HSK 3.0 Level 3 · Time

半天 bàntiān “half a day” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 半天 means

  1. half a day
  2. a long time
  3. quite a while
  4. half of the day
  5. midair

Measure word 个 gè · 一个半天 yí ge bàntiān

How to say 半天

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale半bàn4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale天tiān1st tone, high and level

半天 in a sentence

  1. 他们看了那部电影半天了。

    Tāmen kàn le nà bù diànyǐng bàntiān le.

    They’ve been watching that film for ages.

    Sentence #1305934 from Tatoeba

  2. 他给我解释了半天，但我还是不明白。

    Tā gěi wǒ jiěshì le bàntiān, dàn wǒ háishi bù míngbai.

    He spent ages explaining it to me, but I still don’t understand.

    Sentence #417792 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 半天 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 半 (bàn) with each of its parts in a different colour
半bànhalf
  • 丷eight form of 八 · bā
  • 牛cow · niú

Memory aidAn ox 牛 split 丷 down the middle: half.

The character 天 (tiān) with each of its parts in a different colour
天tiānday
  • 一one · yī
  • 大big · dà

Memory aidA person 大 with the sky 一 above: sky, heaven, day.

How to write 半天

半 5 strokes · 天 4 strokes

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

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

Words related to 半天

Words with 半

一半yībàn · half半bàn · half半途而废bàntú'érfèi · to give up halfway

Words with 天

天tiān · day今天jīntiān · today明天míngtiān · tomorrow昨天zuótiān · yesterday天气tiānqì · weather白天báitiān · daytime星期天Xīngqītiān · Sunday聊天liáotiān · to chat夏天xiàtiān · summer冬天dōngtiān · winter

More words: Time & Dates

冬天dōngtiān · winter春天chūntiān · spring (season)假期jiàqī · holiday秋天qiūtiān · autumn前天qiántiān · the day before yesterday后天hòutiān · the day after tomorrow四季sìjì · the four seasons工作日gōngzuòrì · working day

FAQs

半天 (bàntiān) means “half a day” or “a long time”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it bàntiān: bàn with a 4th tone, then tiān with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 半天 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 个 (gè). For example, one half a day is 一个半天 (yí ge bàntiān).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type bantian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 半天 from the suggestions. Typing bantian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
半天 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 5 word list. It is not on the older 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.