Thai alphabet for kids ก ไก่ ถึง ฮ นกฮูก

Thai alphabet chart with pictures

44 letters · tap 🔊 to hear each one.

Picture	Letter	Word	Meaning	Listen
	ก	ไก่	chicken	🔊
	ข	ไข่	egg	🔊
	ฃ	ขวด	bottle	🔊
	ค	ควาย	water buffalo	🔊
	ฅ	คน	person	🔊
	ฆ	ระฆัง	bell	🔊
	ง	งู	snake	🔊
	จ	จาน	plate	🔊
	ฉ	ฉิ่ง	small cymbals	🔊
	ช	ช้าง	elephant	🔊
	ซ	โซ่	chain	🔊
	ฌ	เฌอ	tree	🔊
	ญ	หญิง	woman	🔊
	ฎ	ชฎา	Thai dance headdress	🔊
	ฏ	ปฏัก	elephant goad	🔊
	ฐ	ฐาน	pedestal	🔊
	ฑ	มณโฑ	Montho (a queen in the Ramakien)	🔊
	ฒ	ผู้เฒ่า	old man	🔊
	ณ	เณร	novice monk	🔊
	ด	เด็ก	child	🔊
	ต	เต่า	turtle	🔊
	ถ	ถุง	bag	🔊
	ท	ทหาร	soldier	🔊
	ธ	ธง	flag	🔊
	น	หนู	mouse	🔊
	บ	ใบไม้	leaf	🔊
	ป	ปลา	fish	🔊
	ผ	ผึ้ง	bee	🔊
	ฝ	ฝา	lid	🔊
	พ	พาน	pedestal tray	🔊
	ฟ	ฟัน	tooth	🔊
	ภ	สำเภา	junk (sailing ship)	🔊
	ม	ม้า	horse	🔊
	ย	ยักษ์	giant	🔊
	ร	เรือ	boat	🔊
	ล	ลิง	monkey	🔊
	ว	แหวน	ring	🔊
	ศ	ศาลา	pavilion	🔊
	ษ	ฤๅษี	hermit	🔊
	ส	เสือ	tiger	🔊
	ห	หีบ	chest	🔊
	ฬ	จุฬา	star-shaped kite	🔊
	อ	อ่าง	basin	🔊
	ฮ	นกฮูก	owl	🔊

The Thai alphabet for kids begins with 44 consonants (พยัญชนะ, phayanchana), and every Thai child learns them the same way: each letter has a name made of its sound plus a picture word. ก is ก ไก่ (ko kai, "k as in chicken"), ข is ข ไข่ (kho khai, "kh as in egg"), and the last letter, ฮ, is ฮ นกฮูก (ho nokhuk, owl). Tap any letter on this page to hear its name and see its picture, then play Find it or Memory.

How many letters are in the Thai alphabet?

Thai has 44 consonant letters. Two of them, ฃ (kho khuat, bottle) and ฅ (kho khon, person), are no longer used in modern spelling, but children still learn them in the chant, so they are included here. Thai also has vowel symbols, written above, below, before or after the consonant (you will see about 32 vowel forms in school charts), and four tone marks. Many letters share a sound: there are 44 consonant letters but only 21 different starting sounds. That is why the picture names matter: ค ควาย and ฆ ระฆัง both say "kh", and the picture tells you which letter is meant.

The ก ไก่ chant: how Thai children learn the letters

Thai children recite the consonants in order with their names: ก ไก่, ข ไข่, ฃ ขวด, ค ควาย, ฅ คน, ฆ ระฆัง, ง งู, and so on to ฮ นกฮูก. There is also a traditional rhyming verse that begins ก เอ๋ย ก ไก่, which kindergartens sing to a simple tune. Play the letters in order here, then say them together like a song. Most Thai children can chant the whole list by five or six, long before they can write every letter.

Thai consonants chart with picture words

The table shows all 44 consonants in order with the picture word, how to say the letter name, the meaning, and the consonant class (explained below).

Why the picture words are so Thai

Some picture names are everyday things: ง งู (snake), ช ช้าง (elephant), ต เต่า (turtle), ป ปลา (fish), ม ม้า (horse), ล ลิง (monkey), ส เสือ (tiger). Others open a window on Thai culture: ฎ ชฎา is the pointed headdress worn by classical dancers, ฑ มณโฑ is Montho, a queen from the Ramakien epic, ณ เณร is a young novice monk, ศ ศาลา is an open pavilion, ฤๅษี for ษ is a hermit, and ฬ จุฬา is the big star-shaped kite flown in the hot season. Talk about these pictures with your child; they are a lovely way into Thai stories.

Mid, high and low consonants

Every Thai consonant belongs to a class, and the class helps decide the tone of a syllable. There are 9 mid-class consonants (ก จ ฎ ฏ ด ต บ ป อ), 11 high-class consonants (ข ฃ ฉ ฐ ถ ผ ฝ ศ ษ ส ห) and 24 low-class consonants. Thai schools teach the classes in the first years of primary school. Preschoolers do not need them at all, but parents often find the chart helpful for their own reading. A popular memory trick for the mid class is the sentence ไก่จิกเด็กตายบนปากโอ่ง ("a chicken pecked a child on the rim of a jar"), which covers seven of them; the look-alikes ฎ and ฏ are added to make nine.

Letters that surprise learners

• อ อ่าง (o ang, basin) is a silent carrier: it holds a vowel at the start of a word, as in อ่าง itself.
• ห หีบ (ho hip, chest) can be silent too, when it sits before a low consonant to change the tone, as in หมา (dog).
• ร เรือ (ro ruea, boat) is often said like an "l" in casual speech, but children should hear the rolled r from the audio.
• Look-alike letters such as ด and ค, บ and ป, or ผ and ฝ differ by a small tail or loop. Put pairs side by side and ask your child what is different.

A Thai alphabet plan by age

Write letters big: with a finger in sand, with water on a wall, or in the air. Thai letters start with a small circle (the "head") in most cases, so begin every letter with a little loop.

For heritage and diaspora families

If your child joins weekend Thai classes at a temple or community school, the ก ไก่ chart is always the first step, so playing here during the week makes class feel familiar. There is no Thai alphabet PDF, but you can print this page from your browser: the consonants chart above prints neatly for the wall. Children curious about other scripts can compare it with the Korean alphabet, the Japanese hiragana or the English ABCD.

สอนลูกท่อง ก ไก่

พยัญชนะไทยมี 44 ตัว เด็ก ๆ จะจำได้ง่ายเมื่อท่องพร้อมชื่อและรูปภาพ เช่น ก ไก่ ข ไข่ ค ควาย ไปจนถึง ฮ นกฮูก ลองแตะตัวอักษรทีละตัว ฟังเสียง แล้วท่องตามเป็นจังหวะเหมือนร้องเพลง

ไม่ต้องรีบให้ลูกเขียนนะคะ เริ่มจากการฟังและชี้ภาพก่อน แล้วค่อย ๆ หาตัวอักษรในชื่อของลูก บนป้ายหรือบนห่อขนม เมื่อลูกพร้อม ลองเขียนตัวใหญ่ ๆ บนทรายหรือเขียนกลางอากาศ อย่าลืมเริ่มจากหัวกลม ๆ เล็ก ๆ และชมเชยทุกครั้งที่ลูกพยายาม

How to use this page at home

Say it, then find it

Play for a few minutes, then look for the same thing away from the screen: thai words on the shelf, in the kitchen, on the way to school. A child learns a word properly when they meet it twice, once on the screen and once in their hand.

Ten minutes is enough

Short and happy beats long and tired. Stop while your child still wants more, and come back tomorrow: the same page on five short days teaches far more than one long sitting. Nothing here is scored, so there is no reason to push.

Use both languages

Tap the language button at the top to hear the words in your home language first and the second language after. Hearing the same picture named in two languages is one of the few things research agrees builds attention as well as vocabulary.

Now do it for real

When the screen goes off, do something with your hands. Try 🌿 Does a plant look for light? — an easy science experiment for ages 5-6, with every step read aloud in your language. You will need a small plant in a pot, a window; nothing that needs a trip to a shop.

There are 56 more on the things to do at home page, and free printable worksheets if you would rather have something on paper. Ten minutes on a screen and twenty minutes off it is a good shape for a day at this age.

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