Marks and spaces

Thai normally joins words without spaces and has no capital letters. You will also meet signs such as ๆ and ฯ that aren't alphabet letters. They tell you how to read the surrounding words rather than contributing a consonant or vowel sound of their own.

The sign ๆ is called ไม้ยมก. It repeats the preceding word, or sometimes a preceding phrase. เด็กๆ repeats เด็ก, child. สบายๆ repeats both syllables of สบาย. Repetition can express plurality, soften a description or intensify it, depending on the word and context.

• เด็กๆdèk-dèkchildrenชอบchɔ̂ɔplikeขนมkà-nǒmsweets

  Children like sweets.

  Repetition isn't a general plural ending. Don't add ๆ to every noun; numbers and classifiers express quantities.

• พูดpûutspeakช้าๆcháa-cháaslowlyหน่อยnɔ̀ɔia little

  Please speak a little more slowly.

  The repeated adjective describes how to speak. หน่อย softens the request.

• ที่นี่tîi-nîihereมีmiithere areผลไม้pǒn-lá-máifruitต่างๆdtàang-dtàangvarious

  There are various kinds of fruit here.

  ต่างๆ expresses variety, rather than just the single description different.

The sign ฯ, called ไปยาลน้อย, marks an abbreviation. กรุงเทพฯ is the familiar shortened written name of Bangkok; กรุงเทพมหานคร is a fuller form. The sign stands for omitted material, rather than having its own sound. The combination ฯลฯ means etc. at the end of a list.

Spaces usually separate larger units of meaning, such as phrases or clauses, rather than individual words. Thai doesn't require an English-style full stop after every sentence. Question particles can identify questions, although modern Thai also uses punctuation such as ? and !. Standard typography puts spaces around ๆ, as in เด็ก ๆ; informal writing often closes them up, as the examples here do.

To read an unspaced line, you need to recognise word boundaries. In the app's reading section, tapping a word shows its reading and meaning. A display option can reveal the boundaries while you're learning to recognise them yourself.