It’s hard to get by without knowing how to tell the time. You’ll need to check appointment times, times of meetings or just find out if it’s lunchtime or not!
There are many ways to tell the time in Chinese so be sure you know as many of them as you can.
In this Podcast, you will learn:
(i) To explain the various ways to tell the time if being asked
(ii) How to ask someone to tell you the time of a certain event or activity
Dialogue:
Two colleagues are discussing the timing of certain events
1.
A. 你平时几点起床？
Nǐ píng shí jǐ diǎn qǐ chuáng?
When do you usually get up?
B. 我平时6点50起床。
Wǒ píng shí lìu diǎn wǔ shí qǐ chuáng.
I usually get up at six fifty
2.
A. 他几点去上班？
Tā jǐ diǎn qù shàng bān?
When does he go to work?
B.他一般7点15去上班。
Tā yī bān qī dǐan shí wǔ qù shàng bān.
He usually goes to work at seven fifteen
3.
A.她今天几点开会？
Tā jīn tiān jǐ diǎn kāi huì?
When is her meeting today?
B. 她今天下午2点开会。
Tā jīn tiān xià wǔ liǎng diǎn kāi huì.
Her meeting is at two o’clock this afternoon
4.
A. 你每天几点睡觉？
Nǐ měi tiān jǐ diǎn shuì jiào?
When do you go to bed every night?
B.我每天11点半睡觉。
Wǒ měi tiān shí yī diǎn bàn shuì jiào.
I go to bed at half past eleven every night
Chinese words and phrases mentioned in this Podcast:
平时：usually
几点：when
起床：get up
去上班：go to work
一般：often
一刻：a quarter
今天：today
今天下午：this afternoon
开会：meeting
每天：everyday
睡觉：go to bed/sleep
Cultural/Grammar notes:
When we express time in Chinese, we can skip ‘分’, but when the minute equals or is less than ten, we need to say ‘分’, e.g. ‘六点十分’ (ten past six). However, if we use ‘零’, as in ‘六点零五’, we can skip ‘分’.
We can express time in Chinese in different ways as we do in English. For example, we can say both ‘six fifty’ (六点五十) and ‘ten to seven’ (差十分七点).
‘A quarter’ (一刻) is quite common in Chinese conversation whilst ‘three quarters’ (三刻) is less common.
Time expressions related to ‘two’ are different when it comes to ‘hours’ and ‘minutes’. For example, Chinese will say ‘两(liǎng)点二 (èr)分’ or ‘两点零二’.
In Chinese conversation, ‘11点半’ is more common than ‘11点30’ when expressing half past eleven.