The Thai Tone Song (เพลงวรรณยุกต์ไทย): meaning and key lines
Pinkfongพิ้งฟอง
What the song is about
เพลงวรรณยุกต์ไทยpleeng wan-ná-yúk tai, “The Thai Tone Song (Pleng Wannayuk Thai)”, is a Thai children's song by Pinkfong (2022). A Pinkfong song that teaches the five Thai tones by their Thai names, the four tone marks, and one syllable sung through every tone, showing how each pitch moves up or down. The words are simple and on screen, and they lead straight into the tone rules every learner of Thai script needs.
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Song facts
- Artist
- Pinkfong
- Released
- 2022
- Style
- Children's song
- Level
- A1 (beginner)
- Mood
- playful, bouncy, learning
- Views
- about 718K (Oct 2026)
- Video
- Pinkfong Baby Shark Thai (Pinkfong's official Thai channel)
- Lyrics
- Key lines quoted; the full song is in the video
Key lines, explained
Tap a line to hear it. Once the video is playing, lines jump to their moment in the song.
- วรรณยุกต์ wan-ná-yúkไทย taiมี miiห้า hâaเสียง sǐang
Thai has five tones.
วรรณยุกต์wan-ná-yúk = tone, the word Thai schools use. มีห้าเสียงmii hâa sǐang = there are five tones: เสียงsǐang (sound, voice) is also how you count tones. Thai has five tones and writes them with four tone marks; our tone page has each one with audio and a drawing of its pitch. - เสียงสามัญ sǐang sǎa-manไม่ mâiมี miiรูปวรรณยุกต์ rûup wan-ná-yúk
The mid tone has no tone mark.
เสียงสามัญsǐang sǎa-man = the mid tone, literally 'the ordinary sound' (สามัญsǎa-man = ordinary, common). รูปวรรณยุกต์rûup wan-ná-yúk = a tone mark, literally 'tone shape': รูปrûup is a picture or a photo, and here a written shape. The mid tone needs no mark: มาmaa (to come), กาgaa (a crow). Keep it level, in the middle of your voice. - ชื่อ chûueรูปวรรณยุกต์ rûup wan-ná-yúkคือ kuueไม้เอก mái-èek
Its tone mark is called mai ek.
This is the low tone's verse. ชื่อchûue = name, คือkuue = is: the name of its mark is ไม้เอกmái-èek, the first tone mark, a short upright stroke above the letter. On a mid-class letter like กgaw it makes the low tone: ก่าgàa, ไก่gài (chicken). Careful: the low tone is เสียงเอกsǐang èek and the mark is ไม้เอกmái-èek, and they don't always go together: on a low-class letter the same mark gives a falling tone, as in แม่mâe (mother). The tone rules show every case. - ขึ้น kûenไป bpaiและ láeลง longมา maa
Up it goes, and back down.
The falling tone, เสียงโทsǐang too, as a movement: ขึ้นไปkûen bpai = (it) goes up, และláe = and, ลงมาlong maa = comes back down. ไปbpai and มาmaa after a verb show the direction, away or back towards you: เดินไปdoen bpai = to walk off, เดินมาdoen maa = to walk over here. The falling tone starts high and drops clearly: ก้าgâa, ไม่mâi (not). - ขึ้น kûenขึ้น kûenขึ้น kûenไป bpaiอีก ìik
Up, up, up some more!
The high tone, เสียงตรีsǐang dtrii: up, up, ขึ้นไปอีกkûen bpai ìik = up some more. อีกìik = more, again: อีกครั้งìik kráng = once more. Say the high tone high and level, or rising a little at the end, as in ก๊าgáa and ม้าmáa (horse), and don't let it fall. - ลง longไป bpaiและ láeขึ้น kûenมา maa
Down it goes, and back up.
