Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Hello and welcome to Thai Survival Phrases brought to you by ThaiPod101.com, this course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Thailand. You’ll be surprised at how far a little Thai will go.
Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by ThaiPod101.com. There, you will find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

Lesson focus

No matter where you are, you always have some place to be! Today, we'll give a look at the question that will give you the tools to find out how much time you have left to get there. We'll also give you the tools to understand!
In Thai, "What time is it?" is dtaawn níi gìi-moong láaeo.
dtaawn níi gìi-moong láaeo
Let’s break it down by syllable: dtaawn níi gìi-moong láaeo.
Now, let’s hear it once again, dtaawn níi gìi-moong láaeo.
Don’t hesitate to be polite when you ask this question.
Therefore, women say dtaawn níi gìi-moong láaeo khá.
dtaawn níi gìi-moong láaeo khá
And men say dtaawn níi gìi-moong láaeo khráp.
dtaawn níi gìi-moong láaeo khráp
The first word, dtaawn níi means "now" followed by gìi, which means "how many." The word moong means "hour" while láaeo means "already." khá or khráp is added to make this phrase more polite. Therefore, dtaawn níi gìi-moong láaeo khá and dtaawn níi gìi-moong láaeo khráp literally means "What time is it already?"
Let's go over hours here. We just learned that "hours" in Thai is moong.
moong
But when we actually use it, there are some other words that indicate times of the day. Now, I need you to stay focused a little as it is quite complicated on how to say what times in Thai.
The first one is midday, thîiang wan.
The second set is from 1 o'clock in the afternoon to 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
bàai moong
bàai sǎawng moong
bàai sǎam moong
The third set is from 4 o'clock in the afternoon to 6 o'clock in the afternoon.
sìi moong yen
hâa moong yen
hòk moong yen
The fourth set is from 7 o'clock in the evening to 11 o'clock in the evening.
nùeng thûm
sǎawng thûm
sǎam thûm
sìi thûm
hâa thûm
The fifth is midnight.
thîiang khuuen
The sixth set is from 1 o'clock in the morning to 5 o'clock in the morning.
dtii nùeng
dtii sǎawng
dtii sǎam
dtii sìi
dtii hâa
The seventh set is from 6 o'clock in the morning to 11 o'clock in the morning.
hòk moong cháao
jèt moong cháao
bpàaet moong cháao
gâao moong cháao
sìp moong cháao
sìp-èt moong cháao
Now, I’m going to go over from midday to midnight straight. Are you ready?
thîiang
bàai moong
bàai sǎawng moong
bàai sǎam moong
sìi moong yen
hâa moong yen
hòk moong yen
nùeng thûm
sǎawng thûm
sǎam thûm
sìi thûm
hâa thûm
thîiang khuuen
dtii nùeng
dtii sǎawng
dtii sǎam
dtii sìi
dtii hâa
hòk moong cháao
jèt moong cháao
bpàaet moong cháao
gâao moong cháao
sìp moong cháao
sìp-èt moong cháao
Now, let's go over minutes here. “Minutes” in Thai is naa-thii.
naa-thii
naa-thii
Here, you just follow the number with naa-thii.
For example, 33 minutes is sǎam-sìp-sǎam naa-thii.
sǎam-sìp-sǎam naa-thii
44 minutes is sìi-sìp-sìi naa-thii.
sìi-sìp-sìi naa-thii
Easy, right?
Now, let's put them together.
3:12 in the afternoon is bàai sǎam moong sìp-sǎawng naa-thii.
bàai sǎam moong sìp-sǎawng naa-thii
But wait a second, I need you to remember one thing. When it is at 30 minutes or half an hour, we sometimes say khrûeng, khrûeng which means "half." So, if the time is at 12:30 in afternoon, it’s thîiang khrûeng.
thîiang khrûeng
And 5:30 in the morning is dtii hâa khrûeng.
dtii hâa khrûeng
If you noticed, we have moong and thûm to indicate if it is in the early morning, afternoon, or in the evening. That's because those words are from the way we Thai people in the old times used a music instrument to tell times in the community. The music instrument they used made the noise of moong and thûm. I could go on and on about the explanation why we have such a complicated way to count in hours, but I better stop here before you get too confused.

Outro

Okay, to close out today's lesson, we'd like for you to practice what you just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible of saying it aloud. You will have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so chôok-dii khâ, that means "good luck" in Thai.
Remember, khâ is for women and khráp is for men.
Ok, here we go!
“What time is it already?” (for women) - dtaawn níi gìi-moong láaeo khá
dtaawn níi gìi-moong láaeo khá
dtaawn níi gìi-moong láaeo khá
“What time is it already? (for men) - dtaawn níi gìi-moong láaeo khráp
dtaawn níi gìi-moong láaeo khráp
dtaawn níi gìi-moong láaeo khráp
Counting from midday to midnight
thîiang
bàai moong
bàai sǎawng moong
bàai sǎam moong
sìi moong yen
hâa moong yen
hòk moong yen
nùeng thûm
sǎawng thûm
sǎam thûm
sìi thûm
hâa thûm
thîiang khuuen
dtii nùeng
dtii sǎawng
dtii sǎam
dtii sìi
dtii hâa
hòk moong cháao
jèt moong cháao
bpàaet moong cháao
gâao moong cháao
sìp moong cháao
sìp-èt moong cháao
The word for “minutes” in Thai - naa-thii.
naa-thii
naa-thii
The word “half an hour” or “30 minutes” in Thai - khrûeng
khrûeng
khrûeng
All right. That’s going to do it for today. Remember to stop by ThaiPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

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