Thai language

Thai, Central Thai (historically Siamese; ภาษาไทย), is the sole official and national language of Thailand and the first language of the Central Thai people. It is a member of the Tai group of the Kra–Dai language family. Over half of Thai vocabulary is derived from or borrowed from Pali, Sanskrit, Mon and Old Khmer. It is a tonal and analytic language, similar to Chinese and Vietnamese.

Thai has a complex orthography and system of relational markers. Spoken Thai is mutually intelligible with Lao and Isan, fellow Southwestern Tai languages, to a significantly high degree where its speakers are able to effectively communicate each speaking their respective language. These languages are written with slightly different scripts but are linguistically similar and effectively form a dialect continuum.

History
Thai language is official language of Thailand, a member of Tai languages closely related to Lao, Shan in Myanmar, and numerous smaller languages spoken in an arc from Hainan and Yunnan south to the Chinese border. It is the principal language of education and government and spoken throughout the country. The standard is based on the dialect of the central Thai people, and it is written in the Thai alphabet.

Thai has undergone various historical sound changes. Some of the most significant changes, at least in terms of consonants and tones, occurred between Old Thai spoken when the language was first written and Thai of present, reflected in the orthography.

Old Thai
Old Thai had a three-way tone distinction on live syllables (those not ending in a stop), with no possible distinction on dead syllables (those ending in a stop, i.e. either or the glottal stop which automatically closes syllables otherwise ending in a short vowel).

There was a two-way voiced vs. voiceless distinction among all fricative and sonorant consonants, and up to a four-way distinction among stops and affricates. The maximal four-way occurred in labials and dentals ; the three-way distinction among velars  and palatals, with the glottalized member of each set apparently missing.

The major change between old and modern Thai was due to voicing distinction losses and the concomitant tone split. This may have happened between about 1300 and 1600 CE, possibly occurring at different times in different parts of the Thai-speaking area. All voiced–voiceless pairs of consonants lost the voicing distinction: However, in the process of these mergers the former distinction of voice was transferred into a new set of tonal distinctions. In essence, every tone in Old Thai split into two new tones, with a lower-pitched tone corresponding to a syllable that formerly began with a voiced consonant, and a higher-pitched tone corresponding to a syllable that formerly began with a voiceless consonant (including glottalized stops). An additional complication is that formerly voiceless unaspirated stops/affricates (original ) also caused original tone 1 to lower, but had no such effect on original tones 2 or 3.
 * Plain voiced stops became voiceless aspirated stops.
 * Voiced fricatives became voiceless.
 * Voiceless sonorants became voiced.

The above consonant mergers and tone splits account for the complex relationship between spelling and sound in modern Thai. Modern "low"-class consonants were voiced in Old Thai, and the terminology "low" reflects the lower tone variants that resulted. Modern "mid"-class consonants were voiceless unaspirated stops or affricates in Old Thai—precisely the class that triggered lowering in original tone 1 but not tones 2 or 3. Modern "high"-class consonants were the remaining voiceless consonants in Old Thai (voiceless fricatives, voiceless sonorants, voiceless aspirated stops). The three most common tone "marks" (the lack of any tone mark, as well as the two marks termed mai ek and mai tho) represent the three tones of Old Thai, and the complex relationship between tone mark and actual tone is due to the various tonal changes since then. Note also that since the tone split, the tones have changed in actual representation to the point that the former relationship between lower and higher tonal variants has been completely obscured. Furthermore, the six tones that resulted after the three tones of Old Thai were split have since merged into five in standard Thai, with the lower variant of former tone 2 merging with the higher variant of former tone 3, becoming the modern "falling" tone.

Early Old Thai
Early Old Thai also apparently had velar fricatives as distinct phonemes. These were represented by the now-obsolete letters ฃ kho khuat and ฅ kho khon, respectively. During the Old Thai period, these sounds merged into the corresponding stops, and as a result the use of these letters became unstable.

At some point in the history of Thai, a palatal nasal phoneme also existed, inherited from Proto-Tai. A letter ญ yo ying also exists, which is used to represent a palatal nasal in words borrowed from Sanskrit and Pali, and is currently pronounced at the beginning of a syllable but  at the end of a syllable. Most native Thai words that are reconstructed as beginning with are also pronounced  in modern Thai, but generally spelled with ย yo yak, which consistently represents. This suggests that >  in native words occurred in the pre-literary period. It is unclear whether Sanskrit and Pali words beginning with were borrowed directly with a, or whether a  was re-introduced, followed by a second change  >.

Proto-Tai also had a glottalized palatal sound, reconstructed as in Li Fang-Kuei (1977). Corresponding Thai words are generally spelled หย, which implies an Old Thai pronunciation of (or ), but a few such words are spelled อย, which implies a pronunciation of  and suggests that the glottalization may have persisted through to the early literary period.

