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The Vowel Sounds of Thai

Introduction
Choose Your Own Thai Font and Size
Choose Your Favorite Pronunciation Guide Systems
Long and Short Vowels
The Basic Sounds
- Memory Aid for Pronunciation Guide Vowel Symbols
Putting Them Together into Vowels
Some other Funky and Irregular Vowels

Introduction

On this page, we will teach you how to speak and recognize the vowel sounds of Thai, with some particularly detailed sections on the vowels that don't exist in English or vary a lot across English dialects.

As we describe each sound of Thai, we'll also teach you how that sound is written using the pronunciation guide system of your choice. Read on...

Choose Your Own Thai Font and Size

One of my biggest frustrations when trying to learn or use Thai language on the web is that I can never read the microscopic Thai letters that everyone seems to use on their web pages!

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Sample: คุณ เก็บ เสื้อ ไว้ ไหน

Choose Your Favorite Pronunciation Guide Systems

As you've probably noticed, nearly every book and website uses a different guide system (known as "romanization," "transliteration," or "phonemic transcription" systems) for helping you learn the pronunciation of native Thai words.

Here at slice-of-thai.com, we let you choose the system(s) you want to see. Check your favorite system(s) below, and we will remember your setting and instantly apply it to all pages on slice-of-thai.com.

Pronunciation guides are a useful crutch, but they have hidden pitfalls which may surprise you: learn more about this, as well as how each system differs, at Pronunciation Guide Systems for Thai. Also, you can click on any system below for more information.

	System	Description	Example คุณ เก็บ เสื้อ ไว้ ไหน
	Paiboon	Benjawan Poomsan Becker's Thai for Beginners	[kun-gèp-sʉ̂a-wái-nǎi]
	Paiboon+	Adds a few extra sound distinctions	[kun-gÈp-sʉ̂ʉa-wái-nǎi]
	TLC	From the fantastic thai-language.com	[khoonM-gepL-seuuaF-waiH-naiR]
	Tiger	Thai learning books from Tiger Press	[koon-gèp-sûea-wái-nǎi]
	LP	System from the Lonely Planet guidebooks	[khun-kèp-sêua-wái-nǎi]
	Thai Govt+	Lame system used for Thai road signs + tones	[khun-kèp-sûea-wái-nǎi]
	IPA	International Phonetic Alphabet: nerds love it	[kʰūn-kèp̚-sɯ̂ːa-wáj-nǎj]
	Easy Thai	Spells out each syllable using simple Thai	[คุน-เก็บ-เซื่อ-ไว้-ไหฺน]
Example of how it will look: [sʉ̂a, sʉ̂ʉa, seuuaF, sûea, sêua, sûea, sɯ̂ːa, เซื่อ] You should check at least one system!

Long and Short Vowels

Thai has long and short vowels, but this is a completely different use of the words "long" and "short" than the one you learned in English grammar school (for example, when your primary school teacher told you that "pet" is short and "pete" is long because it has a silent "e"). You must forget all that English nonsense!

Instead, when we're talking about Thai language, "long" and "short" mean exactly what they say: you say a "long" vowel for a longer time than a "short" vowel, but both vowels have exactly the same voice quality (the same timbre). It's like the difference between "ah" and "aaaaaaaaah."

The surprising and amazing part is that in Thai, you can have two words that differ only by whether their vowel is long or short. For example, In English, if you say "man" or you draw out the vowel like "maaaaaaaaaan," you're nearly always saying the same word. But in Thai, many vowels have two versions: one that has a short duration and one that has a long duration. You need to use the right one, otherwise you will say the wrong word. For example, the word มัน [man, man, manM, man, man, man, mān, มัน] (fat, oil, grease oil) and มาร [maan, maan, maanM, mahn, maan, man, māːn, มาน] (the Devil, wicked angel, the evil one) differ only in the length of the vowel!

