เขา กำลัง วิ่ง

khao kamlang wing

/kʰǎw kām.lāŋ wîŋ/

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

วิ่ง

wing

wîŋ

อยู่

yu

jùː/

เขา วิ่ง อยู่

khao wing yu

/kʰǎw wîŋ jùː/

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

กำลัง

kamlang

kām.lāŋ

วิ่ง

wing

wîŋ

อยู่

yu

jùː/

เขา กำลัง วิ่ง อยู่

khao kamlang wing yu

/kʰǎw kām.lāŋ wîŋ jùː/

'He is running.'

Comparably ยัง (yang, /jāŋ/, still) which is used in an incompleted action, and usually cognates in phrase with yu (อยู่) or any other aspect markers in common use.

ex:

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

ยัง

yang

jāŋ

เขียน

khian

kʰiǎn

อยู่

yu

jùː/

เขา ยัง เขียน อยู่

khao yang khian yu

/kʰǎw jāŋ kʰiǎn jùː/

He is still writing.

ex:

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

3SG

ยัง

yang

jāŋ

IMP

เขียน

khian

kʰiǎn

write

ไม่เป็น

mai pen

mâj pēn/

unable to

เขา ยัง เขียน ไม่เป็น

khao yang khian {mai pen}

/kʰǎw jāŋ kʰiǎn mâj pēn/

3SG IMP write {unable to}

He can't even write yet.

The marker ได้ (dai, /dâːj/) is usually analyzed as a past tense marker when it occurs before the verb. As a full verb, dai means 'to get or receive'. However, when used after a verb, dai takes on a meaning of potentiality or successful outcome of the main verb.

ex:

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

ได้

dai

dâːj

ไป

pai

pāj

เที่ยว

thiao

tʰîaw

เมือง

mueang

mɯ̄aŋ

ลาว

lao

lāːw/

เขา ได้ ไป เที่ยว เมือง ลาว

khao dai pai thiao mueang lao

/kʰǎw dâːj pāj tʰîaw mɯ̄aŋ lāːw/

He visited Laos. (Past/Perfective)

ex:

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

3SG

ตี

ti

tīː

hit

ได้

dai

dâːj/

POT

เขา ตี ได้

khao ti dai

/kʰǎw tīː dâːj/

3SG hit POT

'He is/was allowed to hit' or 'He is/was able to hit.' (Potentiality)

แล้ว (laeo, /lɛ́ːw/; 'already') is treated as a marker indicating the perfect aspect. That is to say, laeo marks the event as being completed at the time of reference. Laeo has two other meanings in addition to its use as a TAM marker. Laeo can either be a conjunction for sequential actions or an archaic word for 'to finish'.

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

3SG

ได้

dai

dâːj

PST

กิน

kin

kīn/

eat

เขา ได้ กิน

khao dai kin

/kʰǎw dâːj kīn/

3SG PST eat

He ate.

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

3SG

กิน

kin

kīn

eat

แล้ว

laeo

lɛ́ːw/

PRF

เขา กิน แล้ว

khao kin laeo

/kʰǎw kīn lɛ́ːw/

3SG eat PRF

He has eaten.

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

3SG

ได้

dai

dâːj

PST

กิน

kin

kīn

eat

แล้ว

laeo

lɛ́ːw/

PRF

เขา ได้ กิน แล้ว

khao dai kin laeo

/kʰǎw dâːj kīn lɛ́ːw/

3SG PST eat PRF

He's already eaten.

Future can be indicated by จะ (cha, /tɕàʔ/; 'will') before the verb or by a time expression indicating the future. For example:

ex:

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

3SG

จะ

cha

tɕàʔ

FUT

วิ่ง

wing

wîŋ/

run

เขา จะ วิ่ง

khao cha wing

/kʰǎw tɕàʔ wîŋ/

3SG FUT run

'He will run' or 'He is going to run.'

Dative marker ให้ (hai, /hâj/; 'give') often used in a sentence as prepositional or double objects.

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

3SG

อ่าน

an

ʔàːn

read

หนังสือ

nang sue

nǎŋ sɯ̌ː

book

ให้

hai

hâj/

DAT

เขา อ่าน หนังสือ ให้

khao an {nang sue} hai

/kʰǎw ʔàːn nǎŋ sɯ̌ː hâj/

3SG read book DAT

'He reads book for (us).'

