早晚grammar point · tier 1 · 早晚 sooner or later (it is bound to happen, the timing unfixed)
· zǎowǎn
Marks an event as certain to come while leaving its timing open — it will happen sooner or later.
字源 FORM what the parts do
早 is the sun (日) over a cross-stroke — the day at its first hour, early. 晚 is the sun (日) at the day's end, 免 lent only for its sound, the m fallen to w — late. The two ends of one day stand side by side, the span between them left to fill.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
Dawn at one edge, dusk at the other, and a mark set loose between them; the mark slides along the day, settling on no hour, certain to land.
字源記憶法
框 · Frame
[subject] 早晚 [會/要 + event] (的)
觸 · Trigger
You want to say something is bound to happen, without committing to when.
序 · The move
1set 早晚 after the subject, before the verb phraseis it adverbial (sentence-internal), not the literal 'morning and evening'?
2carry the prediction with 會 or 要, often closed by sentence-final 的does the event still lie ahead, its hour unstated?
3confirm the arrival is treated as settled, only the timing looseif the time is actually known or fixed, 早晚 has nothing to leave open
例 · Examples
1我們還是had better; (let's) just把disposal: act on the matter車子壞掉broke down; got ruined的事告訴爸爸吧，他早晚sooner or later; eventually會知道的。
Let's just tell Dad about the car breaking down; he'll find out sooner or later.
Both say an event is bound to come with the hour unfixed. 遲早 carries only that adverb. 早晚 also reads literally as 'morning and evening' (早晚運動), so context, not the word, picks the inevitability sense. 遲早 carries one meaning; 早晚 carries two.
終於 reports an arrival that has already landed after a long wait (終於到了). 早晚 looks forward to one not yet landed. 終於 closes the wait; 早晚 opens it.
他早晚知道了 (treating it as already done) → 他早晚會知道的 (still ahead, with 會…的)
我早晚去過 (a finished past event) → 他早晚會來 (a forward arrival)
早晚他會知道 (早晚 trailing before the subject reads as 'morning and evening') → 他早晚會知道
English 'eventually / sooner or later' sits freely and never doubles as a clock reading; learners drop 早晚 onto finished events ('eventually arrived') where Chinese wants 終於, and forget the forward 會…的 that marks the arrival as still to come.