by Don Sena

(This description is mainly an adaptation and reworking of the treatment by Richard B. Noss of the Foreign Service Institute as found in his linguistically-oriented Reference Thai Grammar, 1964.)

The codaphrase is a clause-final syntactic unit consisting of an ordered arrangement of one to four lexical units. These minor form-class lexemes that make up the codapharase are termed “sentence particles.” The codaphrase is not essential to every sentence spoken, but is quite common nonetheless, especially in spoken Thai. While a sentence may contain a codaphrase at the end of each constituent sentence clause, a given sentence particle normally occurs no more than once in a given sentence. (The exception is the sub-class of particles that occur in the third position of the codaphrase.) This general limitation is the reason for the term “sentence particle,” rather than “clause particle.”

The codaphrase expresses the speaker’s attitude toward the subject under discussion. The collection of sentence particles chosen by a speaker is a reflection of reactions, feelings and-or notions entertained by the speaker with regard to the context of his utterance.

While there are very many more than four such particles in the language, no more than four can occur at a time. It appears also that, since the Vietnam Era, few, if any, new particles have been coined and that few, if any, have fallen into disuse.

An example of a full codaphrase of four—infrequent, since particles in position-four are not often used—is shown below:

I’ll be using square brackets [ ] to indicate locations of sentence particles within any one sentence clause. Thus,

This last particle coincidentally has the same form as one other particle and also the demonstrative ‘here, this one.’ In any case, position-four particles don’t often occur in the Thai sentence. Some particles appear exactly like members of other form classes in Thai (or even like other sentence particles), so that some confusion may result at the outset.

If a certain location of a sentence particle is not filled, the brackets will simply appear empty: [ ]. The empty brackets will simply mean that the speaker chose not to use a sentence particle that occurs in a certain position.

What needs to be understood at this point is that there are four sub-classes of sentence particles, corresponding, respectively, to the four possible positions in which they can occur. The particles that are of any one sub-class are mutually exclusive in their use by the speaker in that the speaker selects (at most) only one particle from the same sub-class. Speaker’s selection of any one particle from the position-one sub-class, for instance, automatically excludes use of any other particle from that same sub-class. Since each particle can occur only in the position that corresponds to its parent sub-class (corresponding to one of the four possible positions), the codaphrase necessarily consists of an ordered sequence. Thus, any two or more particles in the same codaphrase can only occur in a particular sequence; the question of which particle comes before another is not arbitrary.

In general, speaker selects:

Position-One Sub-Class

1A.

หรอก (less frequently ดอก) No way! Definitely not (after negatives); what I urge you to believe, realize, be made aware of; mark my words; wait and see! (after affirmatives)’

หรอก at the end of a question indicates the speaker is incredulous that something didn’t happen or is not so.

The position-two particle น่ะ invokes the listener’s sympathy toward the question and tends to make it more polite.

Here, occurrence of น่ะ appeals for the listener’s sympathetic attention.

The particle sequence หรอกหรือ expresses the attitude: “you mean to tell me … actually did not/does not …???” or “didn’t you,/he/ she,/they … do …??!! (implying the action should be or should have been performed)”

มั่ง, a variant of บ้าง, here means ‘at some time or other.’

(See the example in the introduction).

1B. The point is...

น่ะ ‘I mean this thing. The point is actually this thing.’ (Listener is usually assumed to be familiar with the situation.) น่ะ here is not to be confused with the position-two particle น่ะ in the examples above.

The position-two particle ซี expresses the attitude ‘this is how it is; That’s the fact.’

เหรอ is a variant of the second-position particle หรือ ‘is it true?’

นา here is a variant form of the position-two particle น่ะ and politely asks the listener to see the speaker’s point.

แหละ occurs in second position with the meaning ‘so that’s it; here’s what we’ve been trying to find!’ (A sense of discovery is implied).

1C. My point is...

นี่ or นิ่ ‘Take note of, or notice, this thing. I have this point to make.’ (Listener is usually not assumed to be familiar with the situation.)

In the use of either นี่ or น่ะ (from 1B above), speaker draws attention to something that is not considered to be brand-new, or only now relevant, but usually something that has been true (at least in the mind of the speaker) for some time.

ค่ะ is a position-three particle that refers back to the speaker’s identity as a female.

1D. Recall that...

ไง ‘This thing I just said is what that other thing was about. It’s what I (or someone) was talking about. That’s what it was. Here’s what I mean. (That which I just now said is what I or someone meant earlier).’

