{"id":2990,"date":"2019-10-28T20:07:52","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T20:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-grammar\/which-time\/"},"modified":"2019-10-28T20:07:52","modified_gmt":"2019-10-28T20:07:52","slug":"which-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/my\/which-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Which Time?"},"content":{"rendered":"
It is sometimes useful to talk a<\/em>bout which time something happened. For example, you may need to say, "The second time I went, there was nobody there."<\/p>\n

We specify particular times in Mandarin Chinese with \u6b21 (cì). The sentence structure is:<\/p>\n

    SUBJECT – SPECIFIER – NUMBER – \u6b21 (cì) – VERB – (SECo<\/em>nDARY CLAUSE) <\/p>\n

Here is an example:<\/p>\n

    \u6211\u7b2c\u4e8c\u6b21\u53bb,\u6c92\u6709\u4eba\u5728\u3002
    \u6211\u7b2c\u4e8c\u6b21\u53bb,\u6ca1\u6709\u4eba\u5728\u3002
    W\u01d2 dì èr cì qù, méiy\u01d2u rén zài.
    The second time I went, there was nobody there. <\/p>\n

To emphasize the time ex<\/em>pression, it may be placed before the subject, as in this example:<\/p>\n

    \u7b2c\u4e8c\u6b21\u6211\u53bb,\u6c92\u6709\u4eba\u5728\u3002
    \u7b2c\u4e8c\u6b21\u6211\u53bb,\u6ca1\u6709\u4eba\u5728\u3002
    Dì èr cì w\u01d2 qù, méiy\u01d2u rén zài.
    It was the second time I went that nobody was there. <\/p>\n

Specifier<\/p>\n

The specifier that is used in this sentence structure can be words such as:<\/p>\n

    \u6bcf – m\u011bi – each; every
    \u4e0a – shàng – previous
    \u4e0b – xià – next
    \u9019 \/ \u8fd9 – zhè – this
    \u90a3 – nà – that<\/p>\n

Number<\/p>\n

The number is sometimes optional, especially when the specifier is either \u4e0a (shàng – previous) or \u4e0b (xià – next), as in this example:<\/p>\n

    \u6211\u6bcf(\u4e00)\u6b21\u53bb,\u5927\u5bb6\u90fd\u5f88\u5fd9\u3002
    \u6211\u6bcf(\u4e00)\u6b21\u53bb,\u5927\u5bb6\u90fd\u5f88\u5fd9\u3002
    W\u01d2 m\u011bi (y\u012b) cì qù, dàji\u0101 d\u014du h\u011bn máng.
    Every time I go, everyone is busy. <\/p>\n

Examples<\/p>\n

Here are some more examples:<\/p>\n

    \u4ed6\u7b2c\u4e00\u6b21\u554f\u4f60,\u4f60\u8aaa\u751a\u9ebc?
    \u4ed6\u7b2c\u4e00\u6b21\u95ee\u4f60,\u4f60\u8bf4\u751a\u4e48?
    T\u0101 dì y\u012b cì wèn n\u01d0, n\u01d0 shu\u014d shénme?
    The first time he asked you, what did you say?<\/p>\n

    \u4f60\u4e0a\u6b21\u53bb,\u8cb7\u751a\u9ebc\u6771\u897f?
    \u4f60\u4e0a\u6b21\u53bb,\u4e70\u751a\u4e48\u4e1c\u897f?
    N\u01d0 shàng cì qù, m\u01cei shén me d\u014dngx\u012b?
    The last time you went, what did you buy?
<\/div>\n