明天
tomorrow
HSK level
- Pinyin
- míngtiān
- Part of speech
- noun
- Level
- HSK 1
- Strokes
- 12
- Register
- neutral
- In episodes
- 2
Stroke order for 明天
明天 is written with 12 strokes (明: 8, 天: 4). The animation replays automatically.
What does 明天 mean?
明天 (míngtiān) means 'tomorrow' — literally 'bright day' (明 'bright/next' + 天 'day').
Like other Chinese time words, it goes before the verb or at the front of the sentence: 明天我去北京 or 我明天去北京. Because Chinese verbs do not conjugate, 明天 alone is enough to mark the future: 明天下雨 'It will rain tomorrow' needs no auxiliary verb. Common pairings: 明天早上 'tomorrow morning,' 明天晚上 'tomorrow night,' 明天见! 'See you tomorrow!'
(a standard goodbye). The more formal/written equivalent is 明日 (míng rì), used in news headlines and announcements. The colloquial Beijing form 明儿 (míngr) also exists.
Character by character
Memory hook: 明 is 日 'sun' + 月 'moon' — both sources of light, so 明 = 'bright.' 'The bright day to come' = tomorrow.
Hear 明天 in real episodes
明天 appears in 2 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
今天它来，明天也来。
It comes today, and it will come tomorrow too.
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他说：你想一想，明天什么都没有了。
He said: think about it — tomorrow, everything is gone.
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Example sentences
明天见！
Míngtiān jiàn!
See you tomorrow!
spoken
明天是星期六。
Míngtiān shì xīngqī liù.
Tomorrow is Saturday.
neutral
我明天去北京。
Wǒ míngtiān qù Běijīng.
I'm going to Beijing tomorrow.
neutral
明天下午你有空吗？
Míngtiān xiàwǔ nǐ yǒu kòng ma?
Are you free tomorrow afternoon?
spoken
Common phrases with 明天
Synonyms
Formal/written form, used in news, signs, and literary writing ('明日开业' opens tomorrow). 明天 is what people say in conversation.
Beijing colloquial form, friendly and casual ('明儿见!'). Standard Mandarin everywhere else uses 明天.
Don't confuse 明天 with
FAQ
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 明天 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
You just saw 明天 in 2 episodes. Fluentide keeps feeding you news episodes at your level, so this word — and thousands like it — resurface in real sentences until they stick. Full pinyin and translation every time. Free to start.