昨

昨 zuó in a sentence

Yesterday (the past)

Full dictionary entry 47 sentences

昨 (zuó) means Yesterday (the past). Below are 24 of the 47 sentences on this site that use it — with pinyin, an English translation and audio. All of them were written by hand; none is machine generated.

Dictionary examples

昨 天他没有来。

Zuótiān tā méiyǒu lái.

He didn't come yesterday.

Dictionary example · HSK 1 · 昨天

他 昨 晚着凉了。

Tā zuówǎn zháo liáng le.

He caught a chill last night.

Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 着凉

他 昨 晚喝醉了。

Tā zuówǎn hē zuì le.

He got drunk last night.

Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 醉

今天比 昨 天更冷。

Jīntiān bǐ zuótiān gèng lěng.

Today is even colder than yesterday.

Dictionary example · HSK 3 · 更

他们 昨 天吵架了。

Tāmen zuótiān chǎo jià le.

They had a quarrel yesterday.

Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 吵架

昨 晚的风真可怕。

Zuówǎn de fēng zhēn kěpà.

The wind last night was frightening.

Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 可怕

他 昨 天做了手术。

Tā zuótiān zuò le shǒushù.

He had an operation yesterday.

Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 手术

昨 天玩得真痛快。

Zuótiān wán de zhēn tòngkuai.

We had a really good time yesterday.

Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 痛快

昨 天的辩论很精彩。

Zuótiān de biànlùn hěn jīngcǎi.

Yesterday's debate was excellent.

Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 辩论

他 昨 晚去看了急诊。

Tā zuówǎn qù kàn le jízhěn.

He went to the emergency room last night.

Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 急诊

那面旧墙 昨 晚塌了。

Nà miàn jiù qiáng zuówǎn tā le.

That old wall collapsed last night.

Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 塌

他没参加 昨 天的会议。

Tā méi cānjiā zuótiān de huìyì.

He didn't attend yesterday's meeting.

Dictionary example · HSK 3 · 参加

今天的气温比 昨 天低。

Jīntiān de qìwēn bǐ zuótiān dī.

Today the temperature is lower than yesterday.

Dictionary example · HSK 4 · 低

昨 天发生了一件小事。

Zuótiān fāshēng le yí jiàn xiǎo shì.

Something small happened yesterday.

Dictionary example · HSK 4 · 发生

这个包裹是 昨 天寄的。

Zhège bāoguǒ shì zuótiān jì de.

This parcel was sent yesterday.

Dictionary example · HSK 4 · 寄

Reading these is one thing; producing 昨 yourself is another. Cloze in Context takes a sentence from this same bank, removes one word and asks you to put it back — beginner, intermediate and advanced.

From the graded readers

昨 天晚上我觉得很不舒服。

zuótiān wǎnshang wǒ juéde hěn bù shūfu.

Last night I felt very unwell.

Graded reader · HSK 2 · Going to the Doctor

昨 天我去参加了一个面试。

zuótiān wǒ qù cānjiā le / liǎo / liào yīgè miàn shì.

Yesterday I went to a job interview.

Graded reader · HSK 3 · The Job Interview

昨 天晚上九点,妈妈给我打电话。

zuótiān wǎnshang jiǔ diǎn, māma gěi wǒ dǎdiànhuà.

At nine last night my mum called me.

Graded reader · HSK 1 · A Phone Call

我 昨 天晚上工作到很晚,睡得很少。

wǒ zuótiān wǎnshang gōngzuò dào hěn wǎn, shuì dehěn shǎo / shào.

I worked late last night and slept very little.

Graded reader · HSK 2 · Late for Work

From the grammar library

他 昨 天来了。

Tā zuótiān lái le.

He came yesterday.

Grammar library · HSK 2 · 了 — completed action and change of state

昨 天我没上班。

Zuótiān wǒ méi shàngbān.

I didn't work yesterday.

Grammar library · HSK 1 · Where time words go

今天比 昨 天热。

Jīntiān bǐ zuótiān rè.

Today is hotter than yesterday.

Grammar library · HSK 2 · 比 comparisons

我是 昨 天来的。

Wǒ shì zuótiān lái de.

It was yesterday that I came.

Grammar library · HSK 4 · 是…的 — emphasising the details

我 昨 天没去学校。

Wǒ zuótiān méi qù xuéxiào.

I didn't go to school yesterday.

Grammar library · HSK 1 · 不 vs 没 — the two negations

昨 appears in 47 sentences on this site; the 24 shortest and most direct are shown. The rest are on the pages they were written for — the graded readers, the phrasebook and the grammar library.

Words that contain 昨

Each of these has sentences of its own, so you can see the character doing a different job in each one.

Questions about 昨

How is 昨 used in a sentence?

This page shows 47 sentences using 昨 (zuó, "Yesterday (the past)"), each with pinyin, an English translation and audio. Every one of them was written by hand for this site.

Are these sentences machine generated?

No. They come from the site's own dictionary examples, graded readers, travel phrasebook and grammar library — all written by a person. A word with no sentence gets no page here, rather than a page of invented ones.

Why do some sentences show 昨 inside a longer word?

Because that is where a single character usually lives. Seeing 昨 inside the words it builds is how the character stops being an isolated symbol and starts being something you can read.

Where can I see the full entry for 昨?

The dictionary page for 昨 has its stroke order, its traditional form, every sense the dictionary lists and a character-by-character breakdown. It is linked at the top of this page.

Keep going

Read the full entry for 昨, write a sentence of your own and check it in the Pinyin Annotator, or search the whole sentence bank for another word.

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