วันนี้ / พรุ่งนี้ / เมื่อวาน

Today Tomorrow Yesterday

Level 1

วันนี้ means today, พรุ่งนี้ means tomorrow, and เมื่อวาน means yesterday. These expressions help locate an event in time; the Thai verb does not take an English-style past or future ending.

How It Works

Thai can express time with words in the sentence rather than by changing a verb into an English-style tense form. Time expressions and markers of aspect or intention serve different purposes.

  • วันนี้ (wan-níi): Today. Literally 'day + this.'
  • พรุ่งนี้ (phrûng-níi): Tomorrow.
  • เมื่อวาน (mûea-waan): Yesterday. เมื่อวานนี้ also means yesterday.

Word Order:
The displayed examples illustrate two positions:
1. [Time Word] + Subject + Verb + Object (Introduces the time before the event)
2. Subject + Verb + Object + [Time Word] (Gives the time after the event)
These are patterns for the examples, not an exhaustive rule for every Thai sentence. In the first task, keep กิน and its object ข้าว together and place วันนี้ before the subject, as shown in the requested correction.

Time and Other Markers:
จะ (will) expresses future or intended action in the example with 'tomorrow'. แล้ว (already) can describe completion or a changed situation; it is not simply a Thai past-tense ending. Read each marker in its whole construction rather than automatically adding or deleting it because a time word appears.

Examples (5)

  1. วันนี้อากาศดี

    Today the weather is good.

    Word by Word: Today weather good

    The time word 'today' is placed at the start to set the context for the description.

  2. ผมไปตลาดเมื่อวาน

    I went to the market yesterday.

    Word by Word: I go market yesterday

    Notice the verb 'go' (ไป) does not change; 'yesterday' at the end tells us it happened in the past.

  3. เราจะเจอกันพรุ่งนี้

    We will meet each other tomorrow.

    Word by Word: We will meet each-other tomorrow

    The sentence includes จะ before เจอกัน and พรุ่งนี้ after it. The time expression means tomorrow, while จะ presents the meeting as future or intended.

  4. เมื่อวานนี้เขาไม่มา

    Yesterday, he didn't come.

    Word by Word: Yesterday he not come

    เมื่อวานนี้ means yesterday in this sentence. ไม่ negates มา, so the sentence says that he did not come yesterday.

  5. พรุ่งนี้คุณทำอะไร

    What are you doing tomorrow?

    Word by Word: Tomorrow you do what

    พรุ่งนี้ introduces tomorrow as the time of the question. The rest of the sentence asks what the person will do then.

Common Mistakes

  • Placing the time word between the verb and the object.

    ผมกินวันนี้ข้าว
    วันนี้ผมกินข้าว

    For this task, keep กิน next to its object ข้าว and use the requested order วันนี้ผมกินข้าว. This corrects the displayed placement of วันนี้; it does not establish that all Thai time expressions must appear only at the beginning or end of every sentence.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

วันนี้ / พรุ่งนี้ / เมื่อวานLevel 1Today Tomorrow Yesterday

Learn This First

To use these time words effectively, you need to understand where they sit in a sentence (usually at the front) and how they function as the primary indicators of time since Thai verbs do not change for tense. It is also helpful to recognize the demonstrative 'this' (นี้) which forms part of the word for 'today'.

Words in This Pattern

วันนี้วันนี้พรุ่งนี้พรุ่งนี้เมื่อวานเมื่อวาน