Once
you have started to learn a few phrases in Thai and you
are chatting with Thai people for the first time, you will
need for sure some time phrases. The ones listed on this
page will help you talk about events that happened in the
past.
A moment
ago. (meua gee nee)
Just now.
(peung ja)
Recently.
(meua rew rew nee)
This morning.
(meua chow nee)
The
words chao nee mean "this morning".
Using meua shows the past.
This afternoon.
(meua bai nee)
The
words bai nee mean "this afternoon".
Last night.
(meua keun)
The
wordkeun means "night". You could
also say meua keun nee or keun wan nee.
Yesterday.
(meua wan)
It
should be noted that wan here doesn't mean
"day" but instead "yesterday".
It is spelled differently and has a longer vowel sound.
You might also hear people say "meua wan nee"
or even "wan nee".
Two days
ago. (song wun tee laew)
You
can either use tee laew or just laew
to show something that happened in the past. However,
the second one shows that someone has been there for
that period of time. If you say bai chiang mai
song wan laew it means that they have gone to
Chiang Mai for two days. If you say bai chiang
mai song wan tee laew then that means they went
to Chiang Mai two days ago.
The other
day. (wun gorn)
Last week.
(ar-tit tee laew)
Two weeks
ago. (song ar-tit tee laew)
If
you say bai sam ar-tit laew you change the
meaning to "they have gone for 2 weeks now".
Three months
ago. (sam deuan tee laew)
Four years
ago. (see bee tee laew)
If
someone asks you how long you have been in Thailand,
say song bee laew to mean that you have been
here two years already. However, if they ask you when
you came to Thailand then answer see bee tee laew.
Many years
ago. (lai bee tee laew)
You
can also say lai wun tee laew or lai
wun ma laew to mean "many days ago".