Vowel developments
The vowel system of modern Thai contains nine pure vowels and three centering diphthongs, each of which can occur short or long. According to Li (1977), however, many Thai dialects have only one such short–long pair, and in general it is difficult or impossible to find minimal short–long pairs in Thai that involve vowels other than and where both members have frequent correspondences throughout the Tai languages. More specifically, he notes the following facts about Thai: Furthermore, the vowel that corresponds to short Thai has a different and often higher quality in many of the Tai languages compared with the vowel corresponding to Thai.
 * In open syllables, only long vowels occur. (This assumes that all apparent cases of short open syllables are better described as ending in a glottal stop. This makes sense from the lack of tonal distinctions in such syllables, and the glottal stop is also reconstructible across the Tai languages.)
 * In closed syllables, the long high vowels are rare, and cases that do exist typically have diphthongs in other Tai languages.
 * In closed syllables, both short and long mid and low  do occur.  However, generally, only words with short  and long  are reconstructible back to Proto-Tai.
 * Both of the mid back unrounded vowels are rare, and words with such sounds generally cannot be reconstructed back to Proto-Tai.

This leads Li to posit the following:
 * 1) Proto-Tai had a system of nine pure vowels with no length distinction, and possessing approximately the same qualities as in modern Thai: high, mid , low.
 * 2) All Proto-Tai vowels were lengthened in open syllables, and low vowels were also lengthened in closed syllables.
 * 3) Modern Thai largely preserved the original lengths and qualities, but lowered to, which became short  in closed syllables and created a phonemic length distinction .  Eventually, length in all other vowels became phonemic as well and a new  (both short and long) was introduced, through a combination of borrowing and sound change.  Li believes that the development of long  from diphthongs, and the lowering of  to  to create a length distinction , had occurred by the time of Proto-Southwestern-Tai, but the other missing modern Thai vowels had not yet developed.

Note that not all researchers agree with Li. Pittayaporn (2009), for example, reconstructs a similar system for Proto-Southwestern-Tai, but believes that there was also a mid back unrounded vowel (which he describes as ), occurring only before final velar. He also seems to believe that the Proto-Southwestern-Tai vowel length distinctions can be reconstructed back to similar distinctions in Proto-Tai.

Connection to ancient Yue language(s)
Thai descends from proto-Tai-Kadai, which has been hypothesized to originate in the Lower Yangtze valleys. Ancient Chinese texts refer to non-Sinitic languages spoken cross this substantial region and their speakers as "Yue". Although those languages are extinct, traces of their existence could be found in unearthed inscriptional materials, ancient Chinese historical texts and non-Han substrata in various Southern Chinese dialects. Thai, as the most-spoken language in the Tai-Kadai language family, has been used extensively in historical-comparative linguistics to identify the origins of language(s) spoken in the ancient region of South China. One of the very few direct records of non-Sinitic speech in pre-Qin and Han times having been preserved so far is the "Song of the Yue Boatman" (Yueren Ge 越人歌), which was transcribed phonetically in Chinese characters in 528 BC, and found in the 善说 Shanshuo chapter of the Shuoyuan 说苑 or 'Garden of Persuasions'. In the early 80's the Zhuang linguist Wei Qingwen using reconstructed Old Chinese for the characters discovered that the resulting vocabulary showed strong resemblance to modern Zhuang. Later, Zhengzhang Shangfang (1991) followed Wei's insight but used Thai script for comparison, since this orthography dates from the 13th century and preserves archaisms vis-à-vis the modern pronunciation. The following is a simplified interpretation of the "Song of the Yue Boatman" by Zhengzhang Shangfang quoted by David Holm (2013) with Thai script and Chinese glosses being omitted. The upper row represents the original text, the next row the Old Chinese pronunciation, the third a transcription of written Thai, and the fourth line English glosses. Finally, there is Zhengzhang's English translation.

Besides this classical case, various papers in historical linguistics have employed Thai for comparative purposes in studying the linguistic landscape of the ancient region of Southern China. Proto-reconstructions of some scattered non-Sinitic words found in the two ancient Chinese fictional texts, Mu tianzi zhuan 穆天子傳 (4th c. B.C.) and Yuejue shu 越絕書 (1st c. A.D.), are used to compare to Thai/Siamese and its related languages in Tai-Kadai language family in an attempt to identify the origins of those words. The following examples are cited from Wolfgang Behr's work (2002):


 * "吳謂善「伊」, 謂稻道「缓」, 號從中國, 名從主人. "

"The Wú say yī for 'good' and huăn for 'way', i.e. in their titles they follow the central kingdoms, but in their names they follow their own lords."

