Now that you’ve learned the five tones to Thai, and got them pretty well embedded in your head, now I will tell you that Thai people intentionally use the wrong tones when they speak. How’s that for a head spin, eh?

I’m definitely no expert at it, but there is one rule I’ve figured out . . . let’s say you want to describe something, and you want to add a friendly emotional fun emphasis to it. Normally what you’d do is just repeat the word twice, for example:

อร่อยมากๆ Very very delicious.

But there is another way to say it, where you repeat the word twice, but make the first time you say it a high tone. For example:

อร๊อยอร่อย Yummy! (อร๊อย is pronounced longer than อร่อย)

อร่อยมั๊กมาก Very yummy! (มั๊ก is มาก, just pronounced with a short high tone)

You basically say the descriptive word twice, but the first one is always a high tone and slightly exaggerated, while the second is usually falling or low tone. Depending on various factors, vowel length also changes as described above.
What if you have a polysyllabic word?
ลำบากมาก Very distressed. (ลำบาก is a feeling of hardship)

ลำบ๊ากลำบาก Super hard and stressful!

Now, that second example is pronounced more like ลำบ๊ากลำบัก, with the last syllable shortened. Just picture an old lady yelling this out, describing what life is like out in the country.

More examples:

งง confused

ง๊งงง clueless, dumbfounded

หิว hungry

หิ๊วหิว starving (an friendly exaggeration, not literally)

สบายมาก Very relaxed.

สบ๊ายสบาย Totally chill.

ไกล far

ไกล๊ไกล really really far

Anyway, Thais don’t break tone rules like this very often, so don’t overdue it. It’s the kind of thing to say when you are being playful around people you’re close to, and what to emphasize something.

Now if you like this article, you must say ช๊อบชอบ =)