[Did you know?]

“แล้ว” (léaw) only expresses the sense of completion. It’s not restricted to be used to express past tense. It can also be used in the present tense and future tense as well. Even though most of time it’s translated as “already,” you can translate it to “now” in some contexts. Take a look at these examples below;

ตอนนี้ กี่โมงแล้ว
[tawn níi kìi moong léaw]
What time is it (now)?

จะไปแล้วนะ 
[jà pai léaw ná]
I’m leaving now. 

เดี๋ยวฝนก็หยุดตกแล้ว 
[dǐaw fǒn kâw yùt tòk léaw]
It’ll stop raining soon (already).

อีกไม่นานก็ถึงเวลากินข้าวแล้ว 
[ìik mâi naan kâw teǔng welaa gin kâao léaw]
Soon, it’ll be time for dinner (already).

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