How to tell the time in Chinese

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Talking about times is important in any language. In this post I will provide you with the vocabulary and phrases you need to understand and talk about time.

The basics – how to count in Chinese

Before you learn how the time it is important to know how to count. I have written a post on how to count in Chinese, however as a quick refresher here are the numbers you’ll need for telling the time.

Number in Numerals Chinese Pinyin
1 一yī yī
2 二èr èr
3 三sān sān
4 四sì sì
5 五wǔ wǔ
6 六liù liù
7 七qī qī
8 八bā bā
9 九jiǔ jiǔ
10 十shí shí
11 十shí一yī shí yī
12 十shí二'èr shí èr

Note that is the common way to say “two”  when telling the time, although you will see it written as 二, it is instead pronounced as 两liǎng. 两liǎng is also commonly used when talking about prices, however I will cover that in a separate post.

Obviously the 1 – 12 are important for saying hours. The below table is the numbers up to 55, which are useful when telling the time in five minute increments:

Number in Numerals Chinese Pinyin
5 五wǔ wǔ
10 十shí shí
15 十shí五wǔ shí wǔ
20 二èr十shí èr shí
25 二èr十shí五wǔ èr shí wǔ
30 三sān十shí sān shí
35 三sān十shí五wǔ sān shí wǔ
40 四sì十shí sì shí
45 四sì十shí五wǔ sì shí wǔ
50 五wǔ十shí wǔ shí
55 五wǔ十shí五wǔ wǔ shí wǔ

How to say o’clock in Chinese

The word for o’clock in Chinese is 点diǎn (diǎn) or 点diǎn钟zhōng (diǎn zhōng). As an example 1 o’clock is 11点diǎn钟zhōng (yīdiǎn zhōng) . It is most common to use 点diǎn (diǎn) rather than 点diǎn钟zhōng (diǎn zhōng) when stating the time.

Also note that times can be written entirely in Chinese characters for the numbers or using the standard Arabic numerals (that is “0” to “9”), both are acceptable. You will almost always see standard Arabic numerals used in public locations such as airports or train stations.

Below is a table showing times from 1 to 12 o’clock:

English Chinese Pinyin
1 o’clock 11点diǎn钟zhōng yīdiǎn zhōng
2 o’clock 22点diǎn钟zhōng èr diǎn zhōng
3 o’clock 33点diǎn钟zhōng sān diǎn zhōng
4 o’clock 44点diǎn钟zhōng sì diǎn zhōng
5 o’clock 55点diǎn钟zhōng wǔ diǎn zhōng
6 o’clock 66点diǎn钟zhōng liù diǎn zhōng
7 o’clock 77点diǎn钟zhōng qī diǎn zhōng
8 o’clock 88点diǎn钟zhōng bā diǎn zhōng
9 o’clock 99点diǎn钟zhōng jiǔ diǎn zhōng
10 o’clock 1100点diǎn钟zhōng shí diǎn zhōng
11 o’clock 1111点diǎn钟zhōng shíyī diǎn zhōng
12 o’clock 1122点diǎn钟zhōng shí’èr diǎn zhōng

Remember:

  • It is common to 点diǎn (diǎn) rather than 点diǎn钟zhōng (diǎn zhōng), I have written 点diǎn钟zhōng in the table above for completeness
  • 2 o’clock may be written as 2点钟 or 二èr点diǎn钟zhōng, but is pronounced as 两liǎng点diǎn钟zhōng (liǎng diǎn zhōng)

How to say times with minutes in Chinese

To say a time with minutes, you simply add the minutes after 点. the word for “minutes” is 分fēn (fēn), which you would say after the number of minutes in the time, below are some examples:

  • 1:20 is 11点diǎn2200分fēn (yī diǎn èrshí fēn)
  • 1:40 is 11点diǎn4400分fēn (yī diǎn sìshí fēn)
  • 1:45 is 11点diǎn4455分fēn (yī diǎn sìshíwǔ fēn)

How to say times with minutes less than ten

When saying a time in Chinese where the minutes are less than ten, you say the leading zero, just as you do in English for example where 1:05 is said as “one-o-five”:

  • 1:05 is 一yī点diǎnssttrroonngg>>零líng//ssttrroonngg>>五wǔ分fēn (yī diǎn líng wǔ fēn)
  • 5:07 is 五wǔ点diǎnssttrroonngg>>零líng//ssttrroonngg>>七qī分fēn (wǔ diǎn líng qī fēn)

How to say AM and PM in Chinese

The Chinese words that are used in the place of AM and PM are:

  • AM 上shàng午wǔ (shàngwǔ), which can be translated as “before noon”
  • PM下xià午wǔ (xiàwǔ), which can be translated as “after noon”

