How to Tell Time in Chinese Part 2: Time Periods

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Hi there, nice to meet you again! In our previous lesson, we have learned how to tell clock time in Chinese. Next, let’s go further to learn more about time periods in a day and how to express the date, month, and year in Chinese.

Chinese Time Vocabulary – From Day to Night

These everyday words refer to parts of the day. Their boundaries depend on context, season and local habits; they are not fixed clock intervals.

But in this article, let’s learn some common ones that are good enough for you in daily life.

Chinese	Pinyin	Meaning
早上	zǎo shang	early morning
上午	shàng wǔ	morning; before noon
中午	zhōng wǔ	midday; around noon
下午	xià wǔ	afternoon
白天	bái tiān	daytime; daylight hours
晚上	wǎnshang	evening; night
半夜	bàn yè	midnight; the middle of the night
凌晨	líng chén	the early hours after midnight and before dawn

A traditional system divided the day into 12 two-hour periods called 时辰 (shíchén). For everyday scheduling, use modern clock times. The words 上午、中午 and 下午 refer broadly to morning, midday and afternoon; you do not need the historical system to use them.

I think the word “午” has continued to be used by modern Chinese people, probably because the lunch break time is very important for everyone. And, literally, “上午” means “the time before 午”.

“中午” means “right at the 午”,and “下午” means “the time after 午”.

Chinese Time Vocabulary – Specific Date

The words below are just the same as vocabulary “year” “month” and “date” in English. It should be noted that the “日” and “号” can both be used to describe the date.

“日” is more commonly used for written language, and “号” is more commonly used for spoken language.

Chinese Characters	Chinese Pinyin	Meanings
年	nián	year(s)
月	yuè	month(s)
日	rì	date(s)
号	hào	date(s)

Unlike English, fortunately, you don’t need to remember particular words for each month, just add the number before the character “月”. Both Chinese characters or Arabic numbers are okay to use.

For example, “3月” or “三月”. And this also works for years and dates, like“2006年” or “二零零六年”, “3月23日” or “三月二十三日”.

Chinese Characters	Chinese Pinyin	Meanings
一月/1月	yī yuè	January
二月/2月	èr yuè	February
三月/3月	sān yuè	March
四月/4月	sì yuè	April
五月/5月	wǔ yuè	May
六月/6月	liù yuè	June
七月/7月	qī yuè	July
八月/8月	bā yuè	August
九月/9月	jiǔ yuè	September
十月/10月	shí yuè	October
十一月/11月	shí yī yuè	November
十二月/12月	shí èr yuè	December

When we want to describe a specific day in Chinese, we follow an order of “the year, the month, and the day” (Sometimes the year is omitted).For example, 2006年3月23日, it means “March 23rd, 2006”.
When we read the year, it is usually from left to right and one by one. “2006年” is read as “èr líng líng liù nián”.

The traditional Chinese calendar is lunisolar: its months follow the moon, and leap months keep it aligned with the seasons. It is commonly called 农历 (nónglì). 阴历 (yīnlì) is a familiar informal name, but “purely lunar” is not an accurate description of its structure.

Chinese Characters	Chinese Pinyin	Meanings
农历/阴历	nóng lì / yīn lì	traditional lunisolar calendar
公历/阳历	gōnglì / yánglì	Gregorian calendar

Traditional Chinese festivals, like the Spring Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival, are based on the traditional lunisolar calendar.

When you ask your Chinese friends’ birthday, maybe some of them will tell you a traditional-calendar date; you’d better ask if it is a lunar or a Gregorian one, to avoid giving them gifts on a wrong date.

Chinese Time Vocabulary – Weeks

In Chinese, there are three words that can represent week, “星期” “周” or “礼拜”.

Chinese Characters	Chinese Pinyin	Meanings
星期	xīng qī	week(s)
周	zhōu	week(s)
礼拜	lǐ bài	week(s)

For Monday to Saturday, put the number after 星期、周 or 礼拜: 星期一 is Monday. Sunday is 星期日 or 星期天; 周日 is a common shorter form. Use 周日 as the standard beginner choice rather than treating 周天 as equally universal.

