HSK 3.0 Level 2 · Time

小时候 xiǎoshíhou “in one’s childhood” in Chinese

Traditional 小時候

What 小时候 means

  1. in one’s childhood

How to say 小时候

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale小xiǎo3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale时shí2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own候houneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

小时候 in a sentence

  1. 小时候我没有自行车。

    Xiǎoshíhou wǒ méiyǒu zìxíngchē.

    I didn’t have a bicycle when I was growing up.

    Sentence #9419165 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 这就是我小时候住的房子。

    Zhè jiùshì wǒ xiǎoshíhou zhù de fángzi.

    This is the house where I lived as a child.

    Sentence #13744213 from Tatoeba

  3. 我小时候很会游泳。

    Wǒ xiǎoshíhou hěn huì yóuyǒng.

    I swam very well when I was a child.

    Sentence #13931535 from Tatoeba

How 小时候 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 小 (xiǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
小xiǎosmall
  • 亅hook · jué
  • 八eight · bā

Memory aidThree small strokes, like grains: small.

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.

The character 候 (hòu) with each of its parts in a different colour
候hòuto waitlight in 小时候
  • 亻person form of 人 · rénMeaning part
  • 矦target in archery · hóuSound part

亻 hints at the meaning (person); 矦 (hóu) hints at the sound. Compare it with hou.

How to write 小时候

小 3 strokes · 时 7 strokes · 候 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 小时候

Words with 小

小xiǎo · small小姐xiǎojiě · miss小学xiǎoxué · elementary school小学生xiǎoxuéshēng · primary school student小朋友xiǎopéngyǒu · child小时xiǎoshí · hour从小cóngxiǎo · from childhood小孩儿xiǎoháir · child小心xiǎoxīn · be careful小区xiǎoqū · residential estate

Words with 时

时候shíhou · time时shí · o’clock小时xiǎoshí · hour时间shíjiān · time有时yǒushí · sometimes当时dāngshí · then平时píngshí · ordinarily同时tóngshí · at the same time暂时zànshí · temporary按时ànshí · on time

Words with 候

时候shíhou · time气候qìhòu · climate问候wènhòu · to give one’s respects伺候cìhou · to serve等候děnghòu · to wait候选hòuxuǎn · candidate

More words: Time & Dates

早zǎo · early从小cóngxiǎo · from childhood过年guònián · to celebrate the Chinese New Year时shí · o’clock有时yǒushí · sometimes周zhōu · week直到zhídào · until季jì · season

FAQs

小时候 (xiǎoshíhou) means “in one’s childhood”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word.
Say it xiǎoshíhou: xiǎo with a 3rd tone, then shí with a 2nd tone, then hou with a neutral 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, 小时候 is written 小時候. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xiaoshihou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 小时候 from the suggestions. Typing xiaoshihou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
小时候 is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 2 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.