To help you learn about telling time in Chinese and describing daily activities, I’m going to describe a typical day in my life, all in Chinese:<\/p>\n
\u6211\u65e9\u4e0a\u4e5d\u70b9\u8d77\u5e8a\uff0c\u7136\u540e\u5403\u65e9\u9910\u3002\u65e9\u9910\u7684\u8bdd\u6211\u559c\u6b22\u5403\u6c34\u679c\u548c\u9762\u5305\uff0c\u559d\u679c\u6c41\u548c\u5496\u5561\u3002\u6211\u5341\u70b9\u53bb\u5065\u8eab\u623f\u505a\u8fd0\u52a8\u3002\u6211\u559c\u6b22\u6253\u7bee\u7403\uff0c\u8dd1\u6b65\uff0c\u6216\u8005\u6e38\u6cf3\u3002\u6211\u4e2d\u5348\u5341\u4e8c\u70b9\u56de\u5bb6\u5403\u5348\u996d\u3002\u6211\u5e38\u5e38\u5403\u4e09\u660e\u6cbb\u6216\u8005\u6c99\u62c9\u3002\u996d\u540e\u6211\u6d17\u6fa1\uff0c\u7136\u540e\u53bb\u516c\u53f8\u4e0a\u73ed\u3002\u5982\u679c\u5929\u6c14\u597d\uff0c\u6211\u9a91\u81ea\u884c\u8f66\u3002\u5982\u679c\u5929\u6c14\u4e0d\u597d\uff0c\u6211\u5750\u516c\u4ea4\u8f66\u3002\u6211\u4e0b\u5348\u4e00\u70b9\u4e0a\u73ed\u3002\u6211\u7684\u5de5\u4f5c\u662f\u6559\u5927\u4eba\u82f1\u8bed\u3002\u6211\u5148\u6709\u4e09\u8282\u8bfe\uff0c\u7136\u540e\u4f11\u606f\u3002\u4f11\u606f\u7684\u65f6\u5019\u6211\u559c\u6b22\u4e0a\u7f51\u6216\u8005\u770b\u4e66\u3002\u4ece\u516d\u70b9\u5230\u4e5d\u70b9\u6211\u8fd8\u6709\u4e09\u8282\u8bfe\u3002\u6211\u665a\u4e0a\u4e5d\u70b9\u4e0b\u73ed\u56de\u5bb6\u3002\u6709\u65f6\u5019\u6211\u5728\u5bb6\u91cc\u505a\u996d\uff0c\u6709\u65f6\u5019\u6211\u53bb\u996d\u9986\u5403\u4e2d\u56fd\u83dc\u3002\u6211\u7684\u516c\u5bd3\u9644\u8fd1\u6709\u5f88\u591a\u597d\u996d\u9986\uff0c\u6bd4\u5982\u6842\u6797\u7c73\u7c89\uff0c\u4e1c\u5317\u83dc\uff0c\u9ebb\u8fa3\u70eb\uff0c\u4ec0\u4e48\u7684\u3002\u5403\u665a\u996d\u4ee5\u540e\u6211\u559c\u6b22\u770b\u7535\u89c6\u3002\u56e0\u4e3a\u6211\u662f\u591c\u732b\u5b50\uff0c\u6211\u5f88\u665a\u7761\u89c9\u3002<\/p>\n
For beginner learners of Chinese, I realize that can be a lot to digest, so let’s break down my daily routine sentence-by-sentence, with pinyin and English to assist you in your pronunciation and understanding.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u6211\u65e9\u4e0a\u4e5d\u70b9\u8d77\u5e8a\uff0c\u7136\u540e\u5403\u65e9\u9910\u3002\u65e9\u9910\u7684\u8bdd\u6211\u559c\u6b22\u5403\u6c34\u679c\u548c\u9762\u5305\uff0c\u559d\u679c\u6c41\u548c\u5496\u5561\u3002\u6211\u5341\u70b9\u53bb\u5065\u8eab\u623f\u505a\u8fd0\u52a8\u3002\u6211\u559c\u6b22\u6253\u7bee\u7403\uff0c\u8dd1\u6b65\uff0c\u6216\u8005\u6e38\u6cf3\u3002
\nw\u01d2 z\u01ceo shang ji\u01d4 di\u01cen q\u01d0 chu\u00e1ng, r\u00e1n h\u00f2u ch\u012b z\u01ceo c\u0101n. z\u01ceo c\u0101n de hu\u00e0 w\u01d2 x\u01d0 huan ch\u012b shu\u01d0 gu\u01d2 h\u00e9 mi\u00e0n b\u0101o h\u0113 gu\u01d2 zh\u012b h\u00e9 k\u0101 f\u0113i. w\u01d2 sh\u00ed di\u01cen q\u00f9 ji\u00e0n sh\u0113n f\u00e1ng zu\u00f2 y\u00f9n d\u00f2ng. w\u01d2 x\u01d0 huan d\u01ce l\u00e1n qi\u00fa, p\u01ceo b\u00f9, hu\u00f2 zh\u011b y\u00f3u y\u01d2ng.<\/p>\n
