Learn the Thai alphabet and writing system from scratch. This guide covers every character you need to read and write Thai. King Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai is credited with creating the Thai alphabet; read the origins of the Sukhothai Kingdom to see where the script came from.
Thai has 44 consonants divided into 3 classes that determine the tone of a syllable:
Thai has 32+ vowel forms. Vowels can appear before, after, above, below, or around the consonant they modify. Vowels come in short and long pairs which affect meaning.
4 written tone marks (่ ้ ๊ ๋) modify the tone of a syllable. Combined with consonant class and vowel length, they produce the 5 Thai tones.
Thai has its own digit system: ๐ ๑ ๒ ๓ ๔ ๕ ๖ ๗ ๘ ๙. Both Arabic and Thai numerals are used in everyday life.