Chinese Grammar Bank
TELLING TIME IN MANDARIN
Time plays an important role in our daily life.
The Chinese time system is easy to understand. If you are familiar with Chinese numbers from 0 to 60, you will able to tell the time in Mandarin after learning just a few more vocabulary words.
整点 ON THE HOUR
If you want to express a time on the hour like 3 o’clock , you just say the number of the hour and add the word “点 (diǎn)” or “点钟 (diǎnzhōng).
If you want to emphases the sharp hour, you can put “整 (zhěng)” after the “点 (diǎn)”.
PATTERN
Number + 点 = 三点 three o’clock
Number + 点+整 = 三点整 three o’clock sharp
| ENGLISH | CHARACTERS | PINYIN |
|---|---|---|
| 1 o’clock | 一点 | yī diǎn |
| 2 o’clock | 二点 | èr diǎn |
| 3 o’clock | 三点 | sān diǎn |
| 4 o’clock | 四点 | sì diǎn |
| 5 o’clock | 五点 | wǔ diǎn |
| 6 o’clock | 六点 | liù diǎn |
| 7 o’clock | 七点 | qī diǎn |
| 8 o’clock | 八点 | bā diǎn |
| 9 o’clock | 九点 | jiǔ diǎn |
| 10 o’clock | 十点 | shí diǎn |
| 11 o’clock | 十一点 | shíyī diǎn |
| 12 o’clock | 十二点 | shí’èr diǎn |
TOP TIP | When saying “two o’clock”, according to the grammar rule, “two” on the hour is read as 两点 (liǎngdiǎn) instead of 二点 (èrdiǎn).
精确时间 THE EXACT TIME
If you want to express the exact time down to the minute, you just say the number of the hour first, they say the the number corresponding to the minute.
PATTERN
Number + 点 (diǎn) + Number + 分 (fēn)
| TIME | CHARACTERS | PINYIN |
|---|---|---|
| 6:25 | 六点二十五(分) | liù diǎn èrshíwǔ (fēn) |
| 12:21 | 十二点二十一(分) | shí’èr diǎn èrshíyī (fēn) |
| 8:44 | 八点四十四(分) | bā diǎn sìshísì (fēn) |
When the minute is over ten, 分（fēn）usually can be omitted in spoken Chinese.
半点 HALF HOURS
When you want to say “half past the hour”, use the word 半 (bàn) – meaning “half” – after the time on the hour.
PATTERN
Number + 点 (diǎn) + 半 (bàn)
| TIME | CHARACTERS | PINYIN |
|---|---|---|
| 3:30 | 三点半 | sān diǎn bàn |
| 6:30 | 六点半 | liù diǎn bàn |
| 12:30 | 十二点半 | shí’èr diǎn bàn |
You can also express the half hour with the structure – number + 点 (diǎn) + number + 分 (fēn)，for example：三点半 is 三点三十（分）。
一刻钟 QUARTER HOURS
When you want to say a quarter past the hour, use 一刻 (yí kè) after the time on the hour.
PATTERN
Number + 点 (diǎn) + 一刻 (yí kè)
| TIME | CHARACTERS | PINYIN |
|---|---|---|
| 2:15 | 两点一刻 | liǎng diǎn yīkè |
| 12:15 | 十二点一刻 | shí’èr diǎn yī kè |
In Chinese，people often use 三刻 (sānkè) to express the three quarters past the hour.
PATTERN
Number of the hour + 点 (diǎn) + 三刻 (sānkè)
| TIME | CHARACTERS | PINYIN |
|---|---|---|
| 2:45 | 两点三刻 | liǎng diǎn sān kè |
| 12:45 | 十二点三刻 | shí’èr diǎn sān kè |
You can also express the quarter hours with the the structure – number + 点 (diǎn) + number + 分（fēn), for example：两点一刻 is 两点十五(分) and 两点三刻 is 两点四十五 (分)。
差几分几点 MINUTES TO THAT HOUR
When the number of minute is over 40, the time can be expressed with “some minutes to that hour”.
PATTERN
差 (chà) + Number + 分 (fēn) + Number + 点 (diǎn)
| TIME | CHARACTERS | PINYIN |
|---|---|---|
| 3:58 | 差两分四点 | chà liǎng fēn sì diǎn |
| 4:55 | 差五分五点 | chà wǔ fēn wǔ diǎn |
| 6:45 |
差十五分七点
or 差一刻七点 | chà shíwǔ fēn qī diǎn chà yīkè qī diǎn |
You can also say 七点差一刻（6:45), but it is not the most natural way to express “quarter to” in Chinese.
