ฏ

Thai letter to patak (ฏ)

Mid-class consonant 15 of 44. It is written ฏ ปฏัก in full, the way Thai children learn it, and sounds like "t" at the start of a syllable.

Class mid Initial t Final t
ฏ to patak

Remember it

A goad stick used to guide elephants - stiff and pointed.

Thai children learn the letter by its full name, ฏ ปฏัก to patak, 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 ฏ 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.

ฏฎ
ฏ and ฎ do chadaฎ curls where ฏ points.

Words that use it

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

ปฏักbpà dtàk
elephant goad
กฏgòt
regulation
ปฏิทินbpà dtì thin
Calendar
ปฏิเสธbpà-dtì-sèet
To refuse
Changdee, a Sabai Thai companion
วันละตัวก็พอ wan la tua ko phoOne letter a day is enough

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