Mandarin: Telling the time

Telling the time is an important life skill to learn. Now you can do it in Mandarin!

Join Scottish pupils as they give Mandarin a go!

Listen and guess what they are saying before trying yourself.

Tip: This video can be used as an interactive introduction to this topic or as a recap on key vocabulary and phrases already learnt.

Remember!

It doesn't matter if your pronunciation isn't perfect. Try your best and have fun!

• 现在几点了? Xiàn zài jǐ diǎn le? - What time is it?

Tip: To be polite we can begin with 'Excuse me': 请问 Qǐng wèn

• 请问现在几点了? Qǐng wèn xiàn zài jǐ diǎn le? - Excuse me, what is the time now?

To learn or remind yourself of numbers in Mandarin check out our numbers guide.

To say ‘o’clock’, use: 点 diǎn after a number.

Examples:

• 五点 wǔ diǎn - five o'clock

• 十一点 shí yī diǎn - eleven o'clock

半 bàn means 'half'.

To say ‘half-past…’, use: number + 点 diǎn + 半 bàn ('half').

Examples:

• 三点半 sān diǎn bàn - half past three

• 十二点半 shí'èr diǎn bàn - half past twelve

To say ‘minute(s)’ use 分 fēn.

To say how many minutes past the hour it is, start with the hour and then the minutes.

Examples:

• 七点二十五分 qī diǎn èr shí wǔ fēn - twenty five past seven

• 九点四十分 jiǔ diǎn sì shí fēn - forty minutes past nine (or, as we would usually say: 'twenty to ten')