Stacking Tones: ่ ้ ๊ ๋
See these keys on the full keyboard layout
Thai has four orthographic tone marks even though the language has five tones (the mid tone is the default and is written without a mark). You have already met mai ek ่ and mai tho ้. This skill adds mai tri ๊ and mai chattawa ๋ — two marks that appear mainly in royal vocabulary, proper nouns, transliterations, and some Pali or Sanskrit loanwords. They are genuinely less common than ่ and ้, but knowing where they live and how they fit into the keystroke sequence is essential for accurate typing whenever they appear.
Why it matters
Mai tri ๊ marks a high tone in certain word classes and appears in words like ก๊าซ (gas), ต๋ง (a type of gambling game), and some transliterated foreign words. Mai chattawa ๋ marks a rising tone in certain contexts and appears in words such as ม๋าย (a variant spelling), and in some royal vocabulary. While you will not type these marks daily, encountering them without a practised response creates a jarring mid-word hesitation. More importantly, the full four-mark system forms the keystroke grammar of Thai tone: consonant → above-vowel (if any) → tone mark, always in that order. Internalising all four marks solidifies that grammar.
The characters
On Kedmanee, the four tone marks cluster on two keys with their Shift variants. ่ (mai ek) is on J (base); ๋ (mai chattawa) is on Shift+J. ้ (mai tho) is on H (base); ็ (mai tai khu, the short-vowel shortener, not a tone mark but on the same key) is on Shift+H. For tone marks specifically: ๊ (mai tri) is on Shift+U (which also holds ี on its base layer). The right index finger owns J and H; ๊ on Shift+U is reached by right index on U while left Shift is held with the left pinky. Keystroke order for a complex syllable with a tone mark: initial consonant → pre-posed vowel if applicable → above/below vowel if applicable → tone mark last.
Technique
- Remember the keystroke order as a stack: consonant at the base, vowel in the middle, tone mark on top — and type them bottom to top, left to right in that logical order regardless of their visual position.
- For ๊ (Shift+U), the left hand provides Shift while the right index reaches for U — opposite-hand Shift. Do not hold right Shift for a right-hand key; crossing hands here is correct and keeps the movement smooth.
- For ๋ (Shift+J), J is a right-hand home key, so again use left Shift. Since J is also the home bump for the right index, the sequence Shift+J is very fast once the left-pinky Shift becomes automatic.
Common mistakes
The most predictable error with ๊ and ๋ is pressing the wrong Shift hand. Because right-index keys feel natural with a right-Shift hold, some typists reach for right Shift when pressing J or U — but that requires the same hand to both hold Shift and tap the key, which is biomechanically awkward and error-prone. Always use the opposite hand's Shift key: left Shift for right-hand characters, right Shift for left-hand characters. A second mistake is omitting the tone mark altogether when the word is unfamiliar; a brief mental check before committing the consonant — does this word carry ๊ or ๋? — is faster than backspacing and retyping.
Related guides
Low-frequency consonants mostly borrowed from Pali and Sanskrit sit on the Shift layer or in unexpected positions. You will not type them daily, but when they appear in a word you need to find them without breaking your rhythm.
Holding Shift unlocks a second set of Thai characters on almost every key. The governing rule — always Shift with the hand opposite the key — keeps the motion ergonomic and consistent across the entire layout.
Four marks that each do something structurally distinct — a compound vowel, a short-vowel marker, a silencer, and a nasaliser. Understanding what each mark does in the Thai writing system makes their positions far easier to remember.