今天
today
jīntiān
What does 今天 mean?
今天 (jīntiān) means 'today' — literally 'present day' (今 'now/present' + 天 'day'). It functions as a time noun, not an adverb, so it goes before the verb or at the start of the sentence, not after the verb: 今天我很忙 or 我今天很忙, never 我很忙今天. Because Chinese verbs do not conjugate for tense, 今天 (along with words like 昨天 'yesterday' and 明天 'tomorrow') often does the work English uses tense for: 我今天去 means 'I'm going today.' 今天 also commonly opens conversations about the date or weather: 今天几号? (What's the date?), 今天天气怎么样? (How's the weather today?). The form 今儿 (jīnr) is Beijing-colloquial; 本日 is formal/written and rare.
Character breakdown
now; present; today
day; sky
Memory hook: 今 'now' + 天 'day' = the day that is now = today.
Example sentences
今天是星期一。
Jīntiān shì xīngqī yī.
Today is Monday.
neutral
我今天很忙。
Wǒ jīntiān hěn máng.
I'm very busy today.
spoken
今天天气不好。
Jīntiān tiānqì bù hǎo.
The weather isn't good today.
neutral
今天晚上你有空吗？
Jīntiān wǎnshang nǐ yǒu kòng ma?
Are you free tonight?
spoken
Common phrases with 今天
Hear it in real Fluentide episodes
今天 appears in 1 podcast episode at natural native speed, with full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
Synonyms
Formal/written, used in official notices and signs ('本日营业 open today'). Never used in conversation — say 今天.
Beijing-dialect colloquial form, sometimes 今儿个 (jīnrge). Native to northern speech; standard Mandarin uses 今天.
Don't confuse 今天 with
明天 is 'tomorrow,' 今天 is 'today.' Same pattern (X + 天), but the first character flips the time.
昨天 is 'yesterday.' Together: 昨天 → 今天 → 明天 (yesterday → today → tomorrow).