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B1 · Grammar reference · ASGGL59D

Expressing "when" with "shi"

By now you should now how to express "when" using 的时候 (de shíhou). But there's also a slightly shorter, more formal way to do it: simply use 时 (shí) all by itself. (No 的!)

Structure

Time + 时 ,Subj. ⋯⋯

Keywords
时 · 时候 · 的时候 · when · while
Used for
Expressing time and date · Referring to simultaneous events
Classification
Nouns · HSK3

Examples (10)

考试时不要说话。

我面试时经常会问这个问题。

会议结束时老板才来。

我生气时不想说话。

他们大学毕业时就分手了。

飞机起飞时,他关了手机和电脑。

他太太提出离婚时,他很惊讶。

他去世时,他的孩子都不在身边。

我们公司成立时只有三个人。

跟别人说话时不要玩手机。

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Full explanation at AllSet Learning

Summary, structure, classification, and adapted sentence examples draw from the AllSet Learning Chinese Grammar Wiki under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0; changes were made. This noncommercial reference is based on an October 2023 snapshot.

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