The Basic Sounds

Like English, Thai has lots of vowels, but most of them are really just combinations of a few basic sounds.

Here are the basic vowel sounds of Thai. Alongside each basic sound, we have listed some of the symbols used for long and short versions of that sound in the pronunciation guide system(s) that you have chosen.

Wherever you see a play button below, you can click to hear the sound!

If you see a blue asterisk (*) next to a pronunciation guide symbol below, you can click it to read more details about how that symbol works in the system(s) you have chosen:

We have also listed some of the long and short written Thai vowels for that sound. We'll give you more detail on which sound is long and which is short in a later section.

Sound Description
- [ɛ, ɛ, ae, ae, ae, ae, ɛ, แ−ะ/แ−็−แ◌ะ/แ็◌]
[แ−ะ/แ−็−แ◌ะ/แ็◌]
- [ɛɛ, ɛɛ, aae, ae, ae, ae, ɛː, แ−/แ−−แ◌/แ◌◌]
[แ−/แ−−แ◌/แ◌◌]
This one's easy; it's the sound from cat.
Sample words:
- แกะ [gɛ̀, gɛ̀, gaeL, gàe, kàe, kàe, kɛ̀, แกะ] (sheep)
- และ [lɛ́, lɛ́, laeH, láe, láe, láe, lɛ́, และ] (with, also, likewise)
- แข็ง [kɛ̌ng, kɛ̌ng, khaengR, kǎeng, khǎeng, khǎeng, kʰɛ̌ŋ, แข็ง] (hard, firm, strong, stiff)
- แปล [bplɛɛ, bplɛɛ, bplaaeM, pblae, plae, plae, plɛ̄ː, แปฺล] (translate, interpret)
- แสง [sɛ̌ɛng, sɛ̌ɛng, saaengR, sǎeng, sǎeng, sǎeng, sɛ̌ːŋ, แสง] (light)
- [e, e, eh*, e, e, e, e, เ−ะเ◌ะ]
[เ−ะเ◌ะ]
- [ee, ee, aeh, ay, eh, e, eː, เ−/เ−−เ◌/เ◌◌]
[เ−/เ−−เ◌/เ◌◌]
- [e, E, e/eh*, e, e, e, e, เ−็−เ็◌]
[เ−็−เ็◌]
When Thai children first drill their vowels in elementary school, and later when they grow up and teach Thai to us lucky farangs, the established teaching method says that there is a single vowel sound represented by the short and long Thai written vowels [เ−ะเ◌ะ], [เ−็−เ็◌] and [เ−/เ−−เ◌/เ◌◌] that always sounds like the "a" in the English word pale. Furthermore, many pronunciation guide systems provide just one short and long symbol for this vowel, as if it always has the same basic sound quality (the same timbre).
Put another way, the implication is that Thai has a short pale sound and a long pale sound, but in every case, it sounds like pale, not like pal or pel or pill or anything else.
For most Thai speakers, this is not actually true. A given speaker of Thai is likely to prounounce those written vowels in one of two ways, depending on the context in which the vowel appears. This can easily confuse us foreign learners, when the real everyday speech we hear doesn't match up with the vowels we heard in the drills! We become confused and wonder which vowel a Thai word actually has, which in turn confuses us about what word the Thai is speaking.
In this section, we'll tell you about both sounds, so that you can:
Recognize words containing these sounds, and
Make the same sound as most Thai speakers, which should make your speech easier for Thai people to understand.
Just to be clear:
