9.3: Time Phrases

Topic--comment

Phrases conveying ‘time when’ (as opposed to duration), like those that convey location of action (as opposed to destination) also generally appear before their associated verb:

Tā zuótiān bù shūfu, kĕshi jīntiān hăo le.

He wasn’t well yesterday, but he’s okay today.

However, time phrases – but not usually location phrases – may also appear before the subject:

Zuótiān tā zĕnmeyàng? Zuótiān tā bù shūfu, hĕn lèi, yĕ hĕn jĭnzhāng, suǒyǐ méiyou qù shàngkè.

How was she yesterday? Yesterday, she didn’t feel well, [she] was tired and nervous, so [she] didn’t go to class.

Lǐbàiwǔ wǒmen dōu méiyou kè. Xiètiān-xièdì!

None of us has class on Fridays. Thank heavens!

The difference – position before or after the subject – has to do with what you are talking about. Typically, first position in a Chinese sentence introduces the topic, and what follows is a comment on that topic:

Zuótiān tā zĕnmeyàng? [About yesterday:] How was he yesterday?

Zuótiān tā bù shūfu, jīntiān hăo le. He wasn’t well yesterday, but he’s fine today.

Tā zuótiān zĕnmeyàng? [About him:] How was he yesterday?

Tā zuótiān juéde bù shūfu, hĕn lèi, yĕ hĕn jĭnzhāng. He didn’t feel well yesterday; he was tired, and anxious.

Clock time

a) The hours

Clock times are also ‘time when’ phrases, often appearing in conjunction with jīntiān, zuótiān or with words for divisions of the day like the following, based on roots zăo ‘early’, wăn ‘late’, and wŭ ‘noon’:

zăoshàng shàngwŭ zhōngwŭ xiàwŭ wănshàng morning mid-morning noon afternoon evening

(reformat)

Like English, where the term ‘o’clock’ derives from ‘of the clock’, clock time in Chinese is based on the word zhōng ‘clock’ (originally ‘bell’). Zhōng is measured out by diǎn ‘dots; points’ (cf. yìdiǎn ‘a bit’) to form phrases such as jiǔ diǎn zhōng (reduceable to jiǔ diǎn) ‘9 o’clock’. Time is questioned with jǐ: Jǐ diǎn zhōng? ‘What time is [it]?’ In asking or giving clock time, le is often present in final position, suggesting ‘by now’. Complex time phrases in Chinese move, like dates, from large units to small: zǎoshàng jiǔ diǎn ‘9 in the morning’; míngtiān xiàwǔ sān diǎn ‘tomorrow afternoon at 3’.

Xiànzài jǐ diǎn le? What time is it now?

Shí diǎn. [It’s] 10:00.

Zǎoshàng jiǔdiǎn dào shídiǎn yǒu kè. I have a class from 9 -10 in the morning.

Zhōngwén kè jiǔdiǎn dào shídiǎn. Chinese class is 9 -10.

b) Details

Fēn, literally ‘divide; a part’, is used for minutes (as well as cents); seconds are miǎo – both are measure words (so they can be counted directly):

jiǔ diǎn shí fēn 9:10 sān diǎn sānshíwǔ fēn 3:35 shí’èr diǎn líng sì 12:04 liù diǎn shíwǔ fēn 6:15

The half hour is either 30 minutes (sānshí fēn) or bàn ‘half’ (after diǎn, the M-word): Xiànzài jiǔ diǎn bàn le. It’s now 9:30. Xiànzài jiǔ diǎn sānshí fēn le.

Quarter to and quarter past are expressed with kè, literally ‘a cut’ (from the notch that marked the measuring stick on old water clocks): yí kè ‘quarter’. ‘Quarter past’ is yí kè (some say guò yí kè) added to the hour; ‘quarter to’ is chà yí kè ‘less by one quarter’, placed either before or after the (coming) hour. Older speakers, and people from Taiwan, sometimes use sān kè ‘three quarters’ for ‘quarter to’.

jiǔ diǎn yí kè ‘quarter past 9’

chà yí kè shí diǎn ‘quarter to 10’

shí diǎn chà yí kè ‘quarter to 10’