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

3SG

ให้

hai

hâj

DAT

อ่าน

an

ʔàːn

read

หนังสือ

nang sue

nǎŋ sɯ̌ː/

book

เขา ให้ อ่าน หนังสือ

khao hai an {nang sue}

/kʰǎw hâj ʔàːn nǎŋ sɯ̌ː/

3SG DAT read book

'He obligates (us) to read book.'

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

3SG

ให้

hai

hâj

DAT

หนังสือ

nang sue

nǎŋ sɯ̌ː

book

นักเรียน

nak rian

nák rian/

student

เขา ให้ หนังสือ นักเรียน

khao hai {nang sue} {nak rian}

/kʰǎw hâj nǎŋ sɯ̌ː nák rian/

3SG DAT book student

'He gives book to student.'

The passive voice is indicated by the insertion of ถูก (thuk, /tʰùːk/) before the verb. For example:

ex:

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

3SG

ถูก

thuk

tʰùːk

PASS

ตี

ti

tīː/

hit

เขา ถูก ตี

khao thuk ti

/kʰǎw tʰùːk tīː/

3SG PASS hit

'He got hit.'

This describes an action that is out of the receiver's control and, thus, conveys suffering.

Negation is indicated by placing ไม่ (mai, /mâj/; not) before the verb.

• เขาไม่ตี, (khao mai ti) 'He is not hitting' or 'He doesn't hit'.

Thai exhibits serial verb constructions, where verbs are strung together. Some word combinations are common and may be considered set phrases.

ex:

เขา

khao

/kʰǎw

he

ไป

pai

pāj

go

กิน

kin

kīn

eat

ข้าว

khao

kʰâːw/

rice

เขา ไป กิน ข้าว

khao pai kin khao

/kʰǎw pāj kīn kʰâːw/

he go eat rice

'He went out to eat'

ex:

ฉัน

chan

/tɕʰǎn

I

ฟัง

fang

fāŋ

listen

ไม่

mai

mâj

not

เข้าใจ

khao chai

kʰâw tɕāj/

understand

ฉัน ฟัง ไม่ เข้าใจ

chan fang mai {khao chai}

/tɕʰǎn fāŋ mâj kʰâw tɕāj/

I listen not understand

'I don't understand what was said'

ex:

เข้า

khao

/kʰâw

enter

มา

ma

māː/

come

เข้า มา

khao ma

/kʰâw māː/

enter come

'Come in'

ex:

ออก

ok

/ʔɔ̀ːk

exit

ไป!

pai

pāj/

go

ออก ไป!

ok pai

/ʔɔ̀ːk pāj/

exit go

'Leave!' or 'Get out!'

Nouns

Nouns are uninflected and have no gender; there are no articles. Thai nouns are bare nouns and can be interpreted as singular, plural, definite or indefinite. Some specific nouns are reduplicated to form collectives: เด็ก (dek, 'child') is often repeated as เด็ก ๆ (dek dek) to refer to a group of children. The word พวก (phuak, /pʰûak/) may be used as a prefix of a noun or pronoun as a collective to pluralize or emphasise the following word. (พวกผม, phuak phom, /pʰûak pʰǒm/, 'we', masculine; พวกเรา phuak rao, /pʰûak rāw/, emphasised 'we'; พวกหมา phuak ma, '(the) dogs'). Plurals are expressed by adding classifiers, used as measure words (ลักษณนาม), in the form of noun-number-classifier:

ครู

khru

/kʰrūː

teacher

ห้า

ha

hâː

five

คน

khon

kʰōn/

person

ครู ห้า คน

khru ha khon

/kʰrūː hâː kʰōn/

teacher five person

"five teachers"

While in English, such classifiers are usually absent ("four chairs") or optional ("two bottles of beer" or "two beers"), a classifier is almost always used in Thai (hence "chair four item" and "beer two bottle").

