Time Expressions as Adverbials
In Chinese, time words come before the verb (not after as in English).
Pattern: Subject + Time Expression + Verb + Object
❌ 我去学校明天。(wrong — time at end)
✅ 我明天去学校。(correct — time before verb)
Time words can also come at the very start of the sentence:
✅ 明天我去学校。
HSK 1 time words: 今天 (today), 明天 (tomorrow), 昨天 (yesterday), 现在 (now), 早上 (morning), 晚上 (evening), 上午 (late morning), 下午 (afternoon)
Worked examples
| Chinese | Pinyin | English | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| 我今天去学校。 | Wǒ jīn tiān qù xué xiào. | I go to school today. | Time word 今天 comes after subject, before verb 去 |
| 她明天不来。 | Tā míng tiān bù lái. | She is not coming tomorrow. | Negation 不 comes after time word, before verb |
| 昨天我们吃了很多东西。 | Zuó tiān wǒ men chī le hěn duō dōng xi. | Yesterday we ate a lot of things. | Time at sentence start is also correct |
What you need first
Every topic in GraphChinese names its own prerequisites, and these are the grammar points this one is built on. If a sentence here will not parse, one of them is why.
What this opens up
These patterns list Time Expressions as Adverbials among their own prerequisites, so they become readable once this one holds.
Time Expressions as Adverbials is one topic of 829. GraphChinese teaches them in prerequisite order, so this pattern reaches you on the day everything it rests on is proven. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.
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