Level 1 Lesson 16.1 – What Are You Going To Do On Sunday

Grammar 1: Time Words in Chinese · HSK 1

We have learned some Time Words before:

• morning and night
• hour and minute
• date
• weekdays

Today we'll learn more Time Words in Chinese:

Days

Year

Month

Week

Grammar 2: Where to put a Time Word in Chinese Sentences · HSK 1

When we put a Time Word in a sentence, the Time Word can give us information about when the action takes place, or when a status persists.

In English the Time Word usually goes at the beginning or at the end of a sentence, but in Chinese it's different, we never put a Time Word at the end of a sentence. For example these are sentences with the wrong placement of Time Words in Chinese:

• wǒmen qù Běijīng lǚyóu míngnián
  我们去北京旅游明年。
  we (will) go to Beijing to travel next year

So where to put a Time Word in Chinese sentences? We usually^① put a Time Word after the Subject and before the Predicate, which could be a verb(phrase) or an adjective (phrase):

Subject + Time Word  + Predicate (+ Object)

These are some typical sentences with Time Words in Chinese:

• wǒmen míngnián qù Běijīng lǚyóu
  我们明年去北京旅游。
  we (will) go to Beijing to travel next year
• tā péngyou zuótiān hěn bùgāoxìng
  他朋友昨天很不高兴。
  his friend was very unhappy yesterday
• nǐ xiàge xīngqīwǔ gěiwǒ dǎdiànhuà, hǎoma
  你下个星期五给我打电话，好吗？
  you give me  a call next Friday, okay?
• Xiè Lǎoshī shànggeyuè búzài Fǎguó
  谢老师上个月不在法国。
  Teacher Xie was not in France last month

❖ NOTE: ① Time Word can be used before the Subject as well, however for Beginner Chinese Level, we consider it a variation. When using a language, it is very common to have multiple acceptable variations for one type of expression. At beginner level, we recommend students to stick with the most common way of expression and gradually develop their language skill and be able to understand and use all variations. In more advanced levels, when we introduce a new grammar point, we will include more variations.

Grammar 3: Time Words as Modifier of Noun (Phrase) · HSK 1

Remember we learned that sometimes a Noun can be used as a modifier of another Noun? For example:

• Hànyǔ shū 汉语书 Chinese language + book / Chinese book
• Zhōngguó cài 中国菜 China + dish / Chinese food

Since Time Words are also nouns, they can be put before another noun (phrase) to function as a modifier by using the Descriptive Particle 的 between them:

Time Word  + 的 + Noun (Phrase)

For example:

• shàngzhōu rì de diànhuà
  上周日的电话
  last Sunday's phone call
• míngnián de Hànyǔkè
  明年的汉语课
  next year's Chinese classes

Grammar 4: More Than One Time Words Together · HSK 1

When there are more than one Time Words together, the "bigger" ones go before the "smaller" one - the same rule as words that refer to places, the "bigger" places go before the "smaller" places. For example:

• xiàgeyuè wǔhào wǎnshàng bādiǎn
  下个月五号晚上八点
  next month the 5th, evening 8 o'clock
• míngnián jiǔyuè yīrì
  明年九月一日
  next year September 1
• shàngzhōusì zǎoshàng qīdiǎn 'èrshí fēn
  上周四早上七点二十分
  last Thursday 7:20 am