Direct consecutive consonants (อักษรควบ [ak\ sô:n\/ khu:ap/\]) can appear in Thai script as six different types:

I.	True Cluster be pronounced together	อักษรควบแท้ [ak\ sa:wn\/ khu:ap/\ thae:/]
II.	False Cluster are pronounced as a single consonants	อักษรควบไม่แท้ [ak\ sa:wn\/ khu:ap/\ may/\ thae:/]
III.	Leading consonants not pronounceable as a unit	อักษรควบที่ใช้อักษรนำ [ak\ sa:wn\/ khu:ap/\ thi:/\ tschai/ ak\ sa:wn\/ nam/]
IV.	Leading consonants as tone signs are silent consonants
V.	Two consonants as a complete syllable Initial consonant plus final consonant
VI.	Double final consonants These are only a few exceptions

 

I. True Cluster

This are consecutive consonants whose expressed together. While this applies to other pairs of consonants (for example, we may pronounce a word such as "ski" slightly), Thai grammar defines, however, only a limited number of combinations, that can be expressed together. These are true clusters. Others are not pronounceable for a Thai.

An initial consonant ก, ข, ค, ต, ป, ผ, or พ followed by ร, ล, or ว can be a true cluster. But even here, not all combinations are possible, as shown in the table: In the left column is the first consonant, above are the possible following consonants. A dash means that this combination can not be pronounced together.

	ร	ล	ว
ก	เกรง [gre:ng--]	เกล็น [glen--]	กว่า [gwa:\]
ข	ขรึม [khreum\/]	ขลุ่ย [khluy\]	ขวัญ [khwan\/]
ค	เครื่อง [khreu:ang/\]	คลอง [khla:wng--]	ความ [khwa:m--]
ต	ตระกูล [dtra\ gu:n--]	-	-
ป	เปรียบ [bpri:ap\]	ปลา [bpla:--]	-
ผ	-	ผลัด [phlat\]	-
พ	พระ [phra/]	พลอย [phla:wy--]	-

 

Other combinations maybe added for loanwords, but may not be pronounced together by Thais in any case. This is partly dependent on how well they master the language, from which the loanword comes. A Thai with good English skills, for example, can pronounce the words เบรค [bre:k\], บลูเบอร์รี่ [blu:-- boe:-- ri:/\] or ดรากอน [dra:-- ga:wn--]correctly, although these combinations are not defined in the Thai grammar.

Special consideration is necessary for a วas second consonant after ก, ข or ค. According to the above table is this a true cluster. This, however, only if the ว is not part of a vowel combination. At the word แกว [gae:o--]for example, we have กว in a row, but it is not a cluster.

The above table would also contain a word like ผรุสวาท [pha\ rut/ sa\ wa:t\] but the combination ผรis explicitly not included (-).

Not a true cluster is in the following word, because the second character is a vowel:

กฤตย [grit\ ta\ ja\]

v. anc. poet. machen, tun

 

II. False Cluster

Some pairs of consonants (จ, ซ, ท, ส, ศ or ร whit ร as second consonant) may have a specific function and are pronounced differently than expected.

Written	Spoken	Examples
ทร	ซ	ทราบ [sa:p/\]
ทร	ท	โทร [tho:-- ra/]
สร/ศร	ส/ศ	สร้าง [sa:ng/\] / ศราทธ์ [sa:t\]
ซร	ซ	ไซร้ [say/]
จร	จ	จริง [jing--]

In these cases, the second consonant รis silent, and the consonant group for determination of the tone pitch ist the group of the spoken consonant.

In the combination ทร the sound changes in the first case, but not in the second. There are also words like ทรมาน [thô:-- ra/ ma:n--] and นิทรา [nit/ thra:--]which act both against the rules. Also for ศร there are several words that do not follow the rules.

Wie kann man derartige Ausnahmen und die Ausnahmen davon in Regeln definieren? Garnicht. Wenn man die Wörter nicht kennt, die mit diesen Konsonantenpaaren beginnen, kann man sich nicht sicher sein. Man muss die Wörter lernen, wie sie sind, dann weiß man es zukünftig.

 

III. Leading consonants

When the two consonants were clearly recognized as beginning consonants and can not be expressed together, therefore not be regarded as true cluster, then the single written syllable is pronounced as two syllables with a short "a" inserted after the leading consonant. Linguistically, this process is called epenthesis, and is also known to us.

The rules by which the tone of the two syllables of speech is determined is declared at the tone rules. Such syllables have no additional tone sign - which also helps to identify preceding consonants of this type.

