Tone marks 1: ◌่ and ◌้ on mid and high class

Thai has four tone marks, written above the first consonant. This lesson covers the two you'll see everywhere: ◌่mái-èek and ◌้mái-too.

A warning first: the names just mean "first mark" and "second mark". They don't tell you the tone. What you hear depends on the class of the consonant.

Mid and high class: the easy part

For mid- and high-class consonants the two marks work the same way:

• ◌่mái-èek gives the low tone: ไก่gài (chicken), ไข่kài (egg), สี่sìi (four)
• ◌้mái-too gives the falling tone: ได้dâi (can), ข้าวkâao (rice), ห้าhâa (five)

The table so far:

• mid class: ◌่mái-èek low · ◌้mái-too falling
• high class: ◌่mái-èek low · ◌้mái-too falling
• low class: see the next lesson

A tone mark overrides the live and dead rule. บ้านbâan (house) would be mid without its mark; with ◌้mái-too it falls.

Where the mark sits

On the first consonant: ป้าbpâa (aunt). If a vowel sits above the consonant, the tone mark goes on top of the vowel: สี่sìi, เสื้อsûea (shirt). In clusters and with a silent leading letter it sits on the second consonant; you'll meet those in lessons 13 and 15.

Spelling and sound

A few words are said with a longer vowel than the spelling shows. เก้าgâao (nine) rhymes with ข้าวkâao (rice), and our romanization writes what you hear.

Read these

ห้องhâwng (room), อ่านàan (read), ใส่sài (put on, wear), ห้ามhâam (forbidden), บ่ายbàai (afternoon), ป่วยbpùay (sick).

Typical mistake: giving ห้าhâa (five) a rising tone because หhǎw is high class. The tone mark wins: it falls.