Thai Tones Explained: The 5 Tones with Examples

The five Thai tones
Tone and mark	How it sounds	Example
Midno mark	Level, in the middle of your normal speaking voice.	คาkaa (mid tone)stuck (in place)
Lowà, grave	Level and low, a little below mid.	ข่าkàa (low tone)galangal
Fallingâ, circumflex	Starts high and falls.	ค่าkâa (falling tone)price, value
Highá, acute	High, often rising a little at the end.	ค้าkáa (high tone)to trade
Risingǎ, caron	Starts low and rises.	ขาkǎa (rising tone)leg

Pitch is relative to your own voice: a deep voice and a high voice both have a mid tone, at different heights. What matters is the shape and the contrast between tones.

How the phonetic spelling shows tones

In Thai script, a syllable’s tone follows from its consonant, its vowel and any tone mark, which takes a while to learn. A phonetic spelling saves you that step: the tone is marked on the vowel, so you can learn to hear and say tones before you read Thai. Thai Flash, and this page, write them like this:

Tones: no mark for mid (kon), à low, â falling, á high, ǎ rising.
Long vowels are doubled (aa, ii, uu), plus ay (เ–), ae (แ–), oh (โ–), aw (–อ), er (เ–อ), ue (–ือ), ia (เ–ีย), ua (–ัว) and uea (เ–ือ). A single e or o is short.
Consonants: bp is ป and dt is ต, unaspirated sounds between b and p, and d and t. p, t and k are aspirated, with a puff of air (พ ผ, ท ถ, ค ข). g is ก, and ng can start a word (ngaan, work).
Hyphens join the syllables of one word (rohng-rian, school), and spaces separate words in a sentence.

Tone colors

Thai Flash colors each syllable of a phonetic spelling by its tone, and so does this page:

mid
low
falling
high
rising

So sà (low tone)-wàt (low tone)-dii (mid tone) (hello) reads as low, low, mid at a glance, and má (high tone)-mûang (falling tone) (mango) as high, falling. The colors only add to the tone marks, which always stay, and screen readers say the tone, so color is never the only signal. In the app you can turn the colors off in Settings.

Minimal pairs to practice

A minimal pair is two words that differ in one sound only, here the tone. Hearing them side by side is the quickest way to start telling tones apart. These sets come from Thai Flash’s tone training, which has 40 of them. Say each set out loud, then cover the meanings and test yourself.

คาว, ข่าว, ข้าว, ขาว

คาวkaaofishy (smell)mid
ข่าวkàaonewslow
ข้าวkâaoricefalling
ขาวkǎaowhiterising

มา, ม้า, หมา

มาmaato comemid
ม้าmáahorsehigh
หมาmǎadogrising

ใหม่, ไม่, ไม้, ไหม

ใหม่màinewlow
ไม่mâinotfalling
ไม้máaiwoodhigh
ไหมmǎisilkrising

เสื่อ, เสื้อ, เสือ

เสื่อsùeamatlow
เสื้อsûeashirt, topfalling
เสือsǔeatigerrising

นา, หน้า, น้า, หนา

นาnaarice fieldmid
หน้าnâafacefalling
น้าnáaaunt or unclehigh
หนาnǎathickrising

เข่า, เข้า, เขา

เข่าkàokneelow
เข้าkâoto enter, to go infalling
เขาkǎohe, sherising

เกา, เก่า, เก้า

เกาgaoto scratchmid
เก่าgàoold (things)low
เก้าgâoninefalling

ไกล, ใกล้

ไกลglaifarmid
ใกล้glâinearfalling

ทราย, ซ้าย, สาย

ทรายsaaisandmid
ซ้ายsáailefthigh
สายsǎailaterising

ไข่, ไข้

ไข่kàiegglow
ไข้kâifeverfalling

Tips for learning tones

Learn the tone with the word. ใกล้ glâi (near) and ไกล glai (far) differ only by tone, so a word learned without its tone is half learned.
Start with the pairs you’ll hear every day: ใหม่ mài (new) and ไม่ mâi (not); เสื้อ sûea (shirt, top) and เสือ sǔea (tiger); ข้าว kâao (rice), ข่าว kàao (news) and ขาว kǎao (white).
Say it before you check it. Recalling a word out loud, tone and all, makes it stick better than reading it again.
Listen more than you think you need to. Your ear learns tones before your mouth does. Short, regular sessions beat long, rare ones.

Spotted a mistake? Tell us at hello@thaiflash.example.