The opposite movement for the rising tone, เสียงจัตวาsǐang jàt-dtà-waa: ลงไปlong bpai = (it) goes down, ขึ้นมาkûen maa = comes back up. It starts low, dips, then climbs: หมาmǎa (dog), ขาkǎa (leg). High and rising are the classic mix-up: ม้าmáa is a horse, หมาmǎa a dog. - เสียงจัตวา sǐang jàt-dtà-waaก๋า gǎaก๋า gǎaก๋า gǎaก๋า gǎa
The rising tone: gǎa, gǎa, gǎa, gǎa.
The last round names each tone with its syllable. เสียงจัตวาsǐang jàt-dtà-waa, the rising tone, is ก๋าgǎa: กgaw with the fourth mark, ไม้จัตวาmái-jàt-dtà-waa, a little cross also called ตีนกาdtiin-gaa, 'crow's foot' (Royal Institute Dictionary). Mid-class letters like กgaw are the only ones that take all four marks, so one syllable can go through all five tones: กาgaa, ก่าgàa, ก้าgâa, ก๊าgáa, ก๋าgǎa. Thai children learn to run a syllable through the tones like this at school (ผันวรรณยุกต์pǎn wan-ná-yúk).
Words you'll learn
- วรรณยุกต์ wan-ná-yúk
tone (of a Thai syllable)
- เสียงสามัญ sǐang sǎa-man
the mid tone
Literally 'the ordinary sound'.
- ไม้เอก mái-èek
first tone mark
A short upright stroke above the letter: a low tone on mid- and high-class letters, a falling one on low-class letters.
- ลง long
to go down; to get off, to get out (of a vehicle)
- ขึ้น kûen
to go up; to get on, to get in (a vehicle)
You 'go up' into any vehicle: ขึ้นรถkûen rót, ขึ้นรถไฟฟ้าkûen rót-fai-fáa, ขึ้นแท็กซี่kûen táek-sîi.
- เสียงจัตวา sǐang jàt-dtà-waa
the rising tone
- รูปวรรณยุกต์ rûup wan-ná-yúk
tone mark
Grammar in this song
The five tones by their Thai names. เสียงสามัญsǐang sǎa-man is the mid tone, เสียงเอกsǐang èek the low, เสียงโทsǐang too the falling, เสียงตรีsǐang dtrii the high and เสียงจัตวาsǐang jàt-dtà-waa the rising tone. เอกèek, โทtoo, ตรีdtrii and จัตวาjàt-dtà-waa are old Pali and Sanskrit words for one, two, three and four (Royal Institute Dictionary), so the four tone marks are numbered too: ไม้เอกmái-èek, ไม้โทmái-too, ไม้ตรีmái-dtrii, ไม้จัตวาmái-jàt-dtà-waa. You'll meet the same numbers in university degrees: ปริญญาตรีbpà-rin-yaa dtrii (a bachelor's), ปริญญาโทbpà-rin-yaa too (a master's), ปริญญาเอกbpà-rin-yaa èek (a doctorate). In our romanization the five tones are: no mark, à, â, á and ǎ.
Direction after a verb: ไปbpai and มาmaa. ไปbpai points away from you and มาmaa towards you: ขึ้นไปkûen bpai (go up), ลงมาlong maa (come down), เอามาao maa (bring), เอาไปao bpai (take away).
The culture behind it
Five tones, four marks. Thai has five tones, and the Royal Institute's dictionary defines วรรณยุกต์wan-ná-yúk exactly that way: five pitches, from เสียงสามัญsǐang sǎa-man to เสียงจัตวาsǐang jàt-dtà-waa, written with four marks above the letter. A mark doesn't name the tone on its own, though: the letter's class decides what it does, which is why the song sings everything on กgaw, a mid-class letter that takes every mark. Our tone page has the tones with audio and a free tone trainer, and the tone rules chart shows what each mark does on each class of letter.
Pinkfong is the Korean studio behind Baby Shark. Its Thai channel also has songs about the Thai language itself, such as this one (December 2022), with the lyrics along the bottom of the screen. The Bebefinn numbers song on this site is from the same company.
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Written by the Learn Thai For Free team
Audio: AI voices, quality-checked for tones