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
- 两点零九分liǎng diǎn líng jiǔ fēn2:09
- 三点零八分sān diǎn líng bā fēn3:08
- 五点零三分wǔ diǎn líng sān fēn5:03
- 七点零一分qī diǎn líng yī fēn7:01
- 八点零五分bā diǎn líng wǔ fēn8:05