Key words of the day:
现在几点？六点半。All in today’s Chinese Studio.

Yajie: 现在几点？What time is it now?
Cam: 现在几点？(xianzai ji dian?)
Yajie: 现在 means now.
Cam: 现在(xianzai)
Yajie: 几 is a question word meaning how many, or what? 几, j-i, the third tone.
Cam: 几 (ji)
Yajie: 几点 together means what time?
Cam: 几点 (ji dian)
Yajie: 现在几点？(xianzai ji dian?)
Cam: 现在几点？(xianzai ji dian?)

Conversations

Yajie: From the conversations you can see that there is “请问” in the question. As we said before 请问 shows the politeness in asking a question.  It means, “May I ask…”
Cam: 请问 (qing wen).
Yajie: 请问现在几点？(qing wen xianzai ji dian?)
Cam: 请问现在几点？(qing wen xianzai ji dian?
Yajie: 快八点了。
Cam: What does that mean?
Yajie: It means nearly eight o’clock. Here快 le means nearly. 快, k-u-a-i, the fourth tone.
Cam: 快 (kuai).
Yajie: 快八点了(kuai ba dian le).
Cam: 快八点了(kuai ba dian le).
Conversations:

****************Key words Reminder
现在几点？ 六点半。All in today’s Chinese Studio.
*****************

Yajie: Well, there is another way of asking the time. It’s 您知道现在几点了吗？It means “Do you know what time it is now?”
Cam: 您知道现在几点了吗？(nin zhi dao xianzai ji dian le me)
Yajie: 知道means know. 知, zhi, the first tone, and 道, dao, the fourth tone. Together it’s 知道 (zhidao).
Cam: 知道 (zhidao). 您 is the polite form of 你 (ni), right?
Yajie: Right. And 吗 is a question mark.
Cam: 吗
Yajie: 您知道现在几点了吗？
Cam: 您知道现在几点了吗？ (nin zhidao xianzai ji dian le ma)
Yajie: Good.
Cam: Yajie, how do you say half past eight in Chinese?
Yajie:. First, do you still remember how to say 30 in Chinese?
Cam: Yes, it’s san shi.
Yajie: So, 8:30 is ba dian san shi fen.
Cam: ba dian san shi fen.
Yajie: Exactly. But you could also say, Ba Dian Ban. Ban means half. So 8:30 is half way to 9.
Cam: Ba Dian Ban. How do I get more exact time, such as: 8:17
Yajie: Again, Cam, how do you say 17 in Chinese?
Cam: Shi qi.
Yajie: Good, so 8:17 is ba dian shi qi fen. Here I want to tell you that “fen” means minute in Chinese. How do you say 10:15?
Cam: it’s shi dian shi wu fen.
Yajie: Right, but you can also say Shi dian yi ke. Yi ke means a quarter , but it can only be used in when referring to time.

Yajie: That’s all for today. Now if you need to ask for the time in Chinese, you will know how to do it!  You can also win a CRI gift by answering today’s question of the day: How do you say half past eight in Chinese?
Cam: That should be easy! Just make a sentence. You can send us questions or comments to Chinese@crifm.com.  That’s Chinese@crifm.com.  Or you can visit us on our website at en.chinabroadcast.cn. Click learn Chinese, where you can enjoy other free Chinese-learning programs.
Yajie: Well class is over. 再见!
Cam: 再见!

(Written by Zhao Pingping)