The rules for reading Thai are fairly complex, especially when it comes to determining the tone of the word based on the spelling.

When I first started learning Thai, I preferred to memorize the tone of each word and not bother so much learning the actual rules. In reality, memorizing the tones allows for faster recall when speaking. But when reading, and you come across a word you’ve never seen before, it becomes a problem. You may not have a Thai friend on hand that can pronounce it out for you to help you get the right tone.

Well, you have only one option left – to guess the tone.

Since there are five tones, you have a 20% chance of guessing right. Since the odds are stacked against you, I’ll teach you a few very easy-to-remember tricks that will help you guess with a much higher accuracy. These ‘tricks’ are actually subsets of the more complex rules for speaking Thai, and really helped me when I was first starting to read.

As you already should know, there are four tone marks:

้     ่      ๋      ๊

Remember that a tone mark alone doesn’t always determine the specific tone of the word, but rather it limits the selection.

Rule #1

The first tone mark is  ้, pronounced ‘mai4 toe1’. It somewhat looks like a toe, making the name easy to remember. When you see this mark, the word will always be either a high tone or falling tone, no exceptions. A 50:50 guess.

Rule #2

The second tone mark is  ่, or ‘mai4 ek2’. The symbol somewhat looks like the small of a back, and when I injure my back, I’ll say ‘my back ache’. (I hope that mnemonic helps you remember the name.) When you see this mark, the word automatically becomes either a falling tone or a low tone, no exceptions. Another 50:50 guess.

Rule #3

The third tone mark is ๋, or ‘mai4 dtree1’. It’s a little plus sign, giving you the hint of something being added. In this case, using this tone mark guarantees the word to have a rising tone. There is one exception however, that being the word for noodles. Its written as ก๋วยเตี๋ยว (both are rising tones), but ก๋วย is pronounced with a falling tone. This is the only word I’m aware of that breaks this rule. I typically see this tone mark used for words borrowed/stolen from Chinese.

Rule #4

The last tone mark is  ๊, or mai4ja1dta1waa1. This mark, which I believe is only used for words taken from other languages, guarantees a high tone for the word.

Vocabulary List 3: Guessing Thai Tones

อ่                     ไม้เอก

อ้                     ไม้โท falling or high

อ๊ ไม้ตรี

อ๋                     ไม้จัตวา always rising (except for noodles)