Possession in Thai is indicated by adding the word ของ (khong) in front of the noun or pronoun, but it may often be omitted. For example:

ลูก

luk

/lûːk

child

ของ

khong

kʰɔ̌ːŋ

belonging to

แม่

mae

mɛ̂ː/

mother

ลูก ของ แม่

luk khong mae

/lûːk kʰɔ̌ːŋ mɛ̂ː/

child {belonging to} mother

"mother's child"

นา

na

/nāː

field

อา

a

ʔāː/

uncle

นา อา

na a

/nāː ʔāː/

field uncle

"uncle's field"

Nominal phrases

Nominal phrases in Thai often use a special class of words classifiers. As previously mentioned, these classifiers are obligatory for noun phrases containing numerals e.g.

ผู้หญิง

phuying

/pʰûː.jǐŋ

woman

สอง

song

sɔ̌ːŋ

two

คน

khon

kʰōn/

CL

ผู้หญิง สอง คน

phuying song khon

/pʰûː.jǐŋ sɔ̌ːŋ kʰōn/

woman two CL

two women

In the previous example khon (คน) acts as the classifier in the nominal phrase. This follows the form of noun-cardinal-classifier mentioned above. Classifiers are also required to form quantified noun phrases in Thai with some quantifiers such as ทุก ('all'), บาง ('some'). The examples below are demonstrated using the classifier khon, which is used for people.

นักเรียน

nak rian

/nák rīan

student

ทุก

thuk

tʰúk

every

คน

khon

kʰōn/

CL

{นักเรียน} ทุก คน

{nak rian} thuk khon

/nák rīan tʰúk kʰōn/

student every CL

"every student"

ครู

khru

/kʰrūː

teacher

บาง

bang

bāːŋ

some

คน

khon

kʰōn/

CL

ครู บาง คน

khru bang khon

/kʰrūː bāːŋ kʰōn/

teacher some CL

"some teacher"

However, classifiers are not utilized for negative quantification. Negative quantification is expressed by the pattern ไม่มี (mai mi, /mâj mīː/) + NOUN. Classifiers are also used for demonstratives such as นี้ (ni, /níː/; 'this/these') and นั่น (nan, /nán/; 'that/those'). The syntax for demonstrative phrases, however, differ from that of cardinals and follow the pattern noun-classifier-demonstrative. For example, the noun phrase "this dog" would be expressed in Thai as หมาตัวนี้ (literally 'dog (classifier) this').

Pronouns

Subject pronouns are often omitted, with nicknames used where English would use a pronoun. See Thai name#Nicknames for more details. Pronouns, when used, are ranked in honorific registers, and may also make a T–V distinction in relation to kinship and social status. Specialised pronouns are used for royalty, and for Buddhist monks. The following are appropriate for conversational use:

Word	RTGS	IPA	Meaning
ข้าพเจ้า	khaphachao	/kʰâː.pʰáʔ.tɕâːw/	I/me (very formal)
กระผม	kraphom	/kràʔ.pʰǒm/	I/me (masculine; formal)
ผม	phom	/pʰǒm/	I/me (masculine; common)
ดิฉัน	dichan	/dìʔ.tɕʰǎn/	I/me (feminine; formal)
ฉัน	chan	/tɕʰǎn/	I/me (mainly used by women; common) Commonly pronounced as [tɕʰán]
ข้า	kha	/kʰâː/	I/me (from high-status to low-status or familiar; informal)
กู	ku	/kūː/	I/me (impolite/vulgar)
หนู	nu	/nǔː/	I/me (used by women when speaking to people much older than themselves; informal)
เรา	rao	/rāw/	we/us (common), I/me (casual), you (sometimes used but only when older person speaks to younger person)
คุณ	khun	/kʰūn/	you (common)
ท่าน	than	/tʰâːn/	you (highly honorific; formal) Commonly pronounced as [tʰân]
แก	kae	/kɛ̄ː/	you (familiar; informal)
เอ็ง	eng	/ʔēŋ/	you (from high-status to low-status or familiar; informal)
เธอ	thoe	/tʰɤ̄ː/	you (informal), she/her (informal)
พี่	phi	/pʰîː/	older brother, sister (also used for older acquaintances; common)
น้อง	nong	/nɔ́ːŋ/	younger brother, sister (also used for younger acquaintances; common)
เขา	khao	/kʰǎw/	he/him (common), she/her (common) Commonly pronounced as [kʰáw]
มัน	man	/mān/	it, he/she (offensive if used to refer to a person)
มึง	mueng	/mɯ̄ŋ/	you (impolite/vulgar)

