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Expressing 'a day' or 'one day' with 一天 (yītiān)
Numbers & Quantity
Time Expressions
Structure
一天 + Verb / Verb + 一天
Explanation
一天 (yītiān) means "one day" or "a day" and can refer to a single day as a time period or to "one day" in a narrative sense. It is used in expressions like 一天到晚 (from morning till night, all day long) or 有一天 (one day, once upon a time). For example, 我等了一天 means "I waited for a day."
Examples
有一天，我在路上遇到了一个老同学。
Yǒu yī tiān, wǒ zài lù shàng yù dào le yī gè lǎo tóngxué.
One day, I ran into an old classmate on the street.
她一天只睡五个小时，太辛苦了。
Tā yī tiān zhǐ shuì wǔ gè xiǎoshí, tài xīnkǔ le.
She only sleeps five hours a day — that's really tough.
我在这座城市生活了一天就爱上了它。
Wǒ zài zhè zuò chéngshì shēnghuó le yī tiān jiù ài shàng le tā.
I fell in love with this city after living here for just one day.