Adverb of Place and Time

Adverb of time

In Mandarin, Adverb of time is always placed in front, either after or before the Subject. Here are a few vocabularies that we often use (there are more of course, and that’s your homework to practice on Pleco)

Today                                               jīntiān                     今天

Tomorrow                                       míngtiān                   明天
Yesterday                                        zuótiān                     昨天
The day after tomorrow                  hòutiān                     后天
The day before yesterday                qiántiān                    前天
In the future                                     yǐhòu                        以后
Previously                                        yǐqián                       以前
Now                                                 xiànzài                      现在
Later (In a moment)                        děngyīxià                  等一下                  

For example;

I am going to England tomorrow
我明天要去英国
Wǒ míngtiān yào qù yīngguó

OR

明天我要去英国

Míngtiān wǒ yào qù yīngguó

P.S. Telling time is another relevant topic to describing "time", however, due to it's lengthy explanation, I will dedicate a post to it next week.

Adverb of Place

Adverb of place in Mandarin is normally mentioned Before the activities by using the word “在 zài” before the place.

For example;

She is sleeping at home.

Sleep   睡觉   shuìjiào

Home   家      jiā

Translation:          他在家睡觉          tā zài jiā shuìjiào

In General, Here is the Pattern for the Sentence:
S + Adv of Place + Verb

Translate the following to Chinese:

1. He sleeps on the floor

2. My mother is coming home tomorrow

3. My elder sister speaks Mandarin at home.

4. My family and her family go to Paris next week.

5. I didn’t go to my grandma’s house yesterday.

As usual, answers to be revealed next week.

Tips: Read your answer out loud to practice on your pronunciation. Compare the words/phrase to Pleco recorded voice.

Happy Weekend,

Linda Tan