Not all Thai speakers use both of these sounds. Some Thai speakers use only the pale sound, or they use two sounds that are much closer to each other than the two sounds we will present below. It depends on the speaker.
There are no two words in Thai that differ only by these two sounds (linguists would say both sounds belong to the same phoneme), so you can usually "get away" with speaking either sound and most Thais will still understand you. The good news is that the pattern very closely matches a similar pattern in English, so you may already be saying it "right" without even thinking.
Ok, so here are the sounds:
- The sound in the English word pale
- The sound in the English word pet
These examples assume US or UK News English. Australian and New Zealand natives will have to imagine a Yank or a Brit making the sounds (or just click the play buttons to hear the sounds!).
And here's where they occur:
In a long syllable, or a short syllable with no final consonant, you say the sound in pale, as in
- เปล [bplee, bplee, bplaehM, pblay, pleh, ple, plēː, เปฺล] (stretch),
- เป๊ะ [bpé, bpé, bpehH, pbé, pé, pé, pé, เป๊ะ] (on time, precisely, exactly)
- เละ [lé, lé, lehH, lé, lé, lé, lé, เละ] (mushy)
Otherwise (in short syllables with a final consonant), you say the sound in pet, as in
- เผ็ด [pèt, pÈt, phetL, pèt, phèt, phèt, pʰèt̚, เผ็ด] (peppery, hot)
- เม็ด [mét, mÉt, metH, mét, mét, mét, mét̚, เม็ด] (seed)
- เหม็น [měn, mĚn, menR, měn, měn, měn, měn, เหฺม็น] (stink, foul odor, bad smell)
For native English speakers, it feels fairly intuitive, and shouldn't be too hard to learn.
From the standpoint of Thai script, you can think of it as if there's a long pale sound written like [เ−/เ−−เ◌/เ◌◌], a short pale sound written like [เ−ะเ◌ะ], and a short pet sound written like [เ−็−เ็◌].
As mentioned above, there are exceptions. For example, most Thais I surveyed will pronounce เพศ [pêet, pêet, phaehtF, pâyt, phêht, phêt, pʰêːt̚, เพด] (sex, gender, kind, form, shape, sort, apparel) with a long pale sound, in accord with the rule above, as in: -. But some Thais will pronounce it with a long version of the sound in pet, like this: -. Just be ready to hear either sound and you will be ok!
When you make the pet sound, be sure not to go too far and make it sound like pat; that is a different basic Thai vowel sound [แ−/แ−−แ◌/แ◌◌], which we discussed above, and so you will be probably be speaking a different word. For example, to continue our sound example above, here's what the word แพทย์ [pɛ̂ɛt, pɛ̂ɛt, phaaetF, pâet, phâet, phâet, pʰɛ̂ːt̚, แพด] (physician, doctor) sounds like: -.
How are the pale and pet sounds written in pronunciation guides? It depends...
Some pronunciation guide systems, such as TLC, Paiboon+, and IPA, write these two sounds with separate symbols, even though they are not separate phonemes, in order to help you learn the Thai pronunciation.
