Newbie - Zaoshang vs. zao

hsalthe

July 16, 2008, 10:07 AM

As far as i know, the differnce isn't too big. It's just a matter of context. If there is a possibility that using only zao will cause a misunderstanding, you should use zaoshang. And after a while, you will understand that chinese is in many ways a "rythmic" language, so it depends on what feels natural considering the rythm in the sentence.

So, if you are talking about mornings, you could probably use both zao and zaoshang, but zao, on it's own and in a different context, can also mean other things than morning.

amber

July 17, 2008, 02:03 AM

hi Lorenz,

When you are speaking about morning, as in, the time of day, you must use the full 早上 (zǎoshang):

你早上有空吗？ (Nǐ zǎoshang yǒukòng ma?) Do you have time in the morning?
早上7点  (Zǎoshang 7 diǎn)  7 o'clock in the morning
早上好！(Zǎoshang hǎo!) Good morning!

When you use it as a greeting, as in 'good morning', you can also use 早 (zǎo) as a short form of 早上好！(Zǎoshang hǎo!)

Another meaning of 早 (zǎo) is 'early', as used here:
你来得真早！(Nǐ lái de zhēn zǎo!) You came really early!

spongebobmay

July 17, 2008, 01:31 PM

I think the commets above mine are very correct.

早上 usually means morning,

早 usually means early. 

But some other custom you should know ,in some districts,because of the dialect ,people sometimes use 早 insread of 早上。

For example ,

明天早上 （ming2 tian1 zao3 shang4)

明早（儿） （ming2 zao3）

“儿”means when you speak you should make your tongue tired.