Phrases & Vocabulary

Time

now 
เดี๋ยวนี้ (dǐo níi)

Clock

There are no less than three systems for telling time in Thailand.

The easiest of the three is 24-hour official clock, encountered primarily in bus and railway schedules. To create an official time, simply affix naalikaa นาฬิกา to the number of hours, so that e.g. kao naalikaa is 9 AM (0900) and sip-saam naalikaa is 1 PM (1300).

Things get a little more difficult in the 12-hour common clock. As in the West, the number of the hour runs from 1 to 12, but instead of just AM and PM, the day is divided into four sections (ตอน ton):

1. เช้า cháo (morning), from 6 AM to noon
2. บ่าย bàai (afternoon), from noon to 4 PM
3. เย็น yen (evening), from 4 PM to 6 PM
4. คืน khuen (night), from 6 PM to 11 PM

A 12-hour time is thus composed from the hour, the word mong โมง and the correct ton ตอน. As exceptions, the word bàai comes before mong (not after); 1 PM is just bàai moong with no number; and there are special words for noon and midnight. Some examples:

1
00 AM : ตีหนึ่ง (tii nueng')

Duration

_____ second(s) 
_____ วินาที (wí na-thii)

Days

today 
วันนี้ (wanníi)

Months

All Thai months end in the suffix -kom (31 days) or -yon (30 days), except February's idiosyncratic -phan. In casual speech these are often omitted, but the word month (deuan) may be prefixed instead.

January 
มกราคม (makarakhom) or มกรา (makara)

Writing

Thais often use Buddhist Era (BE) พุทธศักราช (พ.ศ.) years, which runs 543 years ahead of the Western Calendar. 2549 BE is thus equivalent to 2006 AD.