Breakdown of wǒmen bā diǎn kāishǐ kāihuì.
Questions & Answers about wǒmen bā diǎn kāishǐ kāihuì.
Chinese usually doesn’t use a separate preposition like “at” for clock times.
- 我们八点开始开会。
Literally: We – eight o’clock – start – hold meeting.
Time expressions (like 八点, 明天, 上午) are simply placed in the sentence without at / on / in. The time phrase itself functions as an adverbial.
You can add 在 before the time in some contexts, but it’s not needed here and would usually sound a bit heavier or more formal:
- 我们在八点开始开会。 – acceptable, but plain 我们八点开始开会 is more natural.
The most natural position is before the verb:
- 我们八点开始开会。
But there is some flexibility:
At the very beginning (topic position):
- 八点我们开始开会。 – At eight, we start the meeting.
This emphasizes the time more.
- 八点我们开始开会。 – At eight, we start the meeting.
After the verb phrase:
- 我们开始开会，八点。
This sounds like an afterthought, similar to “We start the meeting — at eight.” It’s possible in speech but less standard as a neutral sentence.
- 我们开始开会，八点。
Standard, neutral word order is:
[Subject] + [Time] + [Verb Phrase]
我们 + 八点 + 开始开会。
They relate, but they’re not the same thing.
- 开 (kāi) on its own has meanings like open, turn on, start, hold (a meeting).
- 开始 (kāishǐ) is a verb meaning to begin / to start (the action gets under way).
- 开会 (kāihuì) is a verb meaning to hold/have a meeting.
In 我们八点开始开会:
- 开始 = the action begins.
- 开会 = have a meeting.
So the structure is literally:
we — at eight o’clock — begin — to have a meeting
You could also say:
- 我们八点开会。 – We have a meeting at eight.
Here 开会 already includes the meaning of “start having” in context, so 开始 is optional and emphasizes the starting point a bit more.
The basic information is the same: the meeting is at eight.
Nuance:
我们八点开会。
- Simple, most common.
- Focus is just on the meeting is scheduled for 8:00.
我们八点开始开会。
- Slight extra focus on the time when it begins.
- Feels a tiny bit more formal or explanatory: “We begin the meeting at eight.”
In everyday speech, people very often say 我们八点开会. You add 开始 when you want to emphasize the start time or contrast with something else (e.g., “We arrive at 7:50; we start the meeting at eight”).
Chinese verbs usually don’t change form for tense. Time is understood from:
- Context (e.g. you’re talking about tomorrow’s schedule)
- Time words (今天, 明天, 八点, etc.)
- Aspect markers like 了, 过, 在, etc.
In 我们八点开始开会, the sentence itself is neutral in time. It could mean:
- We start the meeting at eight (every day / in general).
- We started the meeting at eight (yesterday).
- We’ll start the meeting at eight (tomorrow).
You make the timing clear by adding a time word:
- 明天我们八点开始开会。 – Tomorrow we’ll start the meeting at eight.
- 昨天我们八点开始开会。 – Yesterday we started the meeting at eight.
So future “will” is normally not expressed with a separate word; it’s inferred from context or from time expressions like 明天, 等一下, 一会儿, etc.
No, 我们是八点开始开会 is not natural in this context.
In Chinese:
- 是 is used mainly for equating two things:
- 他是老师。 – He is a teacher.
- 今天是星期一。 – Today is Monday.
But “start the meeting” is not an identity/equation; it’s just an action. So you don’t use 是 the way you use “be” in English progressive tenses.
Correct patterns:
- 我们八点开始开会。 – We start (will start) the meeting at eight.
- If you want emphasis/contrast on the time, you can do something like:
- 我们是八点开始开会的。 – a specific structure often used to emphasize or clarify past facts: It was at eight that we started the meeting. (This is a 是…的 structure, different from simply inserting 是 in front.)
For a straightforward schedule statement, just use 我们八点开始开会 or 我们八点开会.
If the time is already clear, you don’t have to add 了.
- 昨天我们八点开始开会。 – Yesterday we started the meeting at eight. (natural)
Chinese often relies on explicit time words (昨天, 上个星期, etc.) instead of tense endings.
You could see:
- 昨天我们八点开始开会了。
Here 了 can:
- Emphasize that the event indeed did happen or has been completed, or
- Sound like you’re reminding or correcting someone.
But in a neutral description like “Yesterday we started the meeting at eight,” 昨天我们八点开始开会。 is usually enough.
In this sentence:
- 我们 = we / us
- 我 = I / me
You choose just like in English:
If you’re speaking on behalf of a group (your team, your company, your class, etc.):
- 我们八点开始开会。 – We start the meeting at eight.
If you mean only yourself (e.g. I start the meeting at eight because I’m the host):
- 我八点开始开会。
Chinese uses 我们 very commonly to mean “we in this shared group/context,” even when English might sometimes say “I.” For example, a teacher might say to a class:
- 我们八点上课。 – Literally “We have class at eight,” but it includes both teacher and students.
Yes, in the right context you can omit the subject.
Chinese often drops the subject when it’s obvious from the situation. For example, on a schedule or announcement:
- 八点开始开会。 – Start the meeting at eight. / The meeting starts at eight.
Context will usually make clear who is starting the meeting (staff, everyone in the group, etc.).
In a normal conversation where you’re explicitly talking about “us,” including 我们 is very natural:
- 我们八点开始开会。
点 literally means “dot / point”, and for time it means “o’clock”.
In modern spoken Chinese:
Saying just 点 is most common:
- 八点 – “eight o’clock”
点钟 is a bit more formal or complete:
- 八点钟 – also “eight o’clock,” sometimes used in more formal speech, more careful pronunciation, or when you want to sound a bit more emphatic.
In this sentence:
- 我们八点开始开会。
- 我们八点钟开始开会。
Both are correct. 八点 is more natural in everyday speech.
Yes, 我们八点开始会议 is grammatical, but the nuance is a bit different.
- 会议 (huìyì) = meeting / conference (a noun)
- 开会 (kāihuì) = to have / hold a meeting (a verb phrase)
So:
- 我们八点开始会议。 – literally “We at eight o’clock begin the meeting (the event).”
- 我们八点开始开会。 – literally “We at eight o’clock begin to have a meeting.”
Both can be used, especially in more formal contexts. In everyday speech, people more often say:
- 我们八点开会。
Because 开会 is the straightforward verb for “have a meeting.”
开始 can be used both:
Followed by a verb phrase:
- 我们八点开始开会。 – We begin to have a meeting at eight.
- 他开始学习汉语。 – He begins to learn Chinese.
Standing alone, with the object implied from context:
- 我们八点开始。 – We start at eight. (You already know what “start” refers to: class, meeting, event, etc.)
So you can say:
- 会议八点开始。 – The meeting starts at eight. (会议 is subject)
- 我们八点开始开会。 – We start having the meeting at eight.
- 我们八点开始。 – We start at eight.
The general pattern is:
[Subject] + [Time (from big to small)] + [Place] + [Verb Phrase]
Using your sentence:
- 我们 明天 早上 八点 在办公室 开始开会。
- 我们 – we
- 明天 – tomorrow
- 早上 – morning
- 八点 – eight o’clock
- 在办公室 – in the office
- 开始开会 – start the meeting
So, fully:
- 我们明天早上八点在办公室开始开会。
– We will start the meeting in the office at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning.
The key is:
- Time usually goes before the verb, and
- Within time, larger units (year / month / day) go before smaller units (hour / minute).