ขนม [kha\ nom\/]	Once three consecutive consonants are localized as a distinct unit, the last of which can only be the final consonant, the other two initial consonants.
ถนน [tha\ non\/]
แขนง [kha\ nae:ng\/]	Pitfalls: Here the preceding vowel of the second syllable shifts in front of the preceding consonant.
เจริญ [ja\ roe:n-- ]
กเรนทร์ [ga\ re:n--]	The fact that there is another way, this example shows: prefix consonant before the vowel of the second syllable. This is not a cluster.
สนุก [sa\ nuk\]	The position of the vocal makes the second part of the speech syllable clearly visible.

An exception exists for the (pre-) syllable บริ-. Here, instead of an "a" an "a:w" is inserted.

บริการ [bô:-- ri/ ga:n--] The Thai transliteration [บอ-ริ-กาน] shows that it is a long "a:w", and the tone is based on a long vowel too. However, it is spoken short. And the tone rule on the second syllable of speech is violated (they do not get the sound in accordance with the class of the preceding consonant).

 

IV. Leading consonants as tone signs

A leading HO HIP หอนำ [ha:w\/ nam--] or leading O ANG ออนำ [a:w--nam--]exclusively serves to give its sound features to the following syllable. Thus, it becomes possible to have syllables with a beginning consonant of class three (low consonants) with a rising or a low tone. They themselves remain silent. A word like งอยwould not have been possible in low tone even with tone signs, because the class of initial consonant งdoes not privide that.

With a leading HO HIP from the second class the next syllable "inherits" the tone rules from this class. However, by the rules of the consonant class 2, a low tone needs an additional tone sign. In this case it is a MAI EEK (see example one in the next table).

This is only necessary with "Unpaired Consonants" from third class. For "Paired Consonants" we have same-sounding counterparts in the first or the second class which can be used for such syllables.
That sounds like as if we have a choice here - but we have not! The scholars who eventually laid down the spelling of a word, they had, and we must keep it in mind.

The following table provides an example for each of the "unpaired consonants" from the third class, preceded by a HO HIP:

หง	หง่อย [nga:wi\]	adj. late, slow
หน	หนู [nu:\/]	n. zool. mouse, rat
หม	หมา [ma:\/]	n. dog;
หย	หยุด [yut\]	v. brake, stop
หร	หรือ [reu:\/]	conj. or
หล	หลับ [lap\]	v. sleep
หว	หวัง [wang\/]	v. expect, hope, want

 

A leading O ANG in front of YO YAK (อย) also for the purpose of a pitch shift occurs in only four Thai words:

อย่า [ya:\]	phr. do not, don't, never
อยาก [ya:k\]	v. crave for (used in a compound verb), desire, want, wish
อย่าง [ya:ng\]	adj. as, like
อยู่ [yu:\]	v. be located at a place, exist, inhabit, live, lodge, remain, reside

 

These four words should be memorized, because they occur frequently. Why was not preceded by a HO HIP as in หยุด [jut\], I can not explain. It would certainly have had the same effect.

The name อยุธยา [a\ yut/ tha/ ya:--] - also starting with อย - does not belong in this group. Here it is just a prefixed consonant with the rules for that type.

 

V. Two consonants as a complete syllable

In all other cases of two consecutive consonants check if they do not have to constitute an entire syllable, with the first beeing the initial and the second the final consonant. Is this the case, then a short "o" is spoken between the first and the second consonant.

กบ [gop\]	n. frog
รส [rot/]	n. flavor, savour
ผล [phon\/]	n. fruit
ส่ง [song\]	v. send, deliver

 

VI. Double final consonants

If a รis appended to a final consonant, there is a double final consonant. The ร however, remains silent in all cases.

สมุทร [sa\ mut\]	n. ocean, sea;
มิตร [mit/]	n. buddy, companion, comrade, fellow, friend
เกษตร [ga\ se:t\]	n. agricultural field;
จักร [jak\]	n. toothed gear wheel, wheel;

For a word with double final consonants รถ or รท the ร remains silent too.

ศารท [sa:t\]

n. harvest festival, harvest time

 

Supplementary

The combination รร is missing on this page, because they neither can stand for a start consonant nor for a final consonant. It is a special form of the vowels -ะ oder -ัน and therefore listed on the vowel page.

Some Thai words have more than three consonants directly next to each other. Since this is always accompanied by several ways of reading, one can hardly decipher this if you do not know the words.

กกกลม [gok\ glom--]	n. bot. Cyperus tegetiformis Roxb. (Cyperaceae), Scirpus mucronatus Linn. (Cyperaceae)
กปณก [ga\ bpa\ nok/]	n. orphan
กทรรป [ga\ thap/]	v. be fond of
For some it may help if you already know partial words:
กรงนก [grong-- nok/]	n. birdcage, roost;
กลลวง [gon-- lu:ang--]	n. fraud, hoax, swindle
Sometimes an additional handicap is a modified pronunciation:
กรกฎ [ga:w-- ra/ got\]	n. cancer, crab
มรกต [ma:w-- ra/ got\]	n. min. emerald, oriental sapphire

 

 

 

 

 

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