The reflexive pronoun is ตัวเอง (tua eng), which can mean any of: myself, yourself, ourselves, himself, herself, themselves. This can be mixed with another pronoun to create an intensive pronoun, such as ตัวผมเอง (tua phom eng, lit: I myself) or ตัวคุณเอง (tua khun eng, lit: you yourself). Thai also does not have a separate possessive pronoun. Instead, possession is indicated by the particle ของ (khong). For example, "my mother" is แม่ของผม (mae khong phom, lit: mother of I). This particle is often implicit, so the phrase is shortened to แม่ผม (mae phom). Plural pronouns can be easily constructed by adding the word พวก (phuak) in front of a singular pronoun as in พวกเขา (phuak khao) meaning 'they' or พวกเธอ (phuak thoe) meaning the plural sense of 'you'. The only exception to this is เรา (rao), which can be used as singular (informal) or plural, but can also be used in the form of พวกเรา (phuak rao), which is only plural.

Thai has many more pronouns than those listed above. Their usage is full of nuances. For example:

• "ผม เรา ฉัน ดิฉัน หนู กู ข้า กระผม ข้าพเจ้า กระหม่อม อาตมา กัน ข้าน้อย ข้าพระพุทธเจ้า อั๊ว เขา" all translate to "I", but each expresses a different gender, age, politeness, status, or relationship between speaker and listener.
• เรา (rao) can be first person (I), second person (you), or both (we), depending on the context.
• Children or younger female could use or being referred by word หนู (nu) when talking with older person. The word หนู could be both feminine first person (I) and feminine second person (you) and also neuter first and neuter second person for children.
  • หนู commonly means rat or mouse, though it also refers to small creatures in general.
• The second person pronoun เธอ (thoe) (lit: you) is semi-feminine. It is used only when the speaker or the listener (or both) are female. Males usually do not address each other by this pronoun.
• Both คุณ (khun) and เธอ (thoe) are polite neuter second person pronouns. However, คุณเธอ (khun thoe) is a feminine derogative third person.
• Instead of a second person pronoun such as คุณ ('you'), it is much more common for unrelated strangers to call each other พี่ น้อง ลุง ป้า น้า อา ตา or ยาย (brother, sister, aunt, uncle, granny).
• To express deference, the second person pronoun is sometimes replaced by a profession, similar to how, in English, presiding judges are always addressed as "your honor" rather than "you". In Thai, students always address their teachers by ครู, คุณครู or อาจารย์ (each meaning 'teacher') rather than คุณ ('you'). Teachers, monks, and doctors are almost always addressed this way.

Particles

The particles are often untranslatable words added to the end of a sentence to indicate respect, a request, encouragement or other moods (similar to the use of intonation in English), as well as varying the level of formality. They are not used in elegant (written) Thai. The most common particles indicating respect are ครับ (khrap, /kʰráp/, with a high tone) when the speaker is a man, and ค่ะ (kha, /kʰâʔ/, with a falling tone) when the speaker is a woman. Used in a question or a request, the particle ค่ะ (falling tone) is changed to a คะ (high tone).

Other common particles are:

Word	RTGS	IPA	Meaning
จ้ะ, จ้า or จ๋า	cha	/tɕâʔ/, /tɕâː/ or /tɕǎː/	indicating emphasis. Used in a less formal context when speaking to friends or someone younger than yourself
ละ or ล่ะ	la	/láʔ/ or /lâʔ/	indicating emphasis.
สิ or ซิ	si	/sìʔ/ or /síʔ/	indicating emphasis or an imperative. It can come across as ordering someone to do something
นะ or น่ะ	na	/náʔ/ or /nâʔ/	softening; indicating a request or making your sentence sound more friendly.

