Final consonants
Hear how a syllable ends, and use its ending to work out the tone.
A Thai syllable can end in a consonant, called ตัวสะกด. A letter at the end may sound different from the same letter at the start. Many consonant letters share just eight final sounds. The ending also determines whether a syllable is live or dead, which matters when you read its tone.
อ can appear at the end of a written word without being a final consonant: in ขอ, to ask, and มือ, hand, it belongs to the vowel spelling. Some words below have no separate vowel sign, such as คน and นม. The article on unwritten vowels explains how to read them.
Eight final sounds
The first five endings, ng, n, m, y and w, make a syllable live. The last three, k, p and t, are stops: they cut off the sound and make the syllable dead. Thai final stops are unreleased. Close off the sound without adding a burst of air or another vowel. Listen to the ending of มาก, very.
With no final consonant sound, a long vowel normally makes a syllable live, as in มา, to come, and ดี, good. A short vowel ends in a glottal stop and makes it dead, as in และ, and, or จะ, the future marker. The spellings ำ, ไ, ใ and เา already include an m, y or w ending, so น้ำ, ไป, ใจ and เขา are live. For an unmarked syllable, combine the initial's class with this live or dead distinction. A low-class dead syllable also needs vowel length.
Same initial and vowel, different endings
Common mistake
Don't carry a letter's initial sound over to the end of a syllable. Final ร, ล and ญ all sound like n. Many different letters become a final t. Check which final-sound group a letter belongs to.
Endings to watch
The food is very delicious.
ร in อาหาร ends with n, ย in อร่อย ends with y, and ก cuts off มาก with a k sound.
This car is beautiful.
รถ ends with the letter ถ but the sound t, making it dead. สวย ends with a y sound, making it live.
I drink milk every day.
Of these five syllables, only ทุก has a stop ending. The others are live.
A Thai syllable has only one final consonant sound, even when more consonant letters are written. Loanwords adapt to this pattern. Some extra letters stay in the spelling but are silent; the article on silent letters explains the mark that often identifies them.
Practise
Kai says
A tone belongs to the whole syllable. When you listen, follow the pitch through the vowel instead of treating the tone mark as a separate sound.