Expressing "when" with "shi"

Revision as of 03:25, 24 June 2015 by Luojie (talk | contribs)

By now you should now how to express "when" using "的时候" (de shíhou). But there's also a slightly shorter, more formal way to do it: simply use 时 (shí) all by itself. (No 的!)

Structure

(Subject) + Verb / Adj. + 时……

As time words can appear before or after the subject, you can also place the Time + 时 (shí) after the subject.

Examples

There are two great examples of this pattern in the poem 远和近 by 顾城 (note that the translation is not always literal):

  • 你,You,
  • 一会 看 我 ,look at me one moment,
  • 一会 看 云 。and at the clouds the next.
  • 我 觉得 ,I feel,
  • 你 看 我 很 远 ,when you're looking at me, you're far away,
  • 你 看 云 很 近 。but when you’re looking at the clouds, how could we be nearer!

See also

Sources and further reading

Books