Register

Central Thai is composed of several distinct registers, forms for different social contexts:

• Street or Common Thai (ภาษาพูด, phasa phut, spoken Thai): informal, without polite terms of address, as used between close relatives and friends.
• Elegant or Formal Thai (ภาษาเขียน, phasa khian, written Thai): official and written version, includes respectful terms of address; used in simplified form in newspapers.
• Rhetorical Thai: used for public speaking.
• Religious Thai: (heavily influenced by Sanskrit and Pāli) used when discussing Buddhism or addressing monks.
• Royal Thai (ราชาศัพท์, racha sap): influenced by Khmer, this is used when addressing members of the royal family or describing their activities. (See Monarchy of Thailand § Rachasap.)

Most Thais can speak and understand all of these contexts. Street and Elegant Thai are the basis of all conversations. Rhetorical, religious, and royal Thai are taught in schools as part of the national curriculum.

As noted above, Thai has several registers, each having certain usages, such as colloquial, formal, literary, and poetic. Thus, the word 'eat' can be กิน (kin; common), แดก (daek; vulgar), ยัด (yat; vulgar), บริโภค (boriphok; formal), รับประทาน (rapprathan; formal), ฉัน (chan; religious), or เสวย (sawoei; royal), as illustrated below:

"to eat"	IPA	Usage	Note
กิน	/kīn/	common
แดก	/dɛ̀ːk/	vulgar
ยัด	/ját/	vulgar	Original meaning is 'to cram'
บริโภค	/bɔ̄ː.ríʔ.pʰôːk/	formal, literary
รับประทาน	/ráp.pràʔ.tʰāːn/	formal, polite	Often shortened to ทาน /tʰāːn/.
ฉัน	/tɕʰǎn/	religious
เสวย	/sàʔ.wɤ̌ːj/	royal

Thailand also uses the distinctive Thai six-hour clock in addition to the 24-hour clock.

Vocabulary

Main articles: List of loanwords in Thai and List of Thai language idioms

Other than compound words and words of foreign origin, most words are monosyllabic.

Chinese-language influence was strong until the 13th century when the use of Chinese characters was abandoned, and replaced by Sanskrit and Pali scripts. However, the vocabulary of Thai retains many words borrowed from Middle Chinese.

Khmer was used as a prestige language in the early days of the Thai kingdoms which are believed to have been bilingual societies proficient in Thai and Khmer. There are over 2,500 Thai words derived from Khmer, surpassing the number of Tai cognates. These Khmer words span across all semantic fields. Thai scholar Uraisi Varasarin classified them into over 200 sub-categories. As a result, it is impossible for Thais, past and present, to engage in a conversation without incorporating Khmer loanwords in any given topic. The influence is particularly preponderant in regard to royal court terminology.

Later, most vocabulary was borrowed from Sanskrit and Pāli; Buddhist terminology is particularly indebted to these. Indic words have a more formal register, and may be compared to Latin and French borrowings in English. Since the beginning of the 20th century, however, the English language has had the greatest influence, especially for scientific, technical, international, and other modern terms.

Origin	Example	IPA	Gloss
Native Tai	ไฟ	/fāj/	fire
	น้ำ	/náːm/	water
	เมือง	/mɯ̄aŋ/	town
	รุ่งเรือง	/rûŋ rɯ̄aŋ/	prosperous
Indic sources: Pāli or Sanskrit	อัคนี (agni)	/ʔàk.kʰáʔ.nīː/	fire
	ชล (jala)	/tɕʰōn/	water
	ธานี (dhānī)	/tʰāː.nīː/	town
	วิโรจน์ (virocana)	/wíʔ.rôːt/	prosperous

Arabic-origin

Arabic words	Thai rendition	IPA	Gloss
الْقُرْآن (al-qurʾān) or قُرْآن (qurʾān)	อัลกุรอาน or โกหร่าน	/ʔān kùʔ.ráʔ.ʔāːn/ or /kōː.ràːn/	Quran
رجم (rajm)	ระยำ	/ráʔ.jām/	bad, vile (vulgar)

Chinese-origin

From Middle Chinese or Teochew Chinese.

