'When" - but not as an interrogative

[gawguy]

I find myself at a loss with this concept. My dictionaries and books don't have it. Maybe there is no specific word for it and is gotten at with a different structure.

 

 

 

"WHEN I come to BKK I want to see you."

 

 

 

"What do you want to do WHEN you come to Pattaya?"

 

 

 

"I am not sure WHEN I will telephone you."

 

 

 

Thanks as always.

 

GG

[Guest]

There are several different words to express "when" as an adverb, depending on the circumstances:

 

 

 

1) "Meua" (falling tone: àÃ×èÃ) is used in the past. "When I arrived home, I discovered things missing" would be "meua phom theung baan laew, phom phop waa mee khong haay".

 

 

 

2) "Torn" (even tone: µÃ¹), "weelaa" (two even tones: àÇÅÒ), and "khana" (ending on short low tone: ¢³Ã) are used in the present and for habitual actions. "I like to eat when watching TV" would be "phom chawp tharn khao torn / weelaa / khana duu thorathat".

 

 

 

3) In the future, you usually just use "laew" (high tone: áÅéÇ): "I will call you when I get to the office" would be "theung office laew phom ja thoo haa khun". You could also preface this sentence with "weelaa" to add emphasis.

 

 

 

Hope this is of use.

[Guest]

P.S.: I would translate your example sentences as follows:

 

 

 

"WHEN I come to BKK I want to see you." would be "weelaa phom theung Krungthep laew phom yark cheu kap khun".

 

 

 

"What do you want to do WHEN you come to Pattaya?" would be "khun yark tham arai meua khun maa Pattaya?"

 

 

 

"I am not sure WHEN I will telephone you." would be "phom mai naejai waa ja thoo haa khun meurai".

 

 

 

Doing these translations just now, I realize that my previous rules don't really hold true.

 

 

 

"Meua" can be used in the future as well as in the past, as in the "what do you want to do when you come to Pattaya?" sentence. It would also fit in the "when I come to Bangkok I want to see you" sentence, in place of "weelaa". "Torn" could also be used here.

 

 

 

"Meua rai" is used when you're not sure when something will happen, as in the "I'm not sure when I will telephone you" sentence.

 

 

[daeng bireley]

 

 

Things are said quite differently in thai and when complete english sentences are put into thai they sound awkward.

 

 

 

You would probably just say

 

"yaak pai har khun (girls name instead of khun would sound better)"

 

(I) want to go see you

 

 

 

"pai thamarai dee tee pattaya"

 

do what good in pattaya (little bit idiomatic)

 

 

 

Mai naejai mue ja tor pai har khun(girls name)eek

 

 

 

The other answers are correct and of course like english there are many ways of saying something, I just think its important to say things in a thai "way". Often farang are misunderstood because of the complexity of their sentences.