HSK1 Lesson 21 "What's the Time Now" | Learn to Express Time in Chinese

This is Lesson 21 of the Hilingo HSK1 Chinese course. The topic is "What's the time now." The lesson focuses on expressing time in Chinese, helping learners use "点" (o'clock) and "分" (minute), ask and answer questions about time, and use time words as adverbials to describe daily schedules.

What You Will Learn

• Key vocabulary: 现在 (now), 点 (o'clock), 分钟 (minute), 中午 (noon), 吃饭 (to eat a meal), 时候 (time; moment), 回 (to return), 我们 (we; us), 电影 (film; movie)

• Time expressions: use "点" for whole hours and "……点……分" for other times, e.g. 五点三十分, 十一点十分, 两点零五分

• Distinguish morning, afternoon and noon: 上午八点, 下午三点十分, 中午十二点二十

• Note: say 两点 (liǎng diǎn), not 二点 (èr diǎn)

• Time words as adverbials: they often follow the subject and can also come before it, e.g. 妈妈六点做饭, 七点我吃饭

• Pinyin: the function of the neutral tone, e.g. 东西 has different readings and meanings

Texts and Practice
The lesson includes two dialogue texts: asking what time it is now and when to eat at noon; and asking when Dad will come home and when we will go to the movies. Picture-based sentence practice, such as 亮亮晚上八点写作业, 下午一点丽丽喝咖啡 and 乐乐早上七点起床, helps learners use time expressions in real contexts.

 Who It Is For
Chinese beginners who have completed earlier HSK1 lessons and are ready to learn time expressions.

Course Goal
After this lesson, learners can ask and answer questions about time in Chinese, use "点" and "分" correctly, and use time words in sentences to state when something happens.

Next Lesson
Lesson 22 "Can you come back before Friday."