There are separate classifiers for objects that are ordinary human beings, for royalty, for monks and sacred objects, and others for hermits and giants, and so on. Tense distinctions in verb phrases are either determined by context or by adverbs and expressions of time. Complex verbal predicates in serial configuration are used to convey expressions which in English would be stated by adverbs or auxiliary verbs to indicate mood. Genitive relationships are expressed either by apposition with the noun juxtaposed with the possessor, or by use of a linking particle. Also in Standard Thai prepositions can be used but are often omitted depending on style and other variables.
Sociolinguistic variables play an important role in expression.
In the phonology there are nine vowel phonemes which can be short or long, and twenty consonant phonemes. A salient feature is the contrast between aspirated and unaspirated voiceless stops. It is a tonal language with lexical tone where words can be distinguished by five contrastive tones. Thai has borrowed heavily from Mon and Khmer. Chinese has also been an important source of an early loan set contributing numerals and some few hundred basic terms.