ส

Thai letter so suea (ส)

High-class consonant 40 of 44. It is written ส เสือ in full, the way Thai children learn it, and sounds like "s" at the start of a syllable.

Class high Initial s Final t
ส so suea

Remember it

A tiger crouching low - the most common 's' consonant.

Thai children learn the letter by its full name, ส เสือ so suea, picture and all. Say the whole thing and the shape comes with it.

What its class does to the tone

High class cannot take mai tri or mai chattawa, and an unmarked live syllable comes out rising rather than mid. These three lines cover most of what you will meet, and they hold for ส exactly as they do for every other high-class letter.

live syllable, no mark rising tone ขา khǎa Leg
with mai ek low tone ไข่ khài Egg
with mai tho falling tone ข้าว khâo Rice

The examples are whichever high-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.

Easy to mix up with

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

สล
ส and ล lo lingล has no notch at the top of its spine. ส does.

Words that use it

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

เสือsǔea
tiger
สวัสดีsà wát dee
hello / goodbye
สิsì
Particle urging someone on
ใสsǎi
Clear / see-through
สดsòt
Fresh
สองsǒrng
Two
สามsǎam
Three
สี่sèe
Four
สิบsìp
Ten
สวยsǔai
Beautiful

Where it turns up in the course

637 course words use ส

Learn ส 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

Drill all 68 characters in the app

Listening and recall drills, with audio on every character.

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