Learn Chinese Online Hub
Home / Grammar / Time comes before the verb

Word order

Time comes before the verb

When something happens goes early in the sentence, before the verb, never at the end.

English is flexible and usually puts the time last: I am going tomorrow. Chinese puts it before the verb, either straight after the subject or at the very start. The usual order is subject, time, place, verb, and you will hear it so often that it soon sounds natural.

Examples

我明天去 míngtiān I'm going tomorrow
明天我去北京míngtiān Běijīngtomorrow I'm going to Beijing
我晚上在家吃饭 wǎnshang zài jiā chīfànI eat at home in the eveningtime, then place, then verb
他八点上班 diǎn shàngbānhe starts work at eight

Watch out

The mistake this causes

Putting the time at the end, as in 我去明天. It sounds as if you are going to a place called tomorrow.