Daily Life

Your day in Chinese

This module is about daily life: the times of day, the things you do, the places you go, and how to put them in the right order in a sentence. Chinese is written in characters (汉字, hànzì). A character stands for a syllable and a meaning, so there is no alphabet and no way to sound one out from its shape. Pinyin spells the sound in our letters, and the tone marks over the vowels show which tone to use. Every word below is given all three ways: character, pinyin, English.

Times of day

The parts of the day. Note that 早上, 中午 and 晚上 all end in a word you will meet again:

Match each word to its meaning

Everyday activities

The things a day is made of: • 起床 (qǐchuáng) = get up • 吃 (chī) = eat • 喝 (hē) = drink • 水 (shuǐ) = water, and 饭 (fàn) = rice or a meal. So 喝水 is drink water and 吃饭 is eat a meal • 去 (qù) = go • 睡觉 (shuìjiào) = sleep Here is the part worth remembering. A Chinese verb never changes its form. There is no *go / goes / went / going*: 去 is 去 whoever is doing it and whenever they did it. The time word carries that information instead, which is why the next card is about where the time word goes.

Match each verb to its meaning

Where the time word goes

English and Chinese disagree about this, and getting it wrong is the commonest way a sentence full of correct words still reads as wrong:

Build the sentence

Assemble "I go to school in the morning". 我 (wǒ) means I. Watch the order.

Places, and 在

Two places, and the word that puts you in one: • 学校 (xuéxiào) = school • 家 (jiā) = home • 在 (zài) = at, in Put a place with 去 and you are going there: 去学校 (qù xuéxiào) = go to school. Put it with 在 and you are already there: 在家 (zài jiā) = at home. Now watch where that phrase lands. 我在家吃饭 (wǒ zài jiā chī fàn) = "I eat at home", or word by word, "I at home eat". The place phrase goes before the verb, just as the time word did. One rule, two uses.

One verb, every tense

English needs go, goes, went and going. How many forms does the Chinese verb 去 (qù) have, and how does a listener know when something happened?

• One form only. The time word in the sentence tells the listener when, so the verb itself never has to change
• Four forms, one for each tense, exactly as in English
• One form, but the tone changes to show the tense
• One form, and the listener simply has to guess from context

Actions, not things

Select the THREE words that are activities (verbs).

• 起床 (qǐchuáng)
• 喝 (hē)
• 睡觉 (shuìjiào)
• 中午 (zhōngwǔ)
• 学校 (xuéxiào)
• 每天 (měitiān)

A day in order

Put this daily routine in order, from the start of the day to the end.

• 早上起床 (zǎoshang qǐchuáng) - get up in the morning
• 去学校 (qù xuéxiào) - go to school
• 中午吃饭 (zhōngwǔ chī fàn) - eat at midday
• 在家喝水 (zài jiā hē shuǐ) - drink water at home
• 晚上睡觉 (wǎnshang shuìjiào) - sleep in the evening

Say it in order

Build three sentences about a day. Each one is about placing the phrase, not finding the word.

• You want to say "I eat at home". You have 我, 在家 and 吃饭. Which comes straight after 我?
• Now "I go to school every day". Where does 每天 (měitiān) belong?
• Last one: "I slept in the evening". Which change do you make to 我晚上睡觉 to put it in the past?

The right word

Complete each pair. "Morning" is _____, "school" is _____, "eat" is _____, and "get up" is _____.

Daily life summary

Chinese is written in _____, not letters, and pinyin spells out how each one sounds. A Chinese verb never changes its _____, so the time word has to say when. Both the time word and the place phrase go _____ the verb: 我早上去学校 means "I go to school in the _____".