In general, time past the half hour can be expressed as a lack, using chà + minutes, placed either before or after the hour:

chà wǔ fēn shí diǎn ‘five to 10’ shí diǎn chà wǔ fēn

chà yí kè sì diǎn ‘quarter to 4’ sì diǎn chà yí kè

[table -clock time - summary]

In colloquial language, wǎnshàng extends until bedtime, even if it’s very late; similarly, zǎoshàng is when you get up, even if it’s very early:

Wǒ wǎnshàng liǎng diǎn shuìjiào, zǎoshàng shí diǎn qǐlai, cóng shàngwǔ shíyī diǎn dào xiàwǔ sì diǎn yǒu kè. Tiānwén kè shi xīngqīsì wǎnshàng shíyī diǎn dào liǎng diǎn.

Astronomy (‘heaven-inscription’) class is Thursday evenings, 11 to 2 am.

Where needed, more specialized time words are available, of course, eg: yèlǐ ‘in the night’, bànyè ‘at midnight; late at night’, língchén ‘very early in the morning; before dawn’, qīngzǎo ‘early morning’.

Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\): Buying train tickets

To buy a train ticket, you need to state the time and destination. Tickets are usually oneway, so that is not a variable. On short-distance express trains, such as the one from Shànghǎi to Nánjīng (stopping at Sūzhōu, Wúxī and Zhènjiāng), there is an option between soft seat (first class) and hard seat. But on long distance inter-city trains, there are commonly four types of ticket, plus a standing ticket.

yìngzuò ~ yìngxí ‘hard-seat’ yìngwò ‘hard-berth’ ruǎnzuò ~ ruǎnxí ‘soft-seat’ ruǎnwò ‘soft-berth’ zhànpiào ‘standing-ticket’

Zhànpiào are sold (often for the same price) when yìngzuò ~ xí are sold out. Berths are 4 (ruǎnwò) to a cabin, or 6 (yìngwò) to a section, with egress to toilets and washrooms as well as dining car by way of a corridor along the station side of the carriage. A team of service staff (fúwùyuán) keep the cabins clean, make beds, sell snacks and reading matter, and on some lines, even rent out portable TVs and other electronic equipment for the duration of the journey.

It is possible to buy tickets through hotels up to three days in advance, and most travelers do that (paying a service fee, shǒuxùfèi ‘procedure-fee’). Buying at the station is more difficult. There, you generally have to work your way up to a small ticket window and state your needs succinctly, along the lines indicated below. Tickets are counted with zhāng, the measure for flat things (tables, maps, photographs, etc.)

Place	Time	Type	Number
Chéngdū	shàngwǔ jiǔ diǎn	ruǎnwò	liǎng zhāng

Now practice buying tickets according to the specifications indicated:

1. Xīníng 4:00 this afternoon hard berth 1

2. Xī’ān 8 tomorrow morning soft seat 2

3. Hūhéhàotè 7 this evening soft berth 3

4. Lánzhōu 2:30 this afternoon hard seat 1

5. Hā’ěrbīn tomorrow morn. 7 soft seat 2

6. Guìlín this afternoon 3:25 hard berth 1

7. Chóngqìng July 7, 7:00 pm soft berth 4

[image with caption]

Time of events (meals)

Meals are named by time of day added to roots such as fàn ‘rice; food; meals’, cān [tsān!] ‘meal’, or in the case of breakfast, diǎn ‘snack’ (cognate to yìdiǎn ‘a little’):

zăofàn zhōngfàn wănfàn zǎocān zhōngcān wǎncān zǎodiǎn

Recall that it is possible to express some uncertainty about time with the adverb dàgài ‘approximately; probably’. Other ‘hedging’ words include yěxǔ ‘maybe; probably; possibly’ and chàbuduō ‘approximately (less-not-much)’. For now, it will only be possible to ask generic questions, such as ‘at what time do you eat breakfast’; questions about the past introduce a number of complications that will be dealt with later. So in addition to měitiān ‘everyday’ it will be useful to learn the following expressions, all built on cháng ‘often’, that have to do with habitual events:

cháng ~ chángcháng often píngcháng usually jīngcháng frequently; often; regularly tōngcháng generally; normally

Usage

1. Zhōngguó rén píngcháng jǐ diǎn What time do Chinese usually chī zăofàn? eat breakfast? Dàgài liù dào qī diǎn ba. About 6 to 7. How about Mĕiguó rén ne? Americans? Mĕiguó rén ne, jīngcháng jiŭ diǎn Americans generally start work shàngbān. Yĕxŭ qī diǎn bàn, bā at 9. So maybe they eat breakfast diǎn chī zăofàn. at 7:30 [or] 8:00.

