Schedule and time in Chinese - Lesson 10

This online Chinese audio lesson will teach you to ask and tell the time in mandarin as well as talk about your schedule.

1. Vocabulary

Learn the following vocabulary and train yourself to write the characters and pronounce the words.

	Mot	Pinyin	Traduction
1	请问	qǐngwèn	may I ask you ...
2	现在	xiànzài	now
3	时候	shíhòu	moment; instant
4	点	diǎn	o'clock
5	分	fēn	minute(s)
6	半	bàn	half
7	刻	kè	quarter
8	差	chà	less than
9	课	kè	class
10	上	shàng	to go up
11	早上	zǎoshang	early morning
12	晚上	wǎnshang	evening
13	上午	shàngwǔ	morning
14	上班	shàngbān	to go to work
15	上课	shàngkè	to attend a class
16	下	xià	to get down
17	下班	xiàbān	to get off from work / to finish work
18	下课	xiàkè	to finish class/ (class is over)
19	下午	xiàwǔ	afternoon
20	中午	zhōngwǔ	noon
21	床	chuáng	bed
22	起床	qǐchuáng	to get out of bed
23	睡觉	shuìjiào	to sleep
24	忙	máng	to be busy
25	什么时候	shénme shíhòu	when ?

2. Grammar

A. Asking and telling the time

To give the time without the minutes, simply indicate the number + the character 点 ‹ diǎn ›.

• 四点 ‹ sì diǎn ›
  four o'clock

In Chinese, the sentences with a nominal attribute is derived from the verb "to be" 是 ‹ shì › as in the following case:

• Q: 现在几点？ ‹ Xiànzài jǐ diǎn? ›
  Q: What time is it?
  A: 现在八点。 ‹ Xiànzài bā diǎn. ›
  A: It is eight o'clock.

To also give minutes, we use the characters 分 ‹ fēn › (for "minute"), 刻 ‹ kè › for quarters and 半 ‹ bàn ›for half-hour.

B. The temporal terms

When used as adverbs, temporal terms can be placed between the subject and the verb.

• 我 早上六点 起床。 ‹ Wǒ zǎoshang liù diǎn qǐchuáng. ›
  I get up at eight in the morning.
  
• 大卫 今天 没有 课。 ‹ Dàwèi jīntiān méi yǒu kè. ›
  Today, David does not have classes.
• 王丽 晚上十一点 睡觉。 ‹ Wáng Lì wǎnshang shíyī diǎn shuìjiào. ›
  Wang Li goes to bed at eleven on evening.

To emphasize the time of an action, the temporal terms can be placed at the beginning of a sentence.

• 星期天 我们 不上班。 ‹ Xīngqítiān wǒmen bù shàngbān. ›
  Sunday, we are not going to work.

C. Asking "when"

In Chinese, when forming a question, "when" is used and expressed by  "什么 时候 <shénme Shihou>". More literally, it should be translated into English by "at what moment".

As this is also a temporal term, it follows the same rule as seen above:

• 你 什么时候 起床？ ‹ Nǐ shénme shíhòu qǐchuáng? ›
  When do you get up?
• 你 什么时候 下课？ ‹ Nǐ shénme shíhòu xiàkè? ›
  When to you finish your classes?

D. Omitting the subject in a sentence

Some Chinese sentences and normally structured, except that the subject is not mentioned. In these cases, it is implied and deduced through the context of the sentence.  In most cases it is the same subject as in the preceding sentence.

• 你 什么时候 起床？ (你) 什么时候 下课？ ‹ Nǐ shénme shíhòu qǐchuáng? (Nǐ) shénme shíhòu xiàkè? ›
• (我) 七点一刻 起床。(我) 中午十二点 下课。 ‹ (Wǒ) qī diǎn yī kè qǐchuáng. (Wǒ) zhōngwǔ shí'èr diǎn xiàkè. ›

3. Dialogues

Read and listen to the two dialogues several times until they are well understood before (possibly) reading the translation.

Dialogue N° 1

- 请问，现在几点？ ‹ Qǐngwèn, xiànzài jǐ diǎn? ›
- 七点零五分。 ‹ Qī diǎn líng wǔ fēn. ›
- 谢谢！ ‹ Xièxiè! ›
- 不用谢！ ‹ Bùyòng xiè! ›

Dialogue N° 2

- 大卫你好！你今天忙吗？ ‹ Dàwèi nǐhǎo! Nǐ jīntiān máng ma? ›
- 今天我很忙。下午六点下课！ ‹ Jīntiān wǒ hěn máng. Xiàwǔ liù diǎn xiàkè! ›

Traduction :

- Hello David! Are you busy today?
- Today I am very busy. I finish classes at six o'clock!

Dialogue N° 3

- 大卫，你早上几点起床？ ‹ Dàwèi, nǐ zǎoshang jǐ diǎn qǐchuáng? ›
- 七点一刻。 ‹ Qī diǎn yī kè. ›
- 晚上几点睡觉？ ‹ wǎnshang jǐ diǎn shuìjiào? ›
- 九点半。 ‹ Jiǔ diǎn bàn. ›
- 明天你有课吗？ ‹ Míngtiān nǐ yǒu kè ma? ›
- 有。 ‹ Yǒu. ›
- 你们几点上课？ ‹ Nǐmen jǐ diǎn shàngkè? ›
- 我们上午八点一刻上课。 ‹ Wǒmen shàngwǔ bā diǎn yī kè shàngkè. ›
- 什么时候下课？ ‹ Shénme shíhòu xiàkè? ›
- 中午十二点下课。 ‹ Zhōngwǔ shí'èr diǎn xiàkè. ›
- 你们下午有课吗？ ‹ Nǐmen xiàwǔ yǒu kè ma? ›
- 有。四点差十分下课。 ‹ Yǒu. Sì diǎn chà shí fēn xiàkè. ›
- 你哪天没有课？ ‹ Nǐ nǎ tiān méi yǒu kè? ›
- 我星期六和星期天没有课。 ‹ Wǒ xīngqíliù hé xīngqítiān méi yǒu kè. ›

Traduction :

- David, at what time do you get up (in the morning)?
- At a quarter past seven.
- At night, at what time do you go to sleep?
- At half past nine.
-  Will you have classes tomorrow ?
- Yes.
- At what time are the classes starting?
- Classes start at eight fifteen in the morning.
- At what time do you finish classes?
- At noon at twelve o'clock
- Do you have classes in the afternoon?
- Yes. At three fifty, we finish the classes.
- What days aren't you having classes?
-  On Saturday and Sunday, I am not having classes.

4. Exercises

A. Answer the following questions :

1. 你早上几点起床？ ‹ Nǐ zǎoshang jǐ diǎn qǐchuáng? ›
2. 晚上什么时候睡觉？ ‹ wǎnshang shénme shíhòu shuìjiào? ›
3. 你明天有课吗？ ‹ Nǐ míngtiān yǒu kè ma? › / 你明天上班吗？ ‹ Nǐ míngtiān shàngbān ma? ›
4. 哪天没有课？ ‹ Nǎ tiān méiyǒu kè? › / 哪天不上班？ ‹ Nǎ tiān bù shàngbān? ›

B. Tell the time shown on the following clocks :