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).

Minutes past the hour

Minutes are marked with 分 (fēn) (short for 分钟 (fēn zhōng)). 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

  • 四 十 diǎn sìshí fēn1:40
  • liǎng diǎn shí fēn2:10
  • 二 十 sān diǎn èrshí fēn3:20
  • 十 五 diǎn shíwǔ fēn7:15
  • 五 十 jiǔ diǎn wǔshí fēn9:50

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

  • liǎng diǎn líng jiǔ fēn2:09
  • sān diǎn língfēn3:08
  • diǎn líng sān fēn5:03
  • diǎn língfēn7:01
  • diǎn língfēn8:05

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

  • jiǔ diǎn 9:15
  • diǎn 7:15
  • 十 二 shí'èr diǎn 12:15
  • diǎn sān 1:45
  • liù diǎn sān 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

Examples

  • 十 分 两 chā shífēn liǎng diǎnten minutes til 2 o'clock
  • 五 分 三 chā wǔ fēn sān diǎnthree minutes til 3 o'clock
  • 一 分 十二 chā yī fēn shí'èr diǎnone minute til 12 o'clock
  • 五 分 八 chā wǔ fēn bā diǎn bànfive minutes til 8:30
  • 两 分 十 chā liǎngfēn shí diǎnbàntwo minutes til 10:30

See also

Sources and further reading

Books