I get up at 9 o’clock in the morning and then I eat breakfast. For breakfast, I like to eat fruit and bread, and drink juice and coffee. At 10 o’clock, I go to the gym to do exercise. I like to play basketball, run, or go swimming.<\/em><\/p>\n One important structure in Chinese is I + part of day + specific time + do something. For example, in this first sentence: \u6211 (I) \u65e9\u4e0a (early morning) \u4e5d\u70b9 (9 o’clock) \u8d77\u5e8a (get up). You will see this structure repeated several times in my description of my normal day.<\/p>\n \u6211\u4e2d\u5348\u5341\u4e8c\u70b9\u56de\u5bb6\u5403\u5348\u996d\u3002\u6211\u5e38\u5e38\u5403\u4e09\u660e\u6cbb\u6216\u8005\u6c99\u62c9\u3002\u996d\u540e\u6211\u6d17\u6fa1\uff0c\u7136\u540e\u53bb\u516c\u53f8\u4e0a\u73ed\u3002\u5982\u679c\u5929\u6c14\u597d\uff0c\u6211\u9a91\u81ea\u884c\u8f66\u3002\u5982\u679c\u5929\u6c14\u4e0d\u597d\uff0c\u6211\u5750\u516c\u4ea4\u8f66\u3002 At noon, I go home to eat lunch. I usually eat a sandwich or a salad. After lunch, I take a shower, then go to my company to work. If the weather is nice, I ride a bicycle. If the weather is bad, I take the bus.<\/em><\/p>\n A useful phrase in this section is \u5e38\u5e38 (ch\u00e1ng ch\u00e1ng), which means “usually<\/strong>” or “normally<\/strong>.” Another important thing to point out is the simple two-character combination of \u996d\u540e (f\u00e0n h\u00f2u), which means “after food<\/strong>.” Chinese love simplifying things, so you can take the phrase \u5403\u5348\u996d\u4ee5\u540e (after eating lunch) and simply use two characters to express the same meaning.<\/p>\n \u6211\u4e0b\u5348\u4e00\u70b9\u4e0a\u73ed\u3002\u6211\u7684\u5de5\u4f5c\u662f\u6559\u5927\u4eba\u82f1\u8bed\u3002\u6211\u5148\u6709\u4e09\u8282\u8bfe\uff0c\u7136\u540e\u4f11\u606f\u3002\u4f11\u606f\u7684\u65f6\u5019\u6211\u559c\u6b22\u4e0a\u7f51\u6216\u8005\u770b\u4e66\u3002\u4ece\u516d\u70b9\u5230\u4e5d\u70b9\u6211\u8fd8\u6709\u4e09\u8282\u8bfe\u3002\u6211\u665a\u4e0a\u4e5d\u70b9\u4e0b\u73ed\u56de\u5bb6\u3002 At 1 o’clock in the afternoon, I start work. My job is to teach adults English. First, I have 3 classes, then I have a rest. During my break, I like to surf the Internet or read a book. From 6 to 9 o’clock, I have 3 more classes. At 9 o’clock in the evening, I get off work.<\/em><\/p>\n In this section, we see two useful expressions about work: \u4e0a\u73ed (sh\u00e0ng b\u0101n), meaning “to start work<\/strong>” and \u4e0b\u73ed (xi\u00e0 b\u0101n), meaning “to finish work<\/strong>.” These are two very important characters in Chinese, and I covered them last year (find that post here<\/a>). Another good thing to pick up from this part is the use of \u4ece (c\u00f3ng) + time + \u5230 (d\u00e0o) + another time, which means “from ___ to ___<\/strong>.” This can be used with specific times, days, months, years, etc. to express a continuing action.