Conversational Mandarin Chinese Quiz: Prices Quantities And Measurements
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Prices Quantities And MeasurementsQuestion 1 of 8

A colleague says: '会议从下午三点开始，开两个半小时。' You need to schedule a phone call immediately after the meeting ends. Which time expression correctly identifies when you should schedule the call?

下午六点，because the meeting starts at 15:00 and two and a half hours is calculated as 15 + 3 = 18:00 when the half-hour is mistakenly added to the whole number first
下午五点，because the meeting starts at 15:00 and 'two and a half hours' is commonly rounded to two hours in casual speech, ending at 17:00
下午五点半，because the meeting starts at 15:00 and lasts two and a half hours, ending at 17:30
下午四点半，because '两个半' is interpreted as 'two, then half again,' meaning 15:00 plus one and a half hours, ending at 16:30
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Conversational Mandarin Chinese Quiz

Conversational Mandarin Chinese Quiz: Prices Quantities And Measurements

Practice Prices Quantities And Measurements in Conversational Mandarin Chinese with focused quiz questions that help you check what you know, review explanations, and build confidence with test-style prompts.

What this quiz covers

This quiz focuses on Prices Quantities And Measurements, giving you a quick way to practice the rules, question types, and explanations that matter most for Conversational Mandarin Chinese.

How to use this quiz

Try each quiz question before looking at the correct answer. Use the explanations to review missed ideas, then come back to similar questions until the pattern feels familiar.

All questions

Question 1

A colleague says: '会议从下午三点开始，开两个半小时。' You need to schedule a phone call immediately after the meeting ends. Which time expression correctly identifies when you should schedule the call?

  1. 下午六点，because the meeting starts at 15:00 and two and a half hours is calculated as 15 + 3 = 18:00 when the half-hour is mistakenly added to the whole number first
  2. 下午五点，because the meeting starts at 15:00 and 'two and a half hours' is commonly rounded to two hours in casual speech, ending at 17:00
  3. 下午五点半，because the meeting starts at 15:00 and lasts two and a half hours, ending at 17:30 (correct answer)
  4. 下午四点半，because '两个半' is interpreted as 'two, then half again,' meaning 15:00 plus one and a half hours, ending at 16:30
Explanation: When you hear time duration expressions in Mandarin, your job is to parse them precisely before doing any mental arithmetic. The phrase 两个半小时 follows a specific pattern: 两个 (two) + 半 (half) + 小时 (hours), which means exactly 2.5 hours — not a rounded or reinterpreted figure. The math here is straightforward: the meeting starts at 15:00 (下午三点), and adding 2.5 hours gives you 15:00+2.5=17:3015:00 + 2.5 = 17:30, which in Mandarin is 下午五点半. That makes C the correct answer. Now let's look at why the other options fail. A commits an arithmetic error by treating "two and a half" as three full hours, arriving at 18:00 (下午六点) — likely by confusing the half-hour as an extra whole unit. B makes a false assumption that casual Mandarin speech rounds 两个半 down to two hours; Mandarin time expressions are actually quite precise, and no such rounding convention exists. D misreads the grammar of 两个半, reinterpreting it as "two, then half of two," yielding 1.5 hours instead of 2.5 — a creative but incorrect parsing. The word 半 here modifies the full unit count, not halves it. A useful habit: whenever you see X个半 in Mandarin, read it as X + 0.5, never as anything else. Practice with common examples like 一个半小时 (1.5 hrs) and 三个半小时 (3.5 hrs) so the pattern becomes automatic before your exam.

Question 2

A notice on a community board reads: '本中心每周一、三、五上午九点到十一点开放，每月最后一个周五除外。本月最后一个周五是二十八号。今天是二十七号，星期四。'

A visitor reads the notice today and wants to come to the center as soon as possible. When is the next time the center will be open?

