How to learn 3 Classes Of Thai Consonants
Consonants are divided into three classes — in alphabetic order these are middle (กลาง, klang-), high (สูง, sung*), and low (ต่ำ, tam_) class — as shown in the table below.
The Middle class (กลาง, klang-)
We memorize, learn by heart like this ;
Note
ด & ฎ (Dor & Dor) are Homophones
ด อ่านว่า ดอ – เด็ก Dor – Dek_
ฎ อ่านว่า ดอ – ชะ – ดา Dor – Cha/! Da–
ต & ฏ (Dtor & Dtor) are Homophones too
ต อ่านว่า ตอ – เต่า Dtor– Dtao_
ฏ อ่านว่า ตอ – ปะ – ตัก Dtor- pa_! Dtak_!
The High class (สูง, sung*)
We memorize, learn by heart like this
or
Note
ข & ฃ (kor* & kor*) are Homophones
ข อ่านว่า ขอ – ไข่ Khor* Khai_
ฃ อ่านว่า ขอ – ขวด Khor* Kuaad_
ฐ & ถ (Thor* & Thor*) are Homophones
ฐ อ่านว่า ถอ – ถาน Thor* Than*
ถ อ่านว่า ถอ – ถุง Thor* Thung*
ศ,ษ & ส (Sor*, Sor* & Sor* ) are Homophones too
ศ อ่านว่า สอ – สา – ลา sor* sa* la-
ษ อ่านว่า สอ – บอ – รือ – สี sor* bor- reu- see*
ส อ่านว่า สอ – เสือ sor* suer*
The Low class (ต่ำ, dtam_)
The Low class has 24 alphabets but it divided into 2 types
And
How different between Low class Paired and Low class Unpaired?
Low class Paired means the sound of the consonants have the similar sound as the High class consonants, In opposite the Low class Unpaired does not have the similar sound with any.
The Low class paired is pronounced as middle tone ( – ) nor in the High class is pronounced as rising (*)
For examples ;
The Low class Paired
We memorize, learn by heart like this
The Low class Unpaired

We memorize, learn by heart like this
If you want to learn more about Thai Let’s follow me on these ways
- Facebook ; TalkingThai or you can search @talkingthaithai
- Instagram ; @Talkingthai
- Twitter ; @Talkingthai
Hello Ploy,
I like this page very much.
Thank you for sharing.
If you allow, I like to make two tiny comments:
– You use the word “alphabet”. In western language “alphabet” means the complete collection of characters. It stems from the Greek word-sequence “alpha-beta-…”, which are the two first characters. In Thai that would be “กอ-ขอ-…”. So, here it would be more correct to write about a “character”, if you mean only a single one.
– f or the pairings of high-class and low-class characters I was missing the “por”-group and the “for”-group. I figured it out myself, but maybe you like to update the webpage for the other students.
Thank you again for this nice webpage.
I whish you good luck with your business.
Thank you so so much for your comment. 🙂
And for the Pairing of High class and Low class they are just some examples. So, That’s why I did not show you guys all the pairings.
Thank you again.
I wish you all the best!