Time in Chinese: Telling Time, Time Words, and Grammar
Telling time in Chinese takes one pattern: a number plus 点 / 點 (diǎn), "o'clock." 三点 (sān diǎn) is 3:00, 三点半 (sān diǎn bàn) is 3:30, and 三点十五分 (sān diǎn shíwǔ fēn) is 3:15. If you can count in Chinese, you can already tell time — the rest of this guide covers the parts English speakers actually get wrong: the AM/PM system, where time words go in a sentence, and the difference between "two o'clock" and "two hours."
- Clock time = number + 点 (diǎn): 三点 = 3:00. Use 半 for half past, 刻 (kè) for quarter hours.
- 2:00 is 两点 (liǎng diǎn), never 二点 — the same 两 you use before measure words.
- Time runs big to small: tomorrow at 3 pm = 明天下午三点 (day → part of day → hour).
- Time words come before the verb: 我明天去 ("I tomorrow go"), never at the end of the sentence.
- 两点 = a point in time (2 o'clock); 两个小时 = a duration (two hours). Points go before the verb, durations after it.
How do you tell time in Chinese?
Say the hour number, then 点 (diǎn). Minutes follow as a number plus 分 (fēn), and two special words shortcut the common cases: 半 (bàn) "half" and 刻 (kè) "quarter."
| Time | Chinese (simp. / trad.) | Pinyin | Literally |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3:00 | 三点 / 三點 | sān diǎn | three o'clock |
| 2:00 | 两点 / 兩點 | liǎng diǎn | two o'clock (两, not 二) |
| 3:05 | 三点零五分 | sān diǎn líng wǔ fēn | three, zero-five minutes |
| 3:15 | 三点一刻 | sān diǎn yí kè | three and a quarter |
| 3:30 | 三点半 | sān diǎn bàn | three and a half |
| 3:45 | 三点三刻 | sān diǎn sān kè | three and three quarters |
| 3:50 | 差十分四点 | chà shí fēn sì diǎn | ten minutes short of four |
Three details worth locking in early. First, 2:00 is always 两点 (liǎng diǎn) — 两 replaces 二 before measure words, and 点 behaves like one. Second, single-digit minutes take 零 (líng): 三点零五分, "three oh-five." Third, 刻 and the 差 (chà, "to lack") construction are common but optional — 三点四十五分 is always correct if you forget them. To ask the time: 现在几点？(Xiànzài jǐ diǎn? — "What time is it now?").
Morning, afternoon, evening: the 上午 / 下午 system
Spoken Chinese doesn't use AM and PM. Instead, you put a part-of-day word before the clock time: 下午三点 is 3 pm, literally "afternoon three o'clock."
The ordering rule behind 下午三点 is the big secret of Chinese time expressions: always big unit to small unit. Year before month, month before day, day before part of day, part of day before hour. "Tomorrow at 3 pm" is therefore 明天下午三点 (míngtiān xiàwǔ sān diǎn) — tomorrow → afternoon → three o'clock. English runs the opposite way, which is why learners produce 三点下午 for months; the fix is to hear the big-to-small pattern in real sentences until it sounds inevitable.
会议明天上午九点开始。／會議明天上午九點開始。
Huìyì míngtiān shàngwǔ jiǔ diǎn kāishǐ.
The meeting starts tomorrow at 9 am.
Days, weeks, months, and years
Clock time slots into a bigger family of time words, and they all follow the same big-to-small logic. The relative day and year words are symmetrical and worth learning as a set:
| Chinese (simp. / trad.) | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 前天 | qiántiān | the day before yesterday |
| 昨天 | zuótiān | yesterday |
| 今天 | jīntiān | today |
| 明天 | míngtiān | tomorrow |
| 后天 / 後天 | hòutiān | the day after tomorrow |
| 上个星期 / 上個星期 | shàng ge xīngqī | last week |
| 下个星期 / 下個星期 | xià ge xīngqī | next week |
| 去年 · 今年 · 明年 | qùnián · jīnnián · míngnián | last · this · next year |
Weeks use 上 "above" for past and 下 "below" for future — picture a calendar page where last week sits above this one. For the seven day names themselves (and the 星期 / 周 / 礼拜 three-way split), see our days of the week in Chinese guide; for dates and years read digit by digit, the counting guide covers the number system.
Where does the time word go in a sentence?
Before the verb — always. Either right after the subject or at the very front of the sentence for emphasis. Putting time at the end, where English likes it, is one of the most persistent learner errors in Chinese.
我明天去上海。 ✓ ／ 明天我去上海。 ✓ ／ 我去上海明天。 ✗
Wǒ míngtiān qù Shànghǎi.
