Silent ห
A silent ห can appear before eight different low consonants:
แหง
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ห + ง for sure
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หญิง
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ห+ ญwoman
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หนู
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ห + น mouse
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หมา
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ห+ มdog
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หยุด
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ห + ย, to stop
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หรูหรา
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ห + ร luxurious
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หลัง
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ห + ล back
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แหวน
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ห + ว ring
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Notice that the syllables take on the tone characteristics of ห, which is high class.
Special อ
We’ve seen that อ can be used as an initial consonant before vowels in words like อาบน้ำ (to bathe). It can also be used as an initial consonant before the low consonant ย, but only for four words:
อย่า
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don't
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อยาก
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to want
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อยู่
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to be at
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อย่าง
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way; sort
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Notice that they take on the tone characteristics of อ, which is mid class.
Using อำ before a Low Consonant
In addition to ห and อ, it turns out having a syllable that ends in อำ before a low initial consonant sometimes changes it’s tone:
สำรวจ
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pronounced *สำ-หรวจ survey
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กำเนิด
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pronounced กำ-เหนิด origin
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ดำรัส
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pronounced ดำ-หรัส to speak
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สำนัก
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pronounced สำ-นัก office
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สำรอก
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pronounced สำ-รอก to vomit
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*You may see Thai learning materials break words into syllables using phonetic Thai. For example, instead of สำ-หรวจ, they will write สำ-หรวด. But I avoid phonetic Thai because I want you to use the things that you've already been taught at every opportunity.
Notice that in the first three words, the second syllable follows the tone rules of the first syllable. But there are many exceptions to this rule, as you can see in the last two words, where the second syllables are pronounced as expected.
Exercise 12.1
หงุดหงิด
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annoyed
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หญ้า
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grass
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อย่า
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don't
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หนาว
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cold
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หมอ
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doctor
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อยาก
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to want
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หยาบ
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rude
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หรือ
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or
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อยู่
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to be at
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หลาย
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many
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หวาน
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sweet
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อย่าง
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way; sort
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ตำรวจ
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police
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สำเร็จ
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to succeed
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สำทับ
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to reiterate
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Hidden อะ
Previously, we saw how โอะ becomes hidden when there is a final consonant, for example, โฝะ + น = ฝน. It turns out that อะ can also be hidden. It doesn’t always happen, but when it does, it’s in a syllable without a final consonant which is not the last syllable of the word. Consider these:
สถาบัน
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pronounced สะ-ถา-บัน institution
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ธนาคาร
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pronounced ธะ-นา-คาร bank
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มหาวิทยาลัย
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pronounced มะ-หา-วิ-ทะ-ยา-ลัยuniversity
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When I first try to read these words, how do I know that อะ is being used? For สถาบัน, I know it can’t be สถ + าบัน because า needs an initial consonant. And ส must be followed by อะ because the only other hidden vowel is โอะ, and it only occurs with a final consonant. Same logic for ธนาคาร. For มหาวิทยาลัย, ห isn’t a valid end consonant so มห isn’t a syllable, and ม must be followed by อะ since โอะ would need a final consonant. ทย isn’t on the list of valid consonant clusters, and there is no โอะ+ย or โอะ+ย+า complex vowel, so ท must be followed by อะ. Don’t worry too much about this right now; parsing the text may be the hardest thing about reading Thai. But the combination of a lot of practice reading, and the unavoidable memorizing of words along the way, will make parsing new words much more natural.
Another feature of hidden อะ is that, when the following syllable is low consonant, it normally takes on the tone behavior of the syllable that has the อะ. For example, ตลาด is pronounced ตะ-หลาด, not ตะ-ลาด. But there are exceptions. For example, ขโมย is pronounced ขะ-โมย.
ตลาด
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pronounced ตะ-หลาดmarket
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ถนน
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pronounced ถะ-หนนroad
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พยายาม
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pronounced พะ-ยา-ยามto attempt
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ขโมย
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pronounced ขะ-โมย thief; to steal
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In ตลาด, ลาด is a low consonant syllable that follows ต + hidden อะ, so it must take on the tone rules of ต, which is a mid consonant. A mid consonant syllable ending in าด is dead, which makes the tone low. I wrote it as หลาด above because there is no ล sound mid consonant. The same logic is used for ถนน, but in this case นน takes on the tone rules of high consonant ถ, so it must be pronounced as หนน. Notice that for พยายาม there is no tone change to ยาม because พ is also a low consonant.
Exercise 12.2
บุคลิก
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personality
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อร่อย
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delicious
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ขนม
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snack
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สมอง
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brain
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ขยะ
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trash
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จมูก
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nose
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ผลิต
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to produce
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มารยาท
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manners
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กรกฎาคม
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July
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สนุก
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fun
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สภาพ
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condition
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Read 12
Read this passage out loud.