B Level 2.11: More Relative Time Expressions

Study Focus: More Relative Time Expressions

• There are three words in Thai that we can translate as "time" or "at the time of" that we use in relative time expressions.

  • They are เมื่อ (mûuea), ตอน (dtaawn), and เวลา (wee-laa).
  • We could also translate the first two as "when" or "during."

• There is some flexibility when choosing which one to use in an expression, but for certain expressions one of the words is much more common.

  • เมื่อก่อน (mûuea gàawn) ➤ "earlier," "previously," "before"

  • เมื่อก่อนเขาบอกว่าจะไม่ไป (mûuea gàawn khǎo bàawk wâa jà mâi bpai)

    ➤ "Before he had said he wasn't going to go."

  • เมื่อมีปัญหา (mûuea mii bpan-hǎa) ➤ "when there's a problem"

  • เมื่อฉันมีปัญหาชอบคุยกับคุณแม่ (mûuea mii bpan-hǎa châawp khui gàp khun mâae)

    ➤ "When I have a problem I like to talk with my mother."

  • ตอนเป็นเด็ก (dtaawn bpen dèk) ➤ "when was a child"

  • ตอนเป็นเด็กดิฉันดื้อมา (dtaawn bpen dèk dì-chǎn dûue mâak)

    ➤ "I was very naughty in my childhood."

  • เวลาว่าง (wee-laa wâang) ➤ "during free time"

  • เวลาว่างน้องสาวชอบไปซื้อของ (wee-laa wâang náawng-sǎao châawp bpai súue khǎawng)

    ➤ "My little sister likes to go shopping in her free time."

• For some uses, either เวลา (wee-laa) or ตอน (dtaawn) can fit in the sentence.

  • คุณพ่อชอบดูทีวีเวลาทานข้าว (khun phâaw châawp duu thii-wii wee-laa thaan khâao)

  ➤ "Father likes to watch TV when he eats."

Vocabulary & Phrases

• จ๊ะ/จ้ะ (já/jâ)

  • These are polite ending particles that we use exactly like khá and khâ at the end of a sentence.
  • The high tone จ๊ะ (já) is for questions, and we use the falling tone จ้ะ (jâ) for regular statements.
  • We use these for more casual speech. Both genders can use them, but women more commonly use them.

• ได้ยินว่า… (dâai yin wâa…)

  • This phrase means "I heard that…"

  • ได้ยิน (dâai yin) means "was able to hear" or "got to hear"

  • ว่า (wâa) means "that."

  • Then the information that was heard comes after this.

  • If you want to say who you heard the news from, you can include มาจาก (maa jàak), meaning "coming from," and then the person's name before ว่า (wâa).

  • ได้ยินมาจากเจมส์ว่าคุณไม่ชอบอาหารทะเล

  • (dâai yin maa jàak jeem wâa khun mâi châawp aa-hǎan-thá-lee)

    ➤ "I heard from James that you don't like seafood."

• ใช่แล้ว (châi láaeo)

  • We use this phrase to say "that's right" when you want to emphasize that what someone had just said is correct.
  • It can also mean as “exactly” ; “I understood that…” ; “I know”

• เล่นให้ฟัง (lên hâi fang)

  • In this phrase, ให้ (hâi) has a meaning of "for the purpose of" or "to allow."
  • The verb before ให้ (hâi) makes the verb after it possible.
  • So we could translate the phrase as "play to be heard" or "play so that it can be listened to."
  • เล่นกีต้าร์ให้เพื่อนๆฟัง (lên gii-dtâa hâi phûuean-phûuean fang)

  ➤ "Play guitar so our friends can listen."

The Thai Educational System

• Education in Thailand is divided into six years of "elementary school," ประถม (bprà-thǒm), and six years of "secondary school," มัธยม (mát-thá-yom), with nine years being mandatory.
• However, the mandatory attendance is more recent, so many older people did not attend that much school.
• Thai children also usually attend three years of "kindergarten," อนุบาล (à-nú-baan), starting when they are three years old.
• In the old days, before there were government schools, education was mostly conducted at the village temple and was limited only to boys.