I'm going to Shanghai tomorrow. (Time before the verb, never sentence-final.)
Because the time word does the work, Chinese verbs don't conjugate for tense: 我明天去 and 我昨天去 use the exact same 去. This is also why time words are among the highest-frequency vocabulary in any real text — they carry the tense load. In the Literate Chinese catalog of graded stories, words like 今天, 现在, and 明天 show up from the very first beginner stories, because you can barely write a sentence about daily life without them. You can see them working in free stories like Lil Jon Gets Ready for the Day and A New Morning.
Duration vs point in time: 两个小时 vs 两点
两点 (liǎng diǎn) means 2 o'clock — a point on the clock. 两个小时 (liǎng ge xiǎoshí) means two hours — an amount of time. They translate to different English words, sit in different places in the sentence, and mixing them up changes your meaning entirely.
| Point in time | Duration | |
|---|---|---|
| Hour | 两点 (liǎng diǎn) — 2:00 | 两个小时 (liǎng ge xiǎoshí) — 2 hours |
| Minute | 五分 (wǔ fēn) — :05 | 五分钟 / 五分鐘 (wǔ fēnzhōng) — 5 minutes |
| Position | before the verb | after the verb |
我两点学中文。
Wǒ liǎng diǎn xué Zhōngwén.
I study Chinese at 2 o'clock. (Point in time — before the verb.)
我学了两个小时中文。／我學了兩個小時中文。
Wǒ xué le liǎng ge xiǎoshí Zhōngwén.
I studied Chinese for two hours. (Duration — after the verb.)
One regional note: in Taiwan and much of southern China you'll constantly hear 钟头 / 鐘頭 (zhōngtóu) for "hour" — 一个钟头 = 一个小时. Both are correct Mandarin; neither is a mistake. This is exactly the kind of Mainland–Taiwan pair the Literate Chinese app tracks for you, alongside script differences like 点/點.
以前, 以后, and 的时候: before, after, when
These three turn any event into a time expression, and all three attach to the end of the clause — the mirror image of English "before/after/when," which lead the clause.
吃饭以前要洗手。／吃飯以前要洗手。
Chīfàn yǐqián yào xǐshǒu.
Wash your hands before eating. (Literally "eat-food before…")
下班以后我去健身房。／下班以後我去健身房。
Xiàbān yǐhòu wǒ qù jiànshēnfáng.
After work I go to the gym.
我小的时候住在台北。／我小的時候住在台北。
Wǒ xiǎo de shíhou zhù zài Táiběi.
When I was little, I lived in Taipei.
The pattern is clause + 以前 (yǐqián, "before"), clause + 以后 / 以後 (yǐhòu, "after"), or clause + 的时候 / 的時候 (de shíhou, "when / while"). Because the time clause comes first, Chinese sentences reveal their timeline in order — one of the small mercies of the grammar. These patterns appear constantly in graded readers, which is the fastest way to internalize them: meet 的时候 forty times in stories and you'll stop translating it. That's the case for Chinese reading practice over memorizing rules.
Frequently asked questions
Is 2:00 two o'clock 两点 or 二点?
Always 两点 (liǎng diǎn). Chinese uses 两 instead of 二 for "two" before measure words, and 点 counts as one. 二点 will be understood but immediately marks the speaker as a learner. The same rule gives you 两个小时 for "two hours."
What's the difference between 小时, 点, and 钟头?
点 (diǎn) names a clock position: 三点 = 3:00. 小时 (xiǎoshí) measures elapsed hours: 三个小时 = three hours. 钟头 / 鐘頭 (zhōngtóu) is a colloquial synonym of 小时, especially common in Taiwan and southern Mandarin. You never say 三点 to mean "three hours."
Does Chinese use AM/PM or 24-hour time?
Conversation uses the 12-hour clock with a part-of-day word in front: 上午九点 (9 am), 晚上九点 (9 pm). The 24-hour clock appears in writing — train tickets, schedules, official notices — where 21:00 would be read 二十一点. You'll rarely hear 二十一点 in casual speech.
How do you say "half past" in Chinese?
Add 半 (bàn) after 点: 四点半 (sì diǎn bàn) is 4:30, literally "four o'clock half." There's no "half to" construction as in some European languages — 半 always means half past the hour just named.
How do I ask what time something happens?
Use 几点 (jǐ diǎn): 现在几点？"What time is it?" 我们几点见面？"What time are we meeting?" For dates, swap in 几号 (jǐ hào, what day of the month) or 星期几 (xīngqī jǐ, what day of the week).
