1.) short (ä) - อะ
Lesson 1 - "a"sound vowels
This "a" sound vowel is pronounced with a short duration. It is an open vowel so it can't be located in between two consonants in a three letter syllable.
To illustrate, the word (kra) shows the right location of "a" vowel, but (rak) has wrong position since the short vowel อะ (äa) is not a closed vowel.
However, you will also find out that the symbol of the short vowel อะ (ä) is also used in another form of vowel combinations that we will also discuss in our future lessons.
2.) long (aah) - อา
This "a" sound vowel is pronounced with a long duration. It can be an open or closed vowel.
open- ปลา - plaah (fish) closed- ปาก - paahk (mouth)
Let's practice reading these vowels by combining it together with our first set of Thai consonants: go-gai - ก do-dek -ด mo-ma - ม
ก - gor-gai is pronounced as "g" or in between (gk) for the initial sound.
กา - gah (crow)
but for the final sound it is pronounced as "k".
มาก - mak (much)
initial g-
final - k
Reading Practice:
อะ กะ อา กา
ä gä aah gaah
กะอะ อะกะ กะอา
gä-ä ä-gä gä-aah
กากา กาก อากกา
gaah-gaah gaahk aahk-gaah
ด - do-dek is pronounced as "d" for the initial sound.
example: ดาบ - daahp (sword)
but for the final sound it is pronounced as "t".
example: กอด - got (hug)
initial d-
final - t
initial m-
final - m
ม
mo- ma is pronounced "m" for both the initial and final sound.
Reading Practice:
ดะ ดา มะ
dä daah mä
มา มากะ ดามา
maah maah-gä daah-maah
กามามะ มาด กะดะ
gaah-maah-mä maaht gä-dä
3.) Other short "a" sound
These other short "a" vowels are pronounced nearly the same as with the short "a" vowel sound in English.
The (u) - อั vowel is a closed vowel. It is the same with the vowel "u" pronounced as short "a" in English. Example: gun, cut, run
It should be always in between consonants in a syllable.
The -รร- is not usually considered as a vowel, but it represents the (a) vowel in certain words. (This should not be mistaken to the consonant ร - ro ruea)
If the (a)- รร as a vowel is used without a final consonant. Then (n) is implied as the final consonant. Let's use as an example the word สวรรค์ (heaven). Though (ค) do-dek is the last consonant , but it has a silence symbol (ค์). So instead of reading it as sa-wat, it should be read as sa-wan.
(u) - อั
(a)- รร
กับ - gap (with)
ธรรม - tham (fair)
(a) Unwritten
สมอง -s(a)mong (brain)
Thai language has a combination of consonants that is not easy to blend together. The unwritten (a) vowel is a hardly-perceptible vowel sound that is inserted in-between the consonants.
This becomes an unwritten -ะ sound, a very short (a) vowel. It is like you're forcing the (a) sound in between the consonants. This is one of the reason why most Thai people usually pronounce some English words for example the word stand as s(a)tand and slowly as s(a)lowly. Keeping this in mind can be a great help for you to speak like a native Thai.
Reading Practice:
อัก มัก กัก ดัก
มักมาก ดักดาม กรรม
มกาม กมาม กรรมกาด