伊 yī < MC ʔjij < OC *bq(l)ij ← Siamese diiA1, Longzhou dai1, Bo'ai nii1 Daiya li1, Sipsongpanna di1, Dehong li6 < proto-Tai *ʔdɛiA1 | Sui ʔdaai1, Kam laai1, Maonan ʔdaai1, Mak ʔdaai6 < proto-Kam-Sui/proto-Kam-Tai *ʔdaai1 'good'

缓 [huăn] < MC hwanX < OC *awan ← Siamese honA1, Bo'ai hɔn1, Dioi thon1 < proto-Tai *xronA1| Sui khwən1-i, Kam khwən1, Maonan khun1-i, Mulam khwən1-i < proto-Kam-Sui *khwən1 'road, way' | proto-Hlai *kuun1 || proto-Austronesian *Zalan (Thurgood 1994:353)


 * yuè jué shū 越絕書 (The Book of Yuè Records), 1st c. A.D.

絕 jué < MC dzjwet < OC *bdzot ← Siamese codD1 'to record, mark' (Zhengzhang Shangfang 1999:8)


 * "姑中山者越銅官之山也, 越人謂之銅, 「姑[沽]瀆」. "

"The Middle mountains of Gū are the mountains of the Yuè's bronze office, the Yuè people call them 'Bronze gū[gū]dú'."

「姑[沽]瀆」 gūdú < MC ku=duwk < OC *aka=alok

← Siamese kʰauA1 'horn', Daiya xau5, Sipsongpanna xau1, Dehong xau1, Lü xău1, Dioi kaou1 'mountain, hill' < proto-Tai *kʰauA2; Siamese luukD2l 'classifier for mountains', Siamese kʰauA1-luukD2l 'mountain' || cf. OC 谷 gǔ < kuwk << *ak-lok/luwk < *akə-lok/yowk < *blok 'valley'


 * "越人謂船爲「須盧」. "

"... The Yuè people call a boat xūlú. ('beard' & 'cottage')"

須 xū < MC sju < OC *bs(n)o

? ← Siamese saʔ 'noun prefix'

盧 lú < MC lu < OC *bra

← Siamese rɯaA2, Longzhou lɯɯ2, Bo'ai luu2, Daiya hə2, Dehong hə2 'boat' < proto-Tai *drɯ[a,o] | Sui lwa1/ʔda1, Kam lo1/lwa1, Be zoa < proto-Kam-Sui *s-lwa(n)A1 'boat'


 * "[劉]賈築吳市西城, 名曰「定錯」城. "

"[Líu] Jiă (the king of Jīng 荆) built the western wall, it was called dìngcuò ['settle(d)' & 'grindstone'] wall."

定 dìng < MC dengH < OC *adeng-s

← Siamese diaaŋA1, Daiya tʂhəŋ2, Sipsongpanna tseŋ2 'wall'

錯 cuò < MC tshak < OC *atshak

? ← Siamese tokD1s 'to set→sunset→west' (tawan-tok 'sun-set' = 'west'); Longzhou tuk7, Bo'ai tɔk7, Daiya tok7, Sipsongpanna tok7 < proto-Tai *tokD1s ǀ Sui tok7, Mak tok7, Maonan tɔk < proto-Kam-Sui *tɔkD1

Varieties and related languages
According to Ethnologue, Thai language is spoken by over 20 million people (2000). In reality, the number of native Thai speakers is likely to be much higher, since the Thai citizens throughout central Thailand learn it as their first language while the populations of western and eastern parts of Thailand, which has since ancient times formed the core territory of Siam, also speak central Thai as their first language. Moreover, most Thais in the northern and the northeastern (Isaan) parts of the country today are bilingual speakers of Central Thai and their respective regional dialects due to the fact that (Central) Thai is the language of television, education, news reporting, and all forms of media. A recent research found that the speakers of the Northern Thai language (or Kham Mueang) have become so few, as most people in northern Thailand now invariably speak standard Thai, such that they are now using mostly central Thai words and seasoning their speech only with "kham mueang" accent. Standard Thai is based on the Ayutthaya dialect, and the register in the educated classes. In addition to Central Thai, Thailand is home to other related Tai languages. Although some linguists classify these dialects as related but distinct languages, there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between these regional dialects/languages. Nonetheless, it is often claimed that the language policy of the Thai government has shaped the dominant view that these languages are only regional variants or dialects of the "same" Thai language, or as "different kinds of Thai".

