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天tiānday

HSK 1word

By Chinese Copilot · Last updated

天 (tiān) means "day," "sky," or "heaven." Learners meet it early for calendar talk in words like 今天 and 明天, and for the sky overhead. Alone it can count days as a time unit, or name the sky. This entry covers the everyday day and sky readings from CEDICT.

What does 天 mean?

  1. 1.

    daynoun

  2. 2.

    sky; heavennoun

What does the character 天 mean?

  • 天day

How do you use 天?

天 can mean a calendar day or the sky; read the words around it—今天 and 明天 build on the day sense.

Patterns

  • Num. + 天

    我去三天。

    Wǒ qù sān tiān.

    I'm going for three days.

  • 今天 / 明天

    今天很好。

    Jīn tiān hěn hǎo.

    Today is very good.

What are some examples of 天 in a sentence?

  1. HSK 1

    今天很好。

    Jīntiān hěn hǎo.

    Today is very good.

  2. HSK 1

    我去三天。

    Wǒ qù sān tiān.

    I'm going for three days.

  3. HSK 1

    我想去一天。

    Wǒ xiǎng qù yī tiān.

    I'd like to go for one day.

  4. HSK 1

    你看天。

    Nǐ kàn tiān.

    Look at the sky.

How is 天 used in a conversation?

  1. Speaker A:

    你去几天？

    Nǐ qù jǐ tiān?

    How many days are you going for?

  2. Speaker B:

    我去三天。

    Wǒ qù sān tiān.

    I'm going for three days.

  3. Speaker A:

    明天去吗？

    Míngtiān qù ma?

    Are you going tomorrow?

  4. Speaker B:

    对，明天去。

    Duì, míngtiān qù.

    Yes, tomorrow.

  5. Speaker A:

    好，明天见。

    Hǎo, míngtiān jiàn.

    OK, see you tomorrow.

  6. Speaker B:

    明天见。

    Míngtiān jiàn.

    See you tomorrow.

Can you use 天 correctly?

0 of 3 answered
  1. 1.Fill in the blank: 我去三___。
  2. 2.Which sentence uses 天 for "today"?
  3. 3.Fill in the blank: 你看___。

What should you learn next?

Related words

Browse every entry in the Chinese word dictionary.

English glosses on this page are adapted from CC-CEDICT, published by MDBG (snapshot 2026-10-23), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Glosses were edited for learners.