Chinese For Dummies (27 page)

Telling Time

All you have to do to find out the
shíjiān
时间
(
時間
) (shir-jyan) (
time
) is take a peek at your
shǒubiǎo
手表
(show-byaow) (
watch
) or look at the
zhōng
钟
(
鐘
) (joong) (
clock
) on the wall. These days, even your computer or cellphone shows the time. And you can always revert to that beloved
luòdìshì dà bǎizhōng
落地式大摆钟
(
落地式大擺鐘
) (lwaw-dee-shir dah bye-joong) (
grandfather clock
) in your parents' living room. You no longer have any excuse to
chídào
迟到
(
遲到
) (chir-daow) (
be late
), especially if you own a
nào zhōng
闹钟
(
鬧鐘
) (now-joong) (
alarm clock
)!

Asking and stating the time

Want to know what time it is? Just walk up to someone and say
Xiànzài jǐdiǎn zhōng?
现在几点钟
? (
現在幾點鐘
?) (shyan-dzye jee-dyan joong?). It almost literally translates into
Now how many hours are on the clock?
In fact, you can even leave off the word
clock
and still ask for the time:
Xiànzài jǐdiǎn?
现在几点
? (
現在幾點
?) (shyan-dzye jee-dyan?). Isn't that easy?

To understand the answers to those questions, though, you need to understand how to tell time in Chinese. You can express time in Chinese by using the words
diǎn
点
(
點
) (dyan) (
hour
) and
fēn
分
(fun) (
minute
). Isn't using
fēn 
fun? You can even talk about time in
miǎo
秒
(meow) (
seconds
) if you like and sound like a cat.
Table 5-4
shows you how to pronounce all the hours on the clock.

You can indicate the hour by saying
sān-diǎn
or
sān-diǎn zhōng.
Diǎn
点
(
點
) (dyan) means
hour,
but it's also a classifier, and
zhōng
钟
(
鐘
) (joong) means
clock.
Feel free to use either to say what time it is.

Table 5-4 Telling Time in Chinese

When mentioning 12:00, be careful! The way to say
noon
is simply
zhōngwǔ
中午
(joong-woo), and the way to say
midnight
is
bànyè
半夜
(bahn-yeh).

Specifying the time of the day

The Chinese are very precise when they tell time. You can't just say
sān diǎn zhōng
三点钟
(
三點鐘
) (sahn dyan joong) when you want to say
3:00.
Do you mean to say
qīngzǎo sān diǎn zhōng
清早三点钟
(
清早三點鐘
) (cheeng-dzaow sahn dyan joong) (
3:00 a.m.
) or
xiàwǔ sāndiǎn zhōng
下午三点钟
(
下午三點鐘
) (shyah-woo sahn-dyan joong) (
3:00 p.m.
)? Another wrinkle: Noon and midnight aren't the only dividers the Chinese use to split up the day.

Here's a list of the major segments of the day:

qīngzǎo
清早
(cheeng-dzaow): the period from midnight to 6:00 a.m.

zǎoshàng
早上
(dzaow-shahng): the period from 6:00 a.m. to noon

xiàwǔ
下午
(shyah-woo): the period from noon to 6:00 p.m.

wǎnshàng
晚上
(wahn-shahng): the period from 6:00 p.m. to midnight

The segment of the day that you refer to needs to come before the actual time itself in Chinese. Here are some samples of combining the segment of the day with the time of day:

qīngzǎo yì diǎn yí kè
清早一点一刻
(
清早一點一刻
)
(cheeng-dzaow ee dyan ee kuh) (
1:15 a.m.
)

wǎnshàng qī diǎn zhōng
晚上七点钟
(
晚上七點鐘
)
(wahn-shahng chee dyan joong) (
7:00 p.m.
)

xiàwǔ sān diǎn bàn
下午三点半
(
下午三點半
)
(shyah-woo sahn dyan bahn) (
3:30 p.m.
)

zǎoshàng bā diǎn èrshíwǔ fēn
早上八点二十五分
(dzaow-shahng bah dyan are-shir-woo fun) (
8:25 a.m.
)

If you want to indicate half an hour, just add
bàn
(bahn) (
half
) after the hour:

sān diǎn bàn
三点半
(
三點半
) (sahn-dyan bahn) (
3:30
)

shíyī diǎn bàn
十一点半
(
十一點半
) (shir-ee-dyan bahn) (
11:30
)

sì
diǎn bàn
四点半
(
四點半
) (suh-dyan bahn) (
4:30
)

Do you want to indicate a quarter of an hour or three quarters of an hour? Just use the phrases
yí kè
一刻
(ee kuh) and
sān kè
三刻
(sahn kuh), respectively, after the hour: