49 Talking about clock time and calendar time
49.1 Clock time
49.1.1 talking about hours
There are two Mandarin words for ‘hour’: 钟头/鐘頭 zhōngtóu and 小时/小時 xiǎoshí.
Speakers in different regions of China prefer one or the other word, but the meanings are
identical. Hours are counted with the classifier 个/個 gè:one hour 一个钟头/一個鐘頭 or 一个小时/一個小時
yī gè zhōngtóu yī gè xiǎoshí
two hours 两个钟头/兩個鐘頭 or 两个小时/兩個小時
liǎng gè zhōngtóu liǎng gè xiǎoshí
three hours 三个钟头/三個鐘頭 or 三个小时/三個小時
sān gè zhōngtóu sān gè xiǎoshí
To say ‘half an hour,’ place 半 bàn before the classifier 个/個 gè.半个钟头/半個鐘頭 or 半个小时/半個小時
bàn gè zhōngtóu bàn gè xiǎoshí
half an hour half an hour
To indicate one or more hours and a half, place 半 bàn after the classifier 个/個 gè.一个半钟头/一個半鐘頭 or 一个半小时/一個半小時
yī gè bàn zhōngtóu yī gè bàn xiǎoshí
one and a half hours one and a half hours两个半钟头/兩個半鐘頭 or 两个半小时/兩個半小時
liǎng gè bàn zhōngtóu liǎng gè bàn xiǎoshí
two and a half hours two and a half hours
C6.6.449.1.2 talking about minutes and seconds
The word for ‘minute’ is 分 fēn. The word for ‘second’ is 秒 miǎo. 分 fēn and 秒 miǎo are
classifiers and are directly preceded by a number. A phrase indicating the number of minutes
or seconds may optionally end with the noun 钟/鐘 zhōng ‘clock.’
一分(钟/鐘) 两分(钟)/兩分(鐘) or 二分(钟)/二分(鐘)
yī fēn (zhōng) liǎng fēn (zhōng) èr fēn (zhōng)
one minute two minutes two minutes一秒(钟/鐘) 两秒(钟)/兩秒(鐘) or 二秒(钟)/二秒(鐘)
yī miǎo (zhōng) liǎng miǎo (zhōng) èr miǎo (zhōng)
one second two seconds two seconds