The clause ending in ไง refers back to something already known and generally relevant in context (usually something recently mentioned). ไง elaborates on, or further explains, the subject previously discussed. Use of ไง tends to be explanatory.

ล่ะ in second position means ‘I‘ve got to know!’

ไหน here is a response with a meaning somewhat like “Well, how can that be?’; ‘Huhhh?’; or ‘How’s that again?’ and indicates momentary puzzlement. A response is an isolative, occurring as a single-item clause in its own right. The salutation สวัสดี, for instance, is an isolative (though it can be followed by a codaphrase).

1E. How strange...

แน่ะ, เนี่ยะ ‘What’s this business? This is strange, new, unexpected, from out of the blue, bizarre. Wow, get this! Here’s something really new!’

Unlike ไง, neither แน่ะ nor เนี่ยะ here refers back to something previously known, but expresses a certain sense of surprise at something truly new, and not previously relevant in context..

เหรอ in position two is a true-or-not question particle.

กัน here is a postposition linked to the interrogative ไหน indicating that the speaker doubts that there’s a reasonable answer to the question.

1F. In that case...

ละ ‘Switching off to this other course of action, now doing this other thing’ A transition within the flow of events is being recognized or noticed by the speaker.

ซี in second position imparts the notion of ‘That’s how it is!’

Second-position particle นะ appeals to the listener’s sympathetic understanding.

Second-position particle มั้ง expresses the notion ‘That could be; possibly that just mentioned’

1G. Is that so...?

ไหม, มั้ย ‘Is that how you see it?’ (Tell me whether you do or not.)

Use of this question particle contrasts with the choice of หรือ (as in second example under 1B, for instance) in that ไหม or มั้ย is generally more subjective than หรือ. ไหม seeks the personal impression or perspective of the subject of the sentence on the situation at hand somewhat more so than does หรือ. ไหม cannot terminate a question in which the verb is negated; a negative question can only be terminated by หรือ.

Though often pronounced มั้ย, this particle is almost always written as ไหม, except in very informal writing. Pronunciation tends to favor ไหม, however, in more formal circumstances, including reporting over the broadcast media.

The second-position particle ล่ะ expresses expectation of an answer. Notice, by contrast:

Use of second-position particle นะ here poses the question non –demandingly; opinion of listener is simply requested.) Consider the following exchange:

Notice that the construction of interrogative pronoun, adjective or adverb + ไหม leads to the English concept of indefinite pronoun, adjective or adverb, respectively, with corresponding meaning.

1H. Let's...

เถอะ, เถิด ‘Let’s do it; oh, go ahead and do it; come on, go for it.’ เถิด occurs in the more formal contexts. It is seen also in writing, both very formal and elegant informal. Use of เถอะ is generally exhortative.

กัน is the plural pronoun in this sentence.

Second-position particle น่ะ here makes the idea more suggestive to the listener.

ซะ is a postposition to the main verb กิน, affecting the aspect of the verb such that the action of “eating it up” is treated as a unit, or as an action that is done as a completed fact. Verb + ซะ correspond approximately to the preterit tense of the same verb in the Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese et al.). Compare the following:

ซิ makes the content of the sentence a requirement.

มั่ง should not be confused with the second-position particle มั้ง shown in the last example under 1F. มั่ง here is a variant of บ้าง ‘some,’ ‘somewhat.’) Consider the following exchange, exemplifying the use of เถอะ:

In a more formal contexts, เถิด is used:

เสีย would likely be pronounced as if written ซะ.

Position-Two Sub-Class

2A. Inquiring

หรือ, เหรอ, รึ, เร๋อะ, เอ๋อ ‘Is what I just said factually correct?”

Several compound lexemes separately combining รึ with ยัง, ไม่, เปล่า and ไง function as single sentence particles in their own right. In reality, these derivatives actually belong to the position-one sub-class, since they can be followed by certain position-two sub-class particles.

The form หรือ occurs with loud sustained stress in isolation as a response (page 7, subclass 1D), with a meaning somewhat like ‘Oh, did he/ did they, does she …?’

คะ is the question form of a position-three particle indicating a female speaker.

Notice that a negative question requires หรือ. The codaphrase cannot contain ไหม (or มั้ย) if the verb is negated.

(Recall that derivatives of รึ with ยัง, ไม่, เปล่า and ไง occur in first position.)

