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Mythic Mandarin

Morning, noon and night

HSK 1 Unit 3: Days and routines · Lesson 1 of 5 · About 15 minutes

Preview version — Chinese review in progress.

Your mission: By the end of this lesson, you can name the parts of the day, greet people at different times and put time words before the verb.

Warm-up: do you remember?

Two quick questions from earlier lessons. Recalling before you learn makes the new material stick.

  1. Meaning

    What does 公司 mean?

    1. company
    2. grandma (father's mother)
    3. 's, of (shows who something belongs to)
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, company.

    公司 (gōngsī) means company.

  2. Characters

    Which word means “grandma (father's mother)”?

    1. 姐姐
    2. 爸爸
    3. 奶奶
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, 奶奶.

    “grandma (father's mother)” is 奶奶 (nǎinai).

New words

  • 早上zǎoshang(early) morning
  • 上午shàngwǔmorning (before noon)
  • 中午zhōngwǔnoon
  • 下午xiàwǔafternoon
  • 晚上wǎnshangevening, night
  • 吃饭chīfànto eat, to have a meal

The parts of the day

The day
ChineseEnglish
早上 zǎoshangearly morning
上午 shàngwǔmorning, before noon
中午 zhōngwǔnoon
下午 xiàwǔafternoon
晚上 wǎnshangevening, night

上 means above or before and 下 below or after: 上午 is before noon (午), 下午 after it.

  • 早上好！

    Zǎoshang hǎo!

    Good morning!

  • 晚上好！

    Wǎnshang hǎo!

    Good evening!

Time comes before the verb

In Chinese, the time of an action goes before the verb: I afternoon go. It can also start the sentence.

  • 我下午去。

    Wǒ xiàwǔ qù.

    I'm going in the afternoon.

  • 中午我们一起吃饭。

    Zhōngwǔ wǒmen yìqǐ chīfàn.

    At noon we eat together.

  • Not: 我去下午。

    But: 我下午去。 Wǒ xiàwǔ qù.

    The time when you do it never goes at the end.

Characters

Open a character to see how it is written, stroke by stroke, with its meanings and words.

Lunch at noon?

Mark meets Liu Fang in the morning outside their building.

Listen first

Play the whole conversation and answer the questions before you open the transcript.

  1. Listening

    Listen first. When is Mark going to buy books?

    1. in the afternoon
    2. in the morning
    3. in the evening
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, in the afternoon.

    马克 says 我下午去: in the afternoon.

  2. Listening

    What will they do at noon?

    1. buy books
    2. drink tea
    3. eat together
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, eat together.

    刘芳 says 中午我们一起吃饭: they eat together.

Show the transcript
Pinyin
Translation

  1. 马克

    刘芳Liú Fāng，早上zǎoshang好hǎo！

    Good morning, Liu Fang!

  2. 刘芳

    早上Zǎoshang好hǎo，马克Mǎkè！你Nǐ上午shàngwǔ去qù买mǎi书shū吗ma？

    Morning, Mark! Are you going to buy books this morning?

  3. 马克

    不Bù，我wǒ下午xiàwǔ去qù。上午Shàngwǔ我wǒ去qù喝hē茶chá。

    No, I'm going in the afternoon. This morning I'm going for tea.

  4. 刘芳

    中午Zhōngwǔ我们wǒmen一起yìqǐ吃饭chīfàn，好hǎo吗ma？

    Shall we have lunch together at noon?

  5. 马克

    好Hǎo！中午Zhōngwǔ见jiàn！

    Great! See you at noon!

Speak: listen, record, compare

Listen to each model, record yourself, then play both and compare: the rhythm, the tones, the vowels. No automatic score: your ear is the judge.

  • 中午我们一起吃饭，好吗？

    Zhōngwǔ wǒmen yìqǐ chīfàn, hǎo ma?

    Shall we have lunch together at noon?

  • 不，我下午去。上午我去喝茶。

    Bù, wǒ xiàwǔ qù. Shàngwǔ wǒ qù hē chá.

    No, I'm going in the afternoon. This morning I'm going for tea.

  • 早上好，马克！你上午去买书吗？

    Zǎoshang hǎo, Mǎkè! Nǐ shàngwǔ qù mǎi shū ma?

    Morning, Mark! Are you going to buy books this morning?

Practice

  1. Meaning

    What does 早上 mean?

    1. dog
    2. (early) morning
    3. morning (before noon)
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, (early) morning.

    早上 (zǎoshang) means (early) morning.

  2. Characters

    Which word means “morning (before noon)”?

    1. 下午
    2. 早上
    3. 上午
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, 上午.

    “morning (before noon)” is 上午 (shàngwǔ).

  3. Pinyin

    How do you read 中午 (noon)?

    1. zhǒngwǔ
    2. zhōngwù
    3. zhōngwǔ
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, zhōngwǔ.

    中午 is read zhōngwǔ. Check the tone mark on every syllable.

  4. Listening

    Listen. What does the word mean?

    Cannot listen? Read it instead

    下午 xiàwǔ

    1. to have
    2. afternoon
    3. to want
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, afternoon.

    You heard 下午 (xiàwǔ): afternoon.

  5. Pinyin

    Type the pinyin of 晚上 (evening, night). Tone marks or tone numbers are welcome.

    Show the answer

    Answer: wǎnshang

    晚上 is wǎnshang in pinyin.

  6. Grammar

    Where does the time go? I'm going in the afternoon.

    1. 我去下午。
    2. 去我下午。
    3. 我下午去。
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, 我下午去。.

    我下午去。 Time before the verb.

  7. In context

    It is eight in the morning and you meet a neighbour. What do you say?

    1. 晚上好！
    2. 早上好！
    3. 再见！
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 早上好！.

    早上好！: 早上好: good morning.

  8. Fill the gap

    Complete: Good evening!

    ＿＿好！

    1. 早上
    2. 晚上
    3. 中午
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 晚上.

    晚上好！ 晚上 is the evening.

  9. Word order

    Put the words in order: At noon we eat together.

    • 一起
    • 我们
    • 吃饭
    • 中午
    Show the answer

    中午我们一起吃饭 Zhōngwǔ wǒmen yìqǐ chīfàn.

    At noon we eat together.

    中午我们一起吃饭。 Time first, then the people, then 一起 and the verb.

Plan your day

Say out loud what you are doing today, from morning to evening.

  1. 上午我…。
  2. 中午我…。
  3. 晚上我…。

Sentence frames

  • ＿＿我去＿＿。

    ＿＿ wǒ qù ＿＿.

    In the ... I'm going to ...

Record your attempt (three and a half minutes at most) and listen back:

Review and finish

Can you do this? If a line feels shaky, go back to that part before you move on.

  • I can name the five parts of the day.
  • I put the time before the verb.
  • I can say 早上好 and 晚上好.

Review works best spaced out: answer these exercises again tomorrow, then after a few days. Your progress is saved in this browser.

Completing records that you finished the lesson. Mastery is separate: it grows as reviews bring the exercises back and you answer them correctly.

Next lesson: What time is it? 点, 分, 半 and 差