"Making the right tone in Thai"

Step one:

You need to know whether the syllable is live on dead syllable, because how a syllable is pronounced depends on whether it is live or dead. If the syllable contains the following final sounds: /k/ (which is realized by the alphabet ก), /t/ (which is realized by the alphabet ด ถ), and /p/ (which is realized by the alphabet บ ป พ), it is a dead consonant. If the syllable does not have the final consonant, look at the length of vowel. If the consonant contains long vowel such as /a/, /e/, /u/, /ɛ/, /o/, it is dead. If the syllable contains other final consonants aside from the aforementioned three sounds, it is a live consonant. If there is no final consonant, look at the length of vowel. If it is long such as /aa/, /ee/, /uu/, /ɛɛ/, /oo/, /ɔɔ/, it is live.

Step two:

You need to know that Thai consonants can be categorized into three classes as follows:

Low ค ฅ ฆ ช ซ ฌ ฑ ฒ ท ธ พ ฟ ภ ฮ ง ญ น ย ณ ร ว ม ฬ ล

Mid ก จ ด ต ฎ ฏ บ ป อ

High ข ฃ ฉ ฐ ถ ผ ฝ ส ษ ศ ห

Step three:

Now check the syllable you are after with the following chart.

		Flat	Low	Falling	High	Rising
Mid	Live		่ ่่่	้ ้	๊๊ ๊๊	๋๋ ๋๋ ๋
	Dead			้้ ้	๊๊๊๊ ๊	๋๋๋๋ ๋
High	Live		่่ ่	้้้ ้
	Dead			้้้ ้
Low	Live		่	่่ ่	้ ้ ้
	Dead(long)				้ ้ ้
	Dead(short)			่ ่ ่

N.B.

Don’t worry about these three steps above when you speak. Just play safe and make all the syllables as flat as possible. Most of the time, the context will help. Do not make your words too melodious because if you makes mistakes, it could sound very funny and even not understandable.

Kanchanaburi