Learn how to tell time in Chinese
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Intro |
|---|
| Michael: How do you ask for the time in Chinese? |
| Dehua: And how do you tell the time? |
| Michael: At ChineseClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Consider the following situation: Sasha Lee asks her classmate Chenxin Chen about the time during a school break. They don't want to be late for their next class. Sasha asks, |
| "What time is it?" |
| 李 萨莎: 几点了？ (Jǐ diǎn le?) |
| Dialogue |
| 李 萨莎: 几点了？ (Jǐ diǎn le?) |
| 陈 晨欣: 三点一刻。 (Sān diǎn yī kè.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| 李 萨莎: 几点了？ (Jǐ diǎn le?) |
| Michael: "What time is it?" |
| 陈 晨欣: 三点一刻。 (Sān diǎn yī kè.) |
| Michael: "It's a quarter past three." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Asking for time is one of the most fundamental things in Chinese language. In today's lesson, we will teach you how to ask for the time and how to answer a question about time. To ask "What time is it?," we say ... |
| Dehua: 几点了？ (Jǐ diǎn le?) |
| Michael: Literally, "How many o'clock?" If we omit the ending particle, and just say ... |
| Dehua: 几点？ (jǐ diǎn?), |
| Michael: it has the same meaning. Adding the ending particle … |
| Dehua: 了 (le) |
| Michael: makes the question sound more friendly and natural. |
| Michael: Ok, then how do we answer the question? First, we tell the hour by using the number between one and twelve, followed by the word… |
| Dehua: 点 (diǎn). |
| Michael: For example, "4 o'clock" is… |
| Dehua: 四点 (sì diǎn) |
| Michael: Very straightforward. And how about "half past"? |
| Dehua: We just add 半 (bàn), the word for "half." For example, 四点半 (sì diǎn bàn), |
| Michael: "Half past 4." Now, how do we express a quarter of an hour in Chinese? A useful word that represents 15 minutes is... |
| Dehua: 刻 (kè) |
| Michael: So, three fifteen, or a quarter past three (3:15) can be... |
| Dehua: 三点一刻 (sān diǎn yī kè) |
| Michael: And three forty-five, or a quarter to four (3:45) can be... |
| Dehua: 三点三刻 (sān diǎn sān kè) |
| Michael: because 45 minutes is three times 15 minutes. But what if the time is not for those exact minutes like a quarter or half? Then, we can simply use the word... |
| Dehua: 分 (fēn), |
| Michael: which means "minute." For example, 3:48 can be… |
| Dehua: 三点四十八分 (sān diǎn sìshíbā fēn). |
| Michael: This pattern is straightforward. You can use it to say any time code in Chinese, including half an hour or a quarter. For example, how do we say half past three (3:30) using this pattern? |
| Dehua: 三点三十分 (sān diǎn sānshí fēn). |
| Michael: And a quarter past three (3:15) can be… |
| Dehua: 三点十五分 (sān diǎn shíwǔ fēn). |
| Michael: In casual speech, you can make it even simpler. For example, instead of saying … |
| Dehua: 三点十五分 (sān diǎn shíwǔ fēn), |
| Michael: you can just say … |
| Dehua: 三点十五 (sān diǎn shíwǔ). |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review the sentences we've heard in this lesson. I'll say the sentence in English, and then I want you to try and reply in Chinese. Dehua will then model the correct answer—listen to her carefully and repeat, with emphasis on your pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how to say "What time is it?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 几点了？ (Jǐ diǎn le?) |
| Michael: Did you get it right? Listen again and repeat. |
| Dehua: 几点了？ (Jǐ diǎn le?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 几点了？ (Jǐ diǎn le?) |
| Michael: Now, for our next sentence. Do you remember how to say "It's a quarter past three?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 三点一刻。 (Sān diǎn yī kè.) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Dehua: 三点一刻。 (Sān diǎn yī kè.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 三点一刻。 (Sān diǎn yī kè.) |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Before we go, let's talk about the Chinese terms for different parts of the day. They are placed before the time to emphasize the part of the day. |
| Dehua: Generally, we split up the day into four main timeframes. |
| Michael: Let's start with AM, |
| Dehua: 上午 (shàngwǔ), |
| Michael: typically referring to the time from sunrise to noon. And, after that, "afternoon," |
| Dehua: 下午 (xiàwǔ), |
| Michael: And, next, between sunset and midnight, it's... |
| Dehua: 晚上 (wǎnshàng), |
| Michael: meaning "evening." And there is also |
| Dehua: 午夜 (wǔyè), |
| Michael: meaning "midnight," and |
| Dehua: 凌晨 (língchén), |
| Michael: which indicates the time between midnight and the early hours before dawn. |
| Most of the time, people recognize the actual time from the context of the statement, so these terms for the different parts of the day can be omitted. For instance, |
| Dehua: 我们三点见。 (Wǒmen sān diǎn jiàn.) |
| Michael: This means "We'll meet at 3." People won't assume that you will wait at the meeting spot in the middle of the night, but, if you're not sure, you can always help clarify things by adding the terms we just talked about, and ask, |
| Dehua: 下午三点？ (Xiàwǔ sān diǎn?) |
| Michael: "3 PM?" |
| Dehua: 凌晨三点 ？ (Língchén sān diǎn?) |
| Michael: meaning "3 AM?" |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Dehua: 再见！ (zàijiàn!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
Comments
Hide