Basic Grammar: all 87 lessons free
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……的时候 — When, as a Backdrop
「……的时候」— 表示时间的背景
早上八点的时候, 吃饭的时候, 春节的时候: put 的时候 after a time or an action and you have the English 'when', standing at the front of the sentence.
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Memory hook
Time / Verb + 的时候，……
Inside the moment
Six from the deck. Hear the comma after 的时候 — that pause is where the backdrop ends and the story begins.
Tap any line to hear it
When……的时候
No pressure — just making it stick.
早上八点____，我在睡觉。
Zǎoshàng bādiǎn ____, wǒ zài shuìjiào.
At eight in the morning I was asleep.
A friend asks about your Spring Festival. Which reply matches the frame?
When eating, don't play with your phone.
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
____的时候，我很喜欢旅游。
____ De shíhou, wǒ hěn xǐhuan lǚyóu.
In my twenties I loved travelling.
Your turn — say it
回来的时候，帮我买一杯奶茶。
When you come back, get me a milk tea.
上课的时候，____睡觉。
Shàngkè de shíhou, ____ Shuìjiào.
In class, don't sleep.
Set the backdrop for each sentence with a word from the bank.
Tap a word to fill the next gap; tap a filled sentence to clear it. Every word is used once.
Word bank
0/5Moments, in pictures看图说时候
No pressure — just making it stick.
Four moments from the deck. Match the picture, then say ……的时候 and finish the sentence.
Tap a picture, then choose its word. Picked wrong? Tap that picture and choose again. Match all the cards to finish.
Your turn — say it
吃饭的时候，不要玩儿手机。
When eating, don't play with your phone.
At Spring Festival, many Chinese people go back to their hometowns.
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
Your turn — say it
十几岁的时候，你喜欢做什么？
What did you like doing as a teenager?
This lesson's characters
The two characters of 时候 — and the class you should not sleep through.
time; hour
会two ideas joined
Time is the sun 日 measured out: the traditional 時 had 寺, an office where duties ran to schedule; the simplified form keeps the sun and a small 寸, an inch, as if time were the sun moved an inch across the sky. 时候 is a moment; 小时 is an hour; 时间 is time itself — 你有时间吗？ have you got time?
time; to wait on; season
会two ideas joined
A person 亻 beside 矦, an old character for an archery target: someone standing watch, waiting for the moment. From waiting came 'the time when', and 时候 doubled up two time-words to make the everyday one. 问候, to send greetings, keeps the older sense of attending to someone; 气候, climate, is the weather's season.
lesson, class
形meaning + sound
Speech 讠 and 果 for the sound: a lesson is words with results. 上课 is to go to class or to start it — the teacher says 上课！ and everyone stands; 下课 ends it. 上课的时候，不要睡觉 is the sentence this whole course secretly agrees with. 果 alone is fruit — 水果 — and a result, 结果.
Take these with you
Everything worth taking away. Tap any line to hear it.
Words 生词
Characters 汉字
Before you go课后回顾
- Answer the deck's seven questions about yourself, one a day — 你十几岁的时候喜欢做什么？ 你第一次来中国的时候感觉怎么样？ Each answer starts with 的时候 and a comma.
- Flip the English in your head: not 'when I eat, no phone' but 'eating-time, no phone'. Once the clause moves to the front by itself, the grammar is yours.
- Ask someone for a favour with the frame this week: 回来的时候，帮我买…… It is polite, precise, and it gets you a milk tea.