HSK 4 · Time

同时 tóngshí “at the same time” in Chinese

Traditional 同時

What 同时 means

  1. at the same time
  2. simultaneously

How to say 同时

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale同tóng2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale时shí2nd tone, rising

同时 in a sentence

  1. 她可以同时做这两件事。

    Tā kěyǐ tóngshí zuò zhè liǎng jiàn shì.

    She can do both at the same time.

    Sentence #5595159 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  2. 所有的灯光同时灭了。

    Suǒyǒu de dēngguāng tóngshí miè le.

    All the lights went out at the same time.

    Sentence #349664 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 她是我的上司，也同时是我最要好的朋友。

    Tā shì wǒ de shàngsi, yě tóngshí shì wǒ zuì yàohǎo de péngyou.

    She’s my boss, and at the same time my best friend.

    Sentence #11390337 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 同时 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 同 (tóng) with each of its parts in a different colour
同tónglike
  • 凡any · fán
  • 口mouth · kǒu

Memory aidPicture everyone 凡 speaking with one mouth 口: the same, together.

The character 时 (shí) with each of its parts in a different colour
时shío’clock
  • 日sun · rìMeaning part
  • 寸inch · cùn

Memory aidThe sun 日 marks the time of day. In the full form 時, 寺 (sì) gave the sound.

How to write 同时

同 6 strokes · 时 7 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

同时 (tóngshí) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 同时 (tóngshí). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 同时

Words with 同

同学tóngxué · classmate同事tóngshì · colleague同意tóngyì · agree不同bùtóng · different相同xiāngtóng · the same同情tóngqíng · to sympathise with共同gòngtóng · common同样tóngyàng · likewise胡同hútòng · lane合同hétong · (business) contract

Words with 时

时候shíhou · time时shí · o’clock小时xiǎoshí · hour时间shíjiān · time有时yǒushí · sometimes小时候xiǎoshíhou · in one’s childhood当时dāngshí · then平时píngshí · ordinarily暂时zànshí · temporary按时ànshí · on time

More words: Time

号hào · number年nián · year秒miǎo · second (of time)偶尔ǒu'ěr · occasionally平时píngshí · ordinarily世纪shìjì · century永远yǒngyuǎn · forever暂时zànshí · temporary

FAQs

同时 (tóngshí) means “at the same time” or “simultaneously”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it tóngshí: tóng with a 2nd tone, then shí with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 同时 is written 同時. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type tongshi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 同时 from the suggestions. Typing tongshi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
同时 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.