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半天

bàntiān
noun HSK 1 #10,559

Meanings

  1. 1 half a day
  2. 2 quite a while

Characters

半
bàn
half
天
tiān
day
Often used figuratively to mean 'quite a while', not literally half a day.

Examples

HSK 1
我等了半天。
Wǒ děng le bàntiān.
I waited for quite a while.
HSK 1
从这里到那里要走半天。
Cóng zhèlǐ dào nàlǐ yào zǒu bàntiān.
It takes half a day to walk from here to there.
HSK 2
他说了半天，我还是不懂。
Tā shuō le bàntiān, wǒ háishi bù dǒng.
He talked for ages, and I still don't understand.

Tips

usage
半天 is more often used figuratively ('a long time') than literally ('half a day'). Context makes the meaning clear.

Stroke Order

半 bàn
天 tiān