Read Thai · Step 4 of 12

Low-class consonants — group 2

Group 2 is the unpaired low consonants — the sonorantsi: nasalsi (ม, น, ณ, ง), liquidsi (ร, ล, ฬ) and glidesi (ย, ญ, ว). They have no high-class twin. Thai's workaround, which you'll meet in the tone rules, is to put a silent ห in front of them (หมู, หนู, แหวน) to make them behave as high class. Several of the name-words below already use that trick — the transliteration shows you the tone it produces.

Every Thai consonant has a two-part name: its sound plus a word that starts with it — like saying “A for Apple.” So ก is gaw gài: “gaw” is the sound, ไก่ gài means chicken. Tap a card to hear the full name, or the pill to hear just the word.
ง
ngaw nguu
“snake”
ญ
yaw yǐng
“woman”
ณ
naw neen
“novice monk”
น
naw nǔu
“mouse”
ม
maw máa
“horse”
ย
yaw yák
“giant / ogre”
ร
raw ruea
“boat”
ล
law ling
“monkey”
ว
waw wǎen
“ring”
ฬ
law jù-laa
“kite”
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