How to tell the time Thai style

Thai people use a different system to tell the time compared to the Western system. The day is divided into four parts: morning, afternoon, evening, and night. The terms used are thought to have originated from the sounds of traditional timekeeping devices; a gong during the daytime and a drum during the night.

Before sunrise

Before 6am, Thai use ตี___ for early morning time. ตี means to hit or in this case to strike.

After sunrise

After the sun rises, Thai use ___โมงเช้า for morning time. โมง translates to hours and เช้า just translates to morning. This is used from 6am to 11am. Usually, the number used is the same as the Western system (hours past midnight), however in some places in Thailand, the number of hours since 6am is used.

After noon

From 1-4pm, Thai use บ่าย___โมง for afternoon time. บ่าย means afternoon. The number used is the hours past noon. หนึ่ง is usually omitted for 1pm.

Late afternoon

Between 5-6pm, Thai use บ่าย___เย็น for evening time. เย็น translates to evening or twilight. Again, the number used is the hours past noon.

Evening

Thai use ___ทุ่ม for night time. ทุ่ม is the onomatopoeia for the sound of the drum. In this case the number used is always the hours past 6pm, and for 7pm you would just say ทุ่ม.

Noon and midnight

Exceptions are used here where noon is เที่ยง and midnight is เที่ยงคืน.

Minutes

To say the minutes past the hour, Thai use ___นาที. นาที literally translating to minutes. You can also say the minutes to the hour, if past the half hour. The format for this is อีก___นาที. อีก translates to more or another. There is no particular rule for when to use อีก, just whatever you're feeling! You'll always be ok just saying the minutes past the hour.

Half past

Much like in English, Thai also have a term for half past the hour. Thai use ___ครึ่ง, with ครึ่ง meaning half. Quarter past and quarter to the hour are not used.

24 hour clock

Thai people use the 24 hour clock system in formal situations and on things like train schedules. The format is ___นาฬิกา___ e.g. แปดนาฬิกาสิบนาที is 8:10am.

This is rarely used in everyday conversation but would be likely to be understood.

All hours

I have developed a thai time converter to help convert times into the spoken Thai sentences. I generally avoid transliterating Thai into the Latin alphabet as there's no standard way to do this and my eyes always gravitate towards the latin alphabet instead of the Thai script. Definitely learn how to read Thai script if you want to learn Thai!