A Users Guide to Time Phrases in Mandarin Chinese

Mandarin Chinese has time-related phrases that clarify when the action in a sentence is happening. These expressions are similar to English terms like, yesterday or the day before yesterday. Here is a list of common time expressions, which we will explore in more detail below: Days today - ä »Å Ã¥ ¤ © - jÄ «n tiÄ nyesterday - æ˜ ¨Ã¥ ¤ © - zuà ³ tiÄ nthe day before yesterday - å‰ Ã¥ ¤ © - qià ¡n tiÄ ntomorrow - 明å ¤ © - mà ­ng tiÄ nthe day after tomorrow - Ã¥ ¾Å'Ã¥ ¤ © (trad) /Ã¥ Å½Ã¥ ¤ © (simp) - hà ²u tiÄ n Years this year - ä »Å Ã¥ ¹ ´ - jÄ «n nià ¡nlast year - åŽ »Ã¥ ¹ ´ - qà ¹ nià ¡ntwo years ago - å‰ Ã¥ ¹ ´ - qià ¡n nià ¡nnext year - 明å ¹ ´ - mà ­ng nià ¡ntwo years from now - Ã¥ ¾Å'Ã¥ ¹ ´ / Ã¥ Å½Ã¥ ¹ ´ - hà ²u nià ¡n Weeks and Months The prefixes for weeks and months are as follows: this week - 這個星æÅ"Ÿ / è ¿â„¢Ã¤ ¸ ªÃ¦ËœÅ¸Ã¦Å"Ÿ - zhà ¨ gà ¨ xÄ «ngqÄ «this month - 這個æÅ"ˆ / è ¿â„¢Ã¤ ¸ ªÃ¦Å"ˆ - zhà ¨ gà ¨ yuà ¨last week - ä ¸Å Ã¥â‚¬â€¹Ã¦ËœÅ¸Ã¦Å"Ÿ / ä ¸Å Ã¤ ¸ ªÃ¦ËœÅ¸Ã¦Å"Ÿ - shà  ng gà ¨ xÄ «ngqÄ «last month - ä ¸Å Ã¥â‚¬â€¹Ã¦Å"ˆ / ä ¸Å Ã¤ ¸ ªÃ¦Å"ˆ - shà  ng gà ¨ yuà ¨two weeks ago - ä ¸Å Ã¤ ¸Å Ã¥â‚¬â€¹Ã¦ËœÅ¸Ã¦Å"Ÿ / ä ¸Å Ã¤ ¸Å Ã¤ ¸ ªÃ¦ËœÅ¸Ã¦Å"Ÿ - shà  ng shà  ng gà ¨ xÄ «ngqÄ «two months ago - ä ¸Å Ã¤ ¸Å Ã¥â‚¬â€¹Ã¦Å"ˆ / ä ¸Å Ã¤ ¸Å Ã¤ ¸ ªÃ¦Å"ˆ - shà  ng shà  ng gà ¨ yuà ¨next week - ä ¸â€¹Ã¥â‚¬â€¹Ã¦ËœÅ¸Ã¦Å"Ÿ / ä ¸â€¹Ã¤ ¸ ªÃ¦ËœÅ¸Ã¦Å"Ÿ - xià   gà ¨ xÄ «ngqÄ «next month - ä ¸â€¹Ã¥â‚¬â€¹Ã¦Å"ˆ / ä ¸â€¹Ã¤ ¸ ªÃ¦Å"ˆ - xià   gà ¨ yuà ¨two weeks from now - ä ¸â€¹Ã¤ ¸â€¹Ã¥â‚¬â€¹Ã¦ËœÅ¸Ã¦Å"Ÿ / ä ¸â€¹Ã¤ ¸â€¹Ã¤ ¸ ªÃ¦ËœÅ¸Ã¦Å"Ÿ - xià   xià   gà ¨ xÄ «ng qÄ «two months from now - ä ¸â€¹Ã¤ ¸â€¹Ã¥â‚¬â€¹Ã¦Å"ˆ / ä ¸â€¹Ã¤ ¸â€¹Ã¤ ¸ ªÃ¦Å"ˆ - xià   xià   gà ¨ yuà ¨ Clarifications The time expressions for  days  and  years  have the same prefixes except for the previous time period: åŽ » (qà ¹) for  last year  and æ˜ ¨ (zuà ³) for  yesterday.   The time expressions for  year  can also be used for events which happen every year, such as anniversaries, school years, and vacations. For example: last year’s spring vacationåŽ »Ã¥ ¹ ´Ã¦Ëœ ¥Ã¥ â€¡qà ¹ nià ¡n chÃ… «n jià   This same pattern can be used for events which follow weekly or monthly patterns, such as semesters or seasons: last summer - åŽ »Ã¥ ¹ ´Ã¥ ¤ Ã¥ ¤ © - qà ¹ nià ¡n xià  tiÄ n