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In the past in Thai

“In the past” in Thai is เมื่อก่อนmûea-gàwn.

เมื่อก่อน mûea-gàwn

in the past, before adverb

  • mûea falling
  • gàwn low
  • Falling: start high and drop clearly, like a firm “No!”
  • Low: flat and lower than your normal voice, dropping a little at the end.
Parts: เมื่อmûea when ก่อนgàwn before

เมื่อก่อนฉันเคยอยู่เชียงใหม่mûea-gàwn chǎn koei yùu chiang-mài = I used to live in Chiang Mai.

You'll hear it in Love (ความรัก).

How to use it

เมื่อก่อนmûea-gàwn, literally "when before", sets what you say in the past. Thai verbs don't change, so this word does the work of English "used to", often with เคยkoei, have ever: เมื่อก่อนเคยอยู่ที่นี่mûea-gàwn koei yùu tîi-nîi, I used to live here. What's true now starts with เดี๋ยวนี้dǐaw-níi, nowadays.

Don't mix it up with เมื่อกี้mûea-gîi, a moment ago, or ก่อนgàwn alone, before or first.

Other spellings you'll see

There's no single official way to write Thai in English letters. We mark the tone of every syllable; online you'll also find:

  • muea kon
  • mua gon
  • meua korn

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Written by the Learn Thai For Free team
Audio: AI voices, quality-checked for tones