There are two ways to read the year in Thai. (Both Buddhist and gregorian year are read the same way). I will give you examples and later I will point out common mistakes that English speakers often make.
Number by number
If you can count 1-9 then you can already say the year in Thai. Let’s see some examples.
So the year 1999 is said like one-nine-nine-nine.
- I was born in the year 2535 (Buddhist year)
เธเธฑเธเนเธเธดเธเธเธต เธชเธญเธ-เธซเนเธฒ-เธชเธฒเธก-เธซเนเธฒ
chฤnย gรจrtย bpeeย ยทย sลngย ยทย hรขaย ยทย sฤamย ยทย hรขa - I graduate in the year 2018
เธเธฑเธเนเธฃเธตเธขเธเธเธเธเธต เธชเธญเธ-เธจเธนเธเธขเน-เธซเธเธถเนเธ-เนเธเธ
chฤnย rian jรฒpย bpeeย ยทย sลngย ยทย sลonย ยทย nรจungย ยทย bpร et
In thousands
Another very common way to say the year is starting from thousands เธเธฑเธ (pan), hundreds เธฃเนเธญเธข (rรณi), tens เธชเธดเธ (sรฌp). Let’s take a look at some examples.
So the year 1999 would be 1 thousand, 9 hundred, ninety-nine.
- The war occurred in 1945
เธชเธเธเธฃเธฒเธกเนเธเธดเธเธเธถเนเธเธเธต เธซเธเธถเนเธเธเธฑเธ-เนเธเนเธฒเธฃเนเธญเธข-เธชเธตเนเธชเธดเธ-เธซเนเธฒ
sลng-kraamย gernย kรชunย bpeeย ยทย nรจung panย ยทย gรขo rรณiย ยทย sรจe sรฌpย ยทย hรขa - I met him in the year 2008
เธเธฑเธเนเธเธญเนเธเธฒเธเธต เธชเธญเธเธเธฑเธ-เนเธเธ
chฤnย jerย kฤoย bpeeย ยทย sลng panย ยทย bpร et
Common mistakes
Mistake 1
Both ways I wrote about above are used often. However, in normal everyday conversations, try to choose the shortest one.
For example, for 1945, you would not want to use the second format because saying it in thousands will make it very long. So, one-nine-four-five is better than one thousand-nine hundred-forty five.
On the other hand, for 2000 you would not want to say the number one by one because the shortest way is to just a ‘ two thousand’ เธชเธญเธเธเธฑเธ (sลng pan).
Mistake 2
English speakers can say nineteen-twenty for 1920, or twenty-twenty for 2020. However, in Thai you can never say it like that. That leaves you with the two choices discussed above.
I hope now you have learned about how to read the year in Thai. Take care and I will see you in the next article.
