How to Say ‘It started last night.’ in Simplified Chinese
从昨天晚上开始的。
cóng zuó tiān wǎn shàng kāi shǐ de
[cóng zuótiān wahn-shung kāishǐ de]
💬 Usage Tip: 从 (cóng) "from" plus a time plus 开始 (kāi shǐ) "start" tells when something began. Swap the time: 从今天早上开始的 "It started this morning."
Phrase Breakdown
从昨天晚上
cóng zuó tiān wǎn shàng
from last night
从 (cóng) means from. 昨天晚上 (zuótiān wǎnshang) means last night. In Chinese the time phrase comes before the verb.
我从昨天晚上没睡觉。
I haven't slept since last night.
Words in this phrase
从
cóng
[cóng]
from
Indicating the starting point of an action.
他从家里出发。
He sets off from home.
昨天
zuó tiān
[zuótiān]
yesterday
The day before today.
我昨天很忙。
I was busy yesterday.
晚上
wǎn shàng
[wahn-shung]
evening
Refers to the evening time, often used when scheduling after-work meetings.
这周找个晚上见面吧。
Let’s meet one evening this week.
开始的。
kāi shǐ de
it started
开始 (kāishǐ) means to start. 是…的 stresses when something happened, and here 是 is left out.
会议是九点开始的。
The meeting started at nine.
Words in this phrase
开始
kāi shǐ
[kāishǐ]
to begin; to start
Verb meaning to start doing something.
会议九点开始。
The meeting starts at nine.
的
de
[de]
(emphasis particle in 是…的)
Placed at the end of a sentence to stress when, where or how something happened.
我是坐飞机来的。
I came by plane.
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