Chinese For Dummies by Wendy Abraham Page A

to noon
    xiàwǔ 下午 (shyah-woo): the period from noon to 6:00 p.m.
    wǎnshàng 晚上 (wahn-shahng): the period from 6:00 p.m. to midnight
    The segment of the day that you refer to needs to come before the actual time itself in Chinese. Here are some samples of combining the segment of the day with the time of day:
    qÄ«ngzǎo yì diǎn yí kè 清早一点一刻 ( 清早一點一刻 )(cheeng-dzaow ee dyan ee kuh) ( 1:15 a.m. )
    wǎnshàng qÄ« diǎn zhōng 晚上七点钟 ( 晚上七點鐘 )(wahn-shahng chee dyan joong) ( 7:00 p.m. )
    xiàwǔ sān diǎn bàn 下午三点半 ( 下午三點半 )(shyah-woo sahn dyan bahn) ( 3:30 p.m. )
    zǎoshàng bā diǎn èrshíwǔ fēn 早上八点二十五分 (dzaow-shahng bah dyan are-shir-woo fun) ( 8:25 a.m. )
    If you want to indicate half an hour, just add bàn (bahn) ( half ) after the hour:
    sān diǎn bàn 三点半 ( 三點半 ) (sahn-dyan bahn) ( 3:30 )
    shíyÄ« diǎn bàn 十一点半 ( 十一點半 ) (shir-ee-dyan bahn) ( 11:30 )
    sì diǎn bàn 四点半 ( 四點半 ) (suh-dyan bahn) ( 4:30 )
    Do you want to indicate a quarter of an hour or three quarters of an hour? Just use the phrases yí kè 一刻 (ee kuh) and sān kè 三刻 (sahn kuh), respectively, after the hour:
    liǎng diǎn yí kè 两点一刻 ( 兩點一刻 )(lyahng-dyan ee kuh) ( 2:15 )
    qÄ« diǎn sān kè 七点三刻 ( 七點三刻 )(chee-dyan sahn kuh) ( 7:45 )
    sì diǎn yí kè 四点一刻 ( 四點一刻 )(suh-dyan ee kuh) ( 4:15 )
    wǔ diǎn sān kè 五点三刻 ( 五點三刻 )(woo-dyan sahn kuh) ( 5:45 )
    When talking about time, you may prefer to indicate a certain number of ­minutes before or after a particular hour. To do so, you use either yǐqián 以前 (ee-chyan) ( before ) or yǐhòu 以后 ( 以後 ) (ee-ho) ( after ) along with the time (though you can also use it with days and months, concepts that I cover later in the chapter). Here are a couple of examples:
    qÄ«ngzǎo 4-diǎn bàn yǐhòu 清早四点半以后 ( 清早四點半以後 ) (cheeng-dzaow suh-dyan bahn ee-ho) ( after 4:30 a.m. )
    xiàwǔ 3-diǎn zhōng yǐqián 下午三点钟以前 ( 下午三點鐘以前 ) (shyah-woo sahn-dyan joong ee-chyan) ( before 3 p.m. )
    Of course, you have other ways to indicate time in Chinese. On the hour, half hour, and quarter of an hour aren’t the only parts of time that exist, after all. For example, instead of saying qÄ« diǎn wǔshí fēn 七点五十分 ( 七點五十分 ) (chee dyan woo-shir fun) ( 7:50 ), you can say bā diǎn chà shí fēn 八点差十分 ( 八點差十分 ) (bah dyan chah shir fun) ( 10 minutes to 8 [Literally: 8:00 minus 10 minutes ]). Chà å·® (chah) means to lack. Unlike fēn 分 (fun) ( minute ), kè 刻 (kuh) ( quarter of an hour ), and bàn 半 (bahn) ( half ), you can use chà either before or after diǎn 点 ( 點 )(dyan) ( hour ).
    Here are some other examples of alternative ways to indicate the time:
    chà shí fēn wǔ diǎn 差十分五点 ( 差十分五點 )(chah shir fun woo dyan) ( 10 minutes to 5:00 )
    wǔ diǎn chà shí fēn 五点差十分 ( 五點差十分 )(woo dyan chah shir fun) ( 10 minutes to 5:00 )
    sì diǎn wǔshí fēn 四点五十分 ( 四點五十分 )(suh dyan