hour in Chinese

How to write 小时

Animated stroke order. Tap a character to replay its stroke order.

小时 is listed in the official HSK vocabulary at HSK 1. The beginner band covers the first, most essential words every learner needs.

小时 in a sentence

• 我wǒ等děng了le一yī个gè小xiǎo时shí。

  I waited for an hour.

• 从cóng这zhè里lǐ到dào北běi京jīng要yào两liǎng个gè小xiǎo时shí。

  It takes two hours from here to Beijing.

• 他tā每měi天tiān工gōng作zuò八bā小xiǎo时shí。

  He works eight hours a day.

小时 vs 时间 vs 点

Similar and easily confused words, and how they differ.

• 时间 shí jiān time

  小时 is the countable unit 'hour'; 时间 is 'time' in general — 没时间 'no time', never *没小时.

• 点 diǎn o'clock; point

  Clock time vs duration: 两点 '2 o'clock' vs 两个小时 'two hours'. *两点小时 is a classic slip.