Position-four particle นั่น seeks the attention of the listener.

As a position-four particle, นี่ is similar to นั่น. Notice the following exchange:

แน่ะ is the particle 1E on page 7, presenting something previously unknown (the book) as now suddenly relevant.

เนี่ยะ here is a demonstrative postposition to the noun phrase เล่มหนาๆ. It is not the position-one particle shown in section 1E.

Second-position particle แหละ expresses a sense of discovery. Here, it says: ‘That’s the one you’re asking about, the one you wanted to know about.’ For that reason, แหละ often follows demonstratives.

2B. Yes, really.

ซี, ซิ, สิ; ซี่ ‘I’m certain of this! This is how it is! This is what you should be doing! This is what is right! Get with it! My way is the right way! I’m sure of what I’m talking about!’

Use of this particle sometimes imparts an imperative nuance. ซี่ is an emphatic form, uttered with loud sustained stress (loudness level maintained throughout the duration of the syllable).

ซะ is a postposition to the isolative สวัสดี, which functions here like a verb. ซะ affects the aspect of สวัสดี such that the action expressed is treated as a unit. (See third example under 1H on page 14 above.)

หน่อย here is a “complementive,” a modifier to the verb ไป. It means that the action is to be regarded as being ‘no big deal.’

ที here occurs as complementive (main-verb modifier) meaning ‘this one time, for once.’

As with the question particles ไหม and หรือ, interrogative + ซี lead to corresponding indefinite. นี่ ‘here’ does not occur here as a particle.

Occurrence of “now” in this context is meant merely to strengthen a command or entreaty, not to indicate time of action.

Contrast with use of position-one particle นี่:

2C. Wouldn't you say...?

นะ, น่ะ, นา; หนอ, น่า ‘True, huh? …isn’t it, though? …wouldn’t you say?’

นะ and its variants have a lightly interrogative implication for the listener. Questions terminated by นะ do not normally anticipate an answer, but generally do no more than simply express an observation, weakly asking for listener’s corroboration. As mildly expressed questions, clauses ending in นะ are among the most socially agreeable utterances in the language, as the inclusion of นะ in the codaphrase adds an added nuance of politeness to the speaker’s expression.

Since นะ is a position-two particle, นะ can—and often does—follow position-one question particle ไหม (described in 1G above). The resulting question does, in that instance, anticipate an answer, but does so only by politely appealing to the listener for a response. Because of its position-two status, นะ cannot follow the position-two question particle หรือ, since all particles of a given sub-class are mutually exclusive. Of all the sentence particles that occur in a particular position within the codaphrase, at most only one is ever chosen by the speaker.

The variant น่ะ does not terminate sentence clauses containing either interrogatives (in English, ‘who, what, how’ et al.) or the question particle ไหม. Where น่ะ does occur, the speaker is more seriously suggestive than when using either นะ or นา.

หนอ and น่า, which are emphatic forms, are sounded with loud sustained stress—louder than normal, with sustained loudness level from beginning to end of syllable.

Here, the inclusion of the particle transforms the negative command into an appeal.

This disclaimer is much milder than the following contrastive example:

Here, the second-position particle ล่ะ expresses the attitude of ‘demanding to know’ an answer. Because ล่ะ occupies the same slot as นะ, occurrences of ล่ะ and นะ are mutually exclusive.

Occurrence of the emphatic น่า imparts a strong sense of entreaty.

Compare with เขามองเห็น ‘He can see it.’ and เขามองเห็นมั้ย ‘Can he see it?’ (Also see example of มั้ย + นะ under 1G on page 11.) Note that เห็น here functions as a completive (or resultative) verb indicating successful performance of main verb มอง.

Like the fourth example under 2B, ที is a complementive with the meaning ‘this one time, for once.’ Position-one particle ละ imparts the notion of a changed situation in the impending departure of the listener.

Use of the emphatic หนอ imparts an intensified sense of wonderment or bewilderment:

หนอ can also be used teasingly:

2D. Aha!

แหละ, หละ, เออะ, แหล่ ‘So that’s it! That must be what it was! That explains it! That’s what it is, no doubt! …for your information.’

Use of แหละ generally imparts a sense of discovery, either for the speaker or for the listener. The first three variants shown can be used interchangeably—that is, they are in “free variation.”

The emphatic form แหล่ occurs with loud sustained stress. (Compare with หนอ and น่า from 2C above.)

