The Fundamentals of the Thai Language is a classic in Thai grammar books, first published in 1957 by Stuart Campbell and Chuan Shaweevongs. This HTML version is based on the Fifth Edition, which was first printed sometime after 1964 and before 1988, which is when I (Doug Anderson) bought my copy. The original edition was copyrighted, but the copyright has long since expired. The fifth edition was not copyrighted.

This HTML version is an exact, faithful reproduction of the book. It was created by a Canadian man who wishes to remain anonymous. It is used with his permission. This same grammar eBook is included in Speak Easy Thai. If you already own Speak Easy Thai, then you already have this ebook, do NOT order it again.

As you can see from the photograph, my copy is old and well used (like me), and held together with duct tape. The HTML version is much easier to use, because the chapters are indexed with hypertext links, and you can search for stuff easily, as it opens in your default browser.

The ebook contains 26 chapters and 12 appendices. The chapters cover the Thai alphabet and basic reading; the complete Thai tone rules; oral spelling; special symbols used in writing; formal, polite and common words; inherent vowels; pronunciation of predisposed vowels; silent consonants and vowels; spelling peculiarities; past, present, continuous, and future tense; personification of nouns and verbs; double verbs; obsolete consonants; combined consonants and vowels; classifiers; gender; questions; comparison of adjectives; personal pronouns; numbers; forms of address; time; colours; flora and fauna; Yes and No; money; nationalities; verbal nouns; passive voice; written Thai; forms of request; compound words; prefix and suffix words; fractions and decimals; duplicated words, and more. There are many notes on the usage of particular words, as opposed to a similar word. There are also reading and comprehension exercises.

The appendices are:

1. Classifiers
2. Thai calendar; years and months
3. Family relationships
4. Titles and Ranks
5. Government Officials, Ministries, Departments, etc.
6. Weights and measures
7. Thai cooking terms and foods
8. How to use a Thai dictionary
9. Idioms
10. Extended English - Thai vocabulary
11. Extended Thai - English vocabulary by transliteration
12. Extended Thai - English vocabulary by Thai

In short, this is an excellent book, highly recommended.

Requires: Any Windows system.
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Comments by Doug:

In my opinion, it is not possible to learn Thai solely from a book, including this one. Although Thai grammar is straightforward, Thai vocabulary is difficult to memorize because the roots of the language are not European or Latin or Greek. There is nothing to hang your hat on, which is why I wrote Speak Easy Thai. It presents Thai vocabulary in a fun way with images and sounds recorded by native speakers. It doesn't cost much and it includes this grammar ebook as a freebie, since Speak Easy Thai does not teach grammar, only vocabulary and the Thai alphabet.

The value of this book comes in a detailed explanation of the grammar, and many tips on why you would use this word as opposed to that word. This grammar ebook is full of examples, hundreds of them. I find that, whenever I pick up this book to look for something, I invariably get distracted by all the useful information in it.