Learn how to read time in Chinese
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Intro |
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| Hi everybody! Yinru here. Welcome to Ask a Teacher, where I’ll answer some of your most common Chinese questions. |
| The Question |
| The question for this lesson is: Do Chinese use AM and PM when talking about time? |
| Explanation |
| The answer is no. Even though there are people in China, mostly well-educated people, who would know what AM and PM mean, most Chinese don’t use AM and PM. |
| In formal situations, for example on a train schedule, you’ll often see the 24-hour format for time, such as 07:30, 21:20. |
| In spoken language, people often use 上午 shàngwǔ, 下午 xiàwǔ, 早上 zǎoshang, and 晚上 wǎnshang to be specific. 上午 means “morning;” 下午 is “afternoon;” 早上 is “early morning;” and finally, 晚上 is “night.” |
| So, to say 10 AM, in spoken language we’d usually say 上午十点 shàngwǔ shí diǎn. To say 3 PM, we use 下午三点 xiàwǔ sān diǎn. Generally speaking, if it’s before 9 AM, you can say 早上七点 zǎoshang qī diǎn, because it’s still early in the morning. If it’s after 6 PM, you can say 晚上七点 wǎnshang qī diǎn, because it’s late evening. If the time is between 12pm-1pm, we use 中午 zhōngwǔ, which means “noon.” |
| Let’s see how we say the following times: |
| 6:20 am --- 早上六点二十 zǎoshang liù diǎn èrshí. |
| 9:30 am --- 上午九点三十 shàngwǔ jiǔdiǎn sānshí, or 上午九点半 shàngwǔ jiǔ diǎn bàn. 半 bàn here means “half.” |
| 12 pm --- 中午十二点 zhōngwǔ shíèr diǎn. |
| 1:30 pm --- 下午一点三十 xiàwǔ yī diǎn sānshí or 下午一点半 xiàwǔ yī diǎn bàn. |
| 10:25 pm --- 晚上十点二十五 wǎnshang shí diǎn èrshíwǔ. |
| And do you remember how to ask about time? You can say: |
| 现在几点了？(Xiànzài jǐ diǎn le? “What time is it now?”) |
| 明天几点开会？(Míngtiān jǐdiǎn kāihuì? “What time is the meeting tomorrow?”) |
| 我们后天什么时候见面？(Wǒmen hòutiān shénme shíhòu jiànmiàn ? “When are we going to meet the day after tomorrow?”) |
Outro |
| “Now it’s time for us to say good bye,” or in Chinese 现在到了我们说再见的时间了。(Xiànzài dàole wǒmen shuō zàijiàn de shíjiān le.) |
| If you have any more questions, please leave a comment below! |
| See you next time! |
| 下次见！ Xiàcì jiàn! |
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