Has anyone ever explained to you how to tell the time in Chinese? Did it sound like total gibberish? If the answer is yes, don’t worry! Today we'll explain very clearly the vocabulary and basic structures you need to tell the time quicker than Siri himself... only in Mandarin.
"What time is it?" → 现在几点？[xiànzài jǐ diǎn?]
现在 → right now
几 → how much/many
点 → time
You can answer this question either with 现在 + the time, or you can get rid of 现在 altogether and just say the time.
| Example | ||
|---|---|---|
| hanzi | pinyin | meaning |
| (现在) 六点 | (xiànzài) liù diǎn | (Now) 6 o'clock |
O’clock with 点
To say "o'clock", simply use the number + 点. For example:
| Examples | ||
|---|---|---|
| hanzi | pinyin | meaning |
| 三点 | sān diǎn | three o’clock |
| 两点* | liǎng diǎn | two o’clock |
* Because you’re expressing a quantity, you use 两 instead of 二
If you want to distinguish between three in the morning and three in the afternoon, sadly it's not as simple as adding "am" or "pm." The Chinese language divides the hours of the day into segments, so you’ll need to choose the right segment from the options below and place it before the hour.
| Examples | ||
|---|---|---|
| hanzi | pinyin | meaning |
| 凌晨 | língchén | very early in the morning 00:00 – 05:59 |
| 早上 | zǎoshang | early in the morning 06:00 – 08:59 |
| 上午 | shàngwǔ | morning 09:00 – 11:59 |
| 中午 | zhōngwǔ | noon 12:00 – 12:59 |
| 下午 | xiàwǔ | afternoon 13:00 – 17:59 |
| 晚上 | wǎnshang | night 18:00 – 23:59 |
| 上午九点 | shàngwǔ jiǔ diǎn | nine a.m. |
| 晚上九点 | wǎnshàng jiǔ diǎn | nine p.m. |
How do you say "half past"?
It’s easy, just place 半 [bàn] after the hour.
三点半 → half past three
七点半 → half past seven
一刻 for quarters
Finally, let's move on to quarter past and quarter to. In Chinese, we express these with 刻 [kè]. So, quarter past would be 一刻 and quarter to would be 三刻.
四点一刻 → quarter past four
五点三刻 → quarter to six (literally "three quarters past five")
Another way to say "quarter to" is literally "a quarter is missing". In this case, you use 差 [chā] → to be missing. For example:
九点差一刻 → quarter to six (literally "a quarter missing from six")
And what about the minutes?
If you just want to say the hour and the minutes, it couldn’t be simpler. 分钟 [fēnzhōng] is minute. So, three twenty-five, for example, would be:
三点二十五分钟 → 3:25