  1. 明天上午九点 (tomorrow morning at 9 AM), because tomorrow is Friday the 28th, which is normally an open day for the center
  2. 后天上午九点 (the day after tomorrow at 9 AM), because tomorrow is excluded and the day after tomorrow — Saturday the 29th — might seem like a reasonable alternative if a visitor overlooks that weekends are not listed as open days
  3. 下周一上午九点 (next Monday morning at 9 AM), because tomorrow (Friday the 28th) is the last Friday of the month and is excluded, Saturday and Sunday are not open days, making next Monday the earliest available time (correct answer)
  4. 本周五下午 (this Friday afternoon), because the notice lists Friday as an open day and a visitor might assume a second session exists in the afternoon even though the stated hours are only 9–11 AM
Explanation: When reading Chinese notices with multiple conditions, you need to apply all the rules together before drawing a conclusion — missing even one condition leads to the wrong day. Here's how the logic unfolds: The center is open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings from 9–11 AM. However, the last Friday of the month is always excluded. The notice tells you this month's last Friday is the 28th, and today is Thursday the 27th. So tomorrow — Friday the 28th — is explicitly excluded. The next listed open day after Friday would be the following Monday. Since Saturday and Sunday are never mentioned as open days, next Monday morning at 9 AM (下周一上午九点) is the earliest possible visit, making C correct. Choice A is the most tempting trap. Friday is normally an open day, so a reader who notices "星期五" on the schedule but skips over the exception clause "每月最后一个周五除外" would confidently pick tomorrow — and be wrong. This is a classic reading-comprehension trap: the exception clause cancels what the general rule allows. Choice B compounds the error in A by assuming Saturday (the 29th) is an open day. Weekends are simply not listed in the schedule, so there's no basis for this assumption. Choice D invents an afternoon session that doesn't exist. The notice states hours are 九点到十一点 only — no afternoon option is ever mentioned. Study tip: When a Chinese notice includes an exception phrase like "……除外" (chú wài, "excluding"), treat it as a hard override. Always check for these conditions after identifying the general schedule — they frequently appear in exam passages to test careful reading.

Question 3

Wei is on the phone with a restaurant. The host says: '我们周三和周四都没有位子，但周五晚上七点还有两个位子。' Wei wants to book a table for three people on the earliest available date.

Based on the host's statement, which response most accurately reflects what Wei should say to book appropriately?

  1. '好的，我想订周五晚上七点，三个人的位子。' — confirming Friday at 7 PM for three people, matching the available slot and party size (correct answer)
  2. '好的，我想订周三晚上七点，两个人的位子。' — confirming Wednesday at 7 PM for two people, assuming Wednesday has the same time slot
  3. '好的，我想订周五晚上七点，两个人的位子。' — confirming Friday at 7 PM for two people, using the number mentioned by the host as the party size
  4. '好的，我想订周四晚上七点，三个人的位子。' — confirming Thursday at 7 PM for three people, choosing the second unavailable day by mistake
Explanation: When booking a reservation in Mandarin, you need to track two separate pieces of information simultaneously: availability (which dates/times work) and party size (how many people in your group). The host's statement tells you what's available, not what Wei should automatically order — so read carefully before choosing a response. The host says Wednesday and Thursday have no availability, and Friday at 7 PM still has two seats open. Wei wants the earliest available date, which is Friday — not Wednesday or Thursday. Wei's party is three people, which is given by the scenario itself, not by the host's mention of "两个位子." That phrase tells you how many seats remain, not how many Wei's group needs. Answer A — '好的，我想订周五晚上七点，三个人的位子' — correctly identifies Friday as the only available date and uses Wei's actual party size of three. This is the right choice. Answer B fails on both counts: it selects Wednesday, which the host explicitly said is unavailable, and uses two people instead of three. Answer C gets the date right (Friday at 7 PM) but falls into a common trap — confusing the host's "两个位子" (two seats available) with Wei's party size. The number of open seats and the number of guests in your party are different things. Answer D selects Thursday, another day the host said has no availability, making it immediately wrong regardless of party size. The key strategy here: in reservation dialogues, always separate what the restaurant offers from what the customer needs. Don't let numbers mentioned by the host override details given in the scenario.

Question 4

A gym schedule announcement states: '瑜伽课每周二和周四晚上七点半上课，每次九十分钟。报名请在上课前四十八小时联系我们。' Liu wants to attend the Thursday class this week. Today is Tuesday at 6:00 PM.

Has Liu already missed the registration deadline for Thursday's yoga class?

  1. Yes, because the deadline is 48 hours before Thursday's 7:30 PM class, which means Liu needed to register by Tuesday at 7:30 PM — and since it is already 6:00 PM on Tuesday, there is less than two hours left, which counts as effectively having missed the window for practical purposes
  2. No, because the registration deadline is 48 hours before Thursday 7:30 PM, placing the cutoff at Tuesday 7:30 PM, and since it is currently Tuesday 6:00 PM, Liu still has 1.5 hours to register before the deadline (correct answer)
  3. Yes, because '上课前四十八小时' counts backward 48 hours from the class start, and the class is Thursday at 7:30 PM, placing the deadline at Tuesday 7:30 AM — which has already passed since it is now 6:00 PM Tuesday evening
  4. No, because the deadline is calculated from the end of the class rather than the start, meaning 90 minutes are added to 7:30 PM Thursday before subtracting 48 hours, placing the cutoff at Wednesday 9:00 AM — well after Tuesday 6:00 PM
Explanation: When you see time-calculation questions in Mandarin, the key phrase to unpack carefully is '上课前四十八小时' — literally "48 hours before class starts." This tells you to count backward 48 hours from the class start time, not the end time, giving you the registration deadline. Thursday's yoga class begins at 7:30 PM (十九点三十分). Subtracting 48 hours lands exactly on Tuesday at 7:30 PM. Since the current time is Tuesday 6:00 PM, Liu still has a full 90 minutes to register before that cutoff. B is correct. Choice A reaches the right deadline (Tuesday 7:30 PM) but then misapplies it — claiming that having "less than two hours left" means Liu has effectively missed the deadline. That's subjective reasoning, not what the announcement states. The deadline hasn't passed yet, so Liu can still register. Choice C makes a critical arithmetic error. It claims '上课前四十八小时' places the deadline at Tuesday 7:30 AM, which would mean subtracting only 36 hours from Thursday 7:30 PM, not 48. Double-check: Thursday 7:30 PM → Wednesday 7:30 PM (–24 hrs) → Tuesday 7:30 PM (–48 hrs). Morning vs. evening is a costly mistake here. Choice D misreads '上课' (class start) as the class end, adding 90 minutes before calculating backward. The announcement clearly anchors the deadline to when class begins, not ends. Your takeaway: always identify what the time reference point is — start or end — before doing any math. In Chinese scheduling language, '上课' specifically means "class begins."

