Lesson 12 - Shénme shíhou? – When?

你 们 好!
Nǐmen hǎo!

In this lesson, we will talk about the past tense and learn to ask when something is about to happen.

Dialogue
你 什 么 时 候 走?
Nǐ shénme shíhou zǒu? When are you leaving?

我 今 天 走.
Wǒ jīntiān zǒu. I am leaving today.

你 什 么 时 候 回 来?
Nǐ shénme shíhou huí lái? When will you come back?

我 明 天 回 来.
Wǒ míngtiān huí lái. I will come back tomorrow.

Sentences
他 昨 天 走 了.
Tā zuótiān zǒu le. He left yesterday.

他 今 天 回 来.
Tā jīntiān huí lái. He'll be back today.

Vocabulary
zuótiān 昨 天 = yesterday (adv.)
jīntiān 今 天 = today (adv.)
míngtiān 明 天 = tomorrow (adv.)
shénme shíhou 什 么 时 候 = when, at what time (interr.+ n.)
zǒu 走 = to go (v.)

Shénme shíhou?
Shénme means ”what”, and shíhou is ”time”, shénme shíhou = when, at what time. Here we use the word shíhou when expressing when something is about to happen, or has happened. Please note that when talking about ”time” on a more conceptual level like in, for example, ”I do not have time”, or ”time flies”, we'd use another word denoting ”time”, ie. shíjian ( 时 间 ).

Order in a sentence
In Chinese, the basic order of words in a sentence is subject + verb + object. In cases where definitions of time or place are present in a sentence, they would be placed between the subject and the verb.

Past tense and the particle le
In the Chinese language it is not always a simple matter to express the tense of verbs, as the verb does not inflect accordingly. One handy trick to help make the distinction is to create past tense sentences with the help of the particle le. Le is normally placed after the verb, or in some cases, at the end of the whole sentence.

Example: Tā jīntiān zǒu = He is leaving today / Tā zuótiān zǒu le = He left yesterday.

The word le has also other functions in the Chinese language. When placed after the verb, it can also imply that some action has been completed. Like here: Wǒ chī bǎo le = I have eaten enough, I'm full (chī = eat, bǎo = full) .

Placed after the adjective, le shows that a situation has changed: Tā hǎo le = He is well (now) –- this sentence implies that earlier in time he was not so well, but is better now.

... le is a far more complex little particle than what is explained above, but let's just save the rest for later.

Zǒu = go, leave, walk
In earlier lessons we have already gotten acquainted with the verb qù, which means ”to go”. In this lesson, we get to know another verb that carries partially the same meaning, zǒu.

The difference between the verbs qù and zǒu is that the first one can take an object, but the second one cannot. For example, using qù we can say: I am going to China = Wǒ qù Zhōngguó. The verb zǒu does not function in the same way, thus you cannot place an object stating destination after it. In addition to denoting the action of ”going” zǒu also means ”to walk”.