า — sara aa
«sara aa» is a vowel of the Thai script, read as “long aa”. A long a, twice the length of sara a — the single most frequent sign of Thai text, a straight stick to the right of the consonant. For example, in the word “ข้าว” — rice; food. The Thai alphabet has 63 letters in total. On a carrier the character looks like this: อา. It appears, for example, in the word “สวัสดี ตอน บ่าย” — good afternoon.
In short
| Character | า |
| Name | sara aa |
| Sound | long aa |
| What it is | a vowel |
| On the carrier | อา |
In our course the character comes 52nd of 67: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ะ and ิ, appears in roughly every other word on this site.
How to type า
- On a phone: add the Thai keyboard in the keyboard settings (Gboard on Android; Keyboards in the iPhone settings).
- In Word on Windows: type U+0E32 and press Alt+X right after it — the code turns into the character.
- On a Mac: switch to the Unicode Hex Input source, hold Option and type 0E32.
- Unicode code point: U+0E32. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
A long a, twice the length of sara a — the single most frequent sign of Thai text, a straight stick to the right of the consonant
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- ข้าวкхаоrice; food
The character in the “vowel marks around the letter” group
Shown on the carrier อ, as in a Thai classroom: by itself a vowel mark is not readable. Short and long pairs (ะ/า, ิ/ี, ึ/ื, ุ/ู) carry meaning as firmly as ship and sheep. They also decide whether the syllable is live. A short vowel with nothing after it makes the syllable dead, and that changes the tone.
Words with this character
- สวัสดี ตอน บ่ายсаватди тон байgood afternoon
- กรุณาкарунаplease (as a request)
- สบายดี ไหม?сабайди май?how are you?
- คุณ เป็น อย่างไรкхун пен янграйhow are you? (polite)
- สบายดีсабайдиfine
- ไม่ค่อย สบายмайкхой сабайnot so well
- เยี่ยม มากйиам макgreat
- ลา ก่อนлаа конgoodbye
- สวัสดี ตอน เช้าсаватди тон чаоgood morning
- เขาкхаоhe
- เราраоwe
- เรา สอง คนрао сонг кхонthe two of us
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «sara aa» it is “long aa”, as in the word “ข้าว”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 63 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Thai character า read?
As “long aa” — it is a vowel of the Thai script. A long a, twice the length of sara a — the single most frequent sign of Thai text, a straight stick to the right of the consonant. For example, in the word “ข้าว” — rice; food.
What is the letter า called?
Sara aa. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Thai script: it is called “sara aa” and reads as “long aa”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.