Learning Thai the Easy Way > Reading Thai > Tone Rules

The Tone Rules can be quite complex so we will try and present them as clearly as we can. Basically, there are five tones in Thai: normal, low, rising, falling and high. Tones are very important as there are so many short words which are spelled differently but can sound the same to a Westerner's ear. By having a different tone for each word Thai people can then understand what you are saying.

WARNING: If you are a beginner then you shouldn't try and read this page until you have visited and understood the pages linked below. Tone rules are for Intermediate Learners and if you read this too soon you might be discouraged.

You may already know that there are four tone marks but these are not always necessary or even used to show which tone to be used. You must also consider the class of the initial consonants (low, middle or high) and if they are live or dead syllables. The latter is worked out by looking at the vowel sound (short or long) and whether the final consonant is a sonorant final (voiced) or a stop final (unvoiced). This all may seem complicated but if you study hard and listen to some of our Tone Lessons then it will all make sense.

TONE RULES WHEN THERE ARE TONE MARKS:

LOW CLASS CONSONANTS - There are 24 low class consonants. All five tones are possible and two of the tone marks (mai eak and mai toh) can be used.

¤ ¦ § ª « ¬ ­ ³ ± ² · ¸ ¹ ¾ ¿ Á Â Ã Å Ç À Ì Î

  • A low class consonant + a mai eak tone mark = falling tone (¤èÒ)
  • A low class consonant + a mai toh tone mark = high tone (¤éÒ)

Notice that low class consonants change the mai eak tone mark from a low tone to a falling tone. And the mai toh tone mark from a falling tone to a high tone.

MIDDLE CLASS CONSONANTS - There are nine middle class consonants. All five tones are possible and all four tone marks (mai eak, mai toh, mai dtree and mai juttawa) can be used.

¡ ¨ ´ ® ¯ ´ µ º » Í

  • A middle class consonant + a mai eak tone mark = low tone (¡èÒ)
  • A middle class consonant + a mai toh tone mark = falling tone (¡éÒ)
  • A middle class consonant + a mai dtree tone mark = high tone (¡êÒ)
  • A middle class consonant + a mai juttawa tone mark = rising tone (¡ëÒ)

HIGH CLASS CONSONANTS - There are 11 high class consonants. Three tones are possible (low, falling and rising) and two of the tone marks (mai eak and mai toh) can be used.

¢ © ° ¶ ¼ ½ È É Ê Ë

  • A high class consonant + a mai eak tone mark = low tone (¢èÒ)
  • A high class consonant + mai toh tone mark = falling tone (¢éÒ)
TONE RULES WHEN THERE ARE NO TONE MARKS:

LIVE SYLLABLES (¤Óà»ç¹) - A syllable that ends with a long vowel or a sonorant final consonant is called a live syllable.

Low Class Consonant + Live Syllable = mid tone

Example of long vowels: ÁÒ, ªÙ and Á×Í
 Example of any vowel with sonorant final: ÅÔ§, Áѹ and ÂÒÂ

Middle Class Consonant + Live Syllable = mid tone

Example of long vowels: ¡Ò, ä», and ´Õ
 Example of any vowel with sonorant final: ¡Ô¹, ¨Ö§ and â´Â

High Class Consonant + Live Syllable = rising tone

Example of long vowels: ¢Ò, ¼Õ and àÊÒ
 Example of any vowel with sonorant final: ¢Ñ¹, ÊÒÁ and ¶Ø§

DEAD SYLLABLES (¤ÓµÒÂ) - A syllable that ends with a short vowel or a stop final consonant is called a dead syllable.

Low Class Consonant + Short Vowel + Dead Syllable = high tone

Example of short vowels: ¤Ð, ÃÖ and ÅÐ
 Example of short vowels with stop final: ¤Ñº, ÅØ¡ and ÁÔ´

Low Class Consonant + Long Vowel + Dead Syllable = falling tone

Example of long vowels with stop final: ¤Òº, ÅÙ¡ and ÁÕ´

Middle Class Consonant + Dead Syllable = low tone

Example of short vowels: à¡ÒÐ, ¨Ð and ´Ø
 Example of any vowel with stop final: ¡Ñº, â´´ and à»Ô¡

High Class Consonant + Dead Syllable = low tone

Example of short vowels: àËÒÐ, ¼Ø and ÊÔ
 Example of any vowel with stop final: ¢Ñº, ¼Ô´ and ¶Ù¡