NumbersHSK 3

Structure of times (advanced)

To express times where the minutes are less than 10, Chinese uses 零 between the hour and minute, similar to 'o' in English. The word 分 for 'minute' is often omitted in spoken Chinese but is grammatically correct. A common pitfall is forgetting to insert 零, which can cause confusion.

Structure

Number + 点 + 零 + Number (+ 分)
分 is optional and frequently dropped in spoken Chinese

Examples

  • 九分
    liǎng diǎn líng jiǔ fēn
    2:09
  • 八分
    sān diǎn líng bā fēn
    3:08
  • 三分
    wǔ diǎn líng sān fēn
    5:03
  • 一分
    qī diǎn líng yī fēn
    7:01
  • 五分
    bā diǎn líng wǔ fēn
    8:05

Words that use this