Chinese words		Thai rendition	IPA	Gloss
交椅	Teochew: gao1 in2	เก้าอี้	/kâw.ʔîː/	chair
粿條 / 粿条	Min Nan: kóe-tiâu	ก๋วยเตี๋ยว	/kǔaj.tǐaw/	rice noodle
姐	Hokkien: chiá/ché Teochew: zê2/zia2	เจ้ or เจ๊	/tɕêː/ or /tɕéː/	older sister (used in Chinese community in Thailand)
二	Hokkien: jī Teochew: ri6	ยี่	/jîː/	two (archaic, but still used in word ยี่สิบ /jîː sìp/; 'twenty')
豆	Middle Chinese: dəuH	ถั่ว	/tʰùa/	bean
盎	Middle Chinese: ʔɑŋX/ʔɑŋH	อ่าง	/ʔàːŋ/	basin
膠	Middle Chinese: kˠau	กาว	/kāːw/	glue
鯁	Middle Chinese: kˠæŋX	ก้าง	/kâːŋ/	fishbone
坎	Middle Chinese: kʰʌmX	ขุม	/kʰǔm/	pit
塗	Middle Chinese: duo/ɖˠa	ทา	/tʰāː/	to smear
退	Middle Chinese: tʰuʌiH	ถอย	/tʰɔ̌j/	to step back

English-origin

English words	Thai rendition	IPA	Remark
apple	แอปเปิล	/ʔɛ́p.pɤ̂n/
bank	แบงก์	/bɛ́ŋ/	means 'bank' or 'banknote'
bill	บิล	/bīn/ or /bīw/
cake	เค้ก	/kʰéːk/
captain	กัปตัน	/kàp.tān/
cartoon	การ์ตูน	/kāː.tūːn/
clinic	คลินิก	/kʰlíʔ.nìk/
computer	คอมพิวเตอร์	/kʰɔ̄m.pʰíw.tɤ̂ː/	colloquially shortened to คอม /kʰɔ̄m/
corruption	คอร์รัปชัน	/kʰɔ̄ː.ráp.tɕʰân/
countdown	เคานต์ดาวน์	/kʰáw.dāːw/
dinosaur	ไดโนเสาร์	/dāj.nōː.sǎw/
duel	ดวล	/dūan/
e-mail	อีเมล	/ʔīː mēːw/
fashion	แฟชั่น	/fɛ̄ː.tɕʰân/
golf	กอล์ฟ	/kɔ́p/
shampoo	แชมพู	/tɕʰɛ̄m.pʰūː/
slip	สลิป	/sàʔ.líp/
taxi	แท็กซี่	/tʰɛ́k.sîː/
technology	เทคโนโลยี	/tʰék.nōː.lōː.jīː, -jîː/
valve	วาล์ว	/wāːw/
visa	วีซ่า	/wīː.sâː/
wreath	(พวง)หรีด	/rìːt/

French-origin

French words	Thai rendition	IPA	English translation
buffet	บุฟเฟต์	/búp.fêː/
café	กาแฟ	/kāː.fɛ̄ː/	coffee
	คาเฟ่	/kʰāː.fêː/	coffee shop, restaurant serving alcoholic drinks and providing entertainment (dated)
caféine	กาเฟอีน	/kāː.fēː.ʔīːn/	caffeine
chauffeur	โชเฟอร์	/tɕʰōː.fɤ̂ː/
consul	กงสุล	/kōŋ.sǔn/
coupon	คูปอง	/kʰūː.pɔ̄ŋ/
croissant	ครัวซ็อง	/kʰrūa.sɔ̄ŋ/
gramme	กรัม	/krām/
litre	ลิตร	/lít/
mètre	เมตร	/méːt/	metre
parquet	ปาร์เกต์	/pāː.kêː/
pétanque	เปตอง	/pēː.tɔ̄ːŋ/

Japanese-origin

Japanese words	Thai rendition	IPA	Gloss
カラオケ ([kaɾaoke])	คาราโอเกะ	/kʰāː.rāː.ʔōː.kèʔ/	karaoke
忍者 ([ɲiꜜɲd͡ʑa])	นินจา	/nīn.tɕāː/	ninja
寿司 ([sɯɕiꜜ])	ซูชิ	/sūː.tɕʰíʔ/	sushi

