How to Say “This morning” in Chinese
Time and dates · HSK 2
"This morning" in Chinese is 今天早上 (jīn tiān zǎo shang). Chinese splits 'morning' into two words and the one you pick carries information. 早上 is early morning, roughly 5am to 9am; waking up, breakfast, commute.
Primary translation
今天早上
jīn tiān zǎo shang
Variants by register
Formal
今天上午
jīn tiān shàng wǔ
When to use it
Chinese splits 'morning' into two words and the one you pick carries information. 早上 is early morning, roughly 5am to 9am; waking up, breakfast, commute. 上午 is late morning, 9am to noon; office hours, meetings, classes. Saying 今天早上开会 sounds odd if the meeting was at 10am; use 今天上午 instead. Time phrases also go before the verb: 我今天早上没吃饭 (I didn't eat this morning), not after it. Taiwan uses both the same way.
Example sentences
今天早上我去跑步了。
Jīntiān zǎoshang wǒ qù pǎobù le.
I went running this morning.
今天上午有一个会议。
Jīntiān shàngwǔ yǒu yí ge huìyì.
There's a meeting this morning.
今天早上下雨了吗？
Jīntiān zǎoshang xià yǔ le ma?
Did it rain this morning?