课时
kèshí
In Chinese, 'class period' is expressed as 课时 (kèshí).
课时 refers to a set amount of time during which a specific school subject is taught. It is typically used in administrative or academic contexts to refer to the duration or the unit of a single lesson, such as when discussing teaching loads or curriculum requirements.
What does it mean word for word?
The term is composed of 课 (kè), meaning 'class' or 'lesson' and 时 (shí), meaning 'time' or 'hour'.
Which one should you use?
While 课时 refers to the unit of time or the academic load, 节 (jié) is the specific measure word used when counting the number of actual class periods occurring in a schedule (e.g., 一节课, one class period).
How do you pronounce it?
kèshí
Did you know?
- Chinese schools often have a mid-day 'class period' dedicated specifically to a nap, which is treated as a scheduled part of the academic day.
- While 课时 defines the time unit, students use the measure word 节 (jié) to count periods, which originally referred to the segments or nodes of a bamboo stalk.
- In many Chinese schools, the 'class period' is not a standard 60 minutes but is often shortened to 40 or 45 minutes to allow for mandatory breaks between lessons.
Examples in context
- 一天有多少节课？How many class periods are there in a day?
- 我们的上课时间是一个小时。Our class period is one hour long.
- 我有五堂课。I have five class periods.
- 今天我只有两课。I only have two class periods today.
- 数学课有两个课时。shù xué kè yǒu liǎng gè kè shí.Math class has two class periods.
- 我们必须在规定课时内完成。wǒ men bì xū zài guī dìng kè shí nèi wán chéng.We must finish within the allotted class periods.
Example conversation
Two students are discussing their schedule.
- 浩然 Haoran佳怡，数学课还有几个课时？Jiāyí, shùxuékè hái yǒu jǐ gè kèshí?Jiayi, how many class periods of math are left?
- 佳怡 Jiayi大概还剩三个课时。Dàgài hái shèng sān gè kèshí.There are probably about three class periods left.
- 浩然 Haoran那我们很快就能学完了。Nà wǒmen hěn kuài jiù néng xué wánle.Then we can finish learning it very soon.
- 佳怡 Jiayi没错，浩然，快去教室吧。Méicuò, Hàorán, kuài qù jiàoshì ba.Exactly, Haoran, let's go to the classroom.