<\/p>\n \u6709\u65f6\u5019\u6211\u5728\u5bb6\u91cc\u505a\u996d\uff0c\u6709\u65f6\u5019\u6211\u53bb\u996d\u9986\u5403\u4e2d\u56fd\u83dc\u3002\u6211\u7684\u516c\u5bd3\u9644\u8fd1\u6709\u5f88\u591a\u597d\u996d\u9986\uff0c\u6bd4\u5982\u6842\u6797\u7c73\u7c89\uff0c\u4e1c\u5317\u83dc\uff0c\u9ebb\u8fa3\u70eb\uff0c\u4ec0\u4e48\u7684\u3002\u5403\u665a\u996d\u4ee5\u540e\u6211\u559c\u6b22\u770b\u7535\u89c6\u3002\u56e0\u4e3a\u6211\u662f\u591c\u732b\u5b50\uff0c\u6211\u5f88\u665a\u7761\u89c9\u3002 Sometimes, I cook at home, and sometimes I go to a restaurant to eat Chinese food. There are many good restaurants near my apartment, for example Guilin rice noodles, Northeast cuisine, hot and spicy soup, and so on. After dinner, I like to watch TV. Since I’m a night owl, I go to bed very late.<\/em><\/p>\n These three characters – \u6709\u65f6\u5019 (y\u01d2u sh\u00ed hou) mean “sometimes<\/strong>,” and they’re very useful for describing your habits. If you want to give some examples, you’ll use \u6bd4\u5982 (b\u01d0 r\u00fa), meaning “for example<\/strong>.” In my examples, I mentioned three great styles of Chinese restaurants that are near my apartment. Since there are more than three, I ended the sentence with \u4ec0\u4e48\u7684 (sh\u00e9n me de), which can translate roughly as “and so on<\/strong>.” It’s true that I’m a night owl<\/strong>, or \u591c\u732b\u5b50 (y\u00e8 m\u0101o zi) in Chinese, so I really do go to be pretty late.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For more practice with telling time, check out this video I made a few months back:<\/p>\n
\nw\u01d2 zh\u014dng w\u01d4 sh\u00ed \u00e8r di\u01cen hu\u00ed ji\u0101 ch\u012b w\u01d4 f\u00e0n. w\u01d2 ch\u00e1ng ch\u00e1ng ch\u012b s\u0101n m\u00edng zh\u00ec hu\u00f2 zh\u011b sh\u0101 l\u0101. f\u00e0n h\u00f2u w\u01d2 x\u01d0 z\u01ceo, r\u00e1n h\u00f2u q\u00f9 g\u014dng s\u012b sh\u00e0ng b\u0101n. r\u00fa gu\u01d2 ti\u0101n q\u00ec h\u01ceo, w\u01d2 q\u00ed z\u00ec x\u00edng ch\u0113. r\u00fa gu\u01d2 ti\u0101n q\u00ec b\u00f9 h\u01ceo, w\u01d2 zu\u00f2 g\u014dng ji\u0101o ch\u0113.<\/p>\n
\nw\u01d2 xi\u00e0 w\u01d4 y\u012b di\u01cen sh\u00e0ng b\u0101n. w\u01d2 de g\u014dng zu\u00f2 sh\u00ec ji\u00e0o d\u00e0 r\u00e9n y\u012bng y\u01d4. w\u01d2 xi\u0101n y\u01d2u s\u0101n ji\u00e9 k\u00e8, r\u00e1n h\u00f2u xi\u016b x\u00ed. xi\u016b x\u00ed de sh\u00ed hou w\u01d2 x\u01d0 huan sh\u00e0ng w\u01ceng hu\u00f2 zh\u011b k\u00e0n sh\u016b. c\u00f3ng li\u00f9 di\u01cen d\u00e0o ji\u01d4 di\u01cen w\u01d2 h\u00e1i y\u01d2u s\u0101n ji\u00e9 k\u00e8. w\u01d2 w\u01cen sh\u00e0ng ji\u01d4 di\u01cen xi\u00e0 b\u0101n hu\u00ed ji\u0101.<\/p>\n
\ny\u01d2u sh\u00ed hou w\u01d2 z\u00e0i ji\u0101 l\u01d0 zu\u00f2 f\u00e0n, y\u01d2u sh\u00ed hou w\u01d2 q\u00f9 f\u00e0n gu\u01cen ch\u012b zh\u014dng gu\u00f3 c\u00e0i. w\u01d2 de g\u014dng y\u00f9 f\u00f9 j\u00ecn y\u01d2u h\u011bn du\u014d h\u01ceo f\u00e0n gu\u01cen, b\u01d0 r\u00fa gu\u00ec l\u00edn m\u01d0 f\u011bn, d\u014dng b\u011bi c\u00e0i, m\u00e1 l\u00e0 t\u00e0ng, sh\u00e9n me de. ch\u012b w\u01cen f\u00e0n y\u01d0 h\u00f2u w\u01d2 x\u01d0 huan k\u00e0n di\u00e0n sh\u00ec. y\u012bn w\u00e8i w\u01d2 sh\u00ec y\u00e8 m\u0101o zi, w\u01d2 h\u011bn w\u01cen shu\u00ec ji\u00e0o.<\/p>\n