Study Focus: Months and Years

• The names of the Thai months are derived from the same twelve astrological signs used in the West.

• In regular speech, we can say the names of the months in several different ways. The longest way is to say the word "month," เดือน (duuean), followed by the month's name.

  • For example, March would be เดือนมีนาคม (duuean mii-naa-khom).

• We can shorten this by dropping the last syllable to say เดือนมีนา (duuean mii-naa) or by dropping the word "month" to just say มีนาคม (mii-naa-khom).

  • We can abbreviate it even further by dropping both and just saying มีนา (mii-naa).

  • This last, shortest form is very common in casual speech.

• The last syllable of each month's name indicates how many days it has.

  • Months with thirty days end in ยน (yon).

  • Months with thirty-one days end in คม (khom).

  • And February, which has either twenty-eight or twenty-nine days, ends in พันธ์ (phan).

  • We can also identify the months using ordinal numbers.

  • For example, March is the "third month," so we can also call it เดือนที่สาม (duuean thîi sǎam). The pattern is: เดือน (duuean) "month" + an ordinal number.

    • พี่ชายจะกลับไปอเมริกาเดือนที่หก (phîi-chaai jà glàp bpai à-mee-rí-gaa duuean thîi hòk)"My older brother will go back to the United States in June."

• There are two different systems we use for numbering the years in Thailand.

  • The internationally used system based on the year of the birth of Jesus is called the "Christian Era," คริสตศักราช (khrít-dtà-sàk-gà-ràat).

    • We abbreviate it as ค.ศ., which we say as khaaw-sǎaw.

  • The official system the Thai government uses is based on the year of the Buddha's death, and we call it the "Buddhist Era," พุทธศักราช (phút-thá-sàk-gà-ràat).

    • We abbreviate it as พ.ศ., which we say as phaaw-sǎaw.

  • The Buddhist Era precedes the Christian Era by 543 years. Hence, if you were born in 1980, it would be the Buddhist year 2523.

Vocabulary & Phrases

• ห่างจาก (hàang jàak)

  • ห่าง (hàang) means "apart" or “be different”

  • จาก (jàak) means "from."

  • Together, the phrase means "different from" or “apart from” indicating a certain degree of separation.

• พูดถึง (phûut thǔeng)

  • In this phrase, the meaning of ถึง (thǔeng) is "about."

  • So, together with "to speak," พูด (phûut), the whole phrase means "to speak about."

• มากกวา่ (mâak gwàa)

  • This phrase means "more than."

  • In a sentence, it appears between two items or perhaps simply after one object if the listener can deduce the subject from the surrounding context.

  • ผมชอบเบียร์มากกว่าไวน์ (phǒm châawp biia mâak gwàa waai)

    ➤ "I like beer better than wine."

  • คุณชอบเบีย แต่ผมชอบไวน์์มากกว่า (khun châawp biia. dtàae phǒm châawp waai mâak gwàa.)

    ➤ "You like beer. But I like wine better."

Figuring Out the Thai System for Months and Years

• The names of the months in Thai follow the zodiac.

  • For example, August (Leo) is sǐng-hǎa-khom.

  • Singha is the Sanskrit word for "lion."

• The name of the month also indicates how many days it has.

  • Months with thirty days end in -yon, and months with thirty-one days end in -khom. The one exception is February, which ends in -phan.

• Thailand's official calendar follows the Buddhist Era, which is based on the number of years since the Buddha's death.

  • The Christian year can be calculated by subtracting 543 from the Buddhist year.