Some short vowels are alive
And some vowels transform when they have ending consonants
-ะ is going to be our best friend this chapter. Therefore, we should get to know her a little bit. -ะ does transform to -ั when there is an ending consonant following it. For example, กัน งับ อัง etc.
We now know that short vowels without ending consonants are dead, these following are somehow alive without ending consonants. How do they do it?
So, if we add an alive ending consonant such as "ม","ย","ว" at the end of the short consonants, now the ending sound will be alive. The 4 vowels below are just combinations of -ะ with alive ending consonants. That's how they stay alive.
| Vowel | combination | Example | sounds the same as |
|---|---|---|---|
| ำ | -ะ+ม | กำ | กัม |
| ไ, ใ | -ะ + ย | ไหน, ใน | หนัย, นัย |
| เ-า | -ะ + ว | เอา | can't write another way or it'll be a different vowel |
Some vowels change their form
We have discussed " -ึ" which is the shorter version of "-ื" so "-ื" would have the same way of pronunciation which is "- ู" but with a smile. "-ื" transformation goes as the following table.
| Vowel | Without ending consonant | With ending consonant | w/o Ex. | w Ex. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ื | -ือ | -ื | มือ | ยืน |
| -ะ | -ะ | -ั | นะ | กับ |
If you'd like to be overwhelmed by all the rules involving vowels, you're welcomed to take a look at the vowel transformation table to see whats coming for the future lessons.