Thai Tone Pronunciations

From the following examples, you will get more idea about Thai tones. If you pronounced the tone of a syllable wrongly the meaning of the word will change. Sometimes it not so hard to guess your what you want to say, however, some words will give a totally different meaning and will make the listeners misunderstand the whole communication! Don’t worry that you have to know or be able to pronounce all the tones correctly at once, the more you practice the more you will get! Let’s take a look together.

süay- suay

Jan süay mâak แจนสวยมาก 
Jan is very Beautiful. 
Jan Suay mâak แจนซวยมาก 
Jan has a very bad luck

yung - yûng

Wan níi yûng mâak วันนี้ยุ่งมาก 
Today I’m very busy 
Wan níi yung mâak วันนี้ยุงมาก
Today has a lot of mosquitos.

mäa - máa

Dan mii mäa แดนมีหมา  
Dan has a dog 
Dan mii máa แดนมีม้า 
Dan has a horse

klâi - klai

Bâan yùu klâi บ้านอยู่ไกล้ 
The house is near 
Bâan yùu klai บ้านอยู่ไกล
The house is far

Let's practice Thai tones

Middle Tone

gin          to eat

dii           good

bpai         to go

kruu         teacher

rian         to study

Low Tone ( à)

nùng          one

sìi               four

jà                will

sèt              to finish

jèt               seven

Falling Tone (â)

hâa            five

gâao          nine

nîi              this

châi           correct

mâi            no, not

High tone (á)

fáa             sky

náam         water

chái            to use

rúu              to know

rák              to love

Rising Tone (ä)

mäa          dog

süung         tall

näng-süu        book

müu            pig

käao           white

You are doing so well!