⏰💔❓

How to Say ‘When did it break?’ in Simplified Chinese

什么时候坏的？

shén me shí hòu huài de

[shénme shíhou huài de]

💬 Usage Tip: When you ask when or how something already happened, Chinese ends the question with 的: 什么时候来的？ "when did you arrive?"

Phrase Breakdown

什么时候

shén me shí hòu

when

什么时候 (shénme shíhou) literally means 'what time'. It is used to ask 'when'. The 候 is light.

Example

你什么时候来？

When are you coming?

Words in this phrase

什么

shén me

[shénme]

what

Question word asking about things.

Example

你想吃什么？

What do you want to eat?

时候

shí hòu

[shíhou]

time; moment (when)

Used after a phrase to mean 'when ...'.

Example

吃饭的时候别看手机。

Don't look at your phone while eating.

坏的？

huài de

did it break

坏 (huài) means to break. 的 (de) at the end stresses when a past event happened.

Example

手机是昨天坏的。

The phone broke yesterday.

Words in this phrase

坏

huài

[huài]

to break down; broken

To stop working or become damaged.

Example

空调坏了。

The air conditioner broke down.

的

[de]

(emphasis particle in 是…的)

Used at the end of a sentence to stress the time, place, or way a past event happened.

Example

你是什么时候来的？

When did you come?

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