Question

Mandarin HSK I Tutorial: Time & Weather

Answer 1

\({\bf{Welcome~to~My~Tutorial:}}\)

✩ This is a tutorial, not a question.
☾ Please save all comments or questions for the end.
✩ Please do not copy-paste my content.
☾ Please do not leave irrelevant or disrespectful comments.
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This tutorial is meant to be a study guide for the HSK, as well as a general tutorial to help people learning Chinese. The HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi) is a proficiency examination in Mandarin Chinese (the most widely spoken dialect of Chinese).

Answer 2

\({\bf{Vocabulary:}}\)

Telling the Time:

现在几点? (xiàn zài jǐ diǎn) what time is it now? by itself, 现在 = now
现在 # 点 # 分 (xiàn zài # diǎn # fēn) It is #:##. Hour goes in the first blank, minutes in the second. 点 refers to the hour, 分 to the minutes. Special note: 2:00 is 两点 liǎng diǎn not 二点. To distinguish between AM/PM use 上午 shàng wǔ before AM times and 下午xià wǔ)
时候 (shí hou) time
中午 (zhōng wǔ) noon

Weather:
冷 (lěng) cold
热 (rè) hot
下雨 (xià yǔ) rain
天气 (tiān qì) weather

Misc. Vocabulary
来 (lái) to come
回 (huí) to return/come back
电影 (diàn yǐng) movie
住 (zhù) to live/to stay
前 (qián) before (前 + time)
水 (shuǐ) water
水果 (shuǐ guǒ) fruit
怎么样 (zěnmeyàng) how, to what extent (see grammar notes)
太 (tài) too. (see grammar notes)
身体 (shēn tǐ) body. Can use in the context of health, as in 我身体不好 (I don’t feel well, or literally, my body isn’t well)
爱 (ài) to like/love
些 (xiē) some/a few

Answer 3

\({\bf{Grammar~Notes:}}\)

✩ Asking about time: Subject + 几点 + verb (Broadly, to ask when an action/event will occur. Ex: 你想几点吃饭? When do you want to eat? A basic answer might be (time) + (verb), ex: 十二点吃饭. We’ll eat at 12:00.) Alternatively, you can swap the order and write (time) + (subject) + predicate.
Another way to ask when something will happen: 什么时候 (shén me shí hou) + verb

☾ 怎么样: Use noun + 怎么样 to ask about the quality/extent of something. Ex: 你身体怎么样？

✩ 会 + verb: used to talk about the possibility of the action. Ex: 明天回下雨吗？ (Will it rain tomorrow?)

☾ Asking about weather: (place) + 的天气怎么样? (How is the weather in _place_?) You can also add 今天, 明天 etc. at the beginning to ask about the weather on a certain day.
今天会下雨吗? Will it rain today? Answer: 今天会 (不会)下雨吗.

✩ 太: Used in the expression 太 + adjective + 了 to express too much of a quality, ex: 太热了 means too hot. However, don’t use 了 in the negative form.

Answer 4

\({\bf{References:}}\)

Liping, J., Fang, W., Feng, W., Liping L. (2018). HSK Standard Course 1. Beijing Language and Culture University Press.

Other helpful resources:
https://www.purpleculture.net/online-chinese-input/ (will let you type pinyin and get characters)

https://www.chinese-tools.com/tools/converter-pinyin-unicode.html (will convert plaintext to pinyin, with accent marks)

https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php (pinyin dictionary. Would also recommend the app Pleco)