Khmer-origin

From Old Khmer

Khmer words	Thai rendition	IPA	Gloss
ក្រុង (/kroŋ/)	กรุง	/krūŋ/	capital city
ខ្ទើយ (/kʰtəːj/)	กะเทย	/kàʔ.tʰɤ̄ːj/	kathoey
ខ្មួយ (/kʰmuəj/)	ขโมย	/kʰàʔ.mōːj/	to steal, thief
ច្រមុះ (/crɑː.moh/)	จมูก	/tɕàʔ.mùːk/	nose
ច្រើន (/craən/)	เจริญ	/tɕàʔ.rɤ̄ːn/	prosperous
ឆ្លាត or ឆ្លាស (/cʰlaːt/ or /cʰlaːh/)	ฉลาด	/tɕʰàʔ.làːt/	smart
ថ្នល់ (/tʰnɑl/)	ถนน	/tʰàʔ.nǒn/	road
ភ្លើង (/pʰləːŋ/)	เพลิง	/pʰlɤ̄ːŋ/	fire
ទន្លេ (/tɔn.leː/)	ทะเล	/tʰáʔ.lēː/	sea

Malay-origin

Malay words	Thai rendition	IPA	Gloss
kelasi	กะลาสี	/kàʔ.lāː.sǐː/	sailor, seaman
sagu	สาคู	/sǎː.kʰūː/	sago
surau	สุเหร่า	/sùʔ.ràw/	small mosque

Persian-origin

Persian words	Thai rendition	IPA	Gloss
گلاب‎ (golâb)	กุหลาบ	/kùʔ.làːp/	rose
کمربند‎ (kamarband)	ขาวม้า	/kʰǎːw máː/	loincloth
ترازو (tarâzu)	ตราชู	/trāː tɕʰūː/	balance scale
سقرلات (saqerlât)	สักหลาด	/sàk.kàʔ.làːt/	felt
آلت (âlat)	อะไหล่	/ʔàʔ.làj/	spare part

Portuguese-origin

The Portuguese were the first Western nation to arrive in what is modern-day Thailand in the 16th century during the Ayutthaya period. Their influence in trade, especially weaponry, allowed them to establish a community just outside the capital and practise their faith, as well as exposing and converting the locals to Christianity. Thus, Portuguese words involving trade and religion were introduced and used by the locals.

Portuguese words	Thai rendition	IPA	Gloss
carta / cartaz	กระดาษ	/kràʔ.dàːt/	paper
garça	(นก)กระสา	/kràʔ.sǎː/	heron
leilão	เลหลัง	/lēː.lǎŋ/	auction, low-priced
padre	บาท(หลวง)	/bàːt.lǔaŋ/	(Christian) priest
pão	(ขนม)ปัง	/pāŋ/	bread
real	เหรียญ	/rǐan/	coin
sabão	สบู่	/sàʔ.bùː/	soap

Tamil-origin

Tamil words	Thai rendition	IPA	Gloss
கறி‎ (kaṟi)	กะหรี่	/kàʔ.rìː/	curry, curry powder
கிராம்பு‎ (kirāmpu)	กานพลู	/kāːn.pʰlūː/	clove
நெய் (ney)	เนย	/nɤ̄ːj/	butter

Writing system

Main articles: Thai script and Thai braille

"Kingdom of Thailand" in Thai script.

Thai is written in the Thai script, an abugida written from left to right. The language and its script are closely related to the Lao language and script. Most literate Lao are able to read and understand Thai, as more than half of the Thai vocabulary, grammar, intonation, vowels and so forth are common with the Lao language.

The Thais adopted and modified the Khmer script to create their own writing system. While in Thai the pronunciation can largely be inferred from the script, the orthography is complex, with silent letters to preserve original spellings and many letters representing the same sound. While the oldest known inscription in the Khmer language dates from 611 CE, inscriptions in Thai writing began to appear around 1292 CE. Notable features include:

1. It is an abugida script, in which the implicit vowel is a short /a/ in a syllable without final consonant and a short /o/ in a syllable with final consonant.
2. Tone markers, if present, are placed above the final onset consonant of the syllable.
3. Vowels sounding after an initial consonant can be located before, after, above or below the consonant, or in a combination of these positions.

