Telling Time in Thai: The Six-Hour Clock Explained

Thai has two ways of telling time. In everyday speech, people use a traditional clock that splits the day into periods of about six hours, each with its own word: ตี dtii for the night, โมงเช้า moong cháao for the morning, บ่าย bàai for the afternoon, โมงเย็น moong yen for the late afternoon and ทุ่ม tûm for the evening. In writing and in formal contexts, Thailand uses the 24-hour clock with the word นาฬิกา naa-lí-gaa. To ask the time, say กี่โมงแล้ว gìi moong lɛ́ɛo?

The traditional clock looks complicated at first because the same number can mean four different hours: ตีห้า dtii hâa is 5 a.m., ห้าโมงเช้า hâa moong cháao is 11 a.m., ห้าโมงเย็น hâa moong yen is 5 p.m. and ห้าทุ่ม hâa tûm is 11 p.m. Once you see the logic, it takes an afternoon to learn. You only need the numbers 1 to 12; if they are not solid yet, start with our guide to Thai numbers.

How do you ask the time in Thai?

กี่ gìi means “how many”, and โมง moong is the word for a clock hour, so กี่โมง is literally “how many hours?”. แล้ว lɛ́ɛo, “already”, gives the sense of “what time is it by now?”. The answer follows the same pattern: สามทุ่มแล้ว sǎam tûm lɛ́ɛo, “it’s already 9 p.m.”.

The Thai six-hour clock

The day is cut into blocks, and each block counts its hours from the start. Here is each one in order.

Night: ตี + number (1 a.m. to 5 a.m.)

The hours after midnight use ตี dtii before the number: ตีหนึ่ง dtii nʉ̀ng (1 a.m.), ตีสอง dtii sɔ̌ɔng (2 a.m.), up to ตีห้า dtii hâa (5 a.m.). ตี literally means “to strike”. If a friend says they went to bed at ตีสาม dtii sǎam, it was 3 a.m.

Morning: number + โมงเช้า (6 a.m. to 11 a.m.)

From 6 a.m., hours are number + โมงเช้า moong cháao, “hour of the morning”. 6 a.m. is หกโมงเช้า hòk moong cháao. After that, two counts are in everyday use:

• The direct count: เจ็ดโมงเช้า jèt moong cháao (7 a.m.), แปดโมงเช้า bpɛ̀ɛt moong cháao (8 a.m.), up to สิบเอ็ดโมงเช้า sìp-èt moong cháao (11 a.m.).
• The traditional count, starting again after 6 a.m.: โมงเช้า moong cháao alone (7 a.m.), สองโมงเช้า sɔ̌ɔng moong cháao (8 a.m.), สามโมงเช้า sǎam moong cháao (9 a.m.), สี่โมงเช้า sìi moong cháao (10 a.m.), ห้าโมงเช้า hâa moong cháao (11 a.m.).

Both are correct and you will hear both. Use the direct count yourself, since it is the easiest and it is always understood, but learn to recognise the other: if someone says สองโมงเช้า, they mean 8 a.m., not 2 a.m. This is why เช้า cháao matters: it tells you which block you are in.

Noon and afternoon: เที่ยง and บ่าย + number + โมง (12 p.m. to 4 p.m.)

Noon is เที่ยง tîang or เที่ยงวัน tîang-wan. The afternoon hours put บ่าย bàai, “afternoon”, before the number:

• 1 p.m. is บ่ายโมง bàai moong, with no number at all.
• 2 p.m. is บ่ายสองโมง bàai sɔ̌ɔng moong, 3 p.m. บ่ายสามโมง bàai sǎam moong.
• 4 p.m. is บ่ายสี่โมง bàai sìi moong or, just as often, สี่โมงเย็น sìi moong yen.

Late afternoon: number + โมงเย็น (4 p.m. to 6 p.m.)

As the heat drops, the hours become โมงเย็น moong yen, “hour of the cool evening”: สี่โมงเย็น sìi moong yen (4 p.m.), ห้าโมงเย็น hâa moong yen (5 p.m.), หกโมงเย็น hòk moong yen (6 p.m.). Here the number keeps its real value, as on an English clock.

Evening: number + ทุ่ม (7 p.m. to 11 p.m.)

After dark, the count restarts with ทุ่ม tûm, placed after the number: หนึ่งทุ่ม nʉ̀ng tûm (7 p.m.), สองทุ่ม sɔ̌ɔng tûm (8 p.m.), สามทุ่ม sǎam tûm (9 p.m.), สี่ทุ่ม sìi tûm (10 p.m.), ห้าทุ่ม hâa tûm (11 p.m.). In casual speech 7 p.m. is also heard as ทุ่มหนึ่ง tûm nʉ̀ng, often said tûm nʉng.

The simplest way to convert: ทุ่ม hours + 6 = the evening hour. สองทุ่ม is 2 + 6 = 8 p.m.

