Dates and Time

Kon an | Dates

Dates are given in order of most specific to least specific. I.e., day of the week, day of the month, month, year. Each is separated by the preposition i, "of".
For example:

• an ti ku u nan i mel ti ku u nan i yol nan ning sit lip
  [day] [ordinal] [ten] [and] [one] [of] [month] [ordinal] [ten] [and] [one] [of] [year] [one] [nine] [seven] [five]
  "November 11th, 1975"

Usually, the number is written with numerals, not spelled out.

an ti 11 i mel ti 11 i yol 1975 "November 11th, 1975"

Dates can be abbreviated in writing by removing ti and i.

an 11 mel 11 yol 1975

Yol | Years

Years are given by listing the numurals of the year after the word yol, "year". The year should ordinarily be written in numerals.

• yol nan ning lip sit
  [year] [one] [nine] [five] [seven]
  1957

• yol nan ne yap yap
  [year] [one] [zero] [six] [six]
  1066

• yol do ne do ne
  [year] [two] [zero] [two] [zero]
  2020

• yol do ne ne tam
  [year] [two] [zero] [zero] [eight]
  2008

Yaim yol | Seasons

The Ba kom word for "season" is yaim yol. Yaim means something that happens without conscious intervention, or a stage of a repeating cycle.

In the names of seasons, the word yol, "of the year", may be left out, particularly in compound words.

These are the words for the temperate seasons:

• pam yol
  [growing] [(of the) year]
  "spring"

• xu yol
  [heat] [(of the) year]
  "summer"

• xuk yol
  [withering] [(of the) year]
  "autumn, fall"

• seng yol
  [cold] [(of the) year]
  "winter"

These are the tropical seasons:

• fa yol
  [rains] [(of the) year]
  "wet season"

• nimul yol
  [drying] [(of the) year]
  "dry season"

An yun | Days of the Week

The word for "week" is yun an, "circle of days".
The word for "day of the week" is an yun.

Days of the week are formed as abbreviations of this phrase:

• an ti [number] i yun,
  [day] [-th] [number] [of] [week]
  "the —th day of the week"

This is abbreviated to:

• [number] yun

These are the days of the week:

• nan yun — Monday

• do yun — Tuesday

• sam yun — Wednesday

• tau yun — Thursday

• lip yun — Friday

• yap yun — Saturday

• sit yun — Sunday

Mel | Months

Months are formed regularly with ordinal numbers.

Here are the months:

• mel ti nan — January

• mel ti do — February

• mel ti sam — March

• mel ti tau — April

• mel ti lip — May

• mel ti yap — June

• mel ti sit — July

• mel ti tam — August

• mel ti ning — September

• mel ti ku — October

• mel ti ku u nan — November

• mel ti ku u do — December

Laun an | Time of day

To ask "what time is it (right now)", one says:

A kaun ken mo?
[be] [minute] [hour] [what]
"What time is it?"

One can also say:

A ci kaun ken mo?
[be] [now] [hour] [minute] [what]
"What time is it right now?"

To ask "what time is it (a scheduled event)", one says:

Sa kaun ken mo?
[as] [minute] [hour] [what]
"What time is it at?"

The time of day is expressed with the hour first, followed by u "and", and then the minute. The word ken, "hour", may be dropped.

ken [number] u [minute]
[hour] … [and] …

The minute should be rounded by quarter hours, unless exact specificity is needed.
One quarter hour is xung; a half hour is dil; and three quarters of an hour is xung sam.
For example:

A ku u xung.
[be] [ten] [and] [quarter]
"It's a quarter after ten."

A lip u dil.
[be] [five] [and] [half]
"It's half past five."

A tau u xung sam.
[be] [four] [and] [quarter] [three]
"It's 4:45."

Instead of xung sam, one may also use this pattern for "a quarter to":

[upcoming hour] ne xung

For example:

A ku u do ne xung.
[be] [ten] [and] [two] [lack] [quarter]
"It's a quarter to twelve."

A lip ne xung.
[be] [five] [lack] [quarter]
"It's a quarter to five."

Here is some vocabulary:

• ken ("section") — hour

• dil ("part, half") — half an hour

• xung ("notch") — quarter of an hour

• kaun ("angle") — minute

• bing ("little bit") — second

• kaun ken — time of day, stated in minutes and hours

• mem ("early") — morning

• aun ("late") — evening

• an — day (daytime); day (cycle of 24 hours)

• lem ("light") — daytime, time when the sun is shining

• lui — night

• ing an — midday

• ing lui — midnight

• an yam ("sun appears") — dawn, sunrise

• an tul ("sun disappears") — dusk, sunset

• pan ing an ("before noon") — A.M.

• lan ing an ("after noon") — P.M.