--- title: Today, tomorrow, now, later — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Today, tomorrow, now, later», a lesson of the chinese street course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Time words are built like Lego from "tiān", day: jīntiān (now-day) is today, míngtiān (bright-day) is tomorrow, zuótiān is yesterday, a --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Chinese street](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/) / Today, tomorrow, now, later # Today, tomorrow, now, later Lesson 21 of the chinese street course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/0/) — Time words are built like Lego from "tiān", day: jīntiān (now-day) is today, míngtiān (bright-day) is tomorrow, zuótiān is yesterday, and hòutiān (after-day) is the day after tomorrow — a word English doesn't even have. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/1/) — The best one is "mǎshàng" (MAH-SHAHNG), right away, literally "on horseback": from Lín at his computer "mǎshàng!" can mean ten minutes, but from his mum with her shoes on it means NOW. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/2/) — Some time words are secret no's: "xiànzài bù xíng" (not now) and "yǐhòu zài shuō" (let's talk about it later) from a parent often mean "no", said softly. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/3/) — The day splits into zǎoshang (early morning), xiàwǔ (afternoon, literally after-noon) and wǎnshang (evening); wǎn also means "late", so "tài wǎn le" is "it's too late". - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/4/) — Listen for tones: zuó rising is in zuótiān, yesterday, but zuò falling is "sit" or "do". - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/5/) — "jīntiān" means today; "jīntiān wánr shénme?" is "what are we playing today?". - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/6/) — "míngtiān" means tomorrow, as in "míngtiān jiàn" (see you tomorrow); it is not "morning", which is zǎoshang. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/7/) — "zuótiān" means yesterday; zuó rises, while zuò (falling) means to sit or to do. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/8/) — "hòutiān" means the day after tomorrow, and "qiántiān" means the day before yesterday; English has no single word for either. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/9/) — "xiànzài" means now; "xiànzài kěyǐ ma?" is "can we now?", and a parent's "xiànzài bù xíng" (not now) is a polite no. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/10/) — "mǎshàng" means right away, literally "on horseback"; "mǎshàng lái!" is "coming right now!". - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/11/) — "yíhuìr" means in a little while; "yíhuìr jiàn" is "see you in a bit", and "děng yíhuìr" is a longer wait than "děng yíxià". - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/12/) — "gāngcái" means just now, a moment ago, and points back; mǎshàng points forward. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/13/) — "yǐhòu" means later or in the future; "yǐhòu zài shuō" (let's talk later) from a parent is often a soft no. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/14/) — "zǎoshang" is the early morning, as in "zǎoshang qī diǎn", seven in the morning; shàngwǔ is late morning. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/15/) — "xiàwǔ" means afternoon, literally "after noon"; shàngwǔ, "before noon", is the late morning. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/21-today-tomorrow-now-later/16/) — "wǎnshang" means evening or night; wǎn also means late, so "tài wǎn le" is "it's too late". - ← previous: [Weather and what Granny says to wear](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/20-weather-and-what-granny-says-to-wear/) - next →: [Days of the week, the clock, birthdays](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/22-days-the-clock-and-birthdays/) - ↑ back to [Chinese street](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/)