36 Talking about the future
Mandarin has no distinct future tense. Instead, future time is expressed by words and phrases
that refer to the future.
36.1 Time words that refer to future time
Here are some common time words that refer to future time.
今天下午 jīntiān xiàwǔ this afternoon
今天晚上 jīntiān wǎnshang tonight
明天 míngtiān tomorrow
后天/後天 hòutiān the day after tomorrow
大后天/大後天 dà hòutiān three days from now
下个星期/下個星期 xià gè xīngqī next week
下个礼拜/下個禮拜 xià gè lǐbài next week
下个月/下個月 xià gè yuè next month
明年 míngnián next year
将来/將來 jiānglái in the future
The neutral position for ‘time when’ expressions is after the subject, at the beginning of the
predicate. To emphasize the time when a situation occurs, put the ‘time when’ expression at
the beginning of the sentence, before the subject.
我们今天晚上去看电影。
我們今天晚上去看電影。
Wǒmen jīntiān wǎnshang qù kàn diànyǐng.
We are going to see a movie tonight.
今天晚上我们去看电影。
今天晚上我們去看電影。
jīntiān wǎnshang wǒmen qù kàn diànyǐng.
Tonight we are going to see a movie.
C4.5, 49.2, 57.3.2
36.2 Adverbs that refer to future time
Common adverbs that refer to the future include the following. (Note that adverbs always occur
before the [prepositional phrase +] verb phrase.)
就要 jiù yào ‘soon will’
他就要结婚了。
他就要結婚了。
Tā jiù yào jiéhūn le.
He is going to get married soon.