Transcription

Main article: Romanization of Thai

There is no universally applied method for transcribing Thai into the Latin alphabet. For example, the name of the main airport is transcribed variably as Suvarnabhumi, Suwannaphum, or Suwunnapoom. Guide books, textbooks and dictionaries may each follow different systems. For this reason, many language courses recommend that learners master the Thai script.

Official standards are the Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS), published by the Royal Institute of Thailand, and the almost identical ISO 11940-2 defined by the International Organization for Standardization. The RTGS system is increasingly used in Thailand by central and local governments, especially for road signs. Its main drawbacks are that it does not indicate tone or vowel length. As the system is based on pronunciation, not orthography, reconstruction of Thai spelling from RTGS romanisation is not possible.

Transliteration

Main article: Thai transliteration

The ISO published an international standard for the transliteration of Thai into Roman script in September 2005 (ISO 11940). By adding diacritics to the Latin letters it makes the transcription reversible, making it a true transliteration. Notably, this system is used by Google Translate, although it does not seem to appear in many other contexts, such as textbooks and other instructional media.

See also

• Thai script
• Thai honorifics
• Thai literature
• Thai numerals
• Thai braille
• Thai typography
• Comparison of Lao and Thai

References

General and cited sources

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• Tumtavitikul, Apiluck, 1998. The Metrical Structure of Thai in a Non-Linear Perspective. Papers presented to the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 1994, pp. 53–71. Udom Warotamasikkhadit and Thanyarat Panakul, eds. Temple, Arizona: Program for Southeast Asian Studies, Arizona State University.
• Apiluck Tumtavitikul. 1997. The Reflection on the X′ category in Thai. Mon-Khmer Studies XXVII, pp. 307–316.
• อภิลักษณ์ ธรรมทวีธิกุล. 2539. ข้อคิดเกี่ยวกับหน่วยวากยสัมพันธ์ในภาษาไทย วารสารมนุษยศาสตร์วิชาการ. 4.57–66. ISSN 0859-3485 ISSN 2673-0502.
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• Smyth, David (2002). Thai: An Essential Grammar, first edition. London: Routledge.
• Smyth, David (2014). Thai: An Essential Grammar, second edition. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-041-551-034-9.
• Tingsabadh, M.R. Kalaya; Abramson, Arthur (1993), "Thai", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23 (1): 24–28, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004746, S2CID 249403146

Further reading

• Inglis, Douglas. 1999. Lexical conceptual structure of numeral classifiers in Thai-Part 1. Payap Research and Development Institute and The Summer Institute of Linguistics. Payap University.
• Inglis, Douglas. 2000. Grammatical conceptual structure of numeral classifiers in Thai-Part 2. Payap Research and Development Institute and The Summer Institute of Linguistics. Payap University.
• Inglis, Douglas. 2003. Conceptual structure of numeral classifiers in Thai. In Eugene E. Casad and Gary B. Palmer (eds.). Cognitive linguistics and non-Indo-European languages. CLR Series 18. De Gruyter Mouton. 223–246. ISBN 978-311-017-371-0

External links

• IPA and SAMPA for Thai
• Consonant Ear Training Tape
• Tones of Tai Dialect

Glossaries and word lists

• Thai phrasebook from Wikivoyage
• Thai Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)

Dictionaries

• English–Thai Dictionary: English–Thai bilingual online dictionary
• The Royal Institute Dictionary, official standard Thai–Thai dictionary
• Thai-English dictionary
• Thai2english.com: LEXiTRON-based Thai–English dictionary
• Daoulagad Thai: mobile OCR Thai–English dictionary
• Thai dictionaries for Stardict/GoldenDict – Thai – English (also French, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese and others) dictionaries in Stardict and GoldenDict formats
• Volubilis Dictionary VOLUBILIS (Romanized Thai – Thai – English – French): free databases (ods/xlsx) and dictionaries (PDF) – Thai transcription system.

Learners' resources

• thai-language.com English speakers' online resource for the Thai language
• Say Hello in the Thai Language
• FSI Thai language course (Formerly at thailanguagewiki.com)
• Spoken Thai (30 exercises with audio)