Time Goes at the Front of the Sentence (Before or After the Subject)

So a bit different from what we're used to in English, in Mandarin time has a fixed place where it belongs in the sentence.  We'll explore more later how we can break this and where exceptions exist, but for now let's create a rule for ourselves:  THE TIME THAT SOMETHING HAPPENS GOES IN FRONT OF THE VERB.  It will definitely feel kinda strange at first, but if we accept this as a rule and operate around that, we'll have it down in no time.  😁

In the examples below, we have the Chinese sentence, it's direct English translation, and then a native English translation.  This is typical of how we will explain grammar in our classes.

Subject + time + (location) + action

Wǒ míngtiān qù zhōngguó. ——> I tomorrow go to China. 我明天去中国。

Tā xīngqī yī lái xuéxiào. ——> He (on) Monday comes to school. 他星期一来学校。

Wǒ de tóngxué míngtiān xiàwǔ sāndiǎn kàn diànyǐng. ——> My classmate tomorrow afternoon 3:00 watches TV. 我的同学明天下午三点看电影。

Bàba jīntiān zàijiā hē kāfēi. ——> Dad today at home drinks coffee. 爸爸今天在家喝咖啡。

• Please read the “qù/lái” section for more information about coming and going.

• The units of time words could range from years to a specific time.

• In the third sentence, note that we put AM/PM in front of the time in Chinese. For example, wǎnshàng jiǔ diǎn(9pm), zǎoshàng liù diǎn(6am)，xiàwǔ liǎngdiǎn(2pm).

• Did you notice that in the last sentence, we have both time and location in one sentence? When we have both time and location in one sentence, we put time first, then location and the action: Subject + time + location + action

You’ve learned how to express “when to do what”. Now you probably are wondering how to ask “when” in Chinese. There are different ways of asking when:

1. “When” in general - shénme shíhou

2. Which month and/or which date - jǐyuè or jǐhào or jǐyuè jǐhào

3. Which day of the week - xīngqī jǐ

4. What time - jǐdiǎn

Subject + time question word + verb

Using shénme shíhou to ask “when” in general shénme shíhou literally means “what time”. When using this to ask a question, you can answer with any time unit.

A: Nǐ shénme shíhou lái zhōngguó？——> You when come to China? (When will you come to China?) 你什么时候来中国？ Possible answers: B: Wǒ míngnián sānyuè qù zhōngguó. ——> I next year March go to China. (I will go to China next March.) 我明年三月去中国。 B: Wǒ míngtiān qù zhōngguó. ——> I tomorrow go to China. (I will go to China tomorrow) 我明天去中国。 B: Wǒ míngtiān xiàwǔ liǎngdiǎn bàn qù zhōngguó. ——> I tomorrow afternoon 2:30 go to China. (I will go to China tomorrow at 2:30PM) 我明天下午两点半去中国。

You can use any time unit to answer shénme shíhou question. Note on lái and qù：the person (A) who is asking the question is probably in China since they use lái. B answered “I will [TIME] GO to China.” by using qù because B is not in China. In the last sentence, bàn means half. Liǎngdiàn bàn means two thirty.

Using jǐyuè or jǐhào or jǐyuè jǐhào to ask which month/which date jǐ is our question word, and it means how much/how many. yuè is month and hào is date.

A: Jīntiān jǐyuè jǐhào？ ——> Today is which month and which date? (What is today’s date?) 今天几月几号？ B: Jīntiān sān yuè shíbā hào. ——> Today is March 18th. 今天三月十八号。

You can also use “Jīntiān jǐhào？” to ask “what is today’s date”. Your answer to this question would be “Jīntiān shíbā hào” Note that there is no “shì” here because shì can be omitted. With or without shì are both correct.

Using xīngqī jǐ to ask which day of the week Jǐ is a question word just like asking which month/which date. And xīngqī is week, so we are literally asking “week which number?”.

A: Nǐ xīngqī jǐ xué zhōngwén？——> You which day of the week learn Chinese? (What day do you learn Chinese?) 你星期几学中文？ B: Wǒ xīngqī yī, xīngqī sān, hé xīngqī wǔ xué zhōngwén. ——> I Monday, Wednesday, and Friday learn Chinese. (I learn Chinese on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.) 我星期一，星期三，和星期五学中文。

Using jǐdiǎn to ask what time You know already, jǐ is our question word here and diǎn is o’clock.

A: Xiànzài jǐdiǎn？Now what time? (What time is it?) 现在几点？ B: Xiànzài shíèr diǎn líng wǔ fēn. ——> Now twelve o’clock zero five minute. (It’s 12:05 now) 现在十二点零五分。

We do say the zero, which is líng When answering, if your answer includes “minute”, we will say the number and add a fēn, which is minute after the number.