Thais Telling The Time

[Doza]

Why do Thais insist on still using (wrongly) the '0' to denote hundred hours or 24 hour time even when they are using am/pm for twelve hour time?

E.g. 04.00pm /

What is up with that?!

[tijnebijn]

Do they ?

like in your statement , it is what it is .

Why ? Not have a clue to be honest .

[luckyluke]

Sorry,what's wrong with 04.00 pm ?

[Neeranam]

They say "see mong laeng" here. Sorry but not allowed to write it in Thai.

[Neeranam]

Sometimes they say, "see mong yen" and sometimes "bai see mong".

[mrtoad]

Sorry,what's wrong with 04.00 pm ?

My understanding is that you do not need to put the 0 (zero) in front of the time if you are following it with am or pm. The 0 (Zero) is only used when using the 24 hour clock.

[pgs]

Add to that the interesting time-telling. Clock divided into 4 x 6hour blocks.

I'll meet you a 2 O'Clock - um, which 2 O'Clock?

2 O'Clock night = 2am

2 O'Clock morning = 8am

2 O'Clock afternoon = 2pm

2 O'Clock evening = 8pm

[YangYaiEric]

They say "see mong laeng" here. Sorry but not allowed to write it in Thai.

Sorry to sound like a Know-It-All, but I thing the Thai version of 4:00 PM is 'Bai See Mong' (If I'm NOT mistaken ! )

[lazeeboy]

They say "see mong laeng" here. Sorry but not allowed to write it in Thai.

Sorry to sound like a Know-It-All, but I thing the Thai version of 4:00 PM is 'Bai See Mong' (If I'm NOT mistaken ! )

i just look at my watch and then i know what time it is ,whatever time the thai will tell you it is will be wrong anyway .

[tijnebijn]

They say "see mong laeng" here. Sorry but not allowed to write it in Thai.

Sorry to sound like a Know-It-All, but I thing the Thai version of 4:00 PM is 'Bai See Mong' (If I'm NOT mistaken ! )

In the evening they say , 1 toem , 2 toem etc .( 7 and 8 o'clock etc )

What I understand in the morning they say 7 moong chao (morning ) until bai moong .

and then repeat the bai mong .

But it is common they say 3 moong and 4, 5 ,6 moong until 1 toem (seven o clock ) , without the bai saying.

Oh yeah in the night they say ti 1, ti 2 etc, is after midnight .

[YangYaiEric]

They say "see mong laeng" here. Sorry but not allowed to write it in Thai.

Sorry to sound like a Know-It-All, but I thing the Thai version of 4:00 PM is 'Bai See Mong' (If I'm NOT mistaken ! )

In the evening they say , 1 toem , 2 toem etc .( 7 and 8 o'clock etc )

What I understand in the morning they say 7 moong chao (morning ) until bai moong .

and then repeat the bai mong .

But it is common they say 3 moong and 4, 5 ,6 moong until 1 toem (seven o clock ) , without the bai saying.

Oh yeah in the night they say ti 1, ti 2 etc, is after midnight .

Yes. Agree with you in principal there ! But, in the part of Thaiiland where I live (Korat), they always add the 'Bai' infront of the hour when telling the time between 1 pm and 4 pm. I guess its a regional thing, what?

[blizzard]

how can someone get away with saying thais dont know how to reed te clock?

[luckyluke]

Sorry,what's wrong with 04.00 pm ?

My understanding is that you do not need to put the 0 (zero) in front of the time if you are following it with am or pm. The 0 (Zero) is only used when using the 24 hour clock.

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Thanks, but when I google I see a lot of english sites using the 00.00 pm indication(North Shropshire Cycle Rides,Bridgemary Community Sport College...)

[Neeranam]

They say "see mong laeng" here. Sorry but not allowed to write it in Thai.

Sorry to sound like a Know-It-All, but I thing the Thai version of 4:00 PM is 'Bai See Mong' (If I'm NOT mistaken ! )

In the evening they say , 1 toem , 2 toem etc .( 7 and 8 o'clock etc )

What I understand in the morning they say 7 moong chao (morning ) until bai moong .

and then repeat the bai mong .

But it is common they say 3 moong and 4, 5 ,6 moong until 1 toem (seven o clock ) , without the bai saying.

Oh yeah in the night they say ti 1, ti 2 etc, is after midnight .

Yes. Agree with you in principal there ! But, in the part of Thaiiland where I live (Korat), they always add the 'Bai' infront of the hour when telling the time between 1 pm and 4 pm. I guess its a regional thing, what?

No, it's not regional - some say "bai see mong", some "see mong yen" it's bout 50/50. The les educated say "bai see mong"

"See mong laeng" is regional.

[Naam]

Sorry,what's wrong with 04.00 pm ?

My understanding is that you do not need to put the 0 (zero) in front of the time if you are following it with am or pm. The 0 (Zero) is only used when using the 24 hour clock.

correct.

[tijnebijn]

They say "see mong laeng" here. Sorry but not allowed to write it in Thai.

