Chinese word

时不时

Pronunciation

Pinyinshí bù shí

Meaning

  • adverbsometimes

Example

我时不时去那家咖啡店。wǒ shí bù shí qù nà jiā kā fēi diàn

I sometimes go to that coffee shop.

Illustration for 时不时 (sometimes)

More examples

她时不时想起小时候的事情。tā shí bù shí xiáng qǐ xiǎo shí hòu de shì qíng

She occasionally thinks of things from her childhood.

Core concept

A pattern returns at uneven intervals instead of continuing without a break.

Common phrases

  • 时不时地想起shí bù shí dì xiáng qǐ

    occasionally think of

  • 时不时地出现shí bù shí dì chū xiàn

    occasionally appear

Similar words

有时yǒu shí: Shows that an action or state happens sometimes or on certain occasions.
有时候yǒu shí hòu: A frequently used conversational expression for an action or state that happens sometimes.
偶尔óu ěr: Describes an action or state that occurs occasionally, but not very often.
不时bù shí: Describes an action or state that recurs at intervals, with pauses between occurrences.

Definition in Chinese

表示某一动作或状态偶尔发生或间断出现的副词，强调不是持续发生。biǎo shì mǒu yí dòng zuò huò zhuàng tài óu ěr fā shēng huò jiàn duàn chū xiàn de fù cí qiáng diào bú shì chí xù fā shēng

Word origin

时 (shí, "time") + 不 (bù, "not") + 时 places "not" between two references to time, expressing recurrence that is not constant.

Usage tips

  • In everyday conversation, it usually comes before the verb, while a fixed schedule calls for a more exact frequency expression.

Opposites

Word lists with this word