Step 2: your first consonants
What you will be able to do
Read and write seven middle-class consonants, and know why starting with this group makes the tone rules easiest.
These seven are all middle class, which is the group with the most straightforward tone behaviour, so they are the right place to start. Each letter has an acrophonic name, the way A is for apple. ก is gaw gài, and gài means chicken. Thai people know these names by heart and use them to spell out loud, so learning the name with the letter is not extra work, it is how the letter is actually referred to. Two pairs need care from the start. ต is a hard dt sound, between an English d and t, and ป is a hard bp, between b and p. Neither exists in English, and mixing them up with ด and บ is the most common early reading error. อ is the odd one. It is a consonant that carries no sound of its own, and its job is to give a vowel something to attach to when a syllable starts with a vowel sound.
- กgaw gàichickenmiddle
- จjaw jaanplatemiddle
- ดdaw dèkchildmiddle
- ตdtaw dtàoturtlemiddle
- บbaw bai-máileafmiddle
- ปbpaw bplaafishmiddle
- อaw àangbasinmiddle
Common mistake
ด and ต look similar and sound similar to an English ear, as do บ and ป. Learn them as pairs, deliberately contrasted, rather than separately.