Central Plains Thai

 * Eastern Central Plains.
 * Ayutthaya dialect (Standard Thai, Outer Bangkok), natively spoken in the vicinity of Bangkok such as Ayutthaya, Ang Thong, Lopburi, Saraburi, Nakhon Nayok, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Samut Sakhon and Samut Prakan Provinces, along with Eastern and Northern Bangkok. This dialect is the standard form and is the only one used in the educational system and on Thai Royal News or conservative Thai language media.
 * Eastern dialect, spoken in Chanthaburi, Trat, Sa Kaeo, Prachinburi (except the Muang Prachinburi, Si Maha Phot, Si Mahosot and Kabin Buri Districts, which speak the Chonburi dialect and Isan), Chachoengsao (except Mueang Paet Riu, Phanom Sarakham, Bang Khla, Ban Pho and Bang Pakong Districts, which speak the Chonburi dialect), part of Chonburi and part of Koh Kong Province of Cambodia.
 * Thonburi dialect (also called Bangkok dialect), spoken in the Thonburi side of Bangkok. This dialect has some Portuguese and Persian influences.
 * Vientiane Central Thai, spoken in Tha Bo District and some parts of Ratchaburi Province. Closely related to and is sometimes considered as a variety of the Ayutthaya dialect.
 * Western Central Plains.
 * Suphanburi dialect, spoken in Suphan Buri, Sing Buri, Nakhon Pathom, part of Samut Songkhram, part of Ratchaburi and some parts of Rayong. This dialect was the standard form in the Ayutthaya Kingdom, but today remain in Khon only.
 * Kanchanaburi dialect, spoken in Kanchanaburi. Closely related to and is sometimes classified as a variety of the Suphanburi dialect.
 * Rayong dialect, spoken in Rayong Province, Bang Lamung (outside Pattaya City), Sattahip and part of Si Racha District

Capital Core Thai

 * Core area.
 * Krung Thep dialect (also called Phra Nakhon dialect), natively spoken in the core area of the Phra Nakhon side of Bangkok (but not in Eastern and Northern Bangkok which natively speak Standard Thai).
 * Chonburi dialect (called Paet Riu dialect in Chachoengsao Province), spoken in most upper parts of Chonburi Province (also in Pattaya), Mueang Paet Riu, Phanom Sarakham, Bang Khla, Ban Pho and Bang Pakong Districts in Chachoengsao, Mueang Prachinburi, Si Maha Phot, Si Mahosot and Kabin Buri Districts in Prachinburi, parts of Chanthaburi Province, and Aranyaprathet District.
 * Enclave areas
 * Nangrong dialect, spoken by Teochew traders in Nang Rong District. This dialect is enclaved by the Isan, Northern Khmer and Kuy languages.
 * Photharam dialect, a language enclave in Photharam, Ban Pong and Mueang Ratchaburi districts, but classified as a Capital dialect. This dialect is enclaved by the Ratchaburi dialect.
 * Hatyai dialect, spoken by non-Peranakan of Chinese origin (particularly Teochews) in Hat Yai District (Peranakans speak Southern Thai language). Very high Teochew and some Southern Thai influences, in Southern Thai called Leang Ka Luang (แหลงข้าหลวง). This dialect is enclaved by Southern Thai.
 * Bandon dialect, spoken by non-Peranakan of Chinese origin (particularly Teochews) in Bandon District; very similar with the Hatyai dialect and also enclaved by Southern Thai.
 * Betong dialect, spoken by non-Peranakan of Chinese origin (particularly Cantonese) in the Patani area, Some Cantonese and Teochew influences and high Southern Thai and Yawi language influences. This dialect is enclaved by the Southern Thai and Yawi languages.

Upper Central Thai (Sukhothai dialects)

 * New Sukhothai dialect, spoken in Sukhothai, Kamphaeng Phet, Phichit and part of Tak Province. High Northern Thai influence.
 * Phitsanulok dialect, or old Sukhothai dialect, spoken in Phitsanulok, Phetchabun and part of Uttaradit Province. This dialect was the standard form in the vassal state of Phitsanuloksongkwae
 * Pak Nam Pho dialect, spoken in Nakhon Sawan, Uthai Thani, Chainat, part of Phichit and part of Kamphaeng Phet Province.

Southwestern Thai (Tenasserim Thai)

 * Ratchaburi dialect, spoken in Ratchaburi and most areas in Samut Songkhram Province.
 * Prippri dialect, spoken in Phetchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan Provinces (except Thap Sakae, Bang Saphan and Bang Saphan Noi Districts).

