LessonsHSK 1 · Lesson 6
HSK 1 · Lesson 6 of 15
What time is it?
Telling the time, the parts of the day, and your daily routine. 17 words and 3 grammar points; tap the characters to hear them.
🔊 The sound in these lessons comes from your device’s own Mandarin voice, so it differs from device to device. Recorded audio will follow.
📚 Words
- Hán-Việt điểm O'clock: the word that follows a number when you tell the time.
- Hán-Việt phân A minute in a clock time; it follows the hour and the number of minutes.
- Hán-Việt phân chung A minute counted as a length of time: how long something takes or lasts.
- Hán-Việt tiểu thời An hour, as a length of time.
- Hán-Việt thời hậu The moment or period when something happens.
- Hán-Việt hiện tại Now, at the present time.
- Hán-Việt tảo thượng Morning, especially the early part when people get up.
- Hán-Việt thượng ngọ The part of the day before noon: the morning, up to about twelve o'clock.
- Hán-Việt trung ngọ Noon and the hours around it: midday, lunchtime.
- Hán-Việt hạ ngọ The afternoon: the part of the day from noon until evening.
- Hán-Việt vãn thượng Evening and night: the time from dusk until you go to bed.
- Hán-Việt tảo Early: before the usual or expected time.
- Hán-Việt vãn Late: after the usual or expected time.
- Hán-Việt khởi sàng To get up: to get out of bed after sleeping.
- Hán-Việt thụy To sleep or be asleep; the bare verb, which usually has 了 or a length of time after it.
- Hán-Việt thụy giáo To go to bed, or to sleep: the everyday verb that can stand on its own.
- Hán-Việt hưu tức To rest, to take a break, or to have time off work.
🧩 Grammar
Clock time
Hours are counted with 点 ("o'clock") and minutes with 分: 八点 8:00, 八点十分 8:10, 八点半 8:30 (半 "half"). Two o'clock is 两点, not 二点. Ask 现在几点？ "What time is it now?". The part of the day goes first: 下午三点 "3 p.m.", 晚上八点 "8 p.m.".
- What time is it now?
- It's half past two in the afternoon.
Time words go before the verb
When something happens comes before what happens: 我七点起床 "I get up at seven" (literally "I seven o'clock get up"). The time word may also open the sentence: 晚上我十一点睡觉. It never goes at the end, as it does in English.
- I get up at seven in the morning.
- When are you going home?
A point in time, or a stretch of time
点 and 分 tell the time on the clock; 小时 (hour) and 分钟 (minute) measure how long something lasts. A length of time goes after the verb: 我睡了八个小时 "I slept for eight hours", 休息十分钟 "take a ten-minute break". Compare 八点十分 "8:10" with 十分钟 "ten minutes".
- Let's take a ten-minute break.
- I slept for eight hours.
🎯 Practice
The drill below uses only this lesson’s words. Switch the kind of drill:
Context clues Match the meaning Listen & type Fill the blank Put in order Hán-Việt bridge
Open the full practice page → · All 300 HSK 1 words