Lesson 31

Irregular Consonants , , ,

Reading

In this lesson we cover four more common irregular consonants. They are:

CharacterPronunciationNameMeaningNotes
/th−/, /−t//thɔɔ thoŋ/FlagThe second of the two consonants with no loop.
/ph−/, /−p//phɔɔ sǎmˑ​phaw/Junk (boat)Contrast with .
/y−/, /−n//yɔɔ ​yǐŋ/Woman 
/n−/, /−n//ŋɔɔ neen/Novice monkNote the positions of the loops.

Notes

  1. All four consonants are low class.
  2. (unlike ) changes its pronunciation at the end of a syllable. So, for example, ใหญ่ (big) is pronounced /yày/, whilst สำคัญ (important) is pronounced /sǎmˑkhan/.
  3. When combined with ◌ุ or ◌ู, loses its lower part, i.e. ญุ, ญู.

Here are some common words to practise reading.

 

And here are some slightly less common ones:

 

Writing

Start on the left with a vertical stroke downwards. Complete the character in one, continuous stroke.

Start by drawing the loop anticlockwise.

Start by drawing the loop on the left clockwise. Complete the main body of the character in one stroke. Then draw the lower part.

Start by drawing the top left loop clockwise. Again, the character is written with one continuous stroke.

Note that and are wider than characters we've previously encountered. Remember that the above vowels such as ◌ิ should be written the full width of the character. This is not shown in the worksheet because of limitations with the font.

Download worksheet