Sorry to sound like a Know-It-All, but I thing the Thai version of 4:00 PM is 'Bai See Mong' (If I'm NOT mistaken ! )

In the evening they say , 1 toem , 2 toem etc .( 7 and 8 o'clock etc )

What I understand in the morning they say 7 moong chao (morning ) until bai moong .

and then repeat the bai mong .

But it is common they say 3 moong and 4, 5 ,6 moong until 1 toem (seven o clock ) , without the bai saying.

Oh yeah in the night they say ti 1, ti 2 etc, is after midnight .

Yes. Agree with you in principal there ! But, in the part of Thaiiland where I live (Korat), they always add the 'Bai' infront of the hour when telling the time between 1 pm and 4 pm. I guess its a regional thing, what?

No, it's not regional - some say "bai see mong", some "see mong yen" it's bout 50/50. The les educated say "bai see mong"

"See mong laeng" is regional.

In my understanding to say bai moong or not is the same , probaly lazy to say so .

I agree with Eric , referring to the bai between 1 and 3 afternoon .

Bai 4 moong they just say 4 moong . but hey i stay in Chiangmai , maybe they do differ .

[Naam]

use of "a.m." and "p.m" denotes "mate from an uncivilised country". the same goes for pounds per square inch, miles, two by fours and similar stone age measurements.

:D

[Tywais]

No, it's not regional - some say "bai see mong", some "see mong yen" it's bout 50/50. The les educated say "bai see mong"

"See mong laeng" is regional.

Think you may have that turned around or else the professors and staff where I work at the uni are 'les educated' when they say "bai see mong".

There was a topic in the Thai language forum going through all the iterations of Thai time if one does a search for it. If the OP wishes this moved to that forum just let a mod know. May be more appropriate since the majority of responses now are using Thai language forms.

[Neeranam]

Starting from the early morning

6 hok moong chaao

7 jet moong chaao (or just 'moong chaao')

8 bpaed moong chaao (or 'sawng moong chaao' i.e. 2 hours morning)

9 gaao moong (usually no 'moong chaao' after this one)

10 sip moong (usually no additional description after this either)

11 sip et moong

12 thiang (wan)

1 PM baay (neung) moong (usually 'neung' is ommitted)

2 PM baay sawng (moong) (usually 'moong' is ommitted)

3 PM baay saam (moong) (usually 'moong' is ommitted)

4 PM sii moong yen ('yen' means cool and refers to the slightly cooler period of the day when the sun begins to set)

5 PM haa moong yen

6 PM hok moong yen

7 PM (neung) thum

8 PM sawng thum

9 PM saam thum

10 PM sii thum

11 PM haa thum

00.00 thiang kheun (kheun means 'night')

1 AM dtii neung

2 AM dtii sawng

3 AM dtii saam

4 AM dtii sii

5 AM dtii haa

1-5 AM are often referred to as 'dtawn chaao meud' (the dark part of the morning).

To further complicate this, the list I compiled above does not apply 100% for Southern Thailand, Isaan and the North. They all have slightly different systems from this one.

Here is a link to the most complete discussion we've had about time on the forum so far. A word of warning though, it might just make you more confused:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...hl=telling+time

[Tywais]

Here is a link to the most complete discussion we've had about time on the forum so far. A word of warning though, it might just make you more confused:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...hl=telling+time

I believe this is the link you were trying for? > Telling Time

And a program available for download > http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=70160

[Austhaied]

Does it really matter. No. Just get over it and live and let live. Make the world a brighter place for it.

[Maestro]

Why do Thais insist on still using (wrongly) the '0' to denote hundred hours or 24 hour time even when they are using am/pm for twelve hour time?

E.g. 04.00pm /

What is up with that?!

I believe you mean when Thais write the time, not when they tell it. The answer is really very simple: just like some foreigners make mistakes when they write Thai, some Thais make mistakes when they write English.

--

Maestro

[chiliwasabi]

I know plenty of farang who have trouble with time. At work we deal with 24hr time and it still amazes me how many people can't get their head around the concept.

Most annoying is when staff sign off jobs as being completed at 16:00pm

[mrtoad]

Sorry,what's wrong with 04.00 pm ?

My understanding is that you do not need to put the 0 (zero) in front of the time if you are following it with am or pm. The 0 (Zero) is only used when using the 24 hour clock.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thanks, but when I google I see a lot of english sites using the 00.00 pm indication(North Shropshire Cycle Rides,Bridgemary Community Sport College...)

Still wrong though.

[luckyluke]

Still wrong though.

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Thanks again,but if a lot of english people are wrong (even a college) I can understand that some thai people are wrong also.

[rychrde]

Does it really matter. No. Just get over it and live and let live. Make the world a brighter place for it.

It DOES matter when a Thai says to me in English," see you at 3 o'clock tomorrow morning." and my eyes pop out. Learnt ages ago to verify any time by repeating it back, in this case it is 9 am clock time and not 3 am.

nice to see the post with all the thai times listed.

rych