(zuó tiān) - yesterday in Mandarin

zuótiān

Traditional: 昨天

HSK 1

#744 of 2,700Core 1000

Translation

yesterday

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Word origin

A two-character compound meaning yesterday. 昨 (zuó) means the past day and is a phono-semantic compound of the 日 (sun) radical, marking it as time-related, with 乍 (zhà) as the phonetic. 天 (tiān) means day or sky and is a pictograph of a person with the head emphasised, pointing to what is above. Together they name the previous day.

Origin: compound
Root: 昨 (zuó, past day; 日 sun + 乍 phonetic) + 天 (tiān, day)

Stroke order

昨

天

Examples

。

I did not go to work yesterday.

？

Why did you not come yesterday?

。

Yesterday's meeting was very important.

。

Yesterday's film was very good.

。

I bought a new pair of shoes yesterday.

昨天 (zuó tiān) means yesterday.

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Used in

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Grammar articles

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Mandarin · Free printables

昨天: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "昨天" (yesterday): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

This word is taught in chapter 10, lesson 5: 昨天, 完美, 答应 and 7 more words.