New Thai Letters
Here are the new letters for this lesson. The Thai script does not have capital and lowercase forms—letters are written the same way everywhere in a sentence.
- จ: makes a "j" sound
- ผ: makes a "p" sound
- ถ: makes a "t" sound
- ใ: makes an "ai" sound (like "aisle")
- ุ: makes a short "u" sound (placed below a consonant)
- ็: shortens the vowel sound (placed above a consonant)
- ๊: tone mark for the high tone
- ๋: tone mark for the rising tone
Basic Word Order and Pronouns
Thai sentences follow a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) word order, just like English. To build a basic sentence, you need a pronoun, a verb, and a noun.
Here are the core personal pronouns:
- ผม (I, used by male speakers)
- ฉัน (I, used by female speakers or neutrally)
- คุณ (you)
- เขา (he, she, they)
- มัน (it)
Plural Pronouns
To make a pronoun plural, place the word พวก in front of it. For example, พวก (group) + เขา (he/she) becomes พวกเขา (they).
Pronouns as Objects
Thai pronouns do not change their spelling or form when they become the object of a sentence. For example, มัน means "it" whether it is doing the action or receiving it.
Dropping Subjects (The "Zero-Pronoun")
In English, you must always state the subject of a sentence. In Thai, if it is obvious who or what you are talking about, you can simply omit the subject (and sometimes even the object).
When speaking about yourself in a clear context, it is extremely natural in Thai to drop the word for "I" and jump straight into the verb!
