Structure of times (advanced)
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If you already know the basics of how to tell time in Chinese, you may want to get a little more specific or sophisticated, using words like 分 (fēn) and 刻 (kè).
Contents
Minutes past the hour
Minutes are marked with 分 (fēn) (short for 分钟 (fēnzhōng)). The way to include them in the time depends on whether they're minutes past or to the hour.
Minutes past the hour are expressed after 点 (diǎn) in the same way as half and quarter hours.
When the minute is greater than 10
Structure
x 点 y 分
Examples
- 一 点 四 十 分1:40
- 两 点 十 分 2:10
- 三 点 二 十 分 3:20
- 七 点 十 五 分 7:15
- 九 点 五 十分 9:50
When the minute is less than 10
Structure
In Chinese, when the minute is under 10, the word 零 (líng) is often used after 点 (diǎn). For example, 2:07 would be said as “两点零七分” (liǎng diǎn líng qī fēn). However, note that when speaking, it is very common for most Chinese people take out the “分 (fēn)” at the end of the time.
x 点 零 y 分
Examples
- 两 点 零 九分 2:09
- 三 点 零 八 分 3:08
- 五 点 零 三 分 5:03
- 七 点 零 一 分7:01
- 八 点 零 五 分 8:05
Quarter hours
In Chinese, quarter hours are only expressed on the 1st quarter x:15, and the third quarter x:45. Like half hours, they also come after the word 点 (diăn). We use the word 刻 (kè) to express "quarter hour."
Structure
x 点 y 刻
Examples
- 九 点 一 刻 9:15
- 七 点 一 刻 7:15
- 十 二 点 一 刻 12:15
- 一 点 三 刻 1:45
- 六 点 三 刻 6:45
You can totally just use 十五分 (shí-wǔ fēn) for "15 minutes (past)" or 四十五分 (sìshí-wǔ fēn) for "45 minutes (past)" if you're lazy, though. It also works!
To the hour
When expressing how many minutes it will be till the next full hour, you put 差 (chā) in front of the time expression.
Structure
Minutes to the hour use this structure:
差 + Minutes + 分 + Hour + 点
or
Hour + 点 + 差 + Minutes + 分
Examples
- 差 十 分 两 点ten minutes til 2 o'clock
- 差 五 分 三 点five minutes til 3 o'clock
- 差 一 分 十二 点one minute til 12 o'clock
- 差 五 分 八 点 半five minutes til 8:30
- 差 两 分 十 点半two minutes til 10:30
