Chinese word

有时

Pronunciation

Pinyinyǒu shí

Meaning

  • adverbsometimes

Example

我有时去公园跑步。wǒ yǒu shí qù gōng yuán pǎo bù

I sometimes go running in the park.

Illustration for 有时 (sometimes)

More examples

我有时吃苹果。wǒ yǒu shí chī píng guǒ

I sometimes eat apples.

Core concept

An action appears at a few separated points in time, with open gaps between its appearances.

Common phrases

  • 有时去yǒu shí qù

    sometimes go

  • 有时看yǒu shí kàn

    sometimes watch

Similar words

有时候yǒu shí hòu: Shows that something happens sometimes, with no exact time specified.

Definition in Chinese

用来表示在若干不固定的时刻或场合会发生某事，频率低于“经常/常常”，多用于陈述偶发的习惯或偶见的事实。yòng lái biǎo shì zài ruò gān bú gù dìng de shí kè huò chǎng hé huì fā shēng mǒu shì pín lǜ dī yú jīng cháng cháng cháng duō yòng yú chén shù ǒu fā de xí guàn huò ǒu jiàn de shì shí

Word origin

有时 (yǒushí, "sometimes") is the shortened form of 有的时候 (yǒu de shíhou, "there are times when"), built from 有 (yǒu, "have or exist") + 时 (shí, "time") to point to times when something occurs.

Usage tips

  • Chinese commonly places this time adverb after the subject and before the action verb, so the timing is clear before the action is named.

Opposites

Related words

Word lists with this word