Compare this example with the fourth example under 1B.

2E. Tell me now!

ล่ะ, เล่า, ละ, หล้า ‘I must know! What’s the answer?!! How about it?! Tell me what I’m asking!!’

Sentences containing ล่ะ in the codaphrase are almost always imperative in nature, sometimes coldly so, and never tactful. Such sentences are more directly imperative than those containing ซี (2B) in the same position. Whereas ซี expresses the attitude “This is only right,” use of ล่ะ most often projects the attitude “I expect compliance.”

The most frequent use of this particle by Thai speakers is in questions containing either the position-one particle ไหม (มั้ย) in the same codaphrase or an interrogative pronoun, adjective or complementive. In all such questions, the speaker is insistent on an answer. ล่ะ is, of course, mutually exclusive with the position-two question particle หรือ.

A negative command terminated with a codaphrase containing ล่ะ becomes an outright demand.

ล่ะ and เล่า are in free variation, though เล่า is somewhat more formal. หล้า is an emphatic form and, as such, occurs with loud sustained stress. (See หนอ and น่า on page 21.)

The speaker selects the variant form ละ only if he also selects a position-three particle, such as ครับ or คะ, whereby the speaker refers back to himself (or to herself). In so doing, his codaphrase contains, in the second and third positions, the sequence [ ] [ละ] [ครับ] [ ]. This sequence necessarily signals a question, so that, while ครับ may be replaced in the same sequence by คะ (I, a female, asking), it cannot be replaced by ค่ะ (I, a female, declaring).

It may seem, at first glance, that this particular variant of the 2E particles (namely, ละ) could be mistaken for the position-one particle ละ ‘New course of action’ (1F, page 8), since they’re exact duplicates of one another. The difficulty is resolved when we consider that [ละ] [ ] [ครับ] [ ] always terminates a statement, while [ ] [ละ] [ครับ] [ ] always terminates a question. Also, the 1F particle ละ can occur in a question only when followed immediately by the 2A particle หรือ.

The following question has the same translation:

Here, ละ is the third of the four variants shown just above (at the heading 2E). It occurs only when immediately followed by a position-three particle like ครับ. Similarly:

Notice that ละ in position two determines the question form of the position-three particle (คะ, rather than ค่ะ). The principle variant form ล่ะ can also (like ละ) precede a position-three particle:

In the first clause, ซี connotes the notion of ‘must,’ and ละ suggests a change of situation to what it is ‘now.’ The codaphrase in the first clause contains the 1F particle ละ ‘transitioning to new situation’ and the codaphrase in the second clause contains the 2E particle ล่ะ ‘I want to know!’

Contrast with example shown for 2B particle ซี:

Use of ‘now’ does not, in this context, refer to the present moment, but, instead, simply reinforces the speaker’s expressed wish.

หล้า occurs here with loud sustained stress.

The postposition กัน takes the interrogative ยังไง as its coconstituent. Its use implies that the probable answer would be ridiculous or unreasonable, or is simply unfathomable. It should not be mistaken for a sentence particle.

ไง ‘This is who (or what) that was about’ (1D, page 6) is sometimes followed by ล่ะ in the same codaphrase. The effect, in this instance, is not a demand, but the remarkable nature of the explanation supplied in the use of the position-one sub-class particle ไง. Notice, for instance:

Use of ไง here indicates that the existence of the new female employee is previously known from context. ไง + ล่ะ conveys the idea of ‘How about that?!’

2F. Perhaps...

มั้ง มัง กระมัง ‘Could be; maybe so; I guess so; that’s just possible’

The last variant, กระมัง, is used only in very formal circumstances. The first, มั้ง, occurs both with weak diminishing stress—as do most sentence particles—and as an emphatic form with loud sustained stress.

มั้ง is chosen in questions and มัง in statements whenever either is followed by a position-three particle. Otherwise stated, มั้ง determines selection of the question form and มัง the statement form of any sub-class-three particle that follows it.

This same example appears under sub-section 1H, but with the variant มั้ง, instead of มัง.

ละ here is the sub-class 1F particle indicating a transition. Its occurrence just before มัง creates an alternative to the 2D particle แหละ (‘so that’s it!’), which mutually exclusive with มัง.The position-four particle นี่ is a vocative, directly addressing the listener.

