How to Say “Last night” in Chinese
Time and dates · HSK 2
"Last night" in Chinese is 昨天晚上 (zuó tiān wǎn shàng). 昨天晚上 is the full form, but 昨晚 is what you'll actually hear 90% of the time; it's shorter, cleaner, and feels more natural. Use 昨晚 in conversation, texts, and even most writing.
Primary translation
昨天晚上
zuó tiān wǎn shàng
Variants by register
Casual
昨晚
zuó wǎn
When to use it
昨天晚上 is the full form, but 昨晚 is what you'll actually hear 90% of the time; it's shorter, cleaner, and feels more natural. Use 昨晚 in conversation, texts, and even most writing. A grammar note: since Chinese verbs don't conjugate for tense, the time word 昨晚 does all the work; 昨晚我看电影 literally reads 'last-night I watch movie' but clearly means 'I watched a movie last night.' Young people on Weibo often type 昨儿晚上 with a northern flavor.
Example sentences
昨晚我睡得不好。
Zuó wǎn wǒ shuì de bù hǎo.
I didn't sleep well last night.
昨天晚上下了很大的雨。
Zuó tiān wǎn shàng xià le hěn dà de yǔ.
It rained heavily last night.
你昨晚去哪儿了？
Nǐ zuó wǎn qù nǎr le?
Where did you go last night?