Practice: vowel forms and length
What you will be able to do
Recognise Thai vowel forms including the shortened shapes they take when a final consonant follows, and hear length as meaning rather than decoration.
Thai vowels are written before, after, above, below and around the consonant, and several of them change shape or disappear entirely once a final consonant follows. Length is not decoration. เขา (khǎo) is he or she; ขาว (khǎao) is white. Length also decides the tone of dead syllables, which is why the tone table has separate short and long columns.
Is this vowel short or long?
อะ
อะ is the short -a. Its long partner is อา.
Is this vowel short or long?
อา
อา is the long -aa. Length changes the word: เขา khǎo is he or she, ขาว khǎao is white.
What sound is this?
เอีย
เอีย is -iia, the long one. Its short partner is เอียะ.
What sound is this?
เอือ
เอือ is -eua. It is one vowel, written across three positions.
What sound is this?
ออ
ออ is the long -aw, as in สอง sǎwng, two.
Where is the vowel in this word?
คน
This is the trap. โอะ is simply NOT WRITTEN when a final consonant follows, so คน is khon with an invisible vowel. If a syllable seems to have no vowel, it is this one.
What is the mark above the ด doing?
เด็ก
That is ็ mái dtài-khúu, and it shortens the vowel under it. เด็ก is dèk, child. It is not a tone mark.
What is the mark above the ก?
กัน
ั is mái hǎn-aa-gàat, the short -a written when a final consonant follows. กัน is gan.
Can this vowel take a final consonant?
ไอ
No. ไ ใ เ-า and -ำ already contain their own final, which is exactly why none of them can take another one.
Which vowel is this, written around the ด?
เดิน
เออ becomes เ-ิ when a final follows. เดิน is doen, to walk.
What is this?
ฤ
ฤ is one of the four that fuse a consonant with a vowel: ฤ ฤๅ ฦ ฦๅ. They complete the traditional count of 32. ฤ is alive in ordinary words; the ฦ pair is obsolete.
Which sound comes FIRST when you say this?
เก
The consonant is always pronounced first, whatever the vowel does on the page. เก is gee, not eek. The pre-posed vowels เ แ โ ไ ใ are what trip every learner.
Common mistake
If a syllable appears to have no vowel at all, it is โอะ, which is written as nothing when a final follows. คน is khon, not a consonant cluster.