Learn more about familiar Thai consonants
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| Hi everyone. |
| Welcome to The Ultimate Thai Pronunciation Guide. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn 9 Thai consonant sounds. |
| These consonant sounds are identical to the ones in English, so they'll likely be familiar to you. |
| Are you ready? |
| Then let's get started! |
| The first consonant is... |
| เธ |
| เนเธ Leaf |
| เธเนเธฒเธ House |
| เธเธ Above" |
| It sounds like a hard B sound, like in the word 'buy'. |
| เธ, เธ (slowly) |
| เธ, เธ (slowly) |
| The next consonant is... |
| เธ |
| เธเธฅเธฒ Fish |
| เธเธน Crab |
| เนเธเนเธ Duck" |
| This sound is in-between a B and P sound. It's not as hard as a B, nor is it as soft as a P. Technically speaking, this is an *unaspirated* P sound. This means that you should pronounce a P sound without releasing a big puff of air like you would normally in words like 'pet' or 'post'. Instead, it should be pronounced *without* a burst of air, like in the words 'spin' or 'spike'. Listen to Jay. |
| เธ, เธ (slowly) |
| เธ, เธ (slowly) |
| The next consonant is... |
| เธ/เธ/เธ |
| เธเธก Hair |
| เนเธเธฅเธ Song |
| เธ เธฒเธ Picture |
| This is an *aspirated* P sound. It's like the P in 'pet', or 'post'. With this sound, ensure that you're releasing a big puff of air to better differentiate it from the previous sound. |
| เธ/เธ/เธ , เธ/เธ/เธ (slowly) |
| เธ/เธ/เธ , เธ/เธ/เธ (slowly) |
| The next consonant is... |
| เธ/เธ |
| เธเธน Looking |
| เนเธเธดเธ Walking |
| เธเธก Smelling" |
| It sounds like a hard D sound, like in the word 'dad'. |
| เธ/เธ, เธ/เธ (slowly) |
| เธ/เธ, เธ/เธ (slowly) |
| The next consonant is... |
| เธ/เธ |
| เธเธฒ Eye |
| เนเธเธฐ Kick |
| เนเธเนเธฒ Tortoise" |
| This sound is in-between a D and T sound. It's not as hard as a D, nor is it as soft as a T. Technically speaking, this is an *unaspirated* T sound. Similar to the previous unaspirated P sound, you want to pronounce this T *without* releasing a big puff of air, like in the words 'stop' or 'stand'. Listen to Jay. |
| เธ/เธ, เธ/เธ (slowly) |
| เธ/เธ, เธ/เธ (slowly) |
| The next consonant is... |
| เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ |
| เธเธ Flag |
| เธเธฒเธ Eat |
| เนเธเธฒ Grey |
| This is an *aspirated* T sound. It's like the T in 'tan', or 'take'. With this sound, ensure that you're releasing a big puff of air to better differentiate it from the previous sound. |
| เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ, เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ (slowly) |
| เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ, เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ (slowly) |
| The next consonant is... |
| เธ |
| เนเธเน Chicken |
| เธเธฅเธฑเธ Going back |
| เธเธฒ Crow" |
| This is an unaspirated K sound. It's like the K in 'ski' or 'skip'. Similar to the previous unaspirated P and T sounds, you want to pronounce this K *without* releasing a big puff of air. Listen to Jay. |
| เธ, เธ (slowly) |
| เธ, เธ (slowly) |
| The next consonant is... |
| เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ /เธ |
| เนเธเน Egg |
| เธเธ Human/person/people |
| เนเธเธฃ Who/whom |
| This is an aspirated K sound. It's like the K in 'kite' or 'koala'. With this sound, ensure that you're releasing a big buff of air. |
| เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ /เธ, เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ /เธ (slowly) |
| เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ /เธ, เธ/เธ/เธ/เธ /เธ (slowly) |
| The final consonant sound for this lesson is... |
| เธญ |
| เธญเธฒ Uncle |
| เธญเธธเนเธ Warm |
| เธญเนเธฒเธ Reading |
| This sound, or one can argue, lack of sound, is the abrupt pause that takes place before the next sound is released suddenly. |
| You can pronounce it by contracting your throat muscles quickly to obstruct the airflow, and then releasing the pressure abruptly. |
| Because the vocal cords are held tightly together, this prevents them from vibrating, so you should not hear anything for a short period of time. |
| Some English speakers may produce this sound when pronouncing the word 'button' for example, or when they say 'uh-oh!' |
| Listen to Jay. |
| เธญ, เธญ (slowly) |
| เธญ, เธญ (slowly) |
| Well done! You just learned another 9 Thai consonants. |
| Were there more familiar sounds than you though? Please comment and share your thoughts. |
| In the next lesson, you'll learn 3 consonant sounds that are unfamiliar to English speakers. |
| See you in the next Ultimate Thai Pronunciation Guide lesson! |
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