Friends,

I new construction I have not seen before:

"หากมีการรัฐประหารเมื่อไร เชื่อได้เลยว่ากระแสต้านจะรุนแรงยิ่งกว่าครั้งก่อนหลายเท่า"

"If and when there is a coup, I believe that the wave of opposition [to the coup] will be many times stronger than ever before."

In English we say "If and when" to state both a conditional and future event. Does the construction in Thai, "หาก . . . เมื่อไร" in the first clause of th quoted sentence imply the same thing in Thai?

Does the phrase "เชื่อได้เลยว่า" in the second clause imply that the speaker, the unstated "I", is making this statement or is another party implied?

Does the adverbial phrase "ยิ่งกว่าครั้งก่อน" refer only to the 2549 coup or is the writer referring to all other previous coups? In other words, should we assume that "ครั้งก่อน" is singular or plural; that is, should the translation include the phrase "than ever before"?

Thank you for your assistance.

In English we say "If and when" to state both a conditional and future event. Does the construction in Thai, "หาก . . . เมื่อไร" in the first clause of th quoted sentence imply the same thing in Thai?

Yes, it implies the same thing in Thai.

Does the phrase "เชื่อได้เลยว่า" in the second clause imply that the speaker, the unstated "I", is making this statement or is another party implied?

It implies that the speaker, the unstated "I", is making this statement.

Does the adverbial phrase "ยิ่งกว่าครั้งก่อน" refer only to the 2549 coup or is the writer referring to all other previous coups? In other words, should we assume that "ครั้งก่อน" is singular or plural; that is, should the translation include the phrase "than ever before"?

"ครั้งก่อน" refers only to the 2549 coup.

If they want to refer to all other previous coups, they have to say "ครั้งก่อน ๆ ".

Edited October 19, 200817 yr by yoot