IWTYAL 150: Expressing time in Chinese

Tadeusz asks: “Do Chinese concepts of time differ from English?”

In this episode:

In this episode, I'm joined by Chris Parker. We discuss…

• How to express time in Chinese
• Potential confusion with English
• Similarities in Cantonese and Japanese

Language Examples:

Before and after, not really front and behind

5 years ago – 5年以前 = 5 years before (not really front)
5 years time – 5年以后 = 5 years after (not really behind) (trad chars = 五年以後）

前 = before or in front
后 = after + behind

上个星期 last week (upper week) （上個星期 trad chars)
这个星期 this week （這個星期 trad chars）
下个星期 next week (lower week) （下個星期 trad chars)
(for weeks and months)

For series of books or films etc:
上 the one on the top – part 1
(中) the one in the middle – part 2
下 the one on the bottom – part 3

or 上 first part 下 second part

上下 approximately (upper + lower)
左右 approximately (left + right)

前年 – the year before last (before year)
去年 – last year (gone/left year)
今年 – this year
明年 – next year
后年 – the year after next (year after) trad=後面

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Fluent In Mandarin – Chris Parker's awesome website about learning Chinese

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Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.