Some systems, such as Paiboon and LP, glom them together into one symbol, expecting you to figure out whether to say pale or pet from the context.
The pronunciation guide system that you have currently chosen uses these symbols for the two short sounds:
short pale sound: [e, e, eh*, e, e, e, e, เ−ะเ◌ะ]
short pet sound: [e, E, e/eh*, e, e, e, e, เ−็−เ็◌]
If you want to see the details for all systems, see our page on pronunciation guide systems.
For the TLC system, there is a small extra rub; most of the time, "eh" means pale and "e" means pet, but there's a few exceptional words where TLC decided to use "eh" for pet in order to point out something about how the word is spelled in Thai script. For more info on this, see this section.
Sample words:
- เป๊ะ [bpé, bpé, bpehH, pbé, pé, pé, pé, เป๊ะ] (on time, precisely, exactly)
- เละ [lé, lé, lehH, lé, lé, lé, lé, เละ] (mushy)
- เป้ [bpêe, bpêe, bpaehF, pbây, pêh, pê, pêː, เป้] (knapsack)
- เปล [bplee, bplee, bplaehM, pblay, pleh, ple, plēː, เปฺล] (stretch)
- เขต [kèet, kèet, khaehtL, kàyt, khèht, khèt, kʰèːt̚, เขด] (limit, boundary, area, zone, territory)
- เผ็ด [pèt, pÈt, phetL, pèt, phèt, phèt, pʰèt̚, เผ็ด] (peppery, hot)
- เม็ด [mét, mÉt, metH, mét, mét, mét, mét̚, เม็ด] (seed)
- เหม็น [měn, mĚn, menR, měn, měn, měn, měn, เหฺม็น] (stink, foul odor, bad smell)
- [a, a, a/ah, a, a, a, a, −ะ/−ั−◌ะ/ั◌]
[−ะ/−ั−◌ะ/ั◌]
- [aa, aa, aa/aah, ah, aa, a, aː, −า/−า−◌า/◌า◌]
[−า/−า−◌า/◌า◌]
This is the "aah" sound that gives Boston English its characteristic twang. Think Charles Emerson Winchester III from the old TV show M*A*S*H saying "park the car in Harvard Yard."
In US and UK News English, this sound never appears by itself, but it does appear as the first half of the vowel pair in English words like lie, how, and house. So, if you're too young to have seen M*A*S*H, that's probably the easiest way for you to practice this sound.
Contrary to what many books (and our old flashcards!) say, this is not the sound in US and UK News father (say "father's house": only the second "a" sound is correct). Depending on your English dialect, the sound in father is either close to the Thai [ɔɔ, ɔɔ, aaw, aw, aw, o, ɔː, −อ/−อ−◌อ/◌อ◌], or halfway between [a, a, a/ah, a, a, a, a, −ะ/−ั−◌ะ/ั◌] and [ɔɔ, ɔɔ, aaw, aw, aw, o, ɔː, −อ/−อ−◌อ/◌อ◌] (and thus not a Thai sound at all).
Sample words:
- นะ [ná, ná, naH, ná, ná, ná, ná, นะ] (particle used to make an utterance gentler, milder, particle indicating a mild question)
- กัด [gàt, gàt, gatL, gàt, kàt, kàt, kàt̚, กัด] (bite, corrode, nibble, nip, eat away (by chemical action), erode, attack, betray)
- มา [maa, maa, maaM, mah, maa, ma, māː, มา] (come, approach)
- อัตรา [àt-dtraa, àt-dtraa, atL-dtraaM, àt-dtrah, àt-traa, àt-tra, ʔàt̚-trāː, อัด-ตฺรา] (rate)
- นาน [naan, naan, naanM, nahn, naan, nan, nāːn, นาน] (long)
- มาก [mâak, mâak, maakF, mâhk, mâak, mâk, mâːk̚, มาก] (much, many, ample, plentiful, abundant, several, very, very much)
