Opportune timing with "chen"

趁 (chèn) is a preposition that means to "take advantage of" an opportunity or favorable time to do something. It is normally followed by an adjective or a short phrase explaining the situation that the person is seeking to take advantage of.

Structure

趁 + [Situation / Opportunity]……

Examples

Note that in English using the literal translation "take advantage of" often isn't natural.

• 趁 打折 ，我 买 了 新 手机。Chèn dǎzhé, wǒ mǎi le xīn shǒujī.Taking advantage of the discount, I bought a new phone.
• 趁 大家 不 注意，我 从 派对 上 回家 了。Chèn dàjiā bù zhùyì, wǒ cóng pàiduì shàng huíjiā le.While no one was paying attention, I snuck home from the party.
• 趁 这个 机会 ，我们 见 个 面 吧。Chèn zhège jīhuì, wǒmen jiàn gè miàn ba.Let's take this opportunity to meet up.
• 趁 年轻，多 去 玩玩 吧。Chèn niánqīng, duō qù wánwan ba.You guys should go have more fun while you're still young.
• 趁 天气 好，我 要 去 野餐。Chèn tiānqì hǎo, wǒ yào qù yěcān.While the weather is good, I'm going on a picnic.
• 趁 老板 不 在，我们 打 一会儿 游戏 吧。Chèn lǎobǎn bùzài, wǒmen dǎ yīhuìr yóuxì ba.While the boss is out, we can play video games for a little while.
• 趁 我 现在 有 假期 ，我们 可以 去 旅游 。Chèn wǒ xiànzài yǒu jiàqī, wǒmen kěyǐ qù lǚyóu.While I have vacation days, we can go traveling.
• 趁 孩子 睡着 的 时候，我 洗 了 很 多 衣服。Chèn háizi shuìzháo de shíhòu, wǒ xǐ le hěn duō yīfu.Since the kids had fallen asleep, I washed a bunch of clothes.
• 妹妹 经常 趁 我 不 在家 的时候 ，玩 我 的 电脑。Mèimei jīngcháng chèn wǒ bù zài jiā de shíhòu, wán wǒ de diànnǎo.My little sister often plays with my computer when I am not at home.
• 小偷 一定 是 趁 我 不 注意 的 时候 ，把 我 的 手机 偷走 的 。Xiǎotōu yīdìng shì chèn wǒ bù zhùyì de shíhòu, bǎ wǒ de shǒujī tōu zǒu de.The thief must have stolen my cell phone when I wasn't paying attention.

Sources and further reading

Books

• Short-term Spoken Chinese: Pre-Intermediate (汉语口语速成提高篇) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy
• 现代汉语八百词（增订本） (pp. 116) [ →buy]

Dictionaries

• 现代汉语词典（第5版） (pp. 169) 卓越汉语－公司实战篇 →buy

HSK5