Chinese word

有时候

Pronunciation

Pinyinyǒu shí hòu

Meaning

  • adverbsometimes

Example

他有时候很忙，不能来。tā yǒu shí hòu hěn máng bù néng lái

He is sometimes very busy and cannot come.

Illustration for 有时候 (sometimes)

More examples

周末我有时候去公园。zhōu mò wǒ yǒu shí hòu qù gōng yuán

I sometimes go to the park on weekends.

Core concept

An event appears in scattered pockets of time rather than filling the whole calendar.

Common phrases

  • 有时候下雨yǒu shí hòu xià yǔ

    sometimes it rains

  • 有时候很安静yǒu shí hòu hěn ān jìng

    sometimes it is quiet

Similar words

有时yǒu shí: A concise expression, common in writing, for something that happens occasionally.

Definition in Chinese

有时候是表示在某些时候发生，但不是经常发生的副词，用来说明动作或情况偶尔出现。yǒu shí hòu shì biǎo shì zài mǒu xiē shí hòu fā shēng dàn bú shì jīng cháng fā shēng de fù cí yòng lái shuō míng dòng zuò huò qíng kuàng óu ěr chū xiàn

Word origin

有时候 (yǒushíhòu, "sometimes") joins 有 (yǒu, "exist") with 时候 (shíhòu, "time") to express that there are times when an event occurs.

Usage tips

  • 有时候 (yǒushíhòu, "sometimes") usually comes before the verb or adjective it describes, while English sometimes can move more freely in a sentence.

Opposites

Related words

Word lists with this word