今天，昨天，去年，两个小时，每天 i think you will understand that if i translate it to engnlish.. 前天(qian tian)：the day before yesterday. 昨天(zuo tian)：last day 今天(jin tian)：today 去年(qu nian)：last year 今年(jin nian)：this year 明年(ming nian)：next year. some example as below. 1、今天，我去上班(jin tian, wo qu shang ban)：i will go to work today. 2、今年，托尼1岁(jin nian, xiao ming yi sui)： Tony is one years old this year. please contact me if you dont understand.

Mandarin is a very flexible language, I don't think word order will be too much trouble for you. 今天，昨天，后天，今年，后年，明年，今年，每天, can actually be placed *before* or *after* the subject of the sentence: 昨天我买了一袋苹果 and我昨天买了一袋苹果 both mean "I bought a bag of apples yesterday". They are both grammatically correct. However, in the sentence: 今天几月几号？-What is today's date? 今天 is placed in the beginning, since its the subject, and followed by the month and the date(Chinese has the concept of big to small[i.e. year-month-date-day of the week])So in this case, the word order can't be changed. 两个小时 is not the same case, since a duration of time. It really depends on the sentence. i.e. "it takes two hours to get there:" 到那里要两个小时, 到- to arrive, 那里-there,要(to be going) is followed by 两个小时(two hours) "I ate two hours ago" would be 我两个小时前吃了饭 As you can see 两个小时 is placed in different parts of the sentences. In the first example, the sentence structure is as follows: 要+the time you are talking about. So "it takes two hours" would be: 要两个小时。 For the next example, 前(before) and 后(after) is placed after the event as opposed to English where we would say "*before* I have a meal" or "*after* I have a meal" in Chinese its the opposite: 我吃饭前，我吃饭后. Like in the sentence where there are two events, i.e "I want to go swimming *after I finish school*" in Chinese *after I finish school* goes in the beginning, you would say: 我想放学后去游泳: which means: I want *after finish school* go swimming(literally) Basically, the last event comes first, then 后or 前 followed by the first event(kind of confusing, right?) This is the same in your case, 两个小时前 would come before "ate" so: 我两个小时前吃了饭 - I ate two hours ago. I hope this clears any confusion. If you still need more help you can message me, most questions like these require a full explanation, but unfortunately there is a character limit.

Oh gosh, this reminds me of myself a few months ago! In chinese they do have preferences about word order. I analysed sentences myself when I was at the beginning of it all, in order to have an idea of how it all works: generally speaking, I found something like this: Big time (years etc) + subject + small time (hours etc) + complement (how, with whom, how often)+ adverb (only, just, additionally, quickly, on the whole etc) + verb + complement (how, with whom, how often) + place + how long or how many times + second verb if needed + object. I don't mean to say this is universally right, as there are question-like sentences, sentences which involve "cong2" and God-knows-what-else which make the order change. Also, I was a beginner. Going over it all again and analysing sentences to spot the word order is yet another one of my priorities. But when you have too many priorities things get kinda slow and fuzzy. Anyway, I advise you get hold of easy sentences (even if you have to pinyinize them) and try to work it out yourself. I never found anyone who gave me a nice, tidy, logical answer. Ciao!

1. Sick it before the verb. 2. Stick it before the subject. 3. Stick it between the subject and the verb. 两个小时 is not a time specifying word. It specifies an AMOUNT of time, which is quite different. You can learn this stuff with whatever course you are doing right now.