There are three consonants ย (YOR), ว (WOR) and อ (OR), which you will come to later, which are sometimes used as vowels. They are mostly used in combinations with other vowels but ว and อ may be used alone.

-ว	When used between two consonants has the sound of “oo-a”.
-ัว	This takes the place of ว when there is no final consonant and has exactly the same sound.

Both these forms are represented in the transliteration by “OO-A”.

	มวน		MOO-AN	To roll
	ตัว		DTOO-A	Body

-วย	This has the sound of “oue” in the French word “Roué”. It is represented in the transliteration by “OO-AY”.
-อ	This vowel may be pronounced long as in “claw” (British pronunciation; Americans must guard against sounding the “r”) or short as in “song”.

Thai writing gives no indication as to whether the pronunciation in a particular word is long or short and you can only learn by listening to a Thai speaking.

In the transliteration it is represented in both cases by “OR”. Ask your teacher to say the following words and note the difference.

Long pronunciation.

	พ่อ	POR	“Father”	rhymes with	“law”
	บอก	BORK	“Speak”	”	“talk”
	ก่อน	GORN	“Before”	”	“lawn”
	ร้อน	RORN	“Hot”	”	“lawn”

Short pronunciation.

	สอง		SORNG	“Two”	”	“song”
	ห้อง		HORNG	“Room”	”	“wrong”
	ยอม		YORM	“Agree”	”	“from”
	คลอง		KLORNG	“Canal”	”	“long”

-อย	This has the sound of “oy” in “Boy”. It is represented in the transliteration by “OY”.

Generated by Lyndon Hill on Thu Jul 20 18:40:31 BST 2006.

Copyright remains with the original authors.