ต — to tao (turtle)
«to tao (turtle)» is a consonant of the Thai script, read as “t, no puff of air”. Middle class. The t of "stop", with the tongue on the teeth rather than the ridge. For example, in the word “เต่า” — turtle. The Thai alphabet has 63 letters in total. It appears, for example, in the word “สวัสดี ตอน บ่าย” — good afternoon.
In short
| Character | ต |
| Name | to tao (turtle) |
| Sound | t, no puff of air |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 6th of 67: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ด and บ, appears in 594 words of this site.
How to type ต
- 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+0E15 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 0E15.
- Unicode code point: U+0E15. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
Middle class. The t of "stop", with the tongue on the teeth rather than the ridge
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.
- เต่าтаоturtle
The character in the “middle class — nine consonants” group
อักษรกลาง. Reading starts from these nine. A live syllable with no tone mark takes the even mid tone; a dead one takes the low tone. They are also the only class that regularly takes the three-stroke mark ๊ and the rising hook ๋.
Words with this character
- สวัสดี ตอน บ่ายсаватди тон байgood afternoon
- สวัสดี ตอน เช้าсаватди тон чаоgood morning
- สวัสดี ตอน เย็นсаватди тон йенgood evening
- ตรง ไปтронг пайstraight ahead
- ตลาดталатmarket
- ต้องтонгmust; to have to
- แต่тэbut
- ตา ชั่งта чангscales
- บัตร เครดิตбат кхрэдитbank card
- ตะ กร้าта крааbasket
- ลิฟต์лифтlift; elevator
- โต๊ะтоtable
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 «to tao (turtle)» it is “t, no puff of air”, as in the word “เต่า”), 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 ต read?
As “t, no puff of air” — it is a consonant of the Thai script. Middle class. The t of "stop", with the tongue on the teeth rather than the ridge. For example, in the word “เต่า” — turtle.
What is the letter ต called?
To tao (turtle). A character's name and its sound are different things in the Thai script: it is called “to tao (turtle)” and reads as “t, no puff of air”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.