Sabai เอ
sara ee · long vowel · vowel 9 of 19
เอ
เอ
Long 'e' as in 'café'
How it is written
The อ above is a placeholder for whichever consonant the vowel attaches to - it is not part of the vowel. This one is written before the consonant even though it is pronounced after it, which is the single most confusing thing about reading Thai for the first week.
Vowel length changes the tone. A long vowel makes an
open syllable live, and live or dead is one of the three
things that decide a syllable's tone. See the rules, or
let the tone checker do it.
Words that use it
เก
kee
(in compounds)
เรา
rao
We / us
เขา
khao
He / she / they
เท่
thêh
Cool (slang)
เมพ
me ph
Awesome (slang, from เทพ "deity")
เทา
thao
Grey
เตะ
te
Kick
เฌอ
chəə
a type of tree
เณร
neen
novice monk
เจ็ด
jet
Seven
เก้า
kao
Nine
เช้า
chao
Morning
เย็น
yen
Evening
Pulled from the course vocabulary by matching the written form, so the odd near-miss can slip in.
Trace these characters in the app
The stroke tracer, drills and quizzes for all 68 characters. Free, forever.
Get told when it launches