上shàng午wǔ (shàngwǔ) and 下xià午wǔ (xiàwǔ) are placed in front of the time, so for example 12am becomes 上shàng午wǔ1122点diǎn (shàngwǔ 12 diǎn) and 3pm becomes 下xià午wǔ33点diǎn (xiàwǔ 3 diǎn). Midday is written as 下xià午wǔ1122点diǎn (xiàwǔ 12 diǎn)
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This table shows all times including AM and PM:

English Chinese Pinyin
12am 上shàng午wǔ1122点diǎn钟zhōng shàngwǔ shí’èr diǎn zhōng
1am 上shàng午wǔ11点diǎn钟zhōng língchén yīdiǎn
2am 上shàng午wǔ22点diǎn钟zhōng língchén èr diǎn
3am 上shàng午wǔ33点diǎn钟zhōng língchén sān diǎn
4am 上shàng午wǔ44点diǎn钟zhōng língchén sì diǎn
5am 上shàng午wǔ55点diǎn钟zhōng zǎoshang wǔ diǎn
6am 上shàng午wǔ66点diǎn钟zhōng zǎoshang liù diǎn
7am 上shàng午wǔ77点diǎn钟zhōng zǎoshang qī diǎn
8am 上shàng午wǔ88点diǎn钟zhōng zǎoshang bā diǎn
9am 上shàng午wǔ99点diǎn钟zhōng zǎoshang jiǔ diǎn
10am 上shàng午wǔ1100点diǎn钟zhōng zǎoshang shí diǎn
11am 上shàng午wǔ1111点diǎn钟zhōng zǎoshang shíyīdiǎn
12pm 中zhōng午wǔ1122点diǎn zhōngwǔ shí’èr diǎn
1pm 下xià午wǔ11点diǎn xiàwǔ yī diǎn
2pm 下xià午wǔ22点diǎn xiàwǔ èr diǎn
3pm 下xià午wǔ33点diǎn xiàwǔ sān diǎn
4pm 下xià午wǔ44点diǎn xiàwǔ sì diǎn
5pm 下xià午wǔ55点diǎn xiàwǔ wǔ diǎn
6pm 晚wǎn上shang66点diǎn wǎnshàng liù diǎn
7pm 晚wǎn上shang77点diǎn wǎnshàng qī diǎn
8pm 晚wǎn上shang88点diǎn wǎnshàng bā diǎn
9pm 晚wǎn上shang99点diǎn wǎnshàng jiǔ diǎn
10pm 晚wǎn上shang1100点diǎn wǎnshàng shí diǎn
11pm 晚wǎn上shang1111点diǎn wǎnshàng shíyī diǎn

Chinese Vocabulary for Times of Day

There are various words you can use for morning, afternoon, midday, midnight and so on in Chinese. The table below shows the various words and what time period they cover:

English Chinese Pinyin Pronunciation When can it be used
early morning 凌líng晨chén língchén Midnight to before dawn
morning 早zǎo上shang zǎoshàng 12:00am – 11:59am
AM 上shàng午wǔ shàngwŭ 12:00am – 11:59am
midday / noon 中zhōng午wǔ zhōngwŭ 11:00 to 12:59
PM 下xià午wǔ xiàwŭ 12:00pm – 11:59pm
dusk 傍bàng晚wǎn bàngwǎn Dusk to about 19:00
evening/night 晚wǎn上shang wǎnshàng 6:00pm – 11:59pm
midnight 半bàn夜yè bànyè midnight

Using morning, afternoon and evening when telling time

When telling the time in Chinese, it is not uncommon to say morning, afternoon and evening rather than AM 上shàng午wǔ (shàngwǔ) and PM 下xià午wǔ (xiàwǔ). The below table illustrates this:

English Chinese Pinyin
12am 上shàng午wǔ1122点diǎn钟zhōng shàngwǔ shí’èr diǎn zhōng
1am 凌líng晨chén11点diǎn língchén yīdiǎn
2am 凌líng晨chén22点diǎn língchén èr diǎn
3am 凌líng晨chén33点diǎn língchén sān diǎn
4am 凌líng晨chén44点diǎn língchén sì diǎn
5am 早zǎo上shang55点diǎn zǎoshang wǔ diǎn
6am 早zǎo上shang66点diǎn zǎoshang liù diǎn
7am 早zǎo上shang77点diǎn zǎoshang qī diǎn
8am 早zǎo上shang88点diǎn zǎoshang bā diǎn
9am 早zǎo上shang99点diǎn zǎoshang jiǔ diǎn
10am 早zǎo上shang1100点diǎn zǎoshang shí diǎn
11am 早zǎo上shang1111点diǎn zǎoshang shíyīdiǎn
12pm 中zhōng午wǔ1122点diǎn zhōngwǔ shí’èr diǎn
1pm 下xià午wǔ11点diǎn xiàwǔ yī diǎn
2pm 下xià午wǔ22点diǎn xiàwǔ èr diǎn
3pm 下xià午wǔ33点diǎn xiàwǔ sān diǎn
4pm 下xià午wǔ44点diǎn xiàwǔ sì diǎn
5pm 下xià午wǔ55点diǎn xiàwǔ wǔ diǎn
6pm 晚wǎn上shang66点diǎn wǎnshàng liù diǎn
7pm 晚wǎn上shang77点diǎn wǎnshàng qī diǎn
8pm 晚wǎn上shang88点diǎn wǎnshàng bā diǎn
9pm 晚wǎn上shang99点diǎn wǎnshàng jiǔ diǎn
10pm 晚wǎn上shang1100点diǎn wǎnshàng shí diǎn
11pm 晚wǎn上shang1111点diǎn wǎnshàng shíyī diǎn