- [o, o, oh/o, o, o, o, o, โ−ะ/−−โ◌ะ/◌◌]
[โ−ะ/−−โ◌ะ/◌◌]
- [oo, oo, oh, oh, oh, o, oː, โ−/โ−−โ◌/โ◌◌]
[โ−/โ−−โ◌/โ◌◌]
This sound is like the US News English note or go. There is no corresponding sound for any word in UK News English, so British readers will have to imagine a Yank or an Irishman saying the words (or just click the play button to hear the sound!).
Sample words:
- โต๊ะ [dtó, dtó, dtoH, dtó, tó, tó, tó, โต๊ะ] (table, desk)
- ตก [dtòk, dtòk, dtohkL, dtòk, tòk, tòk, tòk̚, ตก] (fall, drop, miss)
- โต [dtoo, dtoo, dtohM, dtoh, toh, to, tōː, โต] (big, large, great)
- โชค [chôok, chôok, chohkF, chôhk, chôhk, chôk, tɕʰôːk̚, โชก] (fortune, luck, fate)
- [ɔ, ɔ, aw, aw, aw, o, ɔ, เ−าะ/−็อ−เ◌าะ/็อ◌]
[เ−าะ/−็อ−เ◌าะ/็อ◌]
- [ɔɔ, ɔɔ, aaw, aw, aw, o, ɔː, −อ/−อ−◌อ/◌อ◌]
[−อ/−อ−◌อ/◌อ◌]
This sound is most like the US News English law or bought. It is like the UK News English lot and pot (moreso than the deeper bought or ball). For most English speakers, it is not the same sound as father.
Sample words:
- เกาะ [gɔ̀, gɔ̀, gawL, gàw, kàw, kò, kɔ̀, เกาะ] (island)
- ล็อก [lɔ́k, lɔ́k, lawkH, láwk, láwk, lók, lɔ́k̚, ล็อก] (lock)
- ก่อสร้าง [gɔ̀ɔ-sâang, gɔ̀ɔ-sâang, gaawL-saangF, gàw-sâhng, kàw-sâang, kò-sâng, kɔ̀ː-sâːŋ, ก่อ-ซ่าง] (build, construct)
- กอด [gɔ̀ɔt, gɔ̀ɔt, gaawtL, gàwt, kàwt, kòt, kɔ̀ːt̚, กอด] (embrace, hug, caress)
- [ə, ə, er/uh, er, oe, oe, ɤ, เ−อะเ◌อะ]
[เ−อะเ◌อะ]
- [əə, əə, eer/uuhr, er, oe, oe, ɤː, เ−อ/เ−ิ−เ◌อ/เิ◌]
[เ−อ/เ−ิ−เ◌อ/เิ◌]
Although this sound is close to that in sofa and about, it's really close to the US News English teacher (just the e; don't include the r sound), and it's also really close to the way some people say "well duuuuuh!" Ask a Thai to hear what this vowel sounds like.
Sample words:
- เยอะ [yə́, yə́, yuhH, yér, yóe, yóe, jɤ́, เยอะ] (many, much, abundant)
- เธอ [təə, təə, thuuhrM, ter, thoe, thoe, tʰɤ̄ː, เทอ] (you, he, him, she, her, they, them)
- เดิน [dəən, dəən, deernM, dern, doen, doen, dɤ̄ːn, เดิน] (walk)
- [u, u, oo, oo, u, u, u, −ุ/−ุ−ุ/ุ◌]
[−ุ/−ุ−ุ/ุ◌]
- [uu, uu, uu, oo, uu, u, uː, −ู/−ู−ู/ู◌]
[−ู/−ู−ู/ู◌]
This is the sound in boot. Another easy one.
Sample words:
- พุ [pú, pú, phooH, póo, phú, phú, pʰú, พุ] (break out, erupt)
- ดุม [dum, dum, doomM, doom, dum, dum, dūm, ดุม] (button)
- ดู [duu, duu, duuM, doo, duu, du, dūː, ดู] (look, look at, watch, stare)
- พูด [pûut, pûut, phuutF, pôot, phûut, phût, pʰûːt̚, พูด] (speak, talk, say)
- [ʉ, ʉ, eu, eu, eu, ue, ɯ, −ึ/−ึ−ึ/ึ◌]
[−ึ/−ึ−ึ/ึ◌]
- [ʉʉ, ʉʉ, euu, ue, eu, ue, ɯː, −ือ/−ื−ือ/ื◌]
[−ือ/−ื−ือ/ื◌]
This is the one, notorious Thai vowel sound that does not exist in any dialect of English. Find a Thai person to help you practice the sound.
To make this sound, say boot, but instead of puckering your lips into a small, rounded opening like a normal oo, spread your lips as far left and right as you can, into a wide smile (while keeping the inside of your mouth as it is with a normal oo):