Midnight

Midnight is เที่ยงคืน tîang-kʉʉn, literally “the noon of the night”. The traditional count also calls it หกทุ่ม hòk tûm, the sixth evening hour, but เที่ยงคืน is what you will hear most.

The full day in Thai

Why ตี, โมง and ทุ่ม?

The words are usually traced back to the way hours were once announced in Thai towns: a gong during the day, whose sound is said to have given โมง moong, a drum in the evening, whose sound gave ทุ่ม tûm, and ตี dtii, “to strike”, for the hours struck in the night. Whatever the exact history, the logic is useful: each word tells you which part of the day you are in, so in the traditional count the number never has to go above six.

The 24-hour clock: นาฬิกา

In writing, on timetables, on TV and in official announcements, Thailand uses the 24-hour clock. The hour is followed by นาฬิกา naa-lí-gaa (“clock”, “o’clock”), and the minutes by นาที naa-tii. In writing, a dot separates hours and minutes and the abbreviation น. follows: 18.30 น.

You need to read this system, but in conversation it sounds stiff. Ask a Thai friend when the film starts and they will say สองทุ่ม sɔ̌ɔng tûm, not ยี่สิบนาฬิกา yîi-sìp naa-lí-gaa.

Minutes, half past and “to”

Minutes come after the hour, with or without นาที naa-tii. When minutes are added, เช้า and เย็น are usually dropped, because context makes the period clear:

• Half past is ครึ่ง krʉ̂ng, “half”, after the hour.
• There is no word for “quarter”: say สิบห้า sìp-hâa (fifteen) or สี่สิบห้า sìi-sìp-hâa (forty-five).
• “To” is อีก ìik + minutes + the coming hour: “five more minutes, nine p.m.”. Many people simply say สองทุ่มห้าสิบห้า sɔ̌ɔng tûm hâa-sìp-hâa (8:55 p.m.).
• About is ประมาณ bprà-maan: ประมาณสองทุ่ม bprà-maan sɔ̌ɔng tûm, “around 8 p.m.”.

O’clock or hours? โมง vs ชั่วโมง

Do not confuse the time on the clock with a duration. โมง moong is a point in time; ชั่วโมง chûa-moong is an hour of duration.

ประชุมบ่ายสามโมง bprà-chum bàai sǎam moong: the meeting is at 3 p.m.

ประชุมสามชั่วโมง bprà-chum sǎam chûa-moong: the meeting lasts three hours.

In the story Mali’s office, where โมง first appears, Mali sits through a three-hour meeting. To ask how long something takes, say ใช้เวลากี่ชั่วโมง chái wee-laa gìi chûa-moong? (“how many hours does it take?”), and for “from… to…”, use ตั้งแต่… ถึง… dtâng-dtɛ̀ɛ… tʉ̌ng…: ร้านเปิดตั้งแต่แปดโมงเช้าถึงสี่ทุ่ม ráan bpə̀ət dtâng-dtɛ̀ɛ bpɛ̀ɛt moong cháao tʉ̌ng sìi tûm, “the shop is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.”.

Thai time words: morning, now, tomorrow

ตอน dtɔɔn means “at the time of”, and it also works before a clock time: ตอนแปดโมง dtɔɔn bpɛ̀ɛt moong, “at eight”. Thai often drops it, though: ผมตื่นหกโมงเช้า pǒm dtʉ̀ʉn hòk moong cháao, “I wake up at 6 a.m.”. Two more words come up constantly: สาย sǎai, “late in the morning”, as in มาสาย maa sǎai, “to arrive late”, and ดึก dʉ̀k, “late at night”, as in นอนดึก nɔɔn dʉ̀k, “to go to bed late”. For days of the week and months, see Thai days and months.

Common mistakes when telling time in Thai

1. Saying หนึ่งโมง for 1 p.m. The afternoon needs บ่าย: 1 p.m. is บ่ายโมง bàai moong.
2. Dropping the period word. สองโมง sɔ̌ɔng moong alone is ambiguous: say สองโมงเช้า for 8 a.m. or บ่ายสองโมง for 2 p.m.
3. Putting ตี after the number. It is ตีสอง dtii sɔ̌ɔng (2 a.m.), while ทุ่ม goes after: สองทุ่ม sɔ̌ɔng tûm (8 p.m.).
4. Mixing up โมง and ชั่วโมง. สามโมง is a time on the clock, สามชั่วโมง is three hours.
5. Using นาฬิกา in conversation. It is correct but sounds like a radio announcement; keep it for reading.

How to practise telling time in Thai

• Translate your own day. Say the time in Thai every time you look at your phone. The blocks become automatic within a few days, and ทุ่ม stops needing the “+ 6” trick.
• Read timetables. Train tickets, bus timetables and TV schedules use the 24-hour clock, so they train the นาฬิกา system while you wait.
• Learn times inside a routine. Times are easiest to remember when they belong to a scene: waking up on a Monday, a busy week, a train to catch. Hugo starts his Thai lessons in Monday morning, and in Kru May every sentence of the story can be heard at natural and slow speed.