Related languages

 * Isan (Northeastern Thai), the language of the Isan region of Thailand, a collective term for the various Lao dialects spoken in Thailand that show some Central Thai influences, which is written with the Thai script. It is spoken by about 20 million people. Thais from both inside and outside the Isan region often simply call this variant "Lao" when speaking informally.
 * Northern Thai (Phasa Nuea, Lanna, Kam Mueang, or Thai Yuan), spoken by about 6 million (1983) in the formerly independent kingdom of Lanna (Chiang Mai). Shares strong similarities with Lao to the point that in the past the Siamese Thais referred to it as Lao.
 * Southern Thai (Thai Tai, Pak Tai, or Dambro), spoken by about 4.5 million (2006)
 * Phu Thai, spoken by about half a million around Nakhon Phanom Province, and 300,000 more in Laos and Vietnam (2006).
 * Phuan, spoken by 200,000 in central Thailand and Isan, and 100,000 more in northern Laos (2006).
 * Shan (Thai Luang, Tai Long, Thai Yai), spoken by about 100,000 in north-west Thailand along the border with the Shan States of Burma, and by 3.2 million in Burma (2006).
 * Lü (Lue, Yong, Dai), spoken by about 1,000,000 in northern Thailand, and 600,000 more in Sipsong Panna of China, Burma, and Laos (1981–2000).
 * Nyaw language, spoken by 50,000 in Nakhon Phanom Province, Sakhon Nakhon Province, Udon Thani Province of Northeast Thailand (1990).
 * Song, spoken by about 30,000 in central and northern Thailand (2000).

Registers
Central Thai is composed of several distinct registers, forms for different social contexts:
 * Street or Common Thai (, phasa phut, spoken Thai): informal, without polite terms of address, as used between close relatives and friends.
 * Elegant or Formal Thai (, phasa khian, written Thai): official and written version, includes respectful terms of address; used in simplified form in newspapers.
 * Rhetorical Thai: used for public speaking.
 * Religious Thai: (heavily influenced by Sanskrit and Pāli) used when discussing Buddhism or addressing monks.
 * Royal Thai (ราชาศัพท์, racha sap): influenced by Khmer, this is used when addressing members of the royal family or describing their activities. (See .)

Most Thais can speak and understand all of these contexts. Street and Elegant Thai are the basis of all conversations. Rhetorical, religious, and royal Thai are taught in schools as part of the national curriculum.

Script
Thai is written in the Thai script, an abugida written from left to right. Many scholars believe that it is derived from the Khmer script. Certainly the numbers were lifted directly from Khmer. The language and its script are closely related to the Lao language and script. Most literate Lao are able to read and understand Thai, as more than half of the Thai vocabulary, grammar, intonation, vowels and so forth are common with the Lao language.

Much like the Burmese adopted the Mon script (which also has Indic origins), the Thais adopted and modified the Khmer script to create their own writing system. While in Thai the pronunciation can largely be inferred from the script, the orthography is complex, with silent letters to preserve original spellings and many letters representing the same sound. While the oldest known inscription in the Khmer language dates from 611 CE, inscriptions in Thai writing began to appear around 1292 CE. Notable features include:


 * 1) It is an abugida script, in which the implicit vowel is a short in a syllable without final consonant and a short  in a syllable with final consonant.
 * 2) Tone markers, if present, are placed above the final onset consonant of the syllable.
 * 3) Vowels sounding after an initial consonant can be located before, after, above or below the consonant, or in a combination of these positions.

Transcription
There is no universally applied method for transcribing Thai into the Latin alphabet. For example, the name of the main airport is transcribed variously as Suvarnabhumi, Suwannaphum, or Suwunnapoom. Guide books, textbooks and dictionaries may each follow different systems. For this reason, most language courses recommend that learners master the Thai script.

Official standards are the Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS), published by the Royal Institute of Thailand, and the almost identical defined by the International Organization for Standardization. The RTGS system is increasingly used in Thailand by central and local governments, especially for road signs. Its main drawbacks are that it does not indicate tone or vowel length. As the system is based on pronunciation, not orthography, reconstruction of Thai spelling from RTGS romanisation is not possible.

Transliteration
The ISO published an international standard for the transliteration of Thai into Roman script in September 2003 (ISO 11940). By adding diacritics to the Latin letters it makes the transcription reversible, making it a true transliteration. Notably, this system is used by Google Translate, although it does not seem to appear in many other contexts, such as textbooks and other instructional media.

Initials
Standard Thai distinguishes three voice-onset times among plosive and affricate consonants:
 * voiced
 * tenuis (unvoiced, unaspirated)
 * aspirated

Where English makes a distinction between voiced and unvoiced aspirated, Thai distinguishes a third sound - the unvoiced, unaspirated  that occurs in English only as an allophone of , for example after an  as in the sound of the p in "spin". There is similarly an alveolar, ,  triplet in Thai. In the velar series there is a, pair and in the postalveolar series a ,  pair, but the language lacks the corresponding voiced sounds  and. (In loanwords from English, English and  are borrowed as the tenuis stops  and .)

In each cell below, the first line indicates International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the second indicates the Thai characters in initial position (several letters appearing in the same box have identical pronunciation). Note also that ห, one of the two h letters, is also used to help write certain tones (described below).


 * ฃ and ฅ are no longer used. Thus, modern Thai is said to have 42 consonant letters.
 * Initial อ is silent and therefore considered as a glottal stop.

