Lesson 1 : The Most-Important Low-Class Consonnant (Part 1)

Introduction. Thai consonants and vowels are considered separately and are governed by different rules. We plan to introduce such matters to you gradually. The first thing you should he aware of is that Thai consonants number 44 altogether and are divided into three groups:-

(1) 24 low-class consonants;

(2) 9 middle-class consonants;

(3) 11 high-class consonants.

You may wonder why there should he such distinctions between consonants of the same alphabet (the Thai alphabet), but you will understand later on when you learn something about tones. For the time being simply try to learn the consonants gradually, as they are introduced, keeping in mind whether they are low-class, middle-class, or high-class consonants. Do not concern yourself about the tonal distinctions and rules at the beginning if your study of Thai.