[uu, uu, uuM, oo, uu, u, ʔūː, อู]
as in boot
[ʉʉ, ʉʉ, euuM, ue, eu, ue, ʔɯ̄ː, อือ]
as in มือ [mʉʉ, mʉʉ, meuuM, mue, meu, mue, mɯ̄ː, มือ]
For many English speakers, this "smile" is the same lip position they use to make the "ee" in beet. So you might think of [ʉʉ, ʉʉ, euuM, ue, eu, ue, ʔɯ̄ː, อือ] as the sound you get by saying boot with the inside of your mouth, but beet with your lips!
For those using the Paiboon, Paiboon+, or IPA pronunciation guide system, you might even think of the horizontal bar across [ʉ] as a little toothpick that holds the edges of your mouth far apart!
The [ʉʉ, ʉʉ, euuM, ue, eu, ue, ʔɯ̄ː, อือ] is not the same as the French "u" (as in pupitre), which also appears in German. That sound is made with rounded lips like the English boom, and with the tongue and mouth in a different position than [ʉʉ, ʉʉ, euu, ue, eu, ue, ɯː, −ือ/−ื−ือ/ื◌]. In fact, in some ways, it's the exact opposite sound: it's the sound you get by saying beet with the inside of your mouth, and boot with your lips.
Sample words:
- รึ [rʉ́, rʉ́, reuH, réu, réu, rúe, rɯ́, รึ] (either...or, or)
- ดึก [dʉ̀k, dʉ̀k, deukL, dèuk, dèuk, dùek, dɯ̀k̚, ดึก] (late at night)
- มือ [mʉʉ, mʉʉ, meuuM, mue, meu, mue, mɯ̄ː, มือ] (hand)
- มืด [mʉ̂ʉt, mʉ̂ʉt, meuutF, mûet, mêut, mûet, mɯ̂ːt̚, มืด] (dark)
- [i, i, ee*, i, i, i, i, −ิิ]
[−ิิ]
- [ii, ii, ee*, ee, ii, i, iː, −ี/−ี−ี/ี◌]
[−ี/−ี−ี/ี◌]
- [i, ɪ, i*, i, i, i, i, −ิ−ิ◌]
[−ิ−ิ◌]
When Thai children first drill their vowels in elementary school, and later when they grow up and teach Thai to us lucky farangs, the established teaching method says that there is a single vowel sound represented by the short and long Thai written vowels [−ิิ], [−ิ−ิ◌] and [−ี/−ี−ี/ี◌] that always sounds like the "ee" in the English word beet. Furthermore, many pronunciation guide systems provide just one short and long symbol for this vowel, as if it always has the same basic sound quality (the same timbre).
Put another way, the implication is that Thai has a short beet sound and a long beet sound, but in every case, it sounds like beet, not like bat or bet or bit or anything else.
For most Thai speakers, this is not actually true. A given speaker of Thai is likely to prounounce those written vowels in one of two ways, depending on the context in which the vowel appears. This can easily confuse us foreign learners, when the real everyday speech we hear doesn't match up with the vowels we heard in the drills! We become confused and wonder which vowel a Thai word actually has, which in turn confuses us about what word the Thai is speaking.
In this section, we'll tell you about both sounds, so that you can:
Recognize words containing these sounds, and
Make the same sound as most Thai speakers, which should make your speech easier for Thai people to understand.
Just to be clear:
Not all Thai speakers use both of these sounds. Some Thai speakers use only the beet sound, or they use two sounds that are much closer to each other than the two sounds we will present below. It depends on the speaker.
There are no two words in Thai that differ only by these two sounds (linguists would say both sounds belong to the same phoneme), so you can usually "get away" with speaking either sound and most Thais will still understand you. The good news is that the pattern very closely matches a similar pattern in English, so you may already be saying it "right" without even thinking.
Ok, so here are the sounds:
- The sound in the English word beet
- The sound in the English word bit
