Meaning of 明天
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- tomorrow
How to use 明天
明天 usually goes before the verb, either at the start of the sentence or right after the subject. Chinese verbs do not change for the future, so the time word does the work. Example: 我明天去北京。(Wǒ míngtiān qù Běijīng.) I am going to Beijing tomorrow.
明 (míng) is made of 日 (sun) and 月 (moon), meaning bright, and 天 (tiān) means day. When the sun and moon have passed and it gets bright again, the next day has come: 明天, tomorrow.
Common mistake: Learners often put 明天 at the end of the sentence as in English, saying 我去北京明天. Put it before the verb instead: 我明天去北京. Also keep the second tone on 明 (míng). Do not say 名天, which uses the character for name.
明天 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
明 míng · bright · 8 strokes
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天 tiān · day · 4 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 明天.
| 今天 | jīntiān | today; the present time; now |
| 明白 | míngbai | clear; obvious; unequivocal; sensible; reasonable |
| 昨天 | zuótiān | yesterday |
| 天气 | tiānqì | weather |
| 白天 | báitiān | daytime; during the day |
| 明年 | míngnián | next year |
| 星期天 | xīngqītiān | Sunday |
| 后天 | hòutiān | the day after tomorrow; life after birth (the period in which one develops through experie |
| 半天 | bàntiān | half of the day; a long time |
| 前天 | qiántiān | the day before yesterday |
| 说明 | shuōmíng | to explain; to illustrate |
| 明星 | míngxīng | star; celebrity |
Questions about 明天
What does 明天 mean?
明天 (míngtiān) means "tomorrow" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 明天?
明天 is made of 2 characters: 明 (8 strokes), 天 (4 strokes). That is 12 strokes in total.
Is 明天 an HSK word?
Yes. 明天 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do you say the day after tomorrow in Chinese?
The day after tomorrow is 后天 (hòutiān). The day before yesterday is 前天 (qiántiān). Together with 昨天, 今天 and 明天 they make a simple set of day words.
Is 明 in 明天 the same as 明 in 明年?
Yes. In time words 明 means next. So 明年 (míngnián) is next year. Note that for next month or next week, people usually say 下个月 (xià ge yuè) and 下个星期 (xià ge xīngqī), not 明月.