Editing Thai language (section)

==== Initials ====
Standard Thai distinguishes three [[voice-onset time]]s among plosive and affricate consonants:
*[[voiced consonant|voiced]]
*[[tenuis consonant|tenuis]] (unvoiced, unaspirated)
*[[aspirated consonant|aspirated]]

Where English makes a distinction between voiced {{IPA|/b/}} and unvoiced aspirated {{IPA|/pʰ/}}, Thai distinguishes a third sound – the unvoiced, unaspirated {{IPA|/p/}} that occurs in English only as an allophone of {{IPA|/pʰ/}}, for example after an {{IPA|/s/}} as in the sound of the ''p'' in "spin". There is similarly a laminal denti-alveolar{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} {{IPA|/d/}}, {{IPA|/t/}}, {{IPA|/tʰ/}} triplet in Thai. In the velar series there is a {{IPA|/k/}}, {{IPA|/kʰ/}} pair and in the postalveolar series a {{IPA|/tɕ/}}, {{IPA|/tɕʰ/}} pair, without the corresponding voiced sounds {{IPA|/ɡ/}} and {{IPA|/dʑ/}}. (In loanwords from English, English {{IPA|/ɡ/}} and {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}} are borrowed as the tenuis stops {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/tɕ/}}.)

In each cell below, the first line indicates [[help:IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA), the second indicates the Thai characters in initial position. Note that several letters appearing in the same box have identical pronunciation. In such cases, one of the letters may serve as the "default", being more common and/or preferred for borrowings from English and such; for example, น in the case of "n" and ส for "s". The letter ห, the default "h" letter, is also used to help write certain tones (described below).

{|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
! colspan=2|
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]/ <br> [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! ([[Alveolo-palatal consonant|Alveolo-]]) <br> [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan=2| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|m}}<br />ม
| style="background-color: #cfc" | {{IPAslink|n}}<br />ณ, น
|
| style="background-color: #fcc" | {{IPAslink|ŋ}}<br />ง
|
|-
! rowspan=3| [[Plosive]]/<br />[[Affricate]]
! <small>[[voiced consonant|voiced]]</small>
| style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|b}}<br />บ
| style="background-color: #cfc" | {{IPAslink|d̪|d}}<br />ฎ, ด
|
|
|
|-
! <small>[[tenuis consonant|tenuis]]</small>
| style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|p}}<br />ป
| style="background-color: #cfc" | {{IPAslink|t̪|t}}<br />ฏ, ต
| style="background-color: #fcf" | {{IPAslink|tɕ}}<br />จ
| style="background-color: #fcc" | {{IPAslink|k}}<br />ก
| style="background-color: #ccc" | {{IPAslink|ʔ}}<br />อ{{efn|Initial อ is silent and therefore considered as a [[glottal stop]].}}
|-
! <small>[[aspirated consonant|aspirated]]</small>
| style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|pʰ}}<br />ผ, พ, ภ
| style="background-color: #cfc" | {{IPAslink|tʰ}}<br />ฐ, ฑ, ฒ, ถ, ท, ธ
| style="background-color: #fcf" | {{IPAslink|tɕʰ}}<br />ฉ, ช, ฌ
| style="background-color: #fcc" | {{IPAslink|kʰ}}<br />ข, ฃ, ค, ฅ, ฆ{{efn|ฃ and ฅ are no longer used. Thus, modern Thai is said to have 42 consonant letters.}}
|
|-
! colspan=2| [[Fricative]]
| style="background-color: #ccf" | {{IPAslink|f}}<br />ฝ, ฟ
| style="background-color: #ffc" | {{IPAslink|s}}<br />ซ, ศ, ษ, ส
|
|
| style="background-color: #ccc" | {{IPAslink|h}}<br />ห, ฮ
|-

! colspan=2| [[Approximant]]
| style="background-color: #cff" | {{IPAslink|w}}<br />ว
| style="background-color: #cff" | {{IPAslink|l}}<br />ล, ฬ
| style="background-color: #cff" | {{IPAslink|j}}<br />ญ, ย
|
|
|-
! colspan=2| [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]/[[Liquid consonant|Liquid]]
|
| style="background-color: #cff" | {{IPAslink|r}}<br />ร
|
|
|
|}