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How do you ask 'What time is it?' in Mandarin Chinese?

Jǐ diǎn le? (几点了？)

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  1. Jǐ diǎn le? (几点了？) ✔
  2. Duōshao qián? (多少钱？)
  3. Jīntiān xīngqī jǐ? (今天星期几？)

Why: Diǎn means o'clock, so jǐ diǎn is 'how many o'clock'. Duōshao qián asks how much money, and jīntiān xīngqī jǐ asks what day of the week it is.

Huh, didn't know that: Answer with the hour plus diǎn and the minutes plus fēn: jiǔ diǎn shí fēn is 9:10.

The dad joke
I asked jǐ diǎn le so often on my trip, my watch started answering in Chinese.
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References

Answer: Jǐ diǎn le? (几点了？). Diǎn means o'clock, so jǐ diǎn is 'how many o'clock'. Duōshao qián asks how much money, and jīntiān xīngqī jǐ asks what day of the week it is.

  1. Peace Corps China, Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees (Mandarin) files.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/audio/languagelessons/thepeoplesrepublicofchina/CN_Mandarin_Language_Lessons.pdf
    What time is it?
    Checked 2026-10-12.
  2. Peace Corps China, Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees (Mandarin) files.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/audio/languagelessons/thepeoplesrepublicofchina/CN_Mandarin_Language_Lessons.pdf
    It is 9:10.
    Checked 2026-10-12.
  3. MDBG Chinese Dictionary (CC-CEDICT): 几点 www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqb=%E5%87%A0%E7%82%B9
    what time? / when?
    Checked 2026-10-12.

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