Thai is a tonal language. It has five tones.
- neutral
- high
- rising
- low
- falling .
A transliteration must also be accompanied by some system that indicates
- tone
- aspiration of consonants
- abruptness of ending a word or syllable
- "length/duration" of the vowel sounds
Grammar tips
- Object --> Modifier (modifier
follows object) Ex: Thai's wouldn't say "black
shoes", but would say, "shoes black."
- Repeating an object indicates a plural. Ex: "cat,
cat" would mean "cats."
- Aspiration When the speaking of a consonant produces a small puff of air it is said to be an aspirated consonant. As an example, notice the puff of air when saying "pop". Those consonants will be marked in the table with "(a)"
- Syllable Endings in Thai are of two types; abrupt and normal. An abrupt ending such as in "pop" will be designated with a "!"
- Vowels that tend to lengthen the vowel sound will be expressed with a double vowel