These examples assume US or UK News English. Australian and especially New Zealand natives will have to imagine a Yank or a Brit making the sounds (or just click the play buttons to hear the sounds!).
And here's where they occur:
In a long syllable, or a short syllable with no final consonant, you say the sound in beet, as in
- หมี [mǐi, mǐi, meeR, měe, mǐi, mǐ, mǐː, หฺมี] (bear),
- มีด [mîit, mîit, meetF, mêet, mîit, mît, mîːt̚, มีด] (knife)
- ติ [dtì, dtì, dteeL, dtì, tì, tì, tì, ติ] (censure, reproach, criticize)
- หิมะ [hì-má, hì-má, heeL-maH, hì-má, hì-má, hì-má, hì-má, หิ-มะ] (snow)
Otherwise (in short syllables with a final consonant), you say the sound in bit, as in
- ปิด [bpìt, bpɪ̀t, bpitL, pbìt, pìt, pìt, pìt̚, ปิด] (close, shut, cover, hide),
- บิน [bin, bɪn, binM, bin, bin, bin, bīn, บิน] (fly)
For native English speakers, it feels fairly intuitive, and shouldn't be too hard to learn.
From the standpoint of Thai script, you can think of it as if there's a long beet sound written like [−ี/−ี−ี/ี◌], a short beet sound written like [−ิิ], and a short bit sound written like [−ิ−ิ◌].
When you make the bit sound, be sure not to go too far and make it sound like bet or bat; those are different basic Thai vowel sounds that we discussed here and here, respectively, and so you will be probably be speaking a different word.
As mentioned above, there are exceptions. For example, the native speaker who graciously volunteered to provide is with our sound samples pronounces the word ทิพย์ [típ, tɪ́p, thipH, típ, thíp, thíp, tʰíp̚, ทิบ] (supernatural) like this: -, which is the closer to the short beet sound that appears in her pronunciation of - หิมะ [hì-má, hì-má, heeL-maH, hì-má, hì-má, hì-má, hì-má, หิ-มะ] (snow) than it is to the short bit sound (- บิน [bin, bɪn, binM, bin, bin, bin, bīn, บิน] (fly)) that the rule above would predict. Another example of an exception to our rule is that some Thais will pronounce มิถุนายน [mí-tù-naa-yon, mí-tù-naa-yon, meeH-thooL-naaM-yohnM, mí-tòo-nah-yon, mí-thù-naa-yon, mí-thù-na-yon, mí-tʰù-nāː-jōn, มิ-ถุ-นา-ยน] (June) with the beet sound and some will pronounce it with the bit sound. We talk more about this in our discussion of TLC. So don't be surprised if you see variation amongst diferent books, websites, and dictionaries here. Just be ready to hear either sound and you'll be ok!
How are the beet and bit sounds written in pronunciation guides? It depends...
Some pronunciation guide systems, such as TLC, Paiboon+, and IPA, write these two sounds with separate symbols, even though they are not separate phonemes, in order to help you learn the Thai pronunciation.
Some systems, such as Paiboon and LP, glom them together into one symbol, expecting you to figure out whether to say beet or bit from the context.
The pronunciation guide system that you have currently chosen uses these symbols for the two short sounds:
short beet sound: [i, i, ee*, i, i, i, i, −ิิ]
short bit sound: [i, ɪ, i*, i, i, i, i, −ิ−ิ◌]
If you want to see the details for all systems, see our page on pronunciation guide systems.
Sample words:
- หิมะ [hì-má, hì-má, heeL-maH, hì-má, hì-má, hì-má, hì-má, หิ-มะ] (snow)
- มี [mii, mii, meeM, mee, mii, mi, mīː, มี] (have, posses, own, exist)
- หมี [mǐi, mǐi, meeR, měe, mǐi, mǐ, mǐː, หฺมี] (bear)
- มีด [mîit, mîit, meetF, mêet, mîit, mît, mîːt̚, มีด] (knife)
- อีก [ìik, ìik, eekL, èek, ìik, ìk, ʔìːk̚, อีก] (again, more)
- ปิด [bpìt, bpɪ̀t, bpitL, pbìt, pìt, pìt, pìt̚, ปิด] (close, shut, cover, hide)
- บิน [bin, bɪn, binM, bin, bin, bin, bīn, บิน] (fly)

