Thai Language - Learn to Read Thai

When most people see a Thai book or newspaper for the first time they are amazed and puzzled by the strange letters and no gaps between the words. Most foreigners think it is impossible to learn how to read. But really, after a short while all of the strange looking letters and no gaps between words will start to make sense.

If you have any questions, please use our Learning Thai forum.

I wish to thank the teaching staff at Sriwittayapaknam School in Samut Prakan for their help and advice in putting together the "Reading Thai" section.

THAI ALPHABET

There are 44 consonants in the Thai alphabet but you will be happy to know that there are only 21 initial sounds and 8 final sounds for you to learn. Yes, you read right! Some letters change their sound when they move from the front of a word to the end! I should also mention that you have to learn 32 vowels! Oh yes, mustn't forget the 5 tones which will change how you say a word and the meaning of a word. Still sure you want to learn the alphabet?

44 Consonants in the Thai alphabet.
Low Class
Medium Class
High Class
Sonorant Finals
Stop Finals
Initial Sounds
Final Sounds
Thai Alphabet Pictures
Thai Alphabet Song
32 Vowels in the Thai Alphabet
Short Vowels
Long Vowels
18 single vowels
6 compound vowels
8 consonant like vowels
20 words with sara ai
Thai Numbers
How to Read Thai numbers
Thai numerals flashcards
Thai numbers flashcards
Tone Marks
Special Marks/Symbols
Consonant Cluster Groups
Special rules for "อ"
Special rules for "ห"
Special rules for pronouncing "ร"
Pronunciation Problems
Thai Handwriting
Poems to help you remember all the words with ใ-
Compound Adjectives

THAI GRAMMAR

Alphabet notes
Characteristics of Thai Language - learn about our language
Tone Rules - how to use tones
Live and Dead Syllables
Classifiers - learn how to say two bottles of Coke in Thai
Verbs - how to use "doing" words in Thai
Sentence Structure - get your sentences in the right order
Personal Pronouns - there is more than way way to say "I"
Dictionary Order

READING THAI

We are preparing a number of different kinds of lessons which will help you to read Thai. These range from single words to extracts from story books. Keep coming back as we will be adding more over the coming weeks.

There are hundreds of more resources for reading Thai in the Thai Resource Center.

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