(zuó tiān) - yesterday in Mandarin
zuótiānTraditional: 昨天
Translation
yesterday
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.
双鞋。
I bought a new pair of shoes yesterday.
昨天 (zuó tiān) means yesterday.
Used in
Stories
(1)Grammar articles
(9)Mandarin Aspect Markers: 了, 在/正在, 过 - the System That Replaces Tense
Mandarin Verb Conjugation: Why It Doesn't Exist and What Replaces It
Mandarin Existential and Presentative Sentences: 有, 出现, 发生 and Why New Things Go After the Verb
The Two 了 in Mandarin: Completion 了 After the Verb vs Change-of-State 了 at the End
Mandarin Numbers, Time, Dates, and Currency: From 1 to 1,000,000, the 二/两 Split, and Time-Before-Verb
Mandarin Possession with 的 (de): My, Your, His, and When Mandarin Drops the Particle
Mandarin Relative Clauses with 的 (de): How the Modifier Goes Before the Noun
The Mandarin 是…的 (shì...de) Construction: Highlighting When, Where, and How Something Happened
Topic-Comment Structure in Mandarin: Fronting 这本书我看过 and Why Word Order Bends
Add to review queue
Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.
Go to my review queueThis word is part of lesson 15.