The most common way to say time in Chinese Time plays a very important role in our daily life. We should learn it well. If you search the internet, time is translated into Chinese as 时间 [shí jiān]. Because we have learnt numbers in Chinese , learning time in Chinese becomes much simpler than we thought.
Character Pinyin English
我们要做时间的主人。 wǒ men yào zuò shí jiān de zhǔ rén。 We should be the masters of time.
time
Time in Chinese: 时
The glyph evolution of time in Chinese
current-time
The glyph contrast of time in Chinese
time-zones
The order of strokes of time in Chinese
time-now
The calligraphy of time in Chinese
central-time
Some basic words for saying time in Chinese
时 [shí] / 小时 [xiǎo shí] – Hour.
Character Pinyin English
八个小时 bā gè xiǎo shí Eight hours.
点 [diǎn] / 点钟 [diǎn zhōng] – O’clock.
Character Pinyin English
九点 jiǔ diǎn Nine o’clock.
分 [fēn] / 分钟 [fēn zhōng] – Minute.
Character Pinyin English
十分钟 shí fēn zhōng Ten minutes.
秒 [miǎo] / 秒钟 [miǎo zhōng] – Second.
Character Pinyin English
五秒钟 wǔ miǎo zhōng Five seconds.
second
半 [bàn] – Half.
Character Pinyin English
三点半 sān diǎn bàn Half past three.
刻 [kè] – Quarter. Fifteen minutes.
Character Pinyin English
十点一刻 shí diǎn yī kè A quarter past ten.
现在 [xiàn zài] – Now.
Character Pinyin English
现在是10点20分。 xiàn zài shì shí diǎn èr shí fēn。 It is ten twenty now.
now
凌晨 [líng chén] – Morning, a.m.
Character Pinyin English
凌晨三点 líng chén sān diǎn Three o’clock in the morning. Three o’clock a.m.
早上 [zǎo shàng] / 上午 [shàng wǔ] – Morning, a.m.
Character Pinyin English
早上八点十分 zǎo shàng bā diǎn shí fēn Ten past eight in the morning. Ten past eight a.m.
中午 [zhōng wǔ] – Noon.
Character Pinyin English
中午十二点 zhōng wǔ shí èr diǎn Twelve o’clock at noon.
下午 [xià wǔ] – Afternoon, p.m.
Character Pinyin English
下午三点一刻 xià wǔ sān diǎn yī kè A quarter past three in the afternoon. A quarter past three p.m.
晚上 [wǎn shàng] – Evening, night, p.m.
Character Pinyin English
晚上十点半 wǎn shàng shí diǎn bàn Half past ten at night. Half past ten p.m.
半夜 [bàn yè] – Midnight.
Character Pinyin English
半夜十二点 bàn yè shí èr diǎn Twelve o’clock at midnight.
How to ask the time in Chinese
现在几点了 ？[xiàn zài jǐ diǎn le？] – What time is it now?
what-time-is-it
Speaker Character Pinyin English
A: 现在几点了？ xiàn zài jǐ diǎn le？ What time is it now?
B: 十点半。 shí diǎn bàn。 Half past ten.
请问现在几点了 ？[qǐng wèn xiàn zài jǐ diǎn le？] – What time is it now, please ? It is a polite way to ask for time.不好意思，请问现在几点钟 ？[bù hǎo yì sī，qǐng wèn xiàn zài jǐ diǎn zhōng？] – Excuse me , What time is it now, please? It is a more polite way to ask for time.
what-time-is-it-now
打扰了，能告诉我现在是什么时间么 ？[dǎ rǎo le，néng gào sù wǒ xiàn zài shì shén me shí jiān me？] – Excuse me, can you tell me what time it is now?
时钟 [shí zhōng] – Clock.
clock
闹钟 [nào zhōng] – Alarm clock.
alarm-clock
手表 [shǒu biǎo] – Watch.
watch
之前 [zhī qián] – Before.
Character Pinyin English
十点之前 shí diǎn zhī qián Before ten o’clock.
之后 [zhī hòu] – After.
Character Pinyin English
十点之后 shí diǎn zhī hòu After ten o’clock.
大约 [dà yuē] / 左右 [zuǒ yòu] / 差不多 [chà bù duō] – About.
Speaker Character Pinyin English
A: 你明天几点到啊？ nǐ míng tiān jǐ diǎn dào ā ？ What time will you arrive tomorrow?
B: 九点左右吧。 jiǔ diǎn zuǒ yòu ba。 About nine o’clock.
之间 [zhī jiān] – Between…and.
Character Pinyin English
九点到十一点之间 jiǔ diǎn dào shí yī diǎn zhī jiān Between nine and eleven o’clock.
之内 [zhī nèi] – Within. In.
Speaker Character Pinyin English
A: 十分钟之内完成。 shí fēn zhōng zhī nèi wán chéng。 Finish it in ten minutes.
B: 好的，妈妈。 hǎo de，mā mā。 Ok, mom.
Other expressions of time in Chinese
时光 [shí guāng] – Time.
date-and-time
时辰 [shí chén] – One of the 12 two-hour periods of the day in ancient China. Time.
time-is
时候 [shí hòu] – Time.
Character Pinyin English
小时候，我经常和伙伴们一起玩游戏。 xiǎo shí hòu，wǒ jīng cháng hé huǒ bàn men yì qǐ wán yóu xì。 When I was a kid, I used to play games with my friends.
time-change
Want to learn real Chinese? Contact Native-Chinese teacher , we provide native mandarin speaker as your private tutor. Here’s form for contact.
