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Beginner Mandarin Chinese: "Pay Your Credit Card" with eChineseLearning

1,643 views · Published 15 January 2018 · 6:25 · Indexed 6 November 2026

Channel: eChineseLearning · 2018 · Education

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Life is full of deadlines and expiry dates. It's important to do things on time and stay organized. Today, Teacher Ellie introduces a structure in Mandarin Chinese to express that you need to do something "before a certain time".

以前 (yĭqián) = before a specific time

In English, the word "before" generally comes before the time word: "Before Wednesday", etc. However, in Chinese, we usually put 以前 (yĭqián) after the time word.

time word + 以前 (yĭqián)

Liù diǎn yĭqián.
六点 以前.
Before six o'clock.

Xīngqísān yĭqián.
星期三以前.
Before Wednesday.
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You can also add a verb after 以前 (yĭqián) to indicate that something should or will be done before a certain time. The structure is: 

subject + time word + 以前 (yĭqián) + verb

Fēijī jiǔ diǎn yĭqián dào Běijīng.
飞机九点以前到北京.
The airplane arrives in Beijing before 9 o'clock.
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You can learn the difference between “以前(yǐqián)” and “从前(cóngqián)” by taking a quiz with us HERE: https://goo.gl/Sbbr9A
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Watch today's helpful video lesson and stick around for the useful Quiz afterwards. You can check your answers with us here: https://goo.gl/ippcDM

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