A mid-class consonant. It says k at the start of a syllable and -k at the end. 1st in the alphabet, 1st of the 44 to learn here. You will meet it constantly.
01The sound it makes
ก is the only one of the 44 letters that opens a syllable with k. 6 letters close one with -k, and ก is among them.
Mid class is the only class that takes all four tone marks, so ก can be written at any of the five tones. Take the live vowel away and it drops to low whether the vowel was short or long.
Live — carried on ◌า
Dead short — ◌ะ
Dead long — ◌าก
The 5 tones this ladder reaches
→Mid (สามัญ)A flat, neutral tone at a comfortable mid-pitch. No rise or fall.
↓→Low (เอก)Starts low and stays low. Slightly flat and subdued, like a quiet statement.
↘Falling (โท)Starts high then drops. Like English when expressing disappointment: "Oh..."
→↑High (ตรี)Starts at a high pitch and stays high, slightly rising. Energetic and bright.
↗Rising (จัตวา)Starts low then rises upward. Like English when asking a yes/no question.
The same letter is two sounds: ก is k at the front of a syllable and -k at the back. Of the 4,271 words in this app it opens 530, sits inside 948 and closes 199.
Position here is orthographic — where the letter is written, not where it is said. The five leading vowels เ แ โ ใ ไ are skipped when deciding what comes first, so ไก่ counts as a word that starts with ก.
Written first530
…and 524 more.
Inside948
…and 942 more.
Written last199
…and 193 more.
04Text it turns up in
A word list is a specimen jar. 94 of the 221 sentences and phrases in this app are written with ก somewhere in them — here are 4, shortest first, with every ก lit.
05The class it belongs to
ก is one of 9 mid-class consonants. That membership is the single fact the ladder in 02 is built on — change the class and every tone in it changes. Here they all are, with ก lit among them.