The five Thai tones
The same syllable shape, spoken with each tone, can change meaning entirely. Tap a pill to hear the classic "ปา" set if your browser supports audio.
ปาป่าป้าป๊าป๋า
Consonant classes
Thai consonants belong to one of three classes. The class is the starting point for every tone calculation.
| Class | Consonants | Rule shortcut |
|---|---|---|
| mid | ก จ ฎ ฏ ด ต บ ป อ | No tone mark = mid tone; with a mark they follow the mark's rule. |
| high | ข ฃ ฉ ฐ ถ ผ ฝ ศ ษ ส ห | No mark on a live syllable = rising; a dead syllable = low, regardless of vowel length. |
| low | ค ฅ ฆ ง ช ซ ฌ ญ ฑ ฒ ณ ท ธ น พ ฟ ภ ม ย ร ล ว ฬ ฮ | No mark on a live syllable = mid; no mark on a dead long = falling; no mark on a dead short = high. |
The silent leading consonants ห and อ can raise a following low-class sonorant to high or mid class: หมา (high class, rising tone) vs มา (low class, mid tone).
Live and dead syllables
A syllable is live if it ends in a long vowel, a diphthong, or a sonorant final consonant (ม, น, ง, ย, ว, ร, ล). It is dead if it ends in a stop final (ก, ด, บ, etc.) or a short vowel with no final.
Live syllables
- Long vowel, no final: กา, มี, ตู้
- Any vowel + sonorant final: กาง, คน, ยม
- Diphthongs such as เ–า, ไ–, ใ– are always live
Dead syllables
- Short vowel, no final: กะ, ปิ๊ก, ตุ๊ก
- Any vowel + stop final: ปัก, ผัด, รับ
- Stop-final syllables may have either a short or long vowel
Vowel length matters
For dead syllables, the vowel length decides between two possible tones. A dead syllable with a short vowel gets a different tone than a dead syllable with a long vowel.
| Class | Dead + short vowel | Dead + long vowel |
|---|---|---|
| Mid | Low | Low |
| High | Low | Falling |
| Low | High | Falling |
Tone marks override the class
The four tone marks sit on the consonant and set the tone directly — with one exception: on a low-class consonant, ่ (mai ek) gives a falling tone and ้ (mai tho) gives a high tone.
mai ek (่) — Low
mai tho (้) — Falling
mai tri (๊) — High
mai chattawa (๋) — Rising
Full Thai tone rules table
Tone marks are not shown here; when present, use the tone mark table above.
| Consonant class | Live syllable | Dead + short vowel | Dead + long vowel |
|---|---|---|---|
| mid | Mid | Low | Low |
| high | Rising | Low | Low |
| low | Mid | High | Falling |
Colour-coded examples
Each word below is automatically coloured by the same engine used in the reader.
Mid tone examples
กาจานตีคนปลา
Low tone examples
ป่าต่ำผัดขัดฝาก
Falling tone examples
ป้าก้ามากค่าท่า
High tone examples
ป๊าม้าน้าค๊าท้า
Rising tone examples
ขาหมาผลถุงสา
Put the rules into practice
Paste any Thai text into the reader and see every syllable coloured by its tone instantly.