How to say quarter past and quarter to the hour in Chinese

The Chinese word for quarter is 刻kè (kè). To say “quarter past”, you simply say “one quarter” 一yī刻kè (yīkè) after the hour, thus 9:15 is 99点diǎn一yī 刻kè (jiǔ diǎn yī kè) . Note here that “one quarter” (quarter past) is written with the Chinese character for “one” 一yī (yī) rather than the Arabic number “1”.

To say quarter to the hour in Chinese you either write “three quarters” 三sān刻kè (sān kè), which is the most common, however it can also be written as 差chà一yī刻kè (chà yīkè), where 差chà (chà) means “less” and thus 差chà一yī刻kè (chà yīkè) can be translated to mean “less one quarter”.

Examples:

  • 9:45 can be said as “ten less one quarter” 十shí点diǎn差chà一yī刻kè (shí diǎnchā yīkè)
  • 9:45 can also say the other way around as “quarter to ten” i.e. 差chà一yī刻kè十shí点diǎn (chà yīkè shí diǎn)

How to say half past in Chinese

The Chinese word for half is 半bàn (bàn). When talking about a time being half past the hour, you put the half半 (bàn) after o’lock 点diǎn (diǎn), thus 1:30 is 11点diǎn半bàn (yīdiǎn bàn). If you would like to state the full time including AM 上shàng午wǔ (shàngwǔ) or PM 下xià午wǔ (xiàwǔ), this is written as for example 8:30am is上shàng午wǔ88点diǎn半bàn while 8:30pm is 下xià午wǔ88点diǎn半bàn (shàngwǔ bā diǎn bàn)。Note that half past the hour is never written as two quarters 二èr刻kè (èr kē) as 刻kè(kē) is only used when talking about the time being quarter past or quarter to the hour.

How to say “minutes to” in Chinese

In English we might say “five minutes to three”, meaning 2:55, this is similar in Chinese. In Chinese the character meaning “less” 差chà (chà) is used, this is the same character we use to say “a quarter to the hour” which I discussed above. Some examples are below:

  • three minutes to four “3:57” 四sì点diǎn差chà三sān分fēn (sì diǎnchā sān fēn)
  • ten to six “5:50” 六liù点diǎn差chà十shí分fēn (liù diǎnchā shífēn)

Does Chinese use 24 hour time?

Chinese use 24-hour times for more official purposes such as departure and arrival times of planes and trains. 24-hour times in Chinese work the same as English, where you simply would say the hours up to 24 followed by the 点diǎn钟zhōng or just 点diǎn . Below are some examples

  • 0:30 零líng点diǎn三sān十shí分fēn (líng diǎn sānshí fēn)
  • 24:00 二èr十shí四sì点diǎn钟zhōng (èrshísì diǎn zhōng)
  • 13:15 三sān十shí点diǎn中zhōng一yī刻kè (sānshí diǎn zhōng yīkè)

How to say time periods in Chinese (from…to)

从cóng。.。.。.到dào (cóng…dào) is the phrase you will need to use when talking about a period of time being from one time to another. Here 从cóng (cóng) means “from” and 到dào (dào) means “to”. Here are some examples relating to time:

English Chinese Pinyin Pronunciation
From one to two ssttrroonngg>>从cóng//ssttrroonngg>>一yīssttrroonngg>>到dào//ssttrroonngg>>两liǎng点diǎn cóng yī dào liǎng diǎn
From half past three to five ssttrroonngg>>从cóng//ssttrroonngg>>三sān点diǎn半bànssttrroonngg>>到dào//ssttrroonngg>>五wǔ点diǎn cóng sān diǎn bàn dào wǔ diǎn
From one to half past one ssttrroonngg>>从cóng//ssttrroonngg>>一yī点diǎnssttrroonngg>>到dào//ssttrroonngg>>一yī点diǎn半bàn cóng yīdiǎn dào yīdiǎn bàn
from 1pm to 1:30pm ssttrroonngg>>从cóng//ssttrroonngg>>下xià午wǔ11点diǎnssttrroonngg>>到dào//ssttrroonngg>>下xià午wǔ11点diǎn3300分fēn cóng xiàwǔ yī diǎn dào xiàwǔ yī diǎn sānshí fēn