Finals
Although the overall 44 Thai consonant letters provide 21 sounds in case of initials, the case for finals is different. For finals, only eight sounds, as well as no sound, called mātrā are used. To demonstrate, at the end of a syllable, บ and ด  are devoiced, becoming pronounced as  and  respectively. Additionally, all plosive sounds are unreleased. Hence, final, , and sounds are pronounced as , , and  respectively.

Of the consonant letters, excluding the disused ฃ and ฅ, six (ฉ ผ ฝ ห อ ฮ) cannot be used as a final and the other 36 are grouped as following.


 * * The glottal plosive appears at the end when no final follows a short vowel

Clusters
In Thai, each syllable in a word is considered separate from the others, so combinations of consonants from adjacent syllables are never recognised as a cluster. Thai has phonotactical constraints that define permissible syllable structure, consonant clusters, and vowel sequences. Original Thai vocabulary introduces only 11 combined consonantal patterns:
 * (กร), (กล),  (กว)
 * (ขร,คร), (ขล,คล),  (ขว,คว)
 * (ปร), (ปล)
 * (พร), (ผล,พล)
 * (ตร)

The number of clusters increases when a few more combinations are presented in loanwords such as (ทร) in  (, from Sanskrit indrā) or  (ฟร) in  (, from English free); however, it can be observed that Thai language supports only those in initial position, with either, , or  as the second consonant sound and not more than two sounds at a time.

Vowels
The vowel nuclei of the Thai language are given in the following table. The top entry in every cell is the symbol from the International Phonetic Alphabet, the second entry gives the spelling in the Thai alphabet, where a dash (–) indicates the position of the initial consonant after which the vowel is pronounced. A second dash indicates that a final consonant must follow.

The vowels each exist in long-short pairs: these are distinct phonemes forming unrelated words in Thai, but usually transliterated the same: เขา (khao) means "he" or "she", while ขาว (khao) means "white".

The long-short pairs are as follows:

There are also opening and closing diphthongs in Thai, which analyze as underlyingly  and. For purposes of determining tone, those marked with an asterisk are sometimes classified as long:

Additionally, there are three triphthongs. For purposes of determining tone, those marked with an asterisk are sometimes classified as long:

Tones
There are five phonemic tones: mid, low, falling, high, and rising, sometimes referred to in older reference works as rectus, gravis, circumflexus, altus, and demissus, respectively. The table shows an example of both the phonemic tones and their phonetic realization, in the IPA.



Notes:
 * 1) Five-level tone value: Mid [33], Low [21], Falling [43], High [44], Rising [323]. Traditionally, the high tone was recorded as either [44] or [45]. This remains true for the older generation, but the high tone is changing to [334] among youngsters.
 * 2) For the diachronic changes of tone value, please see Pittayaporn (2007).
 * 3) The full complement of tones exists only in so-called "live syllables", those that end in a long vowel or a sonorant.
 * 4) For "dead syllables", those that end in a plosive or in a short vowel, only three tonal distinctions are possible: low, high, and falling. Because syllables analyzed as ending in a short vowel may have a final glottal stop (especially in slower speech), all "dead syllables" are phonetically checked, and have the reduced tonal inventory characteristic of checked syllables.

Checked syllables
In some English loanwords, closed syllables with long vowel ending in an obstruent sound, have high tone, and closed syllables with short vowel ending in an obstruent sound have falling tone. 1 May be in educated speech.

Grammar
From the perspective of linguistic typology, Thai can be considered to be an analytic language. The word order is subject–verb–object, although the subject is often omitted. Thai pronouns are selected according to the gender and relative status of speaker and audience.

Adjectives and adverbs
There is no morphological distinction between adverbs and adjectives. Many words can be used in either function. They follow the word they modify, which may be a noun, verb, or another adjective or adverb.
 * คนอ้วน (khon uan, ) a fat person
 * คนที่อ้วนเร็ว (khon thi uan reo, ) a person who became fat quickly

Comparatives take the form "A X กว่า B" (kwa, ), A is more X than B. The superlative is expressed as "A X ที่สุด" (thi sut, ), A is most X.
 * เขาอ้วนกว่าฉัน (khao uan kwa chan, ) S/he is fatter than me.
 * เขาอ้วนที่สุด (khao uan thi sut, ) S/he is the fattest (of all).

Because adjectives can be used as complete predicates, many words used to indicate tense in verbs (see Verbs:Tense below) may be used to describe adjectives.
 * ฉันหิว (chan hiu, ) I am hungry.
 * ฉันจะหิว (chan cha hiu, ) I will be hungry.
 * ฉันกำลังหิว (chan kamlang hiu, ) I am hungry right now.
 * ฉันหิวแล้ว (chan hiu laeo, ) I am already hungry.