ท่าจะ (as well as ดูเหมือนจะ and เห็นจะ) is a modal verbal expression meaning ‘seem(s) to, apparently (do/does)’ and precedes the main verb. In addition to the three variants shown functioning as sentence particles, there are two other variants that act as complementives (main-verb modifiers)—namely, บ้าง and มั่ง ‘some, somewhat, sometime.’

ซิ is the only sentence particle chosen by the speaker in her codaphrase.

Position-Three Sub-Class

When a speaker chooses to fill the third slot of his codaphrase, he is referring back to himself in terms of his gender identity and-or social status relative to the listener.

3A.

ครับ ‘I, a male speaker’; ค่ะ, คะ, ขา ‘I, a female speaker’

These are the classical gender-marker particles. Among the particles pertaining either to the male or female sex, there is also a separate statement form and question form. Sentence clauses that are not perceived to be definitively declarative are taken to be questions for the purpose of selection of either form. The male-speaker particle ครับ appears to have only one form in the orthography, but, in reality, is uttered with a full, constrictive high tone in its statement form and with the simpler plain high tone in its question form. (Compare the high tones on ฉัน [plain high] and ชั้น [constricted high] in the sentence ฉันไปชั้นที่หนึ่ง.)

A derivative of the male-speaker particle ครับ, ครับผม, is used to respond respectfully (in the affirmative) to verify something just uttered by his listener.

More generally, the statement forms ครับ and ค่ะ frequently occur as responses to confirm or acknowledge receipt of information just received from the listener, while not necessarily expressing agreement. Speaker may intermittently respond ครับ ... ครับ ... or ค่ะ ... ค่ะ ... in a manner analogous to the English colloquial response sequence “ya … ya …” to verify he understands what he is hearing. Very often, though, ครับ or ค่ะ—when uttered once as an isolative—indicates that the speaker does indeed verify the truth of what he (or she) has just heard. (The concept of isolative is described briefly on page 7.)

Consider the following exchange (excerpted and transcribed from the mid-sixties manual Mastering Spoken Thai by Lt. Col.โกมล เกสรสุคนธ์):

Notice that คุณโกมล here is the vocative phrase and addresses the listener. Although it immediately follows the codaphrase, the vocative phrase is launched onto a separate new pitch contour.

The predicate กำลังค่อยๆแข็งแรงขึ้น here means ‘to be convalescing.’ The codaphrase in the final clause ใช่มั้ยคะ consists of a sentence particle in positions one (1G) and three (3A).

The postposition ซะ is briefly described at the top of page 14, where it occurs in the third example of 1H เถอะ. ครับ in this utterance is a response, an example of an isolative. (Compare with first example under 1D at top of page 7.)

The predicate ต้องประคับประคองตัวไปก่อน here means ‘going to have to take things easy for the time being.’

The third female-speaker variant ขา is used only very deferentially and not nearly as often as the other variants. It occurs at the end of the vocative phrase, a noun phrase directly addressing the listener and usually including the listener’s name.

The codaphrase here consists only of the position-three particle ค่ะ. The vocative phrase then follows, which is launched on a separate pitch contour of its own. A vocative phrase containing ขา is generally quite rare. The vocative phrase, in general, will either follow directly the codaphrase (in a clause of its own) or simply occur in isolation to engage the attention of a potential listener. If it follows the codaphrase, the statement form of the 3A subset will almost always be selected. If it is used (in isolation) to call the listener’ attention, the question form is more likely.

The polite response to the call takes on the variant form of คร้าบ, in which the vowel (though not normally shown in the orthography) is elongated.

3B.

จ้ะ, จ๊ะ, จ๋า, จ้า ‘With affectionate regard; I, your patronizing or affectionate elder or intimate friend’

An adult of either sex may address a prepubescent child of either sex, using this particle. Otherwise, it is practically forcing that at least one member of the conversation be female. A male and female courting each other are likely to express themselves using จ้ะ. In any context involving these 3B particles, จ้ะ will be the statement form, and จ๊ะ the question form.

The variant จ๋า is used in the vocative phrase when the speaker selects from the 3B subset:

The emphatic variant จ้า is used with short, pithy declarative utterances:

Consider the following exchange:

Here, the speaker in the first utterance uses a kinship term and her nickname in place of pronouns ‘you’ and ‘I.’ คุณพ่อ and ที่รักจ๋า are vocative phrases.

3C.

