ด

Thai letter do dek (ด)

Mid-class consonant 20 of 44. It is written ด เด็ก in full, the way Thai children learn it, and sounds like "d" at the start of a syllable.

Class mid Initial d Final t
ด do dek

Remember it

A child jumping with arms raised - simple and common.

Thai children learn the letter by its full name, ด เด็ก do dek, picture and all. Say the whole thing and the shape comes with it.

What its class does to the tone

Mid class is the smallest group and the only one that can take all four tone marks. With no mark it gives a mid tone on a live syllable and a low tone on a dead one. These three lines cover most of what you will meet, and they hold for ด exactly as they do for every other mid-class letter.

live syllable, no mark mid tone กา gaa
dead syllable, no mark low tone กด gòt
with mai ek low tone จ่าย jài

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

Letters that sound the same

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

Easy to mix up with

Each pair differs by one stroke, and each mistake changes the word.

ดต
ด and ต to taoต has an extra point on the right. ด is round.
ดค
ด and ค kho khwaiค is taller and opens the other way.

Words that use it

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

เด็กdèk
child
ดีdee
good
ดำdam
Black
สดsòt
Fresh
มดmót
Ant
แปดbpàet
Eight
แดงdaeng
Red
วัดwát
Temple
พูดphôot
To speak / talk

Where it turns up in the course

904 course words use ด

Learn ด 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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