Mandarin Chinese has a set of time expression that include the previous two units (such as the day before yesterday) and the following two units (such as two years from now).
Here is a list of common time expressions, which we will explore in more detail below:
Today
today - 今天 - jīn tiān
yesterday - 昨天 - zuó tiān
the day before yesterday - 前天 - qián tiān
tomorrow - 明天 - míng tiān
the day after tomorrow - 後天/后天 - hòu tiān
This Year
this year - 今年 - jīn nián
last year - 去年 - qù nián
two years ago - 前年 - qián nián
next year - 明年 - míng nián
two years from now - 後年/后年 - hòu nián
The time expressions for days and years have the same prefixes except for the previous time period: 去 - qù for last year and 昨 - zuó for yesterday.
The time expressions for year can also be used for events which happen every year, such as anniversaries, school years, and vacations:
last year’s spring vacation
去年春假
qù nián chūn jià
Weeks and Months
The prefixes for weeks and months are as follows:
this week - 這個星期/这个星期 - zhè gè xīngqī
this month - 這個月/这个月 - zhè gè yuè
last week - 上個星期/上个星期 - shàng gè xīngqī
last month - 上個月/上个月 - shàng gè yuè
two weeks ago - 上上個星期/上上个星期 - shàng shàng gè xīngqī
two months ago - 上上個月/上上个月 - shàng shàng gè yuè
next week - 下個星期/下个星期 - xià gè xīngqī
next month - 下個月/下个月 - xià gè yuè
two weeks from now - 下下個星期/下下个星期 - xià xià gè xīng qī
two months from now - 下下個月/下下个月 - xià xià gè yuè
This same pattern can be used for events which follow weekly or monthly patterns, such as semesters or seasons:
last summer - 去年夏天 - qù nián xiàtiān
