HSK 1 · Time

今天 jīntiān “today” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 今天 means

  1. today
  2. the present time
  3. now

How to say 今天

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale今jīn1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale天tiān1st tone, high and level

今天 in a sentence

  1. 今天的天气怎么样？

    Jīntiān de tiānqì zěnmeyàng?

    How is the weather today?

    Sentence #1345235 from Tatoeba

  2. 我很高兴你今天来了。

    Wǒ hěn gāoxìng nǐ jīntiān lái le.

    I’m glad you came today.

    Sentence #9969232 from Tatoeba

  3. 我今天去买衣服了。

    Wǒ jīntiān qù mǎi yīfu le.

    I went to buy clothes today.

    Sentence #1512392 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  4. 今天是三月五号。

    Jīntiān shì sān yuè wǔ hào.

    Today is 5 March.

    Sentence #4463940 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 今天 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 今 (jīn) drawn as one shape
今jīnnow

今 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

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 今天

今 4 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.

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

Words related to 今天

Words with 今

今年jīnnián · this year如今rújīn · nowadays至今zhìjīn · so far迄今为止qìjīnwéizhǐ · so far

Words with 天

天tiān · day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春天chūntiān · spring (season)

More words: Time

时候shíhou · time下午xiàwǔ · afternoon月yuè · month星期xīngqī · week明天míngtiān · tomorrow中午zhōngwǔ · noon昨天zuótiān · yesterday现在xiànzài · now

FAQs

今天 (jīntiān) means “today” or “the present time”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it jīntiān: jīn with a 1st 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. 今天 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type jintian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 今天 from the suggestions. Typing jintian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
今天 is an HSK 1 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

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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.