Chinese word

大前天

Pronunciation

Pinyindà qián tiān

Meaning

  • nounthree days ago

Example

大前天我参加了聚会。dà qián tiān wǒ cān jiā le jù huì

I attended a party three days ago.

Illustration for 大前天 (three days ago)

More examples

公司通知是从大前天开始生效的。gōng sī tōng zhī shì cóng dà qián tiān kāi shǐ shēng xiào de

The company's notice began to take effect three days ago.

Core concept

A point on the calendar reached by stepping back three days from today.

Common phrases

  • 从大前天开始cóng dà qián tiān kāi shǐ

    from three days ago

  • 大前天就dà qián tiān jiù

    as early as three days ago

Similar words

三天前sān tiān qián: The time three days before today, stated in a neutral way.
前天qián tiān: A time expression for two days before today.
昨天zuó tiān: A time expression for one day before today.
几天前jǐ tiān qián: A time expression for an unspecified number of days before today.

Definition in Chinese

表示从今天往前数第三天的时间点，口语中常用，作时间名词。biǎo shì cóng jīn tiān wǎng qián shù dì sān tiān de shí jiān diǎn kóu yǔ zhōng cháng yòng zuò shí jiān míng cí

Word origin

大前天 (dàqiántiān, "three days ago") is formed from 大 (dà, "greater distance") + 前 (qián, "before") + 天 (tiān, "day"), with 大 adding extra distance to the time-before meaning.

Usage tips

  • In everyday Chinese, this time noun commonly appears at the beginning of a sentence or directly before the verb, where it sets the time frame for the event that follows.

Opposites

Word lists with this word