Learning Thai the Easy Way > Reading Thai > Live and Dead Syllables

Live (¤Óà»ç¹) and Dead (¤ÓµÒÂ) Syllables:

LIVE SYLLABLES
Tone Sounds
LOW CLASS
CONSONANTS
MIDDLE CLASS
CONSONANTS
HIGH CLASS
CONSONANTS
Middle
ÂÒ ¤ÔÇ  
à¡ µØÁ âÍ
 		  
Low
     
à¡è µØèÁ âÍè
 
¢èÒ ÊèÒÇ ¶èÓ
 
Falling
ÂèÒ * ¤ÔèÇ  
à¡é µØéÁ âÍé
 
¢éÒ ÊéÒÇ ¶éÓ
 
High
ÂéÒ * ¤ÔéÇ   
à¡ê µØêÁ âÍê
 		  
Rising
  
à¡ë µØëÁ âÍë
 
¢Ò ÊÒÇ ¶Ó
 
 

The basic tones for each class are: low and middle classes (middle tone) and high class (rising tone).

* A slight complication is in the Low Class group. When any consonant in this group is at the start of a live syllable and it has a low tone mark (mai eak), it is pronounced with a falling tone (siang toh). With a falling tone mark (mai toh), it is pronounced with a high tone (siang dtree).
DEAD SYLLABLES
Tone Sounds
LOW CLASS
CONSONANTS
MIDDLE CLASS
CONSONANTS
HIGH CLASS
CONSONANTS
Middle
á¡ ¹èÐ ¤èÐ
 		    
Low
  
¨Ð ºÒ» »Ô´
 
½Ò¡ ¼Ô´ ËÐ
 
Falling
á¡ ¹èÐ ¤èÐ
 
¨éÐ ºéÒ» »Ôé´
 
½éÒ¡ ¼Ôé´ ËéÐ
 
High
áÂé¡ ¹Ð ¤Ð
 
¨êÐ ºêÒ» »Ôê´
 		  
Rising
áÂë¡ ¹Ð ¤ëÐ
 
¨ëÐ ºëÒ» »Ôë´
 		  

Information for this page was mainly taken from "Thai for English Speaking Learners" by Tipawan Thampusana-Abold. Published by DK Editions. There were a few typing errors in the book which have been corrected on this page.