Sunday is a little bit different, we say “星期日” or “星期天”. Please see the table below.

Chinese Character	Chinese Pinyin	Meanings
星期一/周一/礼拜一	xīng qī yī /zhōu yī /lǐ bài yī	Monday
星期二/周二/礼拜二	xīng qī èr /zhōu èr / lǐ bài èr	Tuesday
星期三/周三/礼拜三	xīng qī sān/ zhōu sān / lǐ bài sān	Wednesday
星期四/周四/礼拜四	xīng qī sì /zhōu sì / lǐ bài sì	Thursday
星期五/周五/礼拜五	xīng qī wǔ/ zhōu wǔ / lǐ bài wǔ	Friday
星期六/周六/礼拜六	xīng qī liù /zhōu liù /lǐ bài liù	Saturday
星期日/周日/礼拜日	xīng qī rì /zhōu rì /lǐ bài rì	Sunday
星期天/礼拜天	xīngqī tiān / lǐbài tiān	Sunday

Chinese Time Vocabulary – Other Expressions You Should Know

There are also some important expressions that will be used when talking about time. Here are some lists for your reference.

Chinese Vocabulary for Dates

Chinese Characters	Chinese Pinyin	Meanings
number +天前	……tiān qián	…… days ago
大前天	dà qián tiān	2 days before yesterday
前天	qián tiān	the day before yesterday
昨天	zuó tiān	yesterday
今天	jīn tiān	today
明天	míng tiān	tomorrow
后天	hòu tiān	the day after tomorrow
大后天	dà hòu tiān	two days after tomorrow
number +天后	……tiān hòu	…… days later

Chinese Vocabulary for Weeks

Chinese Characters	Chinese Pinyin	Meanings
number + (个) 星期/周/礼拜 + 前	……(gè) xīng qī / zhōu /lǐ bài qián	…… weeks ago
上上（个）+ 星期/周/礼拜	shàng shàng (gè) xīng qī /zhōu /lǐ bài	two weeks ago
上（个）+ 星期/周/礼拜	shàng (gè) xīng qī /zhōu/ lǐ bài	last week
这（个） + 星期/周/礼拜	zhè (ge) xīng qī / zhōu / lǐ bài	this week
本 + 星期/周	běn xīng qī / zhōu	this week
下（个）+ 星期/周/礼拜	xià (gè) xīng qī / zhōu /lǐ bài	next week
下下（个）星期/周/礼拜	xià xià (gè) xīng qī / zhōu / lǐ bài	two weeks later
number +（个）星期/礼拜/周 + 后	…… (gè) xīng qī /zhōu /lǐ bài hòu	……weeks later
工作日	gōngzuòrì	work days
周末	zhōu mò	weekends

Chinese Vocabulary for Months

Chinese Characters	Chinese Pinyin	Meanings
number + 个月前	……gè yuè qián	…… months ago
上上个月	shàng shàng gè yuè	two months ago
上个月	shàng gè yuè	last month
这个月	zhè ge yuè	this month
本月	běn yuè	this month
下个月	xià gè yuè	next month
下下个月	xià xià gè yuè	two months later
number +个月后	……gè yuè hòu	…… months later
月初	yuè chū	the first few days of a month
月末/月底	yuè mò /yuè dǐ	the last few days of a month
上旬	shàng xún	1st to 10th of a month
中旬	zhōng xún	11th to 20th of a month
下旬	xià xún	days after 20th of a month

Chinese Vocabulary for Years

Chinese Characters	Chinese Pinyin	Meanings
number + 年前	nián qián	…… years ago
大前年	dà qián nián	two years before last year
前年	qián nián	a year before last year
去年	qù nián	last year
今年	jīn nián	this year
明年	míng nián	next year
后年	hòu nián	the year after next year
大后年	dà hòu nián	two years after next year
number + 年后	nián hòu	…… years later
年初	niánchū	the beginning of a year
年末/年底/年终	nián mò / nián dǐ / nián zhōng	the end of a year
上半年/ 前半年	shàng bàn nián / qián bàn nián	first half of a year
下半年/ 后半年	xià bàn nián / hòu bàn nián	second half of a year

How to ask date in Chinese?

