How to Say ‘It started last night.’ in Simplified Chinese
昨天晚上开始的。
zuó tiān wǎn shàng kāi shǐ de
[zuótiān wahn-shung kāishǐ de]
💬 Usage Tip: This answers a 的 question with the same 的 pattern, and the time goes first. Swap in another time: 今天早上开始的 "it started this morning."
Phrase Breakdown
昨天晚上
zuó tiān wǎn shàng
last night
昨天 (yesterday) + 晚上 (evening). 'Zuó' rises, and 'shang' is light and neutral.
昨天晚上我很累。
I was very tired last night.
Words in this phrase
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 (to start) + 的, which stresses when something happened. 'Kāi' is high and level, and 'shǐ' dips low.
上午开始的。
It started in the morning.
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 to emphasize when or how a past event happened.
我是坐地铁来的。
I came by subway.
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