MINUTES OVER OR UNDER 10
When the minutes are precisely 10 or more than 10 on the clock, you just read out the number of the minute.
| TIME | CHARACTERS | PINYIN |
|---|---|---|
| 4:25 | 四点二十五 | sì diǎn èrshíwǔ |
When the minutes are under 10 on the clock, you need to read out the “zero” (零líng) before the number of the minute.
| TIME | CHARACTERS | PINYIN |
|---|---|---|
| 4:05 | 四点零五 | sì diǎn líng wǔ |
四点零五 can be also expressed as 四点五分，but if you drop the 零 (líng) or 分（fēn), people will not understand because 四点五 is a number 4.5 rather than a time expression.
大概时间 APPROXIMATE TIME
Most of the time, we do not need to say the exact time. It is useful to know how to express the approximate time.
PATTERN
快 + Number + 点 +了
(No more than 10 minutes before that hour)
| 快三点了 | kuài sān diǎnle | about three o’clock |
PATTERN
Number + 点左右
(No more than 10 minutes before and after that hour)
| 三点左右 | sān diǎn zuǒyòu | three o’clock or so |
PATTERN
Number + 点 + 多
(No more than 10 minutes after that hour)
| 三点多 | sān diǎn duō | more than three o’clock |
12H SYSTEM TO 24H SYSTEM CONVERSION
In China, people use a 12-hour time system with “morning”, “afternoon” or “evening” in daily time expressions. Some nouns you need to know (general concept):
| CHARACTERS | HOUR | HOUR IN CHINESE | PINYIN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 凌晨 (from 1am to 5am) | 1:00 | 凌晨一点 | língchén yīdiǎn |
| 早上 (from 6am to 9am) | 7:00 | 早上七点 | zǎoshang qī diǎn |
| 上午 (from 9am to 11am) | 10:00 | 上午十点 | shàngwǔ shí diǎn |
| 中午 (from 11am to 1pm) | 12:00 | 中午十二点 | zhōngwǔ shí’èr diǎn |
| 下午 (from 1pm to 6pm) | 15:00 | 下午三点 | xiàwǔ sān diǎn |
| 晚上 (from 7pm to 10pm) | 21:00 | 晚上九点 | wǎnshàng jiǔ diǎn |
| 夜里 (from 10pm to 12pm) | 23:00 | 夜里十一点 | yèlǐ shíyī diǎn |
Although the norm in daily Chinese is to use the 12-hour system, you may still find the 24-hour system used for news reports, documents, timetables, television or film listings, or hours that a shop is open.
You can use the same structure:
PATTERN
Number + 点 (diǎn) + Number + 分（fēn)
to express 24-hour system
| TIME | CHARACTERS | PINYIN |
|---|---|---|
| 15:00 | 十五点 | shíwǔ diǎn |
| 18:42 | 十八点四十二 | shíbā diǎn sìshí’èr |
The time words are used before the time on the 12-hour clock from broad to specific concept.
- ✅ 早上七点 zǎoshang qī diǎn
- ❌ 七点早上 qī diǎn zǎoshang
ASK & ANSWER THE TIME
The standard expression you can use to ask the time is “几点了(jǐ diǎnle)?”
The word 几 (jǐ) is the question word for numbers.” You can add the word “现在 xiànzài” to ask “What time is it now?”
| 几点了? | jǐ diǎnle |
| 现在几点了? | xiànzài jǐ diǎnle |
People will respond with one of the expressions we’ve learned in the previous sections.
| 四点半。 | sì diǎn bàn |
| 现在四点半。 | xiànzài sì diǎn bàn |
If you ask a stranger on the street “what time it is”, you could add “请问 (qǐng wèn)”, which means “may I ask…” , at the beginning of your question to sound polite.
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FAQs
How to say Time in Mandarin?
Time in Mandarin is 时间 shíjiān.
How to tell the time in Mandarin?
If you know how to say the numbers in Chinese, this is going to be very easy for you!
Just add your number before 点 (diǎn).
For example 3 o’clock is 三点 sān diǎn.
How to tell the time in Mandarin with half hours?
First of all, 半 (bàn) means “half”.
The structure here is: number + 点 (diǎn) + 半 (bàn)
For example; 6 o’clock is 六点半 liù diǎn bàn.
How to tell the time in Mandarin with quarters?
When you want to say a quarter past the hour, use 一刻 (yí kè) after the time on the hour.
Structure: number + 点 (diǎn) + 一刻 (yí kè)
In Chinese, people often use 三刻 (sānkè) to express the three quarters past the hour.
Structure: number of the hour + 点 (diǎn) + 三刻 (sānkè)
Does China use the 12 or 24 hour format?
In China, people uses a 12-hour time system with “morning”, “afternoon” or “evening” to express the time of the day.
For example, 7am is 早上七点 zǎoshang qī diǎn.
How to ask for the time in Mandarin?
The standard expression you can use to ask the time is “几点了( jǐ diǎnle)?”
You can add the word “现在 xiànzài” to ask “What time is it now?”: 现在几点了? (xiànzài jǐ diǎnle)