 * Remark ฉันหิวแล้ว mostly means "I am hungry right now" because normally, แล้ว marks the change of a state, but แล้ว has many other uses as well. For example, in the sentence, แล้วเธอจะไปไหน : So where are you going?, แล้ว  is used as a discourse particle.

Verbs
Verbs do not inflect. They do not change with person, tense, voice, mood, or number; nor are there any participles. The passive voice is indicated by the insertion of ถูก (thuk, ) before the verb. For example:
 * ฉันตีเขา (chan ti khao, ), I hit him.
 * เขาตีฉัน (khao ti chan, ), He hit me.
 * เขาถูกตี (khao thuk ti, ), He is hit. This describes an action that is out of the receiver's control and, thus, conveys suffering.

To convey the opposite sense, a sense of having an opportunity arrive, ได้ (dai,, can) is used. For example:
 * เขาจะได้ไปเที่ยวเมืองลาว (khao cha dai pai thiao mueang lao, ), He gets to visit Laos.

Note, dai ( and ), though both spelled ได้, convey two separate meanings. The short vowel dai conveys an opportunity has arisen and is placed before the verb. The long vowel dai is placed after the verb and conveys the idea that one has been given permission or one has the ability to do something. Also see the past tense below.


 * เขาตีได้ (khao ti dai, ), He is/was allowed to hit or He is/was able to hit

Negation is indicated by placing ไม่ (mai, not) before the verb.
 * เขาไม่ตี, (khao mai ti) He is not hitting. or He doesn't hit.

Tense is conveyed by tense markers before or after the verb.
 * Present can be indicated by กำลัง (kamlang,, currently) before the verb for ongoing action (like English -ing form), by อยู่ (yu, ) after the verb, or by both. For example:
 * เขากำลังวิ่ง (khao kamlang wing, ), or
 * เขาวิ่งอยู่ (khao wing yu, ), or
 * เขากำลังวิ่งอยู่ (khao kamlang wing yu, ), He is running.


 * Future can be indicated by จะ (cha,, "will") before the verb or by a time expression indicating the future. For example:
 * เขาจะวิ่ง (khao cha wing, ), He will run or He is going to run.


 * Past can be indicated by ได้ (dai,, "did") before the verb or by a time expression indicating the past. However, แล้ว (laeo, :, already) is often used to indicate the past tense by being placed behind the verb. Or, both ได้ and แล้ว are put together to form the past tense expression. For example:
 * เขาได้กิน (khao dai kin, ), He ate.
 * เขากินแล้ว (khao kin laeo,, He has eaten.
 * เขาได้กินแล้ว (khao dai kin laeo, ), He's already eaten.

Tense markers are not required.
 * ฉันกินที่นั่น (chan kin thinan, ), I eat there.
 * ฉันกินที่นั่นเมื่อวาน (chan kin thinan mueawan), I ate there yesterday.
 * ฉันกินที่นั่นพรุ่งนี้ (chan kin thinan phrungni), I'll eat there tomorrow.

Thai exhibits serial verb constructions, where verbs are strung together. Some word combinations are common and may be considered set phrases.
 * เขาไปกินข้าว (khao pai kin khao, ) He went out to eat, literally He go eat rice
 * ฉันฟังไม่เข้าใจ (chan fang mai khao chai, ) I don't understand what was said, literally I listen not understand
 * เข้ามา (khao ma, ) Come in, literally enter come
 * ออกไป! (ok pai, ) Leave! or Get out!, literally exit go

Nouns
Nouns are uninflected and have no gender; there are no articles.

Nouns are neither singular nor plural. Some specific nouns are reduplicated to form collectives: เด็ก (dek, child) is often repeated as เด็ก ๆ (dek dek) to refer to a group of children. The word พวก (phuak, ) may be used as a prefix of a noun or pronoun as a collective to pluralize or emphasise the following word. (พวกผม, phuak phom,, we, masculine; พวกเรา phuak rao, , emphasised we; พวกหมา phuak ma, (the) dogs). Plurals are expressed by adding classifiers, used as measure words (ลักษณนาม), in the form of noun-number-classifier (ครูห้าคน, "teacher five person" for "five teachers"). While in English, such classifiers are usually absent ("four chairs") or optional ("two bottles of beer" or "two beers"), a classifier is almost always used in Thai (hence "chair four item" and "beer two bottle").

Possession in Thai is indicated by adding the word "khong" in front of the noun or pronoun, but it may often be omitted. For example:
 * ลูกของแม่ (luk khong mae) = "child belonging to mother" English = mother's child
 * นาอา (na a) = "field uncle" English = uncle's field

Pronouns
Subject pronouns are often omitted, with nicknames used where English would use a pronoun. See informal and formal names for more details. Pronouns, when used, are ranked in honorific registers, and may also make a T–V distinction in relation to kinship and social status. Specialised pronouns are used for those with royal and noble titles, and for clergy. The following are appropriate for conversational use:

The reflexive pronoun is ตัวเอง (tua eng), which can mean any of: myself, yourself, ourselves, himself, herself, themselves. This can be mixed with another pronoun to create an intensive pronoun, such as ตัวผมเอง (tua phom eng, lit: I myself) or ตัวคุณเอง (tua khun eng, lit: you yourself). Thai also does not have a separate possessive pronoun. Instead, possession is indicated by the particle ของ (khong). For example, "my mother" is แม่ของผม (mae khong phom, lit: mother of I). This particle is often implicit, so the phrase is shortened to แม่ผม (mae phom). Plural pronouns can be easily constructed by adding the word พวก (phuak) in front of a singular pronoun as in พวกเขา (phuak khao) meaning they or พวกเธอ (phuak thoe) meaning the plural sense of you. The only exception to this is เรา (rao), which can be used as singular (informal) or plural, but can also be used in the form of พวกเรา (phuak rao), which is only plural.

Thai has many more pronouns than those listed above. Their usage is full of nuances. For example:


 * "ผม เรา ฉัน ดิฉัน หนู กู ข้า กระผม ข้าพเจ้า กระหม่อม อาตมา กัน ข้าน้อย ข้าพระพุทธเจ้า อั๊ว เขา" all translate to "I", but each expresses a different gender, age, politeness, status, or relationship between speaker and listener.
 * เรา (rao) can be first person (I), second person (you), or both (we), depending on the context.
 * Children or younger female could use or being referred by word หนู (nu) when talking with older person. The word หนู could be both feminine first person (I) and feminine second person (you) and also neuter first and neuter second person for children.
 * หนู commonly means rat or mouse. It could refers to small creature in general
 * The second person pronoun เธอ (thoe) (lit: you) is semi-feminine. It is used only when the speaker or the listener (or both) are female. Males usually don't address each other by this pronoun.
 * Both คุณ (khun) and เธอ (thoe) are polite neuter second person pronouns. However, คุณเธอ (khun thoe) is a feminine derogative third person.
 * Instead of a second person pronoun such as "คุณ" (you), it is much more common for unrelated strangers to call each other "พี่ น้อง ลุง ป้า น้า อา ตา ยาย" (brother/sister/aunt/uncle/granny).
 * To express deference, the second person pronoun is sometimes replaced by a profession, similar to how, in English, presiding judges are always addressed as "your honor" rather than "you". In Thai, students always address their teachers by "ครู" or "คุณครู" or "อาจารย์" (each means "teacher") rather than คุณ (you).  Teachers, monks, and doctors are almost always addressed this way.

Particles
The particles are often untranslatable words added to the end of a sentence to indicate respect, a request, encouragement or other moods (similar to the use of intonation in English), as well as varying the level of formality. They are not used in elegant (written) Thai. The most common particles indicating respect are ครับ (khrap,, with a high tone) when the speaker is male, and ค่ะ (kha, , with a falling tone) when the speaker is female. Used in a question or a request, the particle ค่ะ (falling tone) is changed to a คะ (high tone).

Other common particles are:

Register
As noted above, Thai has several registers, each having certain usages, such as colloquial, formal, literary, and poetic. Thus, the word "eat" can be กิน (kin; common), แดก (daek; vulgar), ยัด (yat; vulgar), บริโภค (boriphok; formal), รับประทาน (rapprathan; formal), ฉัน (chan; religious), or เสวย (sawoei; royal), as illustrated below: Thailand also uses the distinctive Thai six-hour clock in addition to the 24-hour clock.

Vocabulary
Other than compound words and words of foreign origin, most words are monosyllabic.

Chinese-language influence was strong until the 13th century when the use of Chinese characters was abandoned, and replaced by Sanskrit and Pali scripts. However, the vocabulary of Thai retains many words borrowed from Middle Chinese.

Later most vocabulary was borrowed from Sanskrit and Pāli; Buddhist terminology is particularly indebted to these. Indic words have a more formal register, and may be compared to Latin and French borrowings in English. Old Khmer has also contributed its share, especially in regard to royal court terminology. Since the beginning of the 20th century, however, the English language has had the greatest influence, especially for scientific, technical, international, and other modern terms. Many Teochew Chinese words are also used, some replacing existing Thai words (for example, the names of basic numbers; see also Sino-Xenic).

Chinese-origin
From Middle Chinese or Teochew Chinese.

Khmer-origin
From Old Khmer.

Portuguese-origin
The Portuguese were the first Western-nation to arrive in what is modern-day Thailand in the 16th century during the Ayutthaya period. Its influence in trade, especially weaponry, allowed them to establish a community just outside the capital and practice their faith, as well as exposing and converting the locals to Christianity. Thus, Portuguese words involving trade and religion were introduced and used by the locals.