Low-class consonants
The largest class, and when vowel length changes the tone.
The low class (อักษรต่ำ) is the largest: 24 of the 44 consonants. Many familiar words begin with these letters. A low-class initial doesn't mean a low tone: the class names identify sets of spelling rules.
อักษรต่ำ letters
24The faded letters ฅ are rarely used today, but belong to the traditional alphabet of 44 consonants.
Fourteen low-class letters have high-class partners with the same initial sound: ค ฅ ฆ ช ซ ฌ ฑ ฒ ท ธ พ ฟ ภ ฮ. The other ten, ง ญ ณ น ม ย ร ล ว ฬ, are sonorants without high-class partners. A silent leading ห supplies the high-class rule in words such as หมู and ใหม่.
Which tone you get
- live syllableends in a long vowel or a sonorant sound: m, n, ng, y or wmida
- dead syllable, long vowelends in a stop sound k, p or t after a long vowelfallingâ
- dead syllable, short vowelends in k, p or t after a short vowel, or in a short vowel with a glottal stophighá
- ◌่first tone markไม้เอกmai ek: first markfallingâ
- ◌้second tone markไม้โทmai tho: second markhighá
For an unmarked dead syllable with a low-class initial, vowel length matters. รัก has a short vowel and a high tone; มาก has a long vowel and a falling tone. In the other two classes, an unmarked dead syllable is low regardless of vowel length.
The rules in words
The ordinary low-class rules don't give a low or rising tone. A silent leading letter can change the rule: compare ไม่, not, with a falling tone, and ใหม่, new, with a low tone. In ใหม่, ห is silent but supplies the high-class rule.
The water is very cold.
Three low-class initials, three tones: น้ำ is high, เย็น is mid and มาก is falling.
It isn't a new car.
ไม่ and ใหม่ differ in the silent ห. Without it, the low-class initial with ไม้เอก gives a falling tone. With it, the high-class rule gives a low tone.
Common mistake
Don't learn ไม้เอก as a fixed low tone. With a mid- or high-class initial it gives a low tone; with a low-class initial it gives a falling tone. ไก่ is low and ไม่ is falling, even though they use the same mark. Read the mark together with the initial's class.
Practise
Kai says
กินข้าว literally means eat rice, but it's also an everyday way to talk about having a meal. A word-for-word translation doesn't always tell the whole story.