2. Xuéshēng ne, yīnwèi hĕn máng, Students, because they are so busy, chángcháng zhǐ hē kāfēi bù chī they often just drink coffee and don’t zǎodiǎn. eat breakfast. Zhōngguó xuéshēng hĕn shǎo shi Chinese students are rarely like that. zhèi yàngr. Zhōngguó xuéshēng Chinese students regularly eat breakfast. tōngcháng chī zǎodiǎn. Tāmen chī shénme? What do they eat? Chī xīfàn, miàntiáo. Rice porridge, noodles.

3. Jĭdiăn shàngkè? Jĭdiăn xiàkè? What time does class start? What time do [you] get out of class? Wŏmen chàbuduō shí diǎn shàngkè We start class at about 10 and end at 11. shíyī diǎn xiàkè.

4. Chīguo zǎofàn le méi? Have you eaten breakfast? Hái méi ne. Not yet. Nĭ bú shi jiŭ diǎn yǒu kè ma? Isn’t is the case that you have class at 9:00? Zěnme hái méi chī zǎofàn ne? How come you haven’t eaten breakfast yet? Ai, wǒ bù xiǎng chī, wǒ hē I don’t feel like [any], I’ll just have kāfēi jiù xíng le. coffee [and that’ll be fine].

Notes

a) Xīfàn ‘watery-rice’, a kind of gruel, to which pickles, preserved meats, vegetables and other items are added; similar to what is often called zhōu in some parts of the country.

b) Miàntiáo ‘wheat[flour]-lengths’, generic for noodles.

c) Nǐ bú shi…. ‘isn’t it the case that…’

d) Xiǎng ‘think > feel like’

Business hours

bàngōng shíjiān office hours yíngyè shíjiān business hours

Most urban communities in China have long operated on international business hours, often with adjustment for a longer lunch hour than most English speaking countries. Business hours (banks, offices) vary with region, but typically they are M-F, 8:30 – 5:30. Shops often keep much longer hours, and stay open on the weekend. Lunch breaks can run from 12 – 1:30 or even 2:00. Any sort of official meeting begins punctually. Here, more for reference at this point, are some basic queries about business hours:

Yíngyè shíjiān jǐ diǎn dào jǐ diǎn? What are [your] business hours? Nǐ jǐ diǎn kāimén? When do you open (open door)? Jǐ diǎn guānmén? When do you close (close door)?

Time zones (shíqū)

It comes as a surprise for many people to find out that China operates on a single time zone, eight hours in advance of Greenwich Meantime (and conveniently, 12 hours in advance of the Eastern time zone of the US). Chinese lands far to the west are sparsely populated, so this system causes minimal disruption. For a period beginning in 1986, there was a daylight-savings shift (xiàshízhì ‘summer-time-system’), but this was found impracticable and was abandoned a few years ago (as of 2003). The word shíchā literally ‘time difference’, also means ‘jetlag’. (The noun form, chā, with level tone, is related to the verb form chà ‘to lack’, with falling tone.)

Shíchā hěn lìhai. Wo háishi hěn lèi – yīnwèi shíchā.

The time lag / jet lag is bad! I’m still tired – because of the time lag.

Exercise \(\PageIndex{2}\)

Ask or explain:

1. What time do you bathe?

2. I generally bathe in the morning at 6 or 7.

3. I don’t eat any breakfast, I just have some tea.

4. But I usually eat lunch and dinner. Lunch at noon, dinner at 7.

5. We start class at about 2 and end at 3.

6. I have two classes today, one at 10 and one at 2.

7. The lecture is at 9, the section at 10.

8. From 2:00 to 4:00 this afternoon, we have a Chinese test.

9. I’ve already bathed, but I haven’t eaten yet.

10. Do you always eat a breakfast? / Not necessarily.

11. What time do you close, please?

12. Have you ever been to Xichang? It’s in Sichuan, about 400 kms from Chongqing.

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