ย่ะ, ยะ ‘Unconventional male speaker; female speaker speaking crassly’

In a previous era, these were the male counterparts of จ้ะ.and จ๊ะ, respectively. Most males now use the particles shown in 3B with the meanings indicated, while those in 3C are now the province of the “กระเทย”—literally ‘hermaphrodite,’ but commonly applied now to homosexuals and male-to-female transsexuals.

The two 3C particles are also used by coarsely interacting females, at least one of whom expresses herself with a callous disregard toward her listener. Usually there is some hint of mockery, ridicule, derision and-or sarcasm. (TV actresses assuming antagonist roles commonly refer back to themselves with ย่ะ and ยะ.)

While the use of the 3C particles in not recommended, they are shown here so they may be recognized when and if encountered. It is not certain whether there exist 3C counterparts to the 3B variants จ๋า and จ้า.

3D.

ว่ะ, โว้ย, เว้ย ; วะ ‘Me, one of the guys, one of us’

This particle, once mainly used by males, has been adopted by colloquially interactive females. Except in very relaxed, informal environments, its use can come across as rude or contemptuous. It is clearly in vogue among peers chatting on a common familiar level, especially on social networking sites.

The first three shown (ว่ะ, โว้ย, เว้ย) are statement forms, of which the last two project added emotional involvement. The last (วะ) is the question form. Note the following exchange:

A member of either sex may well react to a taxi that drives right by, ignoring his (or her) attempt to hail it to a halt, saying:

Likewise, an unauthorized person—say, an intruder—may be rebuffed with:

3E.

เอย, เออ ‘Me, one of the girls’

These two particles seem to be variants of those presented in 3D. Their use seems to be mostly limited to members of the female sex.

Note the following exchange:

(For the complementive ซะ, see the third example under 1H)

3F.

ฮ๊ะ, ฮะ ‘I, a male speaker’; ฮ่ะ (ห้ะ), ฮะ ‘I, a female speaker’

These are relatively informal counterparts of the 3A particles. In the listing for each speaker, the statement form is followed by the question form. Spellings for this subset are not standardized, and native users of these particles will spell with either ฮ or ห in their writings (as on Facebook, for instance), both with and without a tone mark.

Both of the two variants for the make speaker occur with high tone. The first form is written as ฮ๊ะ to indicate that it carries the constricted high tone, the second ฮะ to indicate that it has only the plain high tone. (See first paragraph under 3A above.) The question form is the same for both sexes.

Position-Four Sub-Class

4A.

นี่, นิ่ ‘I’m talking to you, bringing this matter to your attention’

Unlike the position-three particles, which refer back to the speaker, these particles actually address the listener. While English terms of address like ‘Sir’ and Ma’am’ refer to the listener, the sub-class-four particles are far less formal. Essentially, position-four sentence particles are vocative particles, though they are not part of the vocative phrase (top of page 33), which, if used, follows the codaphrase.

The third example under the 2F particles is repeated below:

4B.

นั้น, น่ะ ‘I’m talking to you, bringing that matter to your attention’

The seventeenth example under the 2A particles is repeated below:

Among the four subclasses of sentence particles and corresponding positions, the least frequently filled position is the fourth. It may seem at this point that the speaker will choose up to four sentence particles in virtually any combination, with only these two restrictions:

However, a particle that is selected from subclass-one cannot, in general, be followed by just any particle at all from subclass-two. Likewise, the selection of a particle from subclass-two cannot, in general, be followed by just any particle at all from subclass-three. Further, only limited sequences of particles in one or more of the first three positions allow the use of a position-four particle. Because semantic compatibility is essential among the sentence particles selected, not all sequences are possible, even with the two restrictions stated above.

Summary

The table below summarizes the possible sequences of one, two, three or four consecutive sentence particles. Because each particle has several variants,—2A, for instance—only a typical variant is shown in a given position, usually the most likely. Examination of the table will show that each sentence-particle entry in any one position is actually part of more than one possible sequence.

In position-three, only the feminine sex-marker particles ค่ะ and คะ appear. They are visually more distinctive in the orthography than ครับ. Also, the subset 3A particles ครับ, ค่ะ and คะ are the most important for speakers of Thai as a second language. Nonetheless, wherever the context justifies particles form subsets 3B to 3F, corresponding substitutions for the statement and question particles ค่ะ and คะ can be made from the appropriate subset. ค่ะ/คะ indicates that either the statement or question form can be selected in a particular location.

Whenever the speaker does not select a particle in a given position, the symbol ‘-------’appears.