Frequency: 每, 常常, 有时
【一11】【一12】时间副词“有时”、频率副词“常、常常”
Tone colorsā tone 1á tone 2ǎ tone 3à tone 4a neutral
每 (měi) = “every” (officially a level-3 word, but you need it right away). With 天 (day) and 年 (year), no measure word: 每天, 每年. Otherwise you need one: 每个星期, 每个人. 都 often follows: 每个人都有手机.
常 / 常常 (cháng / chángcháng) = “often”. 有时 / 有时候 (yǒushí / yǒu shíhou) = “sometimes”. They're adverbs: before the verb. 有时候 can also start the sentence.
Negative: say 不常 (not often): 我不常去.
Tip: to describe your routine, combine with clock time: 我每天七点起床.
Examples
我每天七点起床。
Wǒ měi tiān qī diǎn qǐchuáng.I get up at seven every day.
他常去饭店吃饭。
Tā cháng qù fàndiàn chī fàn.He often eats at restaurants.
她常常不吃早饭。
Tā chángcháng bù chī zǎofàn.She often skips breakfast.
他有时晚上上课。
Tā yǒushí wǎnshang shàngkè.He sometimes has class in the evening.
每个人都有手机。
Měi ge rén dōu yǒu shǒujī.Everyone has a phone.
Common mistakes
✗ 每个天 → ✓ 每天.
✗ 我去常常 → ✓ 我常常去.
✗ 每星期 → ✓ 每个星期 (in standard speech).