An example of how to use 从cóng。.。.。.到dào is if you were to say:

他tā工gōng作zuò从cóng九jiǔ点diǎn到dào五wǔ点diǎn
tā gōngzuò cóng jiǔ diǎn dào wǔ diǎn

He works from 9 to five

Time duration in Chinese: hours and minutes

If you want to talk about a time duration, rather than a specific time, you need some additional vocabulary. The vocabulary you need here is:

  • hours is 小xiǎo时shí (xiǎoshí)
  • minutes is 时shí分fēn (shífēn)

1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours an so on is:

English Chinese Pinyin Pronunciation
1 hour 11个gè小xiǎo时shí yī gè xiǎoshí
2 hours 22个gè小xiǎo时shí liǎng gè xiǎoshí
3 hours 33个gè小xiǎo时shí sān gè xiǎoshí

Note that

  • 个gè (gè) can optionally used between the number of hours and 小xiǎo时shí (xiǎoshí), it doesn’t matter if you do or don’t and both are acceptable
  • 两liǎng (liǎng) must be used rather than two 二èr (èr)

Next let’s look at some examples of how to say minutes, note here that 个gè (gè) is not used:

English Chinese Pinyin Pronunciation
5 minutes 55分fēn钟zhōng wǔ fēnzhōng
10 minutes 5555钟zhōng yīshí fēnzhōng
30 minutes 3300分fēn钟zhōng sānshí fēnzhōng
55 minutes 5555分fēn钟zhōng wǔshíwǔ fēnzhōng

Next, if you want to say a time duration that includes hours and minutes, here are some examples:

English Chinese Pinyin Pronunciation
1 hour and 5 minutes 11小xiǎo时shí55分fēn钟zhōng yī xiǎoshí wǔ fēnzhōng
2 hours and 30 minutes 22小xiǎo时shí3300分fēn钟zhōng liǎng xiǎoshí sānshí fēnzhōng
3 hours and 55 minutes 33小xiǎo时shí5555分fēn钟zhōng sān xiǎoshí wǔshíwǔ fēnzhōng

Finally, if you want to say something like “an hour and a half” or “2 and a quarter hours” you can use 半bàn (bàn) and 一yī刻kè (yīkè) which are also used when telling the time:

English Chinese Pinyin Pronunciation
a quarter of an hour 一yī刻kè钟zhōng yīkè zhōng
half an hour 半bàn小xiǎo时shí bàn xiǎoshí
three quarters of an hour 三sān刻kè钟zhōng sān kè zhōng
an hour and a half 半bàn小xiǎo时shí bàn xiǎoshí
1 and a half hours 一yī个gè半bàn小xiǎo时shí yīgè bàn xiǎoshí
2 and a half hours 两liǎng个gè半bàn小xiǎo时shí liǎng gè bàn xiǎoshí
2 hours and a quarter 两liǎng小xiǎo时shí一yī刻kè钟zhōng liǎng xiǎoshí yīkè zhōng

Conclusion: Summary of time vocabulary

This is a summary of important vocabulary relating to time:

  • o’clock is written as either 点diǎn钟zhōng (diǎn zhōng), although 点diǎn (diǎn) by itself is commonly used
  • Morning is 早zǎo上shang (zǎoshang)
  • Midday is 中zhōng午wǔ (zhōngwǔ)
  • Evening is 晚wǎn上shang (wǎnshàng)
  • AM (morning) is 上shàng午wǔ (shàngwǔ)
  • PM (afternoon) is 下xià午wǔ (xiàwǔ)
  • half, used for talking a bout half past the hour is 半bàn (bàn)
  • quarter, used for saying quarter past or quarter to the hour is 刻kè (kè)
  • Hour is 小xiǎo时shí (xiǎoshí)
  • Minute is 分fēn钟zhōng (fēnzhōng)

Try your best to use time vocabulary where you can. If you have a diary, write times of appointments n Chinese. To remember this vocabulary you need for start thinking in Chinese, so when it’s time to leave work, don’t say to yourself “it’s already 5pm!”, instead say it in Chinese: 已yǐ经jīng下xià午wǔ五wǔ点diǎn了le (yǐjīng xiàwǔ wǔ diǎnle) – here 已yǐ经jīng (yǐjīng) means “already”. If putting times in a sentence is too hard, try just saying the time in Chinese 五wǔ点diǎn (wǔ diǎn). The point is to absorb and use the Chinese vocabulary and don’t just try to memorise it for a few minutes a day and then ignore it.

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