Okay, so today we’ll continue with Part 2 of our Thai Tones review. Before we go further down the rabbit hole, here are the answers to yesterday’s “quiz”:

• จะ /jà/ Mid-class consonant with Dead Syllable = low tone
• มา /maa/ Mid-class consonant with Live Syllable = mid tone
• ห้า /hâa/ High-class consonant with ้ /mái too/= falling tone
• ไจ /jai/ Mid-class consonant with Live Syllable = mid tone
• โต่ /dtòo/Mid-class consonant with ่ /mái èek/ = low tone

And the answer to the bonus question is ใหม่ /mài/. High-class consonant with ่ /mái èek/ = low tone

Did you get that last one? It was a bit of a trick question, especially if you haven’t read my post The Elusive hɔ̌ɔ hìip – ห (หีบ).

Sonorant vs. Non-Sonorant Syllable Endings

I apologize for leaving this out in yesterday’s post. I realized after the fact that I probably should have included it in Part 1. The true measure of whether or not a syllable is a “live” or “dead” ending depends on whether or not the end of the syllable is sonorant or non-sonorant.

Sonorant, “Live” Endings

In the case of a syllable that ends in a long vowel or one of the exclusions we spoke about yesterday, those are considered sonorant endings – “live” endings. I try to think of these as endings that don’t stop abruptly.

Now, this is pretty easy to understand, but not all syllables end with vowels. In fact, dare I say at least half of the time a syllable will contain a final consonant. In these cases, the general rule is that a syllable with a final consonant will have a sonorant ending if the final consonant sound is N, M, NG, Y, or W. You can look at my post on consonants, and also in my Cheat Sheets guide on the Downloads page for a list of these final consonant sounds.

By the way, live endings are also known as คำเป็น /kam bpen/ in Thai.

So, to review, live endings:

• Final consonant sound of N, M, NG, Y, or W
• Long vowel
• Any of the exception vowels that have live endings with no final consonant present

Non-Sonorant, “Dead” Endings

If a syllable ends in a short vowel (not including the exceptions previously mentioned) or with a final consonant that has a K, P, or T sound, it is considered to have a dead ending. In those cases, you can see on the chart what the appropriate tone should be. However, a small problem occurs for syllables that have a low-class initial consonant. As you can see on the chart, in the case of a low-class consonant with a dead syllable you have to then take into consideration the vowel length in order to determine tone. Here are some examples:

มาก /mâak/
This syllable (it’s a word, actually) has a low-class initial consonant with a dead ending (the “k” sound). It also has a long vowel, so looking at the chart we see that this syllable should have a falling tone.

ทุก /túk/
This syllable (also a word, to be exact) has a low-class initial consonant with a dead ending (the “k” sound). In this case, however, it has a short vowel, so looking at the chart we see that this syllable should have a high tone.

Oh yeah, and by the way, dead endings are known as คำตาย /kam dtai/.

Do you see how it works now? It’s really not that difficult despite its appearance. All it takes is some memorization and practice and you’ll get it; I promise.