Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

สวัสดีค่ะ, ดิฉันปรารถนาค่ะ! Welcome to Thaipod101.com’s ตัวอักษรไทย Made Easy!
The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn the Thai alphabet: ตัวอักษรไทย!
In the last lesson you learned the numbers ๔, ๕, and ๖ . Do you remember how to write them all?
In this lesson, you’re going to learn how to write the rest of the Thai numerals plus a few irregular words…
Ready to start? Then let's go!
We just have 4 more Thai numbers to learn. The first one is "7", or เจ็ด (jèt) in Thai. If you remember the tone mark mái-dtrii from lesson 19, you'll notice that mái-dtrii and เจ็ด have the same shape.
To write เจ็ด, start with a small clockwise head. Then make a heart shape that is open on the bottom. And then add a tail that goes off to the upper right.
Here is the number "8", or แปด (bpàaet) in Thai. You may recognize the shape of this number from lesson 7. The same shape is used for the symbol ไม้ไต่คู้ (mái-dtài-khúu) which is written as part of the short vowel สระ เอะ (sà-rà è) when it has a final consonant following it.
แปด is written with a clockwise head, then a line with one bump in it going to the left that then curves up around the top of the number.
Next is the number "9", which is เก้า (gâo) in Thai.
This number starts with a clockwise head at the bottom. Then the line curves over the top and straightens out. And it finishes with a little zig-zag shape in the upper right.
The last Thai numeral to learn is zero, or ศูนย์ (sǔun) in Thai. It's very easy to remember because it looks almost the same as the zero from Arabic numerals. The only real difference is that ศูนย์ is drawn shorter and wider.
Now let's practice writing the numbers from 1 to 10.
๑, ๒,​ ๓, ​๔, ​๕,​ ๖,​ ๗,​ ๘,​ ๙,​ ๑๐
Thai has a few irregular spellings, but the good news is that even the irregular spellings tend to follow their own special rules that can be learned.
The first irregular rule is that the consonant pair of ท and ร act like the letter ซ. So they make an S sound.
One example of this is the word ทราย (saai), which means "sand". The cluster ท and ร make an initial S sound.
The next common irregularity is the silent ร. This will happen in words where ร forms consonant clusters with จ, ซ, ศ and ส. When these happens, ร which is the second half of the cluster will not be pronounced.
One example of this is the word จริง (jing), which means "real". it has an initial consonant cluster of จ and ร. But the ร is silent. So we pronounce this word as จิง (jing).
Another important irregular spelling happens with the combination of อ and ย at the beginning of a word. ย is a low class consonant. But we can make it act like a mid class consonant by putting a silent อ in front of it. However there are only 4 words that do this. They are all very common words though, so you must memorize them.
These 4 words are อย่า (yàa), อยู่ (yùu), อย่าง (yàang), อยาก (yàak). All 4 of these words have a low tone. The first 3 use the tone mark mái-èek to make a low tone, and the last word is low tone because it has a dead syllable ending. You might notice that you can replace อ with ห and get the same pronunciation, according to the rule we learn in lesson 15. Only we are using อ instead of ห for these 4 words.
It is easiest to remember these four words in this order because they form an idiom.
อย่า (yàa) means "dont". อยู่ (yùu) means "to stay" อย่าง (yàang) means "a type" or "a style" and อยาก (yàak) means "to want".
So the phrase อย่าอยู่อย่างอยาก can be translated as "Don't exist in a state of desire" . It is also much like the English idiom "Want for nothing".
The last irregular Thai word I want to tell you about is the word ไทย (thai) itself. If you look at how we spell the word Thai, you'll see that it has the initial consonant ท, with the vowel สระ ไอ. Then there is the letter ย stuck on the end. The ย doesn't really need to be there, and it doesn't change the sound of the word at all. But that's the way we spell it, so you have to remember it.
Now it's time for Pradthana's Points.
Nowadays the younger generation of Thai people is getting very free and relaxed about how they spell words, especially with online communication. When you make friends with Thai people online, you might notice many slang words and strange spellings that you don't recognize at first and can't find in the dictionary.
Don't give up though. As your Thai vocabulary increases you'll get better at figuring out what people are really saying.
I hope you enjoyed all the ตัวอักษรไทย Made Easy Lessons. And I hope you were able to learn a lot. Review the lessons as much as you need to, and you'll soon be surprised at how much Thai you can read. สวัสดีค่ะ!

Comments

Hide