Thai letters by sound
Before you worry about key positions, it helps to see how Thai letters group by sound. This page is a quick chart — not a full linguistics course. Use it to recognize classes, then drill each glyph in Letter drill and Symbols.
Consonants by initial sound
Thai has 44 consonant letters. Several letters share the same initial sound; they differ mainly by class (which affects tone rules) and by how common they are in modern writing. ฃ and ฅ are almost never written today but still sit on the keyboard.
“Rough pronunciation” is a learner hint, not strict IPA. Aspiration (kh, th, ph, ch) means a puff of air after the stop — like English “key” vs a pure unaspirated k.
| Sound | Thai letters | Rough pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| k | ก | unaspirated k |
| kh | ข ฃ ค ฅ ฆ | aspirated kh |
| ng | ง | ng (as in “sing”) |
| c | จ | between “j” and “ch”, no puff of air |
| ch | ฉ ช ฌ | aspirated ch |
| s | ซ ศ ษ ส | s |
| y | ญ ย | y |
| d | ฎ ด | d |
| t | ฏ ต | unaspirated t |
| th | ฐ ฑ ฒ ถ ท ธ | aspirated th (as in “top”, not English “the”) |
| n | ณ น | n |
| b | บ | b |
| p | ป | unaspirated p |
| ph | ผ พ ภ | aspirated ph (as in “pot”, not “phone”) |
| f | ฝ ฟ | f |
| m | ม | m |
| r | ร | r (often tapped) |
| l | ล ฬ | l |
| w | ว | w |
| h | ห ฮ | h |
| ʔ | อ | vowel carrier / glottal stop (อ) |
Short and long monophthongs
Thai contrasts vowel length. Charts usually show each vowel on the carrier อ. The short form often ends with ะ when written open; the long form is a separate glyph or stretch of the same quality.
Diphthongs (ไ ใ ำ ฯ) and some combining marks are practiced in Symbols. Length changes meaning: ขาว (white) vs คาว (fishy) is a different pair, but the short/long idea is the same.
| Short vowel | Long vowel | Rough pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| อะ/a/ | อา/aː/ | a as in “father” (short vs long) |
| อิ/i/ | อี/iː/ | ee as in “see” |
| อึ/ɯ/ | อือ/ɯː/ | unrounded “u/i” mix — no exact English match |
| อุ/u/ | อู/uː/ | oo as in “food” |
| เอะ/e/ | เอ/eː/ | e as in “they” (without the glide) |
| แอะ/ɛ/ | แอ/ɛː/ | open e, like “cat” for many speakers |
| โอะ/o/ | โอ/oː/ | o as in “go” (without the glide) |
| เอาะ/ɔ/ | ออ/ɔː/ | open o, like “thought” / British “or” |
| เออะ/ɤ/ | เออ/ɤː/ | mid central vowel — soft, unrounded “uh/er” |
Practice next
Charts teach recognition; muscle memory comes from typing. Start with consonants one key at a time, then vowels and tone marks.