Thai Mnemonic for Memorizing Consonant Classes
Posted On September 2, 2025
A Thai teacher I recently spoke to taught me these mnemonic phrases for memorizing Thai consonant classes, commonly referred to as “high” “middle” and “low” classes in English.
Please note that I’m writing this with the assumption that readers should have a basic knowledge of the Thai writing system.
Middle Class (Historically Stopped Consonants)
The mnemonic device is:
ไก่ จิก เด็ก ตาย บน ปาก โอ่งkaj2 cik2 dek2 taːj1 bon1 paːk2 ʔoːŋ2
Meaning: The chicken pecks the child to death at the mouth of a jar.
The middle class of consonants theoretically follows the rules of the Thai Tone (วรรณยุต์) marks to a T:
| Symbol | Pitch |
| กา (no symbol) | Level |
| ก่า | Low |
| ก้า | Falling |
| ก๊า (Not applicable) | N/A |
| ก๋า | Rising |
High Class (Historically aspirated consonants)
The device is:
ผี ฝาก ถุง ข้าว สาร ให้ ฉันpʰiː5 faːk2 tʰuŋ5 kʰaːw3.saːn5 haj3 cʰan5
Meaning: The ghost brings me a bag of rice.
| Symbol | Pitch |
| ผา | Mid |
| ผ่า | Low |
| ผ้า | Falling |
Low Class (Historically voiced consonants)
Unfortunately there is no device and they just memorize the process as such:
| Symbol | Pitch |
| พา (note that this is different from ผ above) | Level |
| พ่า | Falling |
| พ้า | Rising |