Question 5

Chen tells his coworker: '我这个月十五号要出差，二十号回来。我回来以后第三天，我们可以开会讨论项目。'

On which date does Chen propose to hold the project meeting?

  1. 二十二号 (the 22nd), because '回来以后第三天' counts the return day itself as day one, making day two the 21st and day three the 22nd
  2. 二十三号 (the 23rd), because Chen returns on the 20th and '回来以后第三天' means three days after returning, which is the 20th plus 3 days = the 23rd (correct answer)
  3. 二十一号 (the 21st), because '第三天' is often used colloquially to mean 'a couple of days later,' effectively meaning the second day after return, which is the 21st
  4. 二十四号 (the 24th), because Chen returns on the 20th, needs one full rest day on the 21st, and '第三天以后' would place the meeting on the 24th after accounting for a preparation period
Explanation: When you encounter time expressions like '回来以后第三天' in Mandarin, the key is understanding how Chinese counts days after a reference point. '以后第三天' means "the third day after," where the counting starts the day following the reference event — not the reference day itself. Chen returns on the 20th. '回来以后第三天' counts forward from that return date: day one after returning = the 21st, day two = the 22nd, day three = the 23rd. So B is correct — the meeting is on the 23rd (二十三号). Choice A makes the classic ordinal-counting error of treating the return day itself (the 20th) as "day one," which shifts everything one day early and lands on the 22nd. This is a frequent trap because some languages do count the starting point as day one, but standard Mandarin '以后第三天' does not include the reference day in the count. Choice C misreads '第三天' as a vague colloquial expression meaning "a couple of days later." While Mandarin does have flexible colloquial usage in casual speech, '回来以后第三天' is a precise ordinal construction — it means exactly the third day, not approximately two days later. Choice D invents a "rest day" and misquotes the original phrase as '第三天以后' (after the third day), which would indeed push the date later. But Chen says '回来以后第三天,' not '第三天以后' — word order matters enormously here. Your study tip: always identify the reference point in a time expression and remember that '以后第X天' counts from the day after that reference point, not including it.

Question 6

A Mandarin speaker says: '我们大后天见面吧，就在下午两点到四点之间。' If today is Monday, which of the following correctly identifies both the day of the meeting and the available time window?

  1. Thursday, between 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM, because the phrase '两点到四点之间' means 'around two to three o'clock' in colloquial Mandarin, not the full two-hour span from 2 to 4
  2. Wednesday, between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM, because '大后天' is a compound of '后天' (the day after tomorrow) and is therefore synonymous with 后天, which falls on Wednesday
  3. Friday, between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM, because '大后天' extends the pattern one step beyond 后天, and since 后天 is Wednesday, one further step lands on Friday rather than Thursday
  4. Thursday, between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM, because '大后天' means three days after today: Tuesday (明天), Wednesday (后天), Thursday (大后天) (correct answer)
Explanation: When you encounter time and date expressions in Mandarin, it helps to recognize the stepped pattern for referring to upcoming days. The sequence works like this: 今天 (today) → 明天 (tomorrow) → 后天 (the day after tomorrow) → 大后天 (three days from today). The prefix 大 here acts as an intensifier meaning "one step further," extending the chain by one additional day. If today is Monday, counting forward gives you Tuesday (明天), Wednesday (后天), and Thursday (大后天). So the meeting is on Thursday. The time window 两点到四点之间 literally means "between two o'clock and four o'clock," covering the full span from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. That makes D the correct answer — it accurately counts through the day chain and reads the time phrase at face value. Choice A gets the day right (Thursday) but misreads 两点到四点之间, incorrectly claiming it means "around two to three o'clock." 之间 simply means "between," with no compression of the range. Choice B misidentifies 大后天 as synonymous with 后天, essentially ignoring the 大 prefix entirely and landing on Wednesday instead of Thursday. Choice C overcounts — it adds an extra step beyond 大后天 and arrives at Friday, treating the pattern as if 大后天 meant four days from today rather than three. A handy memory trick: think of 大 as "one big step further." 后天 = 2 days out, 大后天 = 3 days out. Keeping this chain memorized will help you navigate scheduling conversations quickly and accurately on the exam.

