Skip to content
Where to place time expressions in Chinese sentences visualisation

Where to place time expressions in Chinese sentences

Decoding Chinese Sentence Structure: Your Guide to Fluency: Where to place time expressions in Chinese sentences
Learn with Comprenders App About Comprenders

In Chinese sentences, time expressions are generally placed before the verb. They can be positioned in two main ways:

  1. After the subject but before the verb:

    • The common structure is: Subject + Time + Verb + Object.
    • Example: 我明天去图书馆 (Wǒ míngtiān qù túshūguǎn) — I will go to the library tomorrow.

  2. At the very beginning of the sentence, before the subject:

    • Example: 明天我去图书馆 (Míngtiān wǒ qù túshūguǎn) — Tomorrow I will go to the library.

More specific time expressions usually precede broader ones, and time expressions typically come before any place expressions, which themselves come before the verb. For example, the general order can be: Subject + Time + Place + Verb + Object.

Placing time expressions at the end of the sentence is generally not natural in Chinese, unlike in English.

Summary of the order:

  • Time expressions come before the verb.
  • They often appear immediately after the subject or sometimes at the beginning of the sentence.
  • More specific time expressions precede general ones.
  • Time expressions come before place expressions in the sentence.

This positioning helps provide clear temporal context while maintaining the typical Chinese sentence flow.

References

Open the App About Comprenders