Step 3: your first vowels
What you will be able to do
Read eight common vowels, and know that vowel length changes meaning as surely as tone does.
Thai vowels are written around the consonant. The position on the page has nothing to do with the order you say them: the consonant is always pronounced first. เ and โ are written BEFORE the consonant but pronounced after it. So เก is read gee, not eek. า is written after. ิ and ี sit above. ุ and ู sit below. Length is not decoration. Thai distinguishes short from long vowels, and the difference changes the word, exactly as tone does. Treat a long vowel as genuinely held, not as a stressed short one.
- ะ-ashort, aftershort
- า-aalong, afterlong
- ิ-ishort, aboveshort
- ี-iilong, abovelong
- ุ-ushort, belowshort
- ู-uulong, belowlong
- เ-eelong, beforelong
- โ-oolong, beforelong
Common mistake
The pre-posed vowels เ and โ catch everyone. When you see one, your eye must jump to the consonant after it and read that first.