Tones

There are 5 different tones in Thai. You must rise, maintain or lower the relative pitch of your voice to "sing" each word. For example, in English we naturally use a falling tone at the end of a statement (You came.) and a rising tone at the end of a question (You came?).

To be understood in Thai, it is essential that you master the five tones. If you use the wrong tone, you might be saying a completely different word.

Tone Chart

Tone	Traditional Name	Numerical Pitch and Contour Description
	Middle	32
	Low	21
	Falling	451
	High	35
	Rising	215

Unlike musical tones, linguistic tones are not set at specific, absolute pitches like do or C flat. Instead, they are relative. If you start your voice mid-pitched and lower it only a bit during the syllable, that's the tone. If you start your voice at a mid pitch and then rise it to a high pitch, that's . If you start with a mid-low tone of voice and let it drop a bit, that's . And so on.

Instead of using accents or numbering the tones from 1 to 5, this website displays user-friendly symbols

to visually represent the tones of Thai. Simply rise, drop or maintain your voice according to the relative pitches and contours of the tone lines.

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