Question 7

You receive a voicemail in Mandarin: '我们约好了这个星期五见面，对吗？如果你要改时间，请在见面前一天的中午十二点以前给我打电话。' Today is Wednesday. By what time must you call if you need to reschedule?

  1. Thursday at 12:00 AM (midnight), because '中午十二点' in some regional Mandarin contexts refers to the midpoint of the night rather than midday, placing the deadline at midnight between Wednesday and Thursday
  2. Wednesday at 12:00 PM (noon), because 'the day before the meeting' is calculated from today (Wednesday), making today the reference day and noon today the cutoff
  3. Friday at 12:00 PM (noon), because '见面前一天' refers to the day before you actually see the person, which is interpreted as the morning of the meeting day itself in colloquial usage
  4. Thursday at 12:00 PM (noon), because the meeting is Friday, 'the day before the meeting' is Thursday, and the deadline is noon on that day (correct answer)
Explanation: When you encounter a voicemail scheduling question like this, break it into two steps: identify the meeting day, then work backward using the time condition given. The message says the meeting is this Friday (这个星期五). The caller asks you to call before noon on the day before the meeting (见面前一天的中午十二点以前). "The day before Friday" is simply Thursday, and 中午十二点 means noon — 中午 literally means "midday," the middle of the day. That makes D — Thursday at 12:00 PM (noon) the correct answer. Here's why the other options fall apart: A invents a fictional regional interpretation where 中午 means midnight. This is completely false — 中午 unambiguously means noon in all standard and regional Mandarin usage. Midnight is 午夜 (wǔyè) or 半夜 (bànyè). Don't let elaborate-sounding explanations distract you from core vocabulary. B incorrectly anchors "the day before the meeting" to today (Wednesday) rather than to the meeting itself (Friday). The phrase 见面前一天 means "one day before the meeting," not "one day before today." The reference point is always the event, not your current position in time. C redefines 见面前一天 as "the morning of the meeting day," which contradicts the literal meaning of 前一天 (the previous day). Friday morning is not the day before Friday. A useful study tip: in Mandarin time expressions, always ask yourself before what? — the reference point tells you everything. Anchor backward from the named event, not from the present moment.

Question 8

You want to confirm a lunch plan in Mandarin. Your friend suggested '下周三中午十二点半.' Today is Saturday, April 5th. On which calendar date would this lunch take place?

  1. April 9th, because 'next Wednesday' counts from the coming Monday, making Wednesday the 4th day of next week from Monday April 7th, landing on April 9th (correct answer)
  2. April 16th, because '下周' means the week after next when spoken on a Saturday, since the current week's Wednesday has already passed, pushing 'next Wednesday' forward by a full additional week
  3. April 12th, because '下周三' counts Wednesday of the week following the current one, and since today is Saturday April 5th, next week's Wednesday falls on April 12th (April 7 + 5 days = April 12)
  4. April 10th, because '下周三' is calculated by moving to the next occurrence of Wednesday after today, which is April 9th, and then adding one day for the '下' prefix indicating the following instance
Explanation: When you encounter date-planning phrases in Mandarin, the key is understanding how 周 (week) cycles work. In Chinese, 下周 (xià zhōu) means "next week" — straightforwardly, the calendar week immediately following the current one. Weeks in China typically begin on Monday, so 下周三 means "Wednesday of next week." Since today is Saturday, April 5th, the current week's Monday was March 31st. Next week therefore runs from Monday, April 7th through Sunday, April 13th. Wednesday of that week is April 9th — making answer A correct. The lunch is on April 9th. Answer B is wrong because it applies an overly cautious logic — the idea that since "this week's Wednesday" has already passed, 下周 must mean the week after next. That's not how native Mandarin speakers use the term. 下周 always refers to the immediately following week, regardless of what day you're currently on. Answer C makes a simple arithmetic error. It treats Monday, April 7th as the starting point and adds 5 days, landing on April 12th (a Saturday), not a Wednesday. Wednesday is 3 days after Monday, putting it on April 9th, not April 12th. Answer D invents a rule that doesn't exist — the idea that 下 adds one additional day to the "next occurrence" of a weekday. 下 modifies the week, not the day itself. There's no "+1 day" adjustment in Mandarin date conventions. Your study tip: Always anchor 下周 to the Monday that starts the following week, then count to the named weekday from there. That single habit eliminates most scheduling confusion in conversational Mandarin.