ช

Thai letter cho chaang (ช)

Low-class consonant 10 of 44. It is written ช ช้าง in full, the way Thai children learn it, and sounds like "ch" at the start of a syllable.

Class low Initial ch Final t
ช cho chaang

Remember it

An elephant's trunk curling downward to drink water.

Thai children learn the letter by its full name, ช ช้าง cho chaang, picture and all. Say the whole thing and the shape comes with it.

What its class does to the tone

Low class is the biggest group. With no mark it gives a mid tone on a live syllable, and a dead syllable splits on vowel length. These three lines cover most of what you will meet, and they hold for ช exactly as they do for every other low-class letter.

live syllable, no mark mid tone นา naa Rice field
with mai ek falling tone ค่า khâa Value / fee
with mai tho high tone น้อย nói A little

The examples are whichever low-class word shows the rule most clearly. The full grid for all three classes is here.

Letters that sound the same

4 letters, one sound. Which one a word uses is spelling history rather than pronunciation, so these are learned as part of the word.

Words that use it

Every line here is one you will meet again in a lesson. Press play to hear it.

ช้างcháang
elephant
ชาchaa
tea
ใช่châi
Yes
ชิลchin
Chill / relaxed (slang, from English)
ชนะchá ná
To win
ชามchaam
Bowl
ชุดchút
A set
ชัดchát
Clearly
ชวนchuan
To invite

Where it turns up in the course

314 course words use ช

Learn ช early and these are the chapters it pays off in first.

Changdee, a Sabai Thai companion
วันละตัวก็พอ wan la tua ko phoOne letter a day is enough

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Listening and recall drills, with audio on every character.

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