How to Say “Tonight” in Chinese
Time and dates · HSK 2
"Tonight" in Chinese is 今天晚上 (jīn tiān wǎn shang). 今天晚上 is the full, textbook form, but in daily life people almost always shorten it to 今晚; especially in texts on WeChat. 晚上 covers everything from dinner time until you go to bed, roughly 6pm to midnight.
Primary translation
今天晚上
jīn tiān wǎn shang
Variants by register
Casual
今晚
jīn wǎn
When to use it
今天晚上 is the full, textbook form, but in daily life people almost always shorten it to 今晚; especially in texts on WeChat. 晚上 covers everything from dinner time until you go to bed, roughly 6pm to midnight. After midnight it becomes 半夜 or 凌晨. Like all Chinese time expressions, this goes before the verb: 我今晚有空 (I'm free tonight), never 我有空今晚. 今晚 also pairs naturally with question particles: 今晚吃什么? is how you'd ask 'what's for dinner tonight?'
Example sentences
今晚你有空吗？
Jīnwǎn nǐ yǒu kòng ma?
Are you free tonight?
我们今天晚上去看电影吧。
Wǒmen jīntiān wǎnshang qù kàn diànyǐng ba.
Let's go see a movie tonight.
今晚我想早点睡。
Jīnwǎn wǒ xiǎng zǎo diǎn shuì.
I want to go to bed early tonight.