Writing
点 (diǎn) — how to say "a little" in Chinese
点
A little, drop; hour, o'clock
time measure word · verb · noun
1. o'clock (telling time)HSK 3.0 · level 1
time measure word
2. to dot, to tick; to order (food); to nodHSK 3.0 · level 2
verb
3. time; appointed hourHSK 3.0 · level 3
noun
4. dot, point; item; dropHSK 3.0 · level 4
noun
5. a little, a bitHSK 3.0 · level 4
time measure word
How to use it
Goes right after the number, without another measure word.
现在三点。
xiàn zài sān diǎn
It is three o'clock now.
Radicals / Keys
火
Fire
#86 · huǒ · 4 strokes
Synonyms
Collocations
十点
shí diǎn
ten o'clock
三点
sān diǎn
three o'clock
Examples
现在三点，我想去商店买东西。
It's three o'clock now, I want to go to the store to buy something.
现在三点
It's three o'clock now.
Mnemonic
[diǎn-] Dan the penguin 🐧 sits under a big umbrella in the rain ☔. He watches the drops land on his watch, and each drop turns into the character 点. Underneath it he spots four little dots 灬, ticking the hours 点 away one by one.
Frequently asked questions
A little in Mandarin Chinese
"a little" in Chinese is 点 (diǎn).
点 meaning in English
点 (diǎn) means "A little, drop; hour, o'clock".
How is 点 pronounced?
It is pronounced diǎn (written as dian). You can listen to the pronunciation on this page.
How do you write "a little" in Chinese characters?
It is written 点 and has 9 strokes. The Writing section above animates the stroke order and lets you trace it.
What HSK level is 点?
点 belongs to the HSK 1 vocabulary list.
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Grammar with 点
点 — telling the hour
Number + 点 (diǎn)
有点 — a little too
有点儿 (yǒudiǎnr) / 有点 (yǒudiǎn) + Adj.
都 + time — already
都 (dōu) + Time + 了 (le)
就 — early action
Subj. + Time + 就 (jiù) + Verb + 了 (le)
应该 — should
应该 (yīnggāi)/该 (gāi) + Verb
点…分 — hours and minutes
Number 1 + 点 (diǎn) / 钟 (zhōng) + Number 2 + 分 (fēn) / 分钟 (fēnzhōng)