After learning words above, you may have a question in mind: how to ask the date in Chinese? Here are some common sentence patterns for you to ask.

Chinese Characters	……是几月几号
Chinese Pinyin	…… shì jǐ yuè jǐ hào?
Meanings	What is the date for something (some day)?
Examples	jīn tiān shì jǐ yuè jǐ hào?
	今天是几月几号?
	today is which month which date
	what is the date today?

Chinese Characters	……是什么时候？
Chinese Pinyin	……shì shén me shí hòu
Meanings	When is something (some day)?
Examples	huì yì shìshén meshí hòu?
	会议是什么时候?
	meetingiswhat time
	When is the meeting?

Chinese Characters	……是哪天/哪个周/哪个月/哪年……?
Chinese Pinyin	……shì nǎ tiān /nǎ ge zhōu /nǎ ge yuè /nǎ nián……?
Meanings	Which date / week/ month / year will (was) something(somebody) do (did)？
Examples	hánjià shì nǎ tiān kāishǐ
	寒假是哪天开始?
	winter holiday is which date start
	Which date will the winter holiday start? or Which date did the winter holiday start?(Chinese has no tense and needs to be understood according to the context.)

Chinese Characters	……是星期/周/礼拜几?
Chinese Pinyin	……shì xīngqī jǐ ?
Meanings	Which day of the week……?/What day is ……?
Examples	liù yuè yī rì shì lǐbài jǐ
	6 月 1日是礼拜几？
	June 1st is week which
	What day is June 1st?

Exercise

Try to read and understand the following sentences.

Chinese Pinyin	nǐ de shēngrì shì shén me shí hòu
Chinese Characters	你的生日是什么时候？
Meaning	When is your birthday?

Chinese Pinyin	wǒ de shēngrì shì qī yuè liù rì
Chinese Characters	我的生日是7月6日
Meaning	My birthday is July 6th.

Chinese Pinyin	nǐ jǐ hào qù zhōng guó
Chinese Characters	你几号去中国?
Meaning	Which date will you go to China?

Chinese Pinyin	zhè ge yuè shí sān hào
Chinese Characters	这个月13号。
Meaning	The 13th of this month.

Chinese Pinyin	wǒ shàng zhōu wǔ qù zhōng guó chū chāi le
Chinese Characters	我上周五去中国出差了。
Meaning	I went to China on a business trip last Friday.

Chinese Pinyin	nián dù xiāo shòu mù biāo yù jì běn yuè zhōng xún wán chéng
Chinese Characters	年度销售目标预计本月中旬完成
Meaning	The annual sales target is expected to be completed in the middle of this month.

Chinese Pinyin	nóng lì bā yuè shí wǔ rì shì zhōng qiū jié
Chinese Characters	农历八月十五日是中秋节
Meaning	The fifteenth day of the eighth month of the traditional Chinese calendar is the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Chinese Pinyin	wǒ míngtiān zuò zǎoshang shí diǎn de huǒchē qù Shànghǎi
Chinese Characters	我明天坐早上10点的火车去上海
Meaning	I’ll take the 10 o’clock train to Shanghai tomorrow morning

Chinese Pinyin	wǒ hé Steven jiāng zài èr líng èr líng nián sì yuè jiǔ rì jǔ xíng hūn lǐ.
Chinese Characters	我和Steven 将在2020年4月9日举行婚礼。
Meaning	Steven and I will have a wedding ceremony on April 9, 2020.

Keep Practicing…

Whether you’ve struggled with telling time in Chinese or found it pretty easy, practicing it Chinese daily will help you get to grips with telling the time.

Every day we have to arrange schedules for ourselves or for others, and this is a good opportunity to practice speaking them in Chinese. So, the more you speak, the more perfect your Chinese will be! If you know any native Chinese-speakers, try and practice what you’ve learned with them.

Good luck and have fun!