Memory Aid for Pronunciation Guide Vowel Symbols

As we discuss at length on our page on pronunciation guide systems, different systems have different ways of writing the vowel sounds, and as we explain here, no system can possibly be "intuitively" correct for all speakers, because there are so many different dialects of English, and because some Thai sounds do not exist in any dialect of English.

Even for a given speaker, English spelling is frustratingly ambiguous. If you see an "i" in a pronunciation guide, is it supposed to sound like pit? spite? ping? If you see an "o" is it supposed to sound like note? not? noodle?

Our sample words and sounds above answer these questions completely, but for those who use the Paiboon, Paiboon+, or IPA systems, and to some extent all the systems, here is a cool trick which can help remind you what some of the basic vowels sound like.

The key insight here comes from the venerable 1979 Chiang Mai AUA Reading Workbook (J. Marvin Brown, printed at least up until 1998 and possibly still in print), where he says:

The five usual vowel letters (a e i o u) are used as they are in most languages of the world, but not as in English. Even English speakers, though, have a feeling for the 'foreign use' of these vowels from reading foreign words in English (do, re, mi, fa, and tabu)

I think every English speaker on the planet still pronounces do, re, mi, fa the same way (thanks to Hollywood and Julie Andrews, sigh), and that is a great way to remember what the o e i and a basic vowels sound like in most pronunciation guide systems. Brown's "tabu" spelling is obsolete, so perhaps a better "foreign" word to use to remember the sound of u would be mumu (for the retro fashion-conscious), ubuntu (for geeks), or tofu (for veggie lovers).

These memory aids won't give you the important fine details we presented above. For example, the "a" doesn't really sound like "fa" and there are two flavors each of "i" and "e". But these aids are a useful trick to start you in the right direction.

Putting Them Together into Vowels

The basic sounds combine into the wide variety of vowel sounds available in the Thai language.

Many vowels have both long and short versions, and we show these side-by-side.

Wherever you see a play button below, you can click to hear the long or short sound!

For each vowel, we also list an L or D, indicating whether a syllable ending in that vowel is "Live" or "Dead." This is important for the Thai tone rules, which tell you what tone you must use to speak any given syllable.

You can add lots of extra, useful information to the chart by checking one or both of these:

Show breakdown of vowels into basic sounds
Show Thai sample words for each vowel

English Example, Basic Sounds	Short				Long
English Example, Basic Sounds		Guide Symbol	Thai Vowel	L D		Guide Symbol	Thai Vowel	L D
cat [ɛ, ɛ, ae, ae, ae, ae, ɛ, แ−ะ/แ−็−แ◌ะ/แ็◌] (more info)	-	[ɛ, ɛ, ae, ae, ae, ae, ɛ, แ−ะ/แ−็−แ◌ะ/แ็◌]	[แ−ะ/แ−็−แ◌ะ/แ็◌] - แกะ [gɛ̀, gɛ̀, gaeL, gàe, kàe, kàe, kɛ̀, แกะ] - และ [lɛ́, lɛ́, laeH, láe, láe, láe, lɛ́, และ] - แข็ง [kɛ̌ng, kɛ̌ng, khaengR, kǎeng, khǎeng, khǎeng, kʰɛ̌ŋ, แข็ง]	D	-	[ɛɛ, ɛɛ, aae, ae, ae, ae, ɛː, แ−/แ−−แ◌/แ◌◌]	[แ−/แ−−แ◌/แ◌◌] - แปล [bplɛɛ, bplɛɛ, bplaaeM, pblae, plae, plae, plɛ̄ː, แปฺล] - แสง [sɛ̌ɛng, sɛ̌ɛng, saaengR, sǎeng, sǎeng, sǎeng, sɛ̌ːŋ, แสง]	L
baby waeh waeh [ɛ, ɛ, ae, ae, ae, ae, ɛ, แ−ะ/แ−็−แ◌ะ/แ็◌