Time and place before the action

Hanzi Tools · Learning guide · Updated 6 November 2026

A common neutral order is subject, time, place, action. Time may also appear before the subject. More than one natural ordering can exist.

Compare the examples

我明天在家工作。

I will work at home tomorrow.

明天我在家工作。

Tomorrow I will work at home.

Try it yourself

Choose a natural neutral order.

1. 我明天在学校学习。
2. 我学习在学校明天。

Practise in context

Write a sentence about something that happened to you, using this pattern. Keep the first version short so you can check the word order. Then change one part, such as the time, person or object, and compare what the new sentence means.

Use the grammar exercises for another comparison. You can paste your example into the Chinese reader to check words and